Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill

May I just acknowledge the inventiveness and compassion of my hon. Friend’s proposal? I hope that Ministers will listen to it. If they do so, I for one shall be listening very carefully alongside them. My hon. Friend points out the difficulties that we face with the council tax system, especially if we do not go ahead with revaluation. As she pointed out when she referred to credit, the present system has pitfalls, whereas a credit-based system is a gentler slope that allows people more flexibility in their arrangements and more fairness. That is what concerns me about not going ahead with revaluation. For some, not going ahead with revaluation may be a boon. They may think, ““Hip, hip hooray! I will not have to spend more.”” There are others, however, who may not yet have realised that they would have been spending less. The only way that the council tax can work is if some fairness is built into the system. We may think that the only way in which a system can work is if the value of property reflects at least in part the amount of money available to a family, but that is not true, as we all know. I see Liberal Democrats sniggering; they think that the answer is to go for some local income tax, but I do not think that that is perfect either.