Tax bands should be of values
Picture, if you will, a semi detached house on Borfa Green for sale in immaculate condition with paved drive, lawns and flowerbeds, a rear garden and a view of the Long Mountain. A very desirable place to live.
Now I happen to be living in a 1908-built terrace where the rooms are so dark that artificial lighting is required in the middle of the summer, partly due to its design and other factors.
Unlike the property at Borfa Green, with its own private drive, Powys County Council owns the street outside my front door.
Anyone can park where they like.
Even my drinking water arrives through about 10 metres of lead pipe. Lead is a nerve poison and accumulates in bone marrow where red blood cells are made.
Now I recently had this place valued and it may sell for about £95,000. Whereas the semi, an ex-council property, sold for £145,000. Here is the interesting bit . . . both properties are in the same Council Tax Band C, which for 2006/2007 is £861.45.
And there was me thinking that the property bands are supposed to reflect the value of that house.
Ask any estate agent and they will tell you that the price gap between terrace housing and sought after properties gets wider every year that passes. So owning a terraced is not a good investment unless you plan to live there all your life.
All the more reason the council tax bands should reflect the value of that property. Borfa Green semis should be at least a Band D.
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