A Band D council tax bill in Hartlepool costs £2,556 a year — more than double the £1,047 paid by Westminster residents, despite the average home in Hartlepool being worth a sixth of a London property. The disparity, based on property valuations frozen since 1991, has prompted Andy Burnham to suggest that homeowners in the South of England should pay more tax.
In his first major interview as Prime Minister, Burnham told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that he wanted to reform or replace the council tax regime to “create some fairness” for northern England. He complained that people in Greater Manchester were paying “much higher” council tax than those living in “much larger homes” in London. The figures bear him out: Hartlepool residents pay 13.5 times more in council tax relative to their home’s value than Westminster residents, according to the Office for National Statistics.
“Burnham suggests southern homeowners pay more property tax to tackle regional council tax inequality.”
Burnham is considering several options. One is a land tax — an annual charge based on the value of the land rather than the buildings on it. Because the levy would apply regardless of development, it would raise bills in expensive areas like London while lowering them elsewhere. The idea already has the backing of more than 100 Labour MPs, and Burnham has publicly supported it in the past.
Another option is a proportional property tax, which would replace both council tax and stamp duty with a flat 0.48% annual charge on a home’s value. A Westminster home worth £836,000 would then pay £2,247 — a rise of £1,200 from current council tax. A third possibility is lowering the threshold for the “mansion tax” announced last year by then-chancellor Rachel Reeves on homes worth more than £2m. Burnham has refused to rule out reducing it to £1.5m, though this would not cut taxes for northerners.
When asked whether wealthier Britons should expect to pay more, Burnham replied: “There are people here in Greater Manchester who pay a much higher council tax than people living in much larger homes in London. So the chancellor before, Rachel Reeves, was right to start to reform council tax to create some fairness there.”
The question now is whether Burnham will push through a change that could see southern homeowners footing a bigger bill — and whether his own party’s northern MPs will demand the same for their constituents.