It is the very worst of taxes. (Probably – there’s tough competition for that title.) Council tax is, as it stands, “indefensible” says the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Brutally regressive, it lets mansion owners off with a negligible contribution to their local authority, while those in cheaper homes, and least able to afford it, pay far too much. It acts as a kind of anti-wealth tax.
At long last, we have a government brave enough to reform it. Not in England, of course, but the Welsh government, as often before, dares to go where others fear to tread. Its consultation on proposals to redistribute the tax so the broadest shoulders bear a fairer share ends next week, with three options for degrees of redistribution being considered.
