- cross-posted to:
- politics@sh.itjust.works
- cross-posted to:
- politics@sh.itjust.works
geteilt von: https://sh.itjust.works/post/38301389
To try to tackle this, the Welsh Labour government, alongside Plaid Cymru, introduced measures to curb second-home ownership. This included giving councils the ability to push council tax on second homes to 300% the usual rate. They also closed a loophole whereby second-home owners could register as a business in order to pay the much lower business rates.
Gwynedd council used these powers to hike council tax to 150% in April 2023. By the end of 2024, house prices had fallen by 12.4% as second-home owners tried to sell up. In Pembrokeshire, house prices fell by 8.9% after the council increased the council tax to 200% on second homes (though this was reduced to 150% recently).
Council tax in the UK is banded based on the size of the property so isn’t that the equivalent of the US property tax?
The bands are why I’m saying “mostly” flat. There is a small amount of scaling, but it quickly hits a cap. If you have a mansion, you aren’t paying 1% of its value in tax annually.
kagis
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/understand-how-council-tax-bands-are-assessed
In England, the top band’s ceiling is 320,000 pounds.
In Wales, 424,000 pounds.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/wales-68336.html
EDIT: The price used is, for Wales, from 2003, so it’s typically about half of the current market value, in fairness, but it still illustrates that the thing cuts off at a certain, fairly low level.
Ah got you sorry. I see your point. Thanks