Six Labour MPs backed Andy Burnham’s andy burnham land tax call for reform of council tax after Fairer Share said Makerfield residents pay twice what Westminster residents pay on similar properties. Burnham, the frontrunner to replace Keir Starmer, said at his by-election campaign launch that he wanted “reform of council tax” and called the current system “highly regressive.”
The group said a standard Band D property in Makerfield faces a council tax bill of £2,152 this year, compared with £1,048 in Westminster. Fairer Share said that means households in £280,000 homes in Makerfield pay more council tax than owners of £10 million properties in Westminster.
Burnham's council tax reform
The six Labour MPs named as backing the call were Jonathan Hinder, Patrick Hurley, Chris Webb, Ian Byrne, Jonathan Brash and Afzal Khan. Burnham also said 1991-based valuations were “not justifiable,” putting the dispute on the current rules that still use property values from 1991.
Hinder said: “A Proportional Property Tax would reaffirm to ordinary people that Labour’s on their side, putting pounds in their pockets without costing government a penny. Stamp duty and council tax are unpopular and broken, and there’s a credible alternative ready to go. A PPT could redistribute to lower-income and ordinary families within Labour’s fiscal rules. It’s an idea whose time has come.”
Fairer Share Makerfield figures
Fairer Share said the effective property tax rate on the Makerfield home is around 0.75%, while the Westminster mansion faces a rate of just 0.02%. It said the average Makerfield household would save £500 a year under a Proportional Property Tax, and more than 98% of households in the Greater Manchester constituency would be better off under that system.
Patrick Hurley said: “People in Southport know the council tax system is unfair because they feel it in their pockets every year. Figures from Fairer Share show we’re paying around a third more than the national average when you”
Fairer Share is advocating a Proportional Property Tax to replace both council tax and stamp duty, and a 2022 MRP poll by JL Partners found Makerfield residents backed it by 59% to 8% opposed. The government began consulting on council tax changes last week, adding pressure on ministers as the campaign tries to turn the comparison between Makerfield and Westminster into a wider case for reform.
