Households could face a significant increase in their council tax bills as part of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's plans to raise £50 billion to balance public finances. Rules limiting council tax would be scrapped under Hunt's new plans, giving authorities the freedom to impose double-digit rises, the Daily Express reports.
Increasing the bill by the current rate of inflation would add £198 to the average Band D property. The money raised would aim to allow councils to raise more from local taxpayers and freeze or cut funding provided by the central government.
In the past, authorities have had any council tax increases capped by three per cent, with social care limited to just one per cent. It’s one of a series of tough measures under consideration by Mr Hunt and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who plan to raise £25 billion from tax increases and £25 billion from spending cuts.
Others include a stealth tax on private pensions so that two million people pay a 55 per cent tax on their pension savings. This would mean extending a freeze introduced last year on the pensions lifetime allowance, which caps the maximum you can save across all company and personal pension schemes without paying punitive tax rates and currently stands at £1,073,100.
Mr Hunt is also considering making electric cars liable for vehicle excise duty, in a similar way to petrol and diesel vehicles, from 2025-26. In addition, the Chancellor is seeking ways to raise more money from investors, including increasing taxes charged on dividends by 1.25 percentage points and cutting tax-free allowances for capital gains tax.
In an interview with the Daily Express on Saturday, Mr Sunak said the Autumn Statement on November 17 would be “compassionate” and “fair”. He said: “There are difficult decisions to come. We’re going to be fair in how we go about addressing them. People can judge me and the government by my values and our record, and that is that I can manage us through difficult economic times. We always do it compassionately and with fairness at the heart of what we do.”
The Prime Minister said inflation was the “number one enemy” and pledged to do everything he can to “grip” the issue and limit rises in mortgage repayments. Last week the Bank of England hiked the base interest rate by 0.75 percentage points to 3 per cent and warned that the country is facing the longest recession in a century.
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
Find recommendations for eating out, attractions and events near you here on our sister website 2Chill
Find recommendations for dog owners and more doggy stories on our sister site Teamdogs
