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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Heather Stewart

At last, a group of MPs intent on reforming our madly unfair council tax

A detached house set in grounds on the left and a Georgian terraced townhouse on the right
Council tax on this £1.5m house (left) in Hartlepool is £4,755 but it is only £1,946 for this £45m house (right) in Westminster. Photograph: Rightmove

“It’s a fairness thing. Just the idea that somebody sitting in a two-bedroom house in Hartlepool is paying more council tax than somebody who’s living in a mansion – it’s just offensive.”

The Labour backbencher Jonathan Brash, Hartlepool’s MP, is on a mission to draw attention to an issue he jokingly calls “the third rail of British politics” – because no mainstream party, including his own, wants to touch it for fear of electoral death.

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