1:13pm Tuesday 30th June 2009
AN astonishing 190 Redditch homes have been moved to a lower council-tax band following revelations of systematic over-charging by the Government and claims of a Whitehall cover-up.
Figures from the Government’s council tax inspectors, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), have shown many homes in England are in the wrong band for council tax and have been paying over the odds for years.
Across the country, thousands of dwellings have already moved down a council tax band over the last three years and Redditch Conservative parliamentary spokesman Karen Lumley said she was angry about not only the banding errors but also the fact she feels the Government tried to cover it up.
“The Labour Government has been caught red-handed fiddling council tax to make families in Redditch and across the country pay more,” she said.
Mrs Lumley explained that accidentally leaked minutes from the VOA confessed that if these tax errors became known, the Government would lose money and would have to pay refunds - something that was ruled out as it would create adverse press coverage.
"Whitehall bureaucrats know that many homes across the country are wrongly banded, but have refused to correct the tax inspectors’ errors to save the Government money and to save face.
“The whole basis of our tax system is undermined if the state conspires to over-charge the public - Labour ministers only want to reform the council tax system if it rakes in extra cash for Gordon Brown’s coffers.”
In the last three years, 133,985 homes have moved down a band in England as appeals surged following a campaign by GMTV money expert Martin Lewis to make people aware of the matter.
A VOA spokesman said: "We are happy to review any banding when there is a good reason to do so but since April 2006 the number of alterations to existing bandings, both up and down, has amounted to no more than a fraction of one per cent of the 22 million homes across England.
"Far from covering up this issue, the Government changed the law to protect taxpayers from backdated bills when properties were improved and sold.
“In the small minority of cases where a band needed to be reviewed, the VOA has taken action and the Government has protected taxpayers from backdating."
Anyone who feels their band is incorrect should visit www.voa.gov.uk, where they can find information about the way the VOA assesses properties and residents can check their banding against others nearby.
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