Council Tax Campaign

The Campaign For A Fairer Council Tax

Council Tax - A Tax on What ?

A Tax on Occupying Property: Council tax is levied according to the value of the home each household occupies (it is payable by households who rent, as well as by owner occupiers). This means that it is not a simple tax on the ownership of property-based wealth. Instead council tax is a tax on a combination of:

Property-based wealth (i.e. the share of people's homes which families own outright)

Current Expenditure on Housing in the form of rent or mortgage payments (which like any other consumption tends to bear a relationship to income).

The result is a tenure-blind property tax, which is simultaneously an tax on rent, a wealth-tax for people who own their home outright, and a hybrid-tax for people who are paying off a mortgage.

A Tax on Household Size: Households with one adult pay 25% less than those with two or more.

A tax with means-tested reductions: Many families with low incomes receive council tax benefit which covers all or part of council tax payment. As council tax benefit is deducted at source it is in effect a means-tested discount on council tax.

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