DESPITE Labour’s election manifesto pledges and repeated promise of ‘No tax increases’ on income, National Insurance or VAT, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is planning a never-ending Council Tax surcharge of up to 40 per cent on the most valuable houses in next week’s Budget.
Under the guise of ‘regional fairness’, Reeves is expected to unveil a council tax surcharge on all properties in the three highest brackets – bands F, G and H – to raise £600m.
Steve Reed, the Local Government Secretary, commented that the changes would ‘correct historic imbalances’ in the system.
‘We are reforming the funding system that led to regional divides, postcode lotteries, and substandard public services for too many people,’ he said.
‘Our changes will make sure cash going to councils is shared out in a fairer way that follows needs’, he added.
‘Workers are not stupid. They will not be fooled by this deception as even those in the lowest tax bands will be subject to an annual rise of £700’ warned the Tory Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly.
‘Don’t be fooled by the friendly-sounding title of the “fair funding review”.
‘This is a nakedly political cash grab built on a plot for soaring council tax bills across England’, he said.
‘Under Labour’s changes, areas with low council tax rates will have their funding slashed. Councils will be punished for not charging residents more.The cash will be diverted to areas with higher tax rates.
‘Inevitably, the councils that lose out will be forced to cut services and hike taxes to make up for the shortfall caused by Labour.’
Cleverly continued: ‘We recently forced Labour to admit that the vast majority of the funding it has pledged to local government will be provided by higher council tax.’
Labour’s previous sums assume five per cent rises everywhere, every year until the end of this Parliament.
A family living in an average band D property will end up paying £700 more per year, but now we know rates in some areas could be even higher than that.
Today Labour has announced it will let areas in financial difficulty hike bills by more than the current maximum of five per cent, and without a local referendum.
Local democracy will be trampled underfoot as the government green-lights massive bill hikes without local consent. It is now entirely possible we will see council tax rates go up by 10 per cent or more in some areas, every year – or 40 per cent by the end of the Parliament.
In fact, there is no limit on what increase councils can ask for, raising the prospect of even bigger hikes.
This is not a one-off – Labour has committed to a multi-year funding settlement for councils – meaning tax hikes every year.
‘Ordinary people will pay more and get less for it,’ Cleverly concluded.
Clearly Reeves’ crisis budget of both tax increases and cuts to the NHS, social welfare benefits and jobs is driven by the utter bankruptcy of the British economy, drowning under a national debt of £2.7 trillion, which attracts £111 billion in annual interest payments to be paid by the working class.
In yet another desperate attempt to ‘grow the economy’, Labour has drafted in Alan Milburn, Tony Blair’s ex-Health Secretary, arch NHS privatiser and currently advisor to Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, to force the nearly one million young people on unemployment or long-term illness benefits into any job, or have their benefits stopped.
Following the release of a new ‘independent report’ on Wednesday, Milburn stated that: ‘Today in Britain, there is a growing national emergency placing a whole generation of young people at risk, but which, until now, has remained largely ignored.’
Nearly one million young people aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment, or training (Neet). And the number of so-called Neets have been rising for the last four years.
What is not stated is that Labour will ‘encourage’ these 16-24 year olds into jobs by sanctioning those who are unable to do so.
The TUC and the trade unions must now be forced to take general strike action to bring down this reactionary Labour government and seize state power to bring in a Workers Government and socialism.
Trade union leaders who reject this demand must be replaced by new leaders who will do so.
Join the WRP and Young Socialists today!
