council tax band G & H to double

[StrawberryThief1930]

has anyone seen the rumours that the council tax rates for bands G and H are going to double?

I know everything is just rumours at the moment but im worried this one might stick. easy to implement in an existing system and doesn't require the revaluation of thousands of houses etc.

I'm about to buy a G band house. Seriously questioning whether we can afford it. The current council tax is £4k a year. so £8k a year. Over £300 a month more than we had budgeted. we have spreadsheets coming out of our ears trying to check we can afford this house. Buying with a 40% deposit. im sweating...

anyone have the same worries? or further thoughts?

"It would also hopefully bring house prices down, which are a blight on society at the moment."

Probably THE biggest blight on society, can"t really think of anything else that comes close? Some might say mass immigration, and I suppose that feeds high rents/prices so a reversal there would be good for lower rents/house prices.

None of the tinkering around ‘value’ makes sense. Just tax on square metres of the property (including garden) / that would be am objectve measure (and then people might be more inclined to live in a space suitable for their actual space needs.

Thank you for that link, which says:

‘Council tax (before any discounts) is currently a lower percentage of property value for high-value properties than for low-value properties’, the IFS explains in its report."

And

"Properties in the highest bands are not those that are worth most today, but those that were worth most in 1991 – a very different set’, the IFS said."

I don't know why they appear not to have heard the suggestion of additional bands for highest-value homes.

Labour have fucked up, they’ll have to take it on the chin.

What does this mean @EasternStandard? Take what on the chin? And are you saying they should not change anything?

Probably high energy/food costs.

House/property prices are of course a serious issue because everyone has to live somewhere and most businesses have to operate from somewhere.

So they feed into pretty much everything you buy and pretty much all the services that are provided. Similarly for energy prices.

Good.

If you can’t afford it, sell up and downsize. Stop hoarding wealth.

" most businesses have to operate from somewhere."

Until WFH took off, then commercial property got hammered, hard to see a similar brake for residential unless it is a bond market event combined with a hardening stance on immigration from voters?

Ah, I get it now.

It says "According to a report in The Telegraph on Saturday"

So it's a scare story from the Torygraph.

It’s not that consistent. I’m house hunting in East Mids and one property I have viewed is a 2 bed and it is band E and in the same village a 4 bed is band C.

The whole system is a shambles, but that’s for another day. If they double the highest bands and get away with it they will come for the rest bit by bit….

I think they really are stuck. If they tax earnings more they will screw up the revenue. It will take a couple of years, but by the time the next election comes round the country will be in a terrible state just as they don't need it, and they might have to implement wealth taxes anyway.

That leaves wealth, which is mainly property and pensions. Taxing either is not going to put them at #1 on the popularity stakes but they don't have much choice, unless they want to either rein in spending, which will fuel and outcry from the left, or break the fiscal rules in which case the bond markets will punish them brutally.

So the choice is probably going to be the least bad option which is some sort of combination of wealth taxes on property and pensions in my opinion.

Whatever the choices they make, it will be the middle class that get hammered as they are the only ones with money that can be got at.

‘Hoarding wealth’?? So you’re another person assuming those in band G and H are all in houses worth millions.
I moved into my relatively modest family home 18 months ago. It’s not worth anywhere close to a million. In fact, it’s less than half that. We’re a band G. Selling is not an option as I have no savings and I suspect band G houses won’t be very desirable.

Our council tax is already £415 a month. Who will want a house where it’s over £800??!

Where is the wealth I'm supposedly hoarding? I’d love to know as I could really do with it right now .

@FancyCatSlavethe problem is that people use a metric like “4 bedroom detached”
but that’s meaningless
for example a quick rightmove search near me gives
this 4 bedroom detached
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/162999491 at £117k and the other end of the spectrum this 4 bedroom detached https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/164720036 at offers over £2m
they are clearly in no way comparable except they both have 4 bedrooms & are detached

2 bed social housing built in 2010 specifically to provide disabled access.

I think this is very dependant on where you live. Band h in the south east could be a four bed detached house. Not a mansion and not worth millions: Regular detached house.

Yes, good points, middle class are basically stuck in the target zone.

They’ve already done that? Second home stamp duty and doubling of council tax for second homes.

If you ignore the idea that some new council tax bands can be added for the highest value homes,

I will confess that I don't usually read the Torygraph.

But I do read the FT.

"George Parker, Sam Fleming, Julie Steinberg and Emma Agyemang
Published OCT 31 2025

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is planning a Budget tax raid on the owners of expensive homes, with new, higher bands of council tax seen as the best way to raise several billion pounds for the cash-strapped exchequer. People briefed on Reeves’ thinking say that more radical options, such as creating a new levy on the value of homes or imposing capital gains tax on the sale of expensive properties, are much less likely. Although no decisions have been taken, Reeves has said that higher taxes on the wealthy will be “part of the story” in her Budget on November 26. People close to her preparations say that “administrative simplicity” is key. One person close to Reeves’ thinking said: “The idea of increased taxation on high-end homes is well established. The discussion is about how you do it.” Another said: “It is vital for the political balance of the Budget, to show everyone is paying their fair share.”

The idea of creating new council tax bands for the most expensive homes in England has been on the table in the Treasury since it was considered by Conservative chancellor George Osborne in 2012. Many property industry experts see it as the “least worst option” among the various schemes mooted for taxing “mansions” — political shorthand for expensive homes"

There must be some reason why the Tory press didn't mention it. I wonder why?

"Even some wealthy property owners admit reform is overdue. Michael Sherwood, former Goldman Sachs executive, told the Financial Times this week that council tax was “very unfair”, adding: “If you have more expensive homes, you should pay more for them.”

The advantage of using the council tax system to increase taxes on housing wealth is that it already exists, albeit based on massively outdated 1991 valuations. “I could see them doing a supercharged council tax for high-value properties — it’s one way to tax wealth,” said Ruth Curtice, head of the Resolution Foundation think-tank. “On its own it wouldn’t sort out the mess that is property taxation, but we do already pay council taxes and you’d be asking the wealthy to pay a bit more.”

creating new council tax bands for the most expensive homes in England

Hmmm….what does this mean though? £500k? £1m? £2m? Considering that the opinion that the bar is low enough that everyone on £45k is not a normal working person, I do wonder what “high value property” includes.

My parents’ 4 bed band G house is about 1200 sq ft and worth about £800K. It’s also declining in value as the area of London they/we are in has become grittier and less desirable in recent years. Yes, £800K is expensive in national terms, but it’s just what you have to pay in most areas of London for a 4 (and often a 3) bed house (our area is cheap by London standards and distinctly unglamorous). They have lived in the house since 1985.

Meanwhile we’re finding that houses in the area we’re relocating to (market town an hour outside London) are now valued at considerably more than ours/my parents’ while remaining in much lower council tax bands (D/E on average). The huge shifts in the market since original valuation in 1991 make the current bands nonsensical.

It’s also annoying that the banding seems so random. I’m in a 4 bed detached, but it’s new ish build so not generous with size or garden. Worth about £500k. It’s an F.

There are older 3 or 4 bed detached (the 3 beds have bigger overall square footage than mine) on big plots at £750k to £1m that are also an F or maybe an E. In the same village as me.

You can’t appeal the banding unless similar houses that are very close are different,

Our next house will possibly be a G. That will be our home in retirement, so if we were going to have an extra £450 a month in council tax then I’d probably find a do-er upper F.

I think a much higher stamp duty for second homes. 3% doesn’t detract a lot of people
Wack it up to min10% and it will bring in some money for those who are desperate but more importantly stop second home buyers….buying. = more homes for people

Council tax also on second homes, or those not lived in permanently and used as airbnbs, should have a much higher council tax to once again stop people buying them

You’ve never bought or owned a second home have you?

I agree with you. London and the SE have benefitted disproportionately from house price inflation, plus general investment and jobs and there has been very little coverage about this inequality in the media. Now, when the possibility of taxes in relation to current values rather than 1991 values is raised, there are so many people screaming about how unfair it is and how London is being penalised. It's pretty pathetic.