Southern homeowners should pay more tax, suggests Burnham
The Prime Minister hinted at introducing a system overhaul to level out how much homeowners pay in council tax.
Southern homeowners could be made to pay higher property taxes under possible new reforms made by Andy Burnham.
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The Prime Minister suggested he could use his first few weeks in office to reform or replace existing council tax legislation to "create some fairness" in the north of England.
Labour's general election manifesto in 2024 ruled out any increase in income tax but did not mention council tax, leaving him with potential room to manoeuvre.
His options include a land value tax, a proportional property tax or lowering the value at which the "mansion tax" applies.
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Council tax is currently based on property values set out in the 1990s, meaning the rates in Hartlepool, County Durham, are 13.5 times higher than those in Westminster, one of the richest, in proportion to local property values.
Asked if wealthier homeowners should be ready to pay more tax under his premiership, he said: "There are people here in Greater Manchester who pay a much higher council tax than people living in much larger homes in London.
"Rachel Reeves was right to start to reform council tax to create some fairness there in relation to people in homes that are of much greater value, who haven’t seen their council tax go up over the years because of the failure to revalue the banding.
"That’s an example of something that I think was right and fair."
Ms Reeves, the Chancellor under Sir Keir Starmer, announced a mansion tax on homes worth more than £2million.
Asked specifically whether he would look at reforming the council tax system, Mr Burnham said: "I am also saying to you that we need to honour the manifesto upon which Labour was elected, and if I was to bring forward any changes, obviously people would rightly say 'Well, is this consistent with that manifesto?'
"I will stick to the fiscal rules, and I know people try create a sense that I won’t take that cautious approach [but] I will take that cautious approach."
It comes as the new Prime Minister warned the NHS could be close to collapse unless social care is reformed.
In the same interview, he said: "If we don’t do it, the NHS will collapse under the weight of trying to care for people who’ve really not really needed to end up in the in the NHS system."