The 10 council areas where taxpayers face £500 hike | Personal Finance | Finance
The cost of living crisis has put a strain on everyone’s finances, and with utility bills seemingly at an all-time high, the last thing homeowners want to see is a big bill for their local council tax coming through the letterbox. However, for people in 10 different councils across the country, their local tax could see a big rise, leaving them with £500 extra to foot.
Council tax is often one of the biggest bills a household has to pay, so any small increase in the percentage can leave working people even more strapped for cash. Plans filed in the Treasury documents from June last year revealed that local councils would be able to increase their tax by up to 5% over the next three years. The TaxPayer’s Alliance has crunched the numbers into the varying council tax rates to find who could be set for the worst hikes.
The group found that people in Gateshead could be left footing the largest rise in their bills, with an average home expected to be left paying £567 more in 2028 and 2029.
If the council chooses to raise the bills by the maximum amount, the Bill for a Band D home jumps up from £2,578 to £3,145.
Other areas potentially set for a tough increase include Nottingham up £563, Rutland up £550, and Bristol with an increase of £549 for Band D homes.
The potential increase spreads geographically across the country, with other areas such as Dorset, Hastings, Oxford, as well as Newark and Sherwood, all facing £500 increases by 2028.
Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, told the Telegraph: “Council tax is the ultimate stealth tax, given the way in which successive governments have piled on responsibilities to town halls without the resources to pay for them but with the permission to hike bills for residents.
“And this Government clearly intends to continue this trend by allowing years of above-inflation council tax rises, further increasing the crippling tax burden on British families and workers.
“By the end of this Parliament, the grim milestone of the first £3,000 Band D council tax bill will have been reached.”
The ten councils areas which face the £500 hike:
- Rutland
- City of Nottingham
- Dorset
- Gateshead
- Bristol
- Lewes
- Wealden
- Newark and Sherwood
- Hastings
- Oxford
He added: “Labour should impose lower, inflation-linked referendum caps on councils and aim for national solutions to crises such as that around social care.”
The news comes as rumours of a Treasury proposal said to be under consideration by the Chancellor could strip high earners of thousands of pounds in pension tax relief.
Plans reportedly being circulated within Whitehall would see the current tiered system of pension tax relief replaced with a single flat rate of 30%, in what experts say would be a multi-billion-pound raid on higher earners.
The move would affect 6.1 million higher and additional rate taxpayers – around 11% of the UK workforce – who currently enjoy relief of 40% or 45% on contributions to their pensions. The change could slash their annual tax advantage by up to £2,600.
