Six Labour MPs have backed Andy Burnham's call for property tax reform, giving fresh political weight to a push that would replace council tax with a proportional property tax. The support comes as new analysis from Fairer Share shows that people in Makerfield are paying far more than residents in Westminster for homes of similar value.
The timing matters because the government only began consulting last week on smaller changes to council tax, while Burnham and the MPs are arguing for something much bigger. They want a system built on current property values, not the 1991 bands still used now, which Burnham has called highly regressive and not justifiable.
Fairer Share said a standard Band D property in Makerfield faces a council tax bill of £2,152 this year, compared with £1,048 in Westminster. It also said households living in £280,000 homes in Makerfield pay more council tax than owners of £10 million properties in Westminster, with effective tax rates of about 0.75% and 0.02% respectively.
The MPs named in the push are Jonathan Hinder, Patrick Hurley, Chris Webb, Ian Byrne, Jonathan Brash and Afzal Khan. Hinder called a proportional property tax an idea whose time has come, while Hurley said people in Southport know the council tax system is unfair because they feel it in their pockets every year.
Fairer Share, a national campaign backing a proportional property tax to replace both council tax and stamp duty, said the average Makerfield household would save £500 a year under its plan and that over 98% of households in the Greater Manchester constituency would be better off. It also pointed to a 2022 JL Partners poll showing Makerfield residents supported the idea by 59% to 8% opposed.
That leaves the politics unresolved. Burnham has put reform back on the table, the MPs have now lined up behind him, and the numbers give them a sharp contrast to work with, but the government has not said whether it will take the wider proposal up or stick with its narrower review of council tax tinkering.
