Fairer Share’s response to reports on Andy Burnham’s position

Fairer Share welcomes Andy Burnham’s recognition that Council Tax is unfair. He is right that there are people in low and middle income areas who are paying higher Council Tax bills than owners of far more valuable homes in wealthier areas of the country. That is exactly why reform is needed.

This was never about forcing an overnight change into the next Budget. Fairer Share have been campaigning on this for years, and in that time we have developed the fairest, most sensible and ready-to-implement solution to the property tax crisis which is fully scoped, costed, and backed by leading economists and politicians.

Replacing Council Tax and Stamp Duty requires detailed work on transition, valuations, local government finance, renters, pensioners and regional impacts. But the fact that reform is complex is not an argument for leaving a broken, unfair system untouched.

Council Tax is still based on 1991 property values. In many northern and Midlands communities, households in modest homes pay more each year than owners of multimillion-pound properties in Westminster. That is indefensible.

Fairer Share’s proposal would abolish Council Tax and Stamp Duty and replace them with a Proportional Property Tax based on current values. It would cut bills for 18 million of households, remove a major barrier to moving home, shift liability from tenants to property owners, and include transition protections so existing homeowners are not hit with sudden increases that add to the Council Tax arrears crisis the UK is currently in.

Any increase for an existing homeowner’s primary residence would be capped at £1,200 a year until sale, with deferral available for those who cannot afford to pay from income. Second homes would face a surcharge, helping communities where local families are priced out by holiday homes and underused properties.

The choice is not between rushing reform and doing nothing. The sensible next step is a full independent review of Council Tax and Stamp Duty, so ministers can properly assess how to replace two outdated, unfair and economically damaging taxes with something fairer.

If Andy Burnham believes the current system is unfair, as he has said, then the answer should be to examine serious reform — not allow Treasury caution to shut the debate down before it has even begun.