Local MP for Poole and Shadow Local Government Minister Robert Syms voiced his concern at joint moves by Labour’s Gordon Brown and Lib Dems’ Menzies Campbell to hit Poole with a new house price tax.

This house price tax already being introduced in Northern Ireland from April 2007 will see residents charged a tax, which is a % tax of their home’s value every year.  Gordon Brown’s review of town hall finances in England - is actively considering how to implement the scheme in England.

Assuming a 1% house price tax, the owner of a average property in England would pay a local tax bill of £2,027 a year. Southern parts of England would pay considerably more, but Labour heartlands less. By contrast, the average property in Menzies Campbell and Gordon Brown’s Fife would pay just £1,132 a year. Homes with ‘added value’ features like patios, nice gardens, double-glazing, conservatories or extensions would pay far more under such a scheme.

Most alarming is a sinister death tax: Since pensioners could be badly hit by the ‘house price tax’, Lib  Dems are calling for a deferred payment system for pensioners.  This would postpone payment of the property tax until death, when it would be “recouped by the Inland Revenue when the house was sold”.

Poole Conservative MP Robert Syms said “It is clear that both Gordon Brown and Menzies Campbell are plotting to introduce a house price tax and cynically tapping into the rise in property values.  Just because house prices have risen it doesn’t mean that local residents can afford higher local taxes.  Law-abiding, decent people are already struggling to meet the rising cost of mortgages, utility bills and local taxes. These sinister Lib-Lab plans for weighty tax bills are not welcome .”