David Davies, Conservative MP for Monmouth, today voiced his concern at reports of joint moves by Labour’s Gordon Brown and Liberal Democrats’ Menzies Campbell to hit Monmouthshire with a new and debilitating house price tax.
>Mr. Davies’s announcement follows reports that the Liberal Democrats are planning to rework the way in which local taxes are calculated, which will have a devastating effect across the UK. This ploy has already been accepted by the Labour Government, who will begin taxing residents of Northern Ireland at 0.63% of their property value as of next year.
Speaking from Monmouth today, Mr. Davies said, “I am extremely worried by this further devastating blow to the finances of hard-working families across Monmouthshire. We have already seen Council Taxes rise exponentially over the past few years as the Labour Government used Wales as a tax laboratory. To think they are now planning further underhanded methods of collecting money beggars belief.
“We have heard that the Liberal Democrats plan to scrap Council Tax in favour of a “Local Income Tax” of more than 4% and top this up with this house price tax. If, as suggested, the tax comes in as 1% of the value of the house, then a family in a Band D home currently paying £990 Council Tax will be forced, instead to pay an astronomical £2,500 in property tax.
“It is deeply disturbing that Gordon Brown and Menzies Campbell are planning to cynically exploit rising house prices to further erode the financial security and savings potential of families in Monmouthshire while not even promising improved local services. Those people who have strived to improve their homes for their future and for the security of their children will be slammed with crippling charges which offer no benefits whatsoever.
“With hard-working, honest families already struggling to meet income tax, council tax and rising utility payments as it is, it is unthinkable that these proposals will be welcome in any UK neighbourhood.”