METHOD
2. There are currently eight valuation bands designated A to H. These eight bands would remain at present levels for dwellings which have not changed hands since 1 April 2000. The rates of council tax charged on these dwellings would remain at their current rate as declared by local authorities each year.
3. The bill proposes updated thresholds for the eight bands so as to reflect more closely the current range of prices paid for dwellings.
4. Dwellings bought or sold since 1 April 2000, the date from which the price paid has been recorded by the Land Registry and is publicly available under the Land Registration Act 2002, would be placed in the updated bands.
5. All dwellings remaining in the existing bands would migrate to the new bands as their ownership changed over time.
6. The amount of council tax payable for each band was set under the Local Government Finance Act 1992 in the following proportions:
6: 7: 8: 9: 11: 13: 15: 18.
7. Thus in the existing bands the tax payable in any billing authority’s area increases with each band so that the tax on dwellings in the top band is three times that of those in the bottom band.
8. The Bill provides for the proportions to be changed to:
6: 8: 16: 24: 36: 48: 100: 250 for dwellings in the new bands.
9. Thus the tax in any billing area rises so that the dwellings in the top band pay approximately 42 times the tax paid by those in the bottom band.
10. The table shows how the new system would work in practice. Those in band A would pay the same amount of council tax under both systems. Those in the new band B would pay 14 per cent more than at present. Those in band C would pay 100 per cent more than the present band C. Thereafter, owners would pay substantially more than they would in the same band under the ratios set by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, with those in band G paying seven times more and those in the top band paying fourteen times more than at present.