Overview
- Reports say Chancellor Rachel Reeves is considering options that include doubling rates for Bands G and H or adding new higher bands, with no final decision before the 26 November Budget.
- An Institute for Fiscal Studies estimate suggests doubling the top two bands could raise about £4.2 billion, and coverage cites more than one million homes in those bands as potentially affected.
- Daily Mail analysis projects some Band H bills could exceed £10,000 a year in places like Rutland if rates were doubled, highlighting wide local variations in current charges.
- Downing Street has declined to rule out changes, while critics including Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage warn the measures would hit pensioners and long‑time owners in high‑price areas.
- Analyses note England’s council tax is based on 1991 values and a full revaluation is unlikely soon, with precedent from Wales’ 2003 addition of a higher band and concentrations of very high‑value homes in London and the South East.