· Plan for Land Value Tax will hit families by trebling Council Tax bills.
· Destructive tax will send house prices plummeting and plunge mortgage holders into negative equity
· Garden Tax will force families to sell off back yards, paving over England’s greenery
· Farmers warn huge new £6 billion Countryside Tax will send food prices soaring
The devastating impact of Jeremy Corbyn’s plan for a new Land Value Tax on England’s family homes and gardens is revealed today.
The small print of Jeremy Corbyn’s hard-left manifesto contains plans to replace council tax with a new Land Value Tax to raise billions for Labour’s reckless spending pledges.
The blueprint for this new tax on ordinary working families has been provided by the Labour Land Campaign – a Labour Party group given glowing praise by both Jeremy Corbyn and the man he wants to run the Treasury, John McDonnell. McDonnell claims the tax will “raise the funds we need”.
Soaring bills for family homes: Under the Labour Land Campaign plan, this new town hall tax would be imposed as a 3% levy on the value of land. Analysis shows this would result in yearly tax bill of £3,837 for an average family home in England – a massive 224% increase on the current average council tax bill of £1,185. The tax would fall hardest on areas with higher land prices, including London, the South and thriving market towns.
Recipe for negative equity: Both the Labour Land Campaign and leading think tank, the IPPR, have warned that a Land Value Tax could lead to plummeting house prices and negative equity. The IPPR said a Land Value Tax could “push some heavily mortgaged homeowners over the edge”.
Corbyn’s Garden Tax: The IPPR has also branded a Land Value Tax a “tax on gardens”, which could force home owners to sell off their family gardens to lower their bills. They also warned town halls would be bribed into giving the green light for more development to get their hands on more cash, leading to a return to “garden grabbing” that was actively encouraged under John Prescott’s planning rules before 2010.
A separate study on Land Value Tax produced by Labour, LibDem and Green councillors on Oxfordshire County Council has noted that houses with gardens would be the biggest losers under land value taxation.
Labour have form. The last Labour Government was building a council tax revaluation database with intrusive data on people’s gardens – this was cancelled by Conservatives in 2010.
New Countryside Tax: Under the Labour Land Campaign plan, agricultural land which is currently exempt from council tax or business rates would also be hit – with devastating consequences for farmers and the cost of the family shop. This £6 billion new Countryside Tax “would simply increase the cost of UK food production with no benefit for shoppers”, the National Farmers Union have warned.
Backed by Coalition of Chaos: This dangerous cocktail of misery for families is endorsed by the Liberal Democrat and Green Party 2017 manifestos, and was backed by SNP party conference in March. This raise the prospect of it being a top priority for a Jeremy Corbyn-led coalition of chaos.
Andrew Percy, Minister for the Northern Powerhouse, said:
“Jeremy Corbyn will hit ordinary working families with a bombshell of new taxes to pay for his reckless hard-left giveaways – from hiking up inheritance tax to taxing their gardens.
“Corbyn’s plans will send tax bills soaring, plunge people into negative equity and force families to build over their back gardens.
“These nonsensical policies sums up how Jeremy Corbyn, along with his SNP, Lib Dem and Green comrades in the coalition of chaos would make life worse for families.
“Only a vote for Theresa May and her Conservative candidates will stop people being punished by Labour’s barrage of taxes on family homes.”
Simon Kirby, Conservative Candidate for Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven said,
“This policy would really hit local residents in Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven. Only a vote for Theresa May and her local Conservative candidates will stop this terrible new tax from becoming a reality.”