- Angela Rayner didn’t rule out scrapping single-person council tax discounts
- The Local Government Association seeks power to remove the discount
- Council tax could be raised by up to 5% without a referendum
Angela Rayner refused yesterday to rule out eliminating the council tax exemption for single persons.
The single-person discount automatically decreases payments by 25% for taxpayers who live alone, regardless of their financial situation.
It saves a person living alone in a band D property approximately £500 per year on their council tax bill.
However, councils are reportedly pleading with the government to withdraw the rebate and remove the 5% annual restriction on council tax increases.
The Local Government Association (LGA) wants the Chancellor to grant councils the authority to eliminate the discount, which they claim is worth approximately £3 billion annually.
Yesterday, Housing Secretary Ms Rayner refused to commit to maintaining the single-person discount in place.
Conservative former minister Graham Stuart said in the Commons that the discount ‘is crucial to pensioners who are already losing out because of the absence of the winter fuel allowance.’
He implored Ms Rayner to ‘promise today, put happiness into all their hearts across the country’ that she would not consider eliminating the discount.
But she failed to do so, instead responding: “I find it astonishing that members opposite, after running down the economy in the way that they have, after the Chancellor had to come to this House to talk about the billions of pounds black hole, are now attempting to claim that this Government is about raising taxes.”
‘This government is committed to making working people better off, and we intend to do so.’
Shadow housing, communities, and local government secretary Kemi Badenoch previously told MPs: “It has been reported that the Secretary of State is being lobbied to raise council tax and eliminate discounts such as the single-occupant discount.
Will she take this opportunity to reassure the House that the government has no plans to raise council tax, as they promised before the election?
Ms Rayner said, ‘Yes.’
Council tax can be raised by up to 5% unless residents authorize higher increases in a referendum.
However, Pete Marland, chairman of the LGA’s economy and resources board, stated that it should be up to councils and their citizens to decide how local services are funded rather than Whitehall.
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‘No other tax increase is subject to a referendum because all other taxes are correctly deemed to be within the elected government’s authority. The same should be valid for council tax.
He said town halls will face a £6 billion budget black hole in the next two years to keep services as they are with no additional cuts’.
‘We need a big adjustment in our funding… so we can offer the services they want to see,’ he stated.
There is also anticipation that the government will reform council tax bands in the budget on October 30. They are currently calculated based on a property’s value in April 1991.
