Ex-minister urges Whitehall to give councils control over property taxes

摘要

All local property-based taxes such as stamp duty and land tax should be retained by local authorities, former local government minister Bob Neill has urged. Mr Neill, Conservative Party vice-chair for local government, said business rate localisation 'was a start' but 'local government needs tax-raising powers and we should localise all property-based taxation'. He added: 'Once local government has an income stream, it can borrow. It can't be healthy that councils have to go cap in hand to central government for their capital programmes.' Speaking at a seminar for the 10th anniversary of the Local Governance Unit at De Montfort University in Leicester, Mr Neill said more devolution in England 'can then unwind the injustice of the Barnett formula which cannot last much longer'.Graham Allen, chair of the Commons political and constitutional reform committee, said that devolution to Scotland did not mean more powers for Scottish councils: 'One of the weak points in Scottish devolution is powers going from local government up to Holyrood.