Thursday, November 09, 2006

An Englishman's Home

...is his tax burden.

Or so the Daily Mail and others are warning following the stealth tax trials in Northern Ireland where council tax has become and annual house value tax, based on some 0.66% of the valuation.

Doubtless when the tax is introduced to England, the PR department will have spun up some suitably innocuous name - such as "Community Charge". (Oops; maybe not that one...)

A property tax bears no relationship to the impact of its occupants on the local "amenities" and services. Possibly the only element of local government cost that is actually proportionate to property size is the length of the road that runs past/round it.

The political acceptance of a property tax will rely on appealing to the lack of sympathy for those who live in posh gaffs. Indeed it shamelessly panders to the well known tendency of Brits to be jealous of the "haves". It's the same button that sees to it that drivers of flash motors pay according to the envy rating; regardless of the fact that they already pay more VAT and additional fuel tax than drivers of humble transport.

The same appeal to envy also sees to it that those who pay for private health care and/or education don't get any sort of rebate because they use less of the state provided alternatives.

Will this nasty, small minded and increasingly vindictive government not give up until there is no incentive whatever to try harder and earn more? I suppose a nation of those who have given up trying and just accept what the commisars hand out will assure Labour's re-election in perpetuity. It seems to be working in Scotland.

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