Andy Burnham’s closest allies have warned that replacing council tax and stamp duty with a new land value tax (LVT) would take years to implement and could be “politically problematic”.
The new prime minister has advocated for a major shake up of property taxation where owners would be charged based on the value of the land they own, rather than the buildings sitting on it.
But David Blunkett, a Labour grandee and Burnham mentor, told The i Paper that while a new land tax is an “interesting idea”, it cannot happen “in the immediate future” and would “dislocate the system” by creating “winners and losers” across the housing market.
Shorts
Steve Rotherham, the mayor the Liverpool City region and another of Burnham’s closest allies, also sounded a note of caution over plans to replace council tax and stamp duty with a proportional property tax, asking whether the reform could create “more losers than winners”.
