Some Liverpool homeowners are paying twice the amount of council tax that King Charles pays on Buckingham Palace.
Despite sitting in the highest council tax band H, Buckingham Place was charged £1,828 by Westminster City Council, whereas a Liverpool home in band H is charged £4,615.10.
Even a three-bedroom semi-detached house in Liverpool in band D is charged £2,307.55.
Lord Dale Campbell-Savours, the former Labour MP for Workington, told MerseyNewsLive: “The council tax in London is no resemblance compared to the North of England. A £100m home in London could be paying the same amount of council tax as a small townhouse.
“It’s the way the tax system works. I would hope they would do a review and look at council tax. There needs to be more equalisation.”
The council tax banding system was introduced in 1992 and has had real-term increases throughout the decades to meet inflation – this year there will be a 4.99% increase across Merseyside.
Council tax is based on the value of the property you reside in. The average Liverpool home is charged £2,788.32, compared to the average home in Westminster which is charged £1,104 – the lowest council tax average in England.
Liverpool has one of the highest populations of unemployed and working-class people in England, with 31.4% of people from social grade DE – compared to Westminster which has 23.3% of people from social grade DE.
The government states that re-evaluation of the council tax bands would have a negative effect on lower income housing, such as pensioners who may have added value to their homes over time.
Featured image (c) Creative Commons via geograph.org.uk
