Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill

I do not accept that. I was about to do what I do every time I debate this issue here and remind hon. Members how unfair council tax is. I could spell out again exactly how much better a local income tax would be but, as I said, it is always the same people in these debates and they have heard it all before. I would like, therefore, to focus on the Bill’s greatest sin: omission. The Bill does nothing to solve any of the problems that councils and council tax payers face. Local government is in charge of raising only about 25 per cent. of its money and, thanks to capping, it is not even fully in control of raising that 25 per cent. Hon. Members will remember with incredulity our debate in July, when, in a place that used to legislate for half the world, we were reduced to telling Aylesbury Vale district council what it could do with 4p per resident per week. Because local government funds come in the form of handouts from central Government, the money comes with a host of qualifications, criteria, rules, regulations and restrictions. It is that relationship that damages accountability. It reduces local flexibility, undermines local responsibility, hinders longer-term planning and creates huge unfairness. It often leads to accusations, which are frequently unfair, that Ministers are using the power of the grant to favour their political heartlands. That mixture of central grant dependence, passporting, ring-fencing, targets and capping leads to the annual crisis in council tax rates, which began again just last week when the Local Government Association predicted a £2.2 billion black hole.