Council Tax Revaluations - hang on a minute

So, there’s been some stuff in the press lately about how people have been “spared” dramatic increases in their Council Tax, because the Government has postponed a revaluation of residential property. According to the reports, the big increases in property values since 1991, when values were last assessed, means that many people will be asked to pay more as their properties jump several Council Tax bands.

Hang on a minute. That doesn’t work, does it? Local Government needs a certain amount of money each year. That’s why the Council Tax varies each year. The fact that houses are revalued has nothing to do with how much money local Government needs. All it means is that people will be placed into bands based upon an up–to–date (and presumably therefore more accurate) valuation of their property. It doesn’t mean that everyone is going to have to pay more as properties jump up through the bands. The total amount will still be divided according to the relative values of people’s houses across the borough. You should only pay more if your house has risen in value relatively more than others in the borough. In which case, you should pay more, if you accept that tax for local services is to be charged according to the value of the house you are lucky enough to be able to afford to live in (which you may not). In fact, a revaluation should be good for me, because presumably the value of my house (and therefore its Council Tax band) was assessed in 1998 when it was built, unlike the many houses in the borough that were actually around in 1991 and were assessed at the (generally) lower values prevailing at that time. A revaluation now would re–level the playing field in my favour.