UK NEWS
BROWN TO TAX OUR GARDENS
Gordon plans to tax the nation's gardeners
By Kirsty Buchanan
GORDON Brown’s army of tax snoopers is plotting to slap a cash levy on every garden in England, the Sunday Express can reveal.
Homeowners already facing higher council tax bills for carrying out house improvements or living in a desirable neighbourhood will now also be stung because of the size of their garden.
Ministers have confirmed that the Valuation Office Agency has signed a legal agreement with the Land Registry, which will give it access to Britain’s biggest land database.
From October, the size of every garden, patio and outbuilding will be electronically submitted to the agency every time a house is sold.
And proposals are also being drawn up to make land registration compulsory, even if a property is not sold. Critics fear the plans will turn England into a "concrete jungle" with people filling in their gardens to avoid being
penalised or selling off their green spaces in lucrative flat development deals.
Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the agency's plans to detail any "value significant" garden features.
These include larger than average gardens, patios, leisure facilities, outbuildings, greenhouses and potting sheds. Local government minister Bridget Prentice said the information would then be used in "underpinning the revaluation of properties".
It means homeowners with such "significant" features could find themselves placed in a higher council tax band, with much higher bills to match.
Homeowners living in an average band D property would pay an extra £293 a year if their home and garden was pushed up just one band under revaluation.
One in three homes in Wales went up at least one council tax band after its revaluation process in 2003.
The revelation will rock Labour on the eve of an election which could see its power base in the South wiped out.
Shadow local government minister Eric Pickles said: "The Government's council tax snoopers are using every trick in the book to grasp information about people's homes and gardens - using spies in the sky, bribing estate agents for their property records and now raiding Land Registry records.
"England's lawns and gardens face a dual assault - Labour's planning rules are allowing developers to grab gardens, cover them in concrete and build flats on top. If you keep your garden, you'll face higher council tax bills instead."
Whitehall officials insist the council tax revaluation in England is at least two years away but work continues on cataloguing information and images concerning all 22 million homes in England.
The new tax threat follows Labour's controversial reform of planning rules, introduced in 2000, which classified gardens as "brownfield" land.
The reclassification sparked a trend for "garden grabbing" with many small garden plots being sold to developers.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said:
"Well-kept gardens improve our neighbourhoods so people should not be penalised for having them. This garden tax risks turning our local areas into urban jungles. It is ridiculous."
Bunny Guinness, a panelist on Radio 4's Gardener's Question Time, said:
"Gordon Brown should be giving us a garden bonus, not a garden tax.
"It is a mad idea because everyone is becoming much greener. Even tiny gardens are hugely important."
What do YOU think? Should Brown leave our gardens alone? Comment NOW on Have Your Say.
Video 
TAX OUR GARDENS
20.02.08, 7:05pm
What is it with this country, that if we dont pay tax on it ,then we have to buy a licence for it.
Enough is enough, and i think that people are getting sick to death of it all.
How are our kids going to manage,if we dont do something now,we must join together and put a stop to these people.
• Posted by: andyreading6 • Report Comment
BROWN TO TAX OUR GARDENS
02.05.07, 10:53pm
If anyone is still following this thread, try the following that a friend recommended - www.voa.gov.uk/TheFacts/council-tax-facts.htm. You will then actually have the chance to understand something about the subject. I also understand from him that the VOA and Land Registry have sent letters to the Sunday Express, pointing out the untruths in this article, including that they have no legal agreement as alleged. As I say without apology, this is just an anti Gordon Brown scare story to alarm the gullible - can you honestly believe that any politician would try to introduce such a vote-losing measure (and I mean honestly, not the saloon bar bore logic of "this government would tax anything").
• Posted by: masterbrew • Report Comment
BROWN TO TAX OUR GARDENS
30.04.07, 10:25pm
I so wish I had enough money to get as far away from this country as I could!
I do not own my own home but live in private rented accommodation why should I pay for something that I do not own???
There is a solution to this for homeowners though, those who have large gardens, etc, enclose it, build a wall around it, put many windows in and even a glass roof, it then becomes part of your house, not your garden or land!!
Up yours Mr Brown and the rest of you money grabbing thieves!
• Posted by: MollieUK • Report Comment
BROWN TO TAX OUR GARDENS!
30.04.07, 2:19pm
Masterbrew: I have read your defence of my comments and I can assure you I do know what I am on about!
You mention me being offensive, I will remind you what you said about the people on this site, Quote: "This is just a scare story to panic gullible people" The intent is very clear with a statement like this, and most people would find your remark offensive!
• Posted by: steveg • Report Comment
BROWN TO TAX OUR GARDENS
30.04.07, 8:43am
I am a chartered surveyor with thirty years experience in property valuations, so I probably know more about this than most of you. If you dislike New Labour, fair enough - I also feel that they have made a number of bad decisions as well - but do so on the basis of facts, not made-up stories like this. The most inteligent comment was from the pensioner who said that this is beyond belief, then spoilt it by showing that he still believes it! Simple facts - there is no levy on gardens actual or proposed, Land Registry records do not give property sizes and council tax inspectors are not sent by Gordon Brown (they were carrying out the same function when the Conservatives introduced Council Tax in 1993). Steveg - when you have to resort to being offensive, it shows that you are incapable of sensible or rational debate, probably because you do not know what you are talking about.
• Posted by: masterbrew • Report Comment
ENGLAND A ONCE GREEN AND PLEASANT LAND.
30.04.07, 3:33am
Not anymore. It's going to be a mirror image of the Ghobi desert once Mad Dog Broon is finshed with it.
What a system, punished for enjoying the view from your own front room window.
The future looks bleak. A hard stand where your elegant English garden once proudly stood and the only consolation and indoor window box.
• Posted by: kojak • Report Comment
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