Paying For George Osborne’s House?
by jontandy on January 28, 2010
in Election, General, Parliamentary
I was disturbed to see the reports of Tory Shadow Chancellor’s latest encounter with the Parliamentary expenses watchdog. George Osborne has been found to have claimed too much-£1,936-in mortgage expenses for his £450,000 Cheshire farmhouse in his Tatton constituency. George was happy the breaches were found to be “Not Major”.
Well I am sorry but in my opinion that is not good enough. For a politician aiming to be the next Chancellor of the Exchequer one would expect him to ensure his record on expenses was beyond reproach. Yet as soon as these concerns were raised instead of finding where he had gone wrong and paying up, the Standards Commissioner had to plod through an investigation at taxpayers expense.
Yet if you look at the detail it gets worse. Mr George Osborne’ error was to claim for interest payments for an increased mortgage, to cover £10,000 for repairs to the Cheshire house and £25,000 for costs related to the original purchase.
George Osborne’s personal wealth is estimated to be £4.3m. He stands to inherit the Osborne baronetcy of Ballentaylor in County Tipperary, Ireland, as well as a substantial share of Osborne & Little, his father’s luxury wallpaper company.
Did he really need to claim the interest on these sums with personal resources like that? This isn’t class envy on my part, it is the clear unfairness of this behaviour. Is it fair to expect taxpayers, many on modest incomes to support such claims?
Perhaps the local Tories would care to comment-after all they selected Derek Conway-the father of the current expenses scandal.
Tax Discounts for Long Term Empty Properties
by jontandy on January 22, 2010
in Community, General, Local Council
Shropshire Council has agreed to review council tax discounts for long-term empty properties in a bid to encourage owners to get the properties back into the housing market.
The changes, approved by councillors at a meeting of the full council yesterday (Thursday 21 January), are aimed at increasing the range of affordable housing available in Shropshire by encouraging owners to sell or rent empty properties.
Under Government legislation, owners of empty properties don’t have to pay any council tax for the first six months it is empty. But Shropshire Councillors have agreed that owners should pay 50 per cent council tax for the six months following that, and then pay the full amount once the property has been empty for a year. However, there are exemptions available depending on people’s circumstances and ability to pay.
In the 2008/9 financial year, before the creation of the Shropshire Council unitary authority, the rules were different in different parts of the county. Bridgnorth District Council, Oswestry Borough Council and Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council had removed all discounts, while North Shropshire District Council and South Shropshire District Council offered a 50 per cent discount.
Shropshire Council had initially kept the 50 per cent discount across the whole county, until the decision taken by councillors yesterday.
Councillor Keith Barrow, leader of Shropshire Council, said: “We want to get these properties back on the market, but we don’t want to penalise anyone who has a genuine reason why they can’t pay council tax on an empty house. There are lots of exemptions to these rules to make sure people aren’t penalised, and there are also grants available to help people pay.”
Councillor Mal Price, Cabinet member for housing, added: “Creating more homes that people can afford is a big priority for the council. We hope these new regulations will encourage people to make the best use of empty properties and give a boost to the housing market.”
Mansion Tax Muddle is Typical of the Lib Dems
The Lib Dem proposals are in a muddle and their sums don’t remotely add up.
Following a campaign by Lib Dem MPs in wealthier London suburbs, the Lib Dems now say they would raise their mansion tax threshold from £1m to £2m.
The Lib Dems have been unable to convincingly say how they’ll work out the value of people’s homes that aren’t being sold. The available figures on sales show relatively small number of houses worth over £2m. According to the latest Land Registry figures, there were just 86 properties in the whole of England and Wales that were bought for £2m or more (July 2009)
Sarah McCarthy-Fry MP, Labour’s Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said:
“Their mansion tax muddle is typical of the Lib Dems. Because they are trying to face both ways, their plans keep falling apart.
“They’ve made a complete mess of costing their proposals. The only thing that is consistent is that their sums don’t add up.”
Looking at the detail of Lib Dem proposals, it’s clear they are in a muddle and their sums don’t remotely add up:
Raising Personal Allowances to £10k: The Lib Dems have underestimated the cost of their headline tax policy by over £5bn. They have claimed this costs only £16.5 billion. But figures already available on the Treasury website show that increasing the personal allowance from around £6500 to £10,000 next year would cost over £22bn (i.e. each £100 rise costs £650m for tax year 2010/11)
The Lib Dems claim they could save £5bn from closing loopholes, but these figures are just plucked from the air. Even Vince Cable admitted at the press conference today, they were just hunches.
The Lib Dems say they would raise £2.2bn from replacing Air Passenger Duty with a per plane tax. But Budget 2009 (p154) shows that switching back to this proposal would raise only another £190m next year.
The Government announced it would switch from the ‘Aviation Duty’ single plane tax that it consulted on to the Four-Band Air Passenger Duty that came into effect on 1 November 2009. The Lib Dems seem to have missed this.
Healey Calls Time on Tenancy Cheats
by jontandy on November 30, 2009
in Community, General, Labour Party
Housing Minister John Healey has today launched the first-ever national crackdown on tenancy cheats to recover up to 10,000 council and housing association homes fraudulently sublet, and release them to those in real need.
Tenancy cheats live elsewhere and can earn thousands of pounds a year by unlawfully subletting their properties at higher rental rates. If caught they will lose their tenancy, and could lose their right to social housing in future.
Those occupying these properties may not know about the fraud but 80 per cent do not qualify for a council or housing association home, and instead have to find a new home through the private rented sector.
The Audit Commission have suggested that the number of social homes unlawfully acquired or sublet could range from one in 100 to as many as one in 20 in some inner-city areas – totalling as many as 50,000 homes nationwide.
145 councils have signed up to the Government’s first ever national crackdown on housing fraud, including every council in London. With councils working alongside the housing associations in their areas, they will benefit from a share of £4million to set up their own anti-fraud initiatives – including special hotlines and crack squads to investigate allegations of fraud.
Mr Healey has today handed over to councils and housing associations leads to follow to potential tenancy cheats in their communities, found through data sweeps by the Audit Commission matching tenancy records against records held by councils, housing associations and other public bodies.
Public tip-offs are vital to tackling the fraudsters – half of all homes recovered from cheats are done so after tip-offs from neighbours. So he is offering a reward/bounty of £500 to anyone whose information leads to the recovery of one of the first 1,000 homes.
The average cost of recovering a property from a tenancy cheat can be as little as £3,000 – while the total cost of building a new council or housing association home can reach well over £100,000.
This anti-fraud drive to recover homes comes on top of the largest council house-building programme for nearly two decades and new guidance for councils to manage their waiting lists according to local priorities.
John Healey said:
“We can’t allow cheats to hang onto the tenancies of council houses they don’t need and don’t live in. I want people to feel the system for housing families who need homes is fairer and that’s why I’m launching this national crackdown on tenancy fraud.
“This is first-ever fraud drive nationwide, which could free up as many as 10,000 homes for those on council waiting lists, with £4million and 8,000 hot leads for suspect tenants, 145 councils across the country can today get this crackdown on fraud off to a flying start.
“But public tip-offs are vital in tackling this problem. So I am also offering £500 to anyone whose information leads to us recovering one of the first 1,000 homes.”
Councils and housing associations are also being given practical advice on how best to tackle housing fraud, as well as access to posters and leaflets that they can adapt to meet their needs, to encourage people in their area to come forward with any information they may have on local fraudsters.
Shrewsbury receives £1.7 million
by jontandy on October 30, 2009
in Community, General, Labour Party
Shrewsbury receives £1.7 million Kickstart funding boost for 50 new homes in Ditherington
John Healey MP, Labour’s Minister of State for Housing, today announced that Shrewsbury will receive £1,792,500 of government funding to Kickstart stalled construction sites. Kickstart provides funding to restart mothballed building projects.
John Healey MP, Labour’s Minister of State for Housing said: “Today’s announcement is another solid example of the Labour Government using the power of public investment in tough economic times to build the homes we need, support the construction industry, and create jobs and apprenticeships.
Our investment in and commitment to bringing forward the new housing that Britain needs stands in contrast to the Tories. They want to make it harder to build new homes and this year alone they would have cut a massive £800 million from housing funding.”
This funding will mean 50 more houses being built in Ditherington. The project is one of 54 authorised today having passed tough value for money tests to receive a share of £147 million nationwide. This is on top of 61 other schemes already approved, which takes total Government investment through Kickstart so far to £448 million to deliver over 11,000 homes.
Jon Tandy, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Shrewsbury said:
“This is great news for Ditherington and Shrewsbury. It will provide new homes, save jobs, provide apprenticeships and help local families to get a home of their own. These are Labour values in action – in our area, supporting hard working people through the recession, offering everyone, not just the privileged few, the chance to succeed.”
Ends
Editor’s Notes
To ensure the Government gets the most for every taxpayer’s pound the funding comes with tough terms. Over two thirds of the money is expected to be repaid with less than a fifth consisting of direct grant to support developers and the rest used to fund affordable homes as part of the Kickstart programme. Only developers who have accepted a realistic current market price for their land have been eligible for this investment.
Apprenticeships and local recruitment are also part of the assessment criteria for Government support. 70% of the approved projects offer apprenticeship and local labour schemes.
