The Welsh Government's plans to reform the country's council tax system have taken a step forward. Finance minister Rebecca Evans told the Senedd on Tuesday that she had commissioned the independent Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to revalue Wales' properties, so the government can build a new system of council tax bands.
Currently each of Wales' 1.5million properties are placed in nine tax bands, A to I, that were set on the property values as of April 1 2003. The Welsh Government added the additional tax band (Band I) for the highest value properties in April 2005 and has maintained national support for low-income households.
Wales is the only country in the UK that has updated its valuations since council tax was introduced in 1993, with council tax rates in England and Scotland still being based in 1991 evaluations. A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggests house prices across Wales had increased by 150% between 2003-2022.
