AN MP claims the Government's U-turn over plans to re-evaluate Council Tax bandings has merely 'reset the clock on the ticking tax timebomb'.
The Government was due to spend more than £100m on reassessing the value of every home in England for Council Tax purposes; revised bandings were to have been issued in 2007.
But opponents claimed that taking into account the number of bathrooms and bedrooms, out-buildings, conservatories and garden size when assessing properties would mean people who had improved their homes would be shunted up one or more Council Tax bands, as would others who lived in areas where house prices had rocketed. Shifting from Band D to Band E in Vale Royal would mean a tax hike of £275-a-year, from £1,237-£1,512.
The Government last month announced it had postponed the move - already carried out in Wales to many complaints from residents there - but Tory MP Stephen O'Brien warns that the danger hasn't yet passed.
The Eddisbury MP, whose constituency covers Winsford and parts of Northwich, said: 'I have been warning for many months about the damaging impact that the Government's Council Tax revaluation exercise will have on the finances of householders in my constituency.
'It is no surprise that the Government has performed a U-turn, but householders need to be warned that the Government has only postponed this tax hike, not cancelled it.
'Labour's decision to delay the revaluation of Council Tax on properties for five years has merely reset the clock on a ticking tax timebomb.
'This U-turn is a sign of panic by the Government - the revaluation process would place millions of properties into a higher tax band, costing residents hundreds of pounds in additional tax bills.'
