Council tax revaluation taking place by stealth across England warns Marcus Wood
Marcus Wood the Conservatives Parliamentary candidate has expressed concern at a 'snoopers charter' of new rules allowing intrusive spying on private homes by the Valuation Office Agency – an arm of Inland Revenue.
In a stealth council tax revaluation exercise, every home in the country could find photographs of their home – inside and outside – being stored on a computer database in order to identify features which could be taxed.
· Two million homes already snapped without owners knowledge: Covert photography is already under way by the council tax inspectors, despite the supposed delay in the English council tax revaluation. New figures have revealed that in the last year, the number of photographs of homes stored on the system has soared from half a million to over two million.
· Estate agents collaborating in privacy raid: The Valuation Office Agency is also using taxpayers’ money to obtain information on the outside and inside of people’s homes – by buying up the data from estate agents, Rightmove. Unsuspecting homeowners are putting their property on the market without realising that the tax inspectors are using it to find out how to hike up council tax bills.
· Tax spies armed with clipboards and long-distance cameras: The ‘Health & Safety’ manual of the council tax inspectors reveals that they are being armed with telescopic lenses & cameras, clipboards, laser pens and location plans and maps of every home. The inspectors are instructed to record any abusive or hostile behaviour by householders. They now have the power to impose £500 fines, via the courts, on any household who refuses entry or obstructs them.
· Scrap these powers says Opposition: Conservatives are pledging that the next Conservative Government will abolish the powers of the inspectors to enter people’s homes and gardens.
“I am very concerned at these astonishing revelations. We have enough snooping and spying going on of our daily lives with CCTV, speed and numberplate recognition cameras; security cameras and even policemen wearing helmet camera's everywhere and now we find that we may be 'under surveillance' even in our homes."
“There is already public unease at Labour plans for a compulsory national Identity Card Database and the new Children’s Database. The Government is now rolling out a property photo database to match and conducting a council tax revaluation by stealth across the country; and if you refuse to co-operate you can be fined or penalised."
"Why can't the revenue simply send each home a questionnaire? I bitterly resent the assumption that we are all dishonest citizens intent on defrauding the Treasury when in fact the vast majority of citizens are honest and law -abiding and can be trusted to give the authorities accurate and truthful information about any enlargements made to their home since the last valuations were made".
