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Moving the tax goalposts
Slashing council tax discounts on empty properties and second homes will undoubtedly net the council a handsome cash catch.
And some may say, particularly in the case of buy-to-sit owners, that it is no more than they deserve.
After all the primary aim is to make a tidy profit on their investment regardless of the housing situation within the region.
Not all of the 2,547 empty properties in Calderdale are owned by speculators but according to Labour councillors, were the current 50 per cent discount slashed to 10 per cent, it would bring a cool 1 million more into the public coffers.
And go some way towards providing funding for 720 more affordable properties that we are told are required to keep pace with Calderdale's housing requirements.
The precedent has been set in other council regions and on the face of it seems reasonable. Though it is unlikely anyone who either owns a second home, finds a property vacant through lack of tenancy or is sitting waiting for the right price to sell, will think it is fair.
And they would have a point. Moving the goalposts is an all too common trend in modern-day Britain.
Before these plans mature further, councillors might do well to look at the impact of these suggestions. On both sides.
If the discount were slashed overnight it could affect the local economy as well as those forced to cough up.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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