Anne Main : Clock reset on revaluation 'ticking tax timebomb'

Anne Main welcomes plans to postpone the planned council tax revaluation in England, but warns that the plans for local tax rises have merely been delayed, not cancelled.

Anne Main, St Albans MP, welcomed the Government's announcement that it is to postpone the planned council tax revaluation in England, but warned that the plans for local tax rises have merely been delayed not cancelled.

The Government have indicated that the controversial revaluation will be postponed until after a review of local government taxation by former Labour councillor, Sir Michael Lyons. During the general election, Conservatives called for the council tax revaluation to be cancelled outright in light of the experience in Wales, where revaluation has forced council tax bills to go through the roof.

Anne explained,

"Under Mr Blair, council taxes across St Albans have already soared by a staggering 96 per cent - adding £608 a year to the typical bill. But I am concerned that future hikes are on the way, engineered by Whitehall, but with local councillors getting the blame. Behind the spin, Labour's latest announcement is only a postponement - not a cancellation - of the revaluation, and we are still to find out what nasty surprises their review in local taxation will bring.

"Only Conservatives have provided the effective opposition to these tax hikes -by contrast, Liberal Democrats voted in Parliament, along with former St Albans MP Kerry Pollard, to support Government plans for revaluation and higher council tax bands. I fear that Labour's third-term tax hikes planned for St Albans are still to come, and all they have done is reset the clock on this ticking tax timebomb.""