Sharing the cost of covid-19 - FAIRLY!

THE huge cost of coronavirus needs to be shared fairly by the population of Britain and in accordance with their means. Only income tax can do this. Any other means is unfair and falls most heavily on those least able to pay - hard working families, the poor and pensioners on fixed incomes. And at the same time is most easily avoided or reduced by those most wealthy and able to pay.

For that reason I was horrified to hear my local council considering raising council tax to meet such costs! This is the most unfair tax of all, levied solely on the worth of a property which for vast numbers of people is not in any way connected to their ability to pay.

So I have further copied my letter to my MP, the Rt Hon James Cleverly with suitable additional comments. I sincerely hope others may feel inclined to take similar action. 

TEXT BEGINS: 

Dear Mr Cleverly,

You may have seen that I wrote this week to the Halstead Gazette regarding the costs of the coronavirus response and in particular how this may impact local councils. While my points were  directed specifically at the Braintree District Council they represent an opinion which I believe may be much more widely held.

I would ask you in your position as a local MP and former chair of the Conservative Party to look into this issue and to defend your local constituents against what may prove to be an unfair burden when compared to the national emergency. Indeed, a post code lottery, as our media friends are inclined to title such attacks on the hard working, the poorer and the pensioner.

TEXT OF LETTER: I was horrified to read that Braintree Council is considering raising council tax to pay for the cost of coronavirus. This has been a national emergency and  all the costs should be handled nationally. That way it can be evenly and fairly spread across all tax payers including the filthy rich. Instead a council tax hike will fall unfairly and unevenly on the hard working and the poorer as well as pensioners.

Typical Tory policy of course for Government to dodge its responsibilities and leave the locals to pick up the pieces,

Shame on you if you go ahead instead of fighting this shambolic Government. ENDS

How to fix a problem like the mansion tax

Deborah Orr in the Guardian rightly attacks the issue of council tax on mansions - or the lack of a fair distribution of tax burden yet again. The argument is simple - whcy should someone who buys a £1m or more proprty still only pay a paltry £1500 or so like the family not far away in a perfectly ordinary semi or even terraced house they have extended to fit their family

Cannot be right can it? But of course the vested interests all love the system - even Joan Bakewell claims (in the Torygraph) it would be unfair to tax her on the current value of her home - £4m - when she only paid £12,000 for it 48 years ago. I can tell her why it is not unfair - because everything else, all costs including her earnings, have soared so it IS the current value of her property that is relevant, not its happenstance historic value. So shut up, put up or let a bit for rent to pay the bill Joannie!

But the chance of a proper revaluation is nil - far too risky for dodgy Dave. Even so it is easy to fix (as if!) - scrap current council tax and replace with a 1 per cent of last registered valuation tax using Land Registry data. Thus a 100k house pays 1k (rate rebate as now for less well off); 500k house pays 5k - up fair bit; 1m mansion pays 10k and so on until the unlucky pauper struggling to get by in a 10M palace has to pay 100k per annum. It would make Buck house a bit steep but heigh ho - HMQ could always offshore the entire family business and pay sweet FA like so many of her chums.

And even unlucky sad long term residents like poor Joan Bakewell would only pay 120 quid which would get her off our backs! It could even be used to control maximum rents - government could set this at five times the property tax. Work it out - it fits current pricing which tells us something!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/09/deborah-orr-mansion-tax-opposition#start-of-comments