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Clobbered by tax windfall?
Few among the owners of Calderdale's 2,500 empty homes will have been pleased with the suggestion that the 50 per cent council tax discount they have so far enjoyed is to be slashed.
Many of them will be speculators and changes of this nature will affect the profit they expect to make on their properties. The 232 registered second homes in the region will be clobbered too.
Owners who live locally might have consoled themselves with the knowledge that their loss would help raise an extra 1 million for council coffers and, if nothing else, they would share the benefit through improved services. In the case of second homes, many of which are holiday lets, the figure raised would run into tens of thousands.
Of course, with the demand for affordable housing, it would be preferable if some of these properties were made available to people wanting to rent or buy. And perhaps this will be the outcome.
But back in the grasping world of politics and public finance things are not quite as they seem for this windfall – a real bonus to Calderdale - will last just one year.
After that it will be spirited away to Whitehall when Government restores the status quo by reducing its revenue support grant to the council. One wonders how much benefit we will see from this locally generated money then. Precious little, if any, is the answer.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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