A QUANGO will use satellites to spy on homes after a huge council tax crackdown was revealed in the Chancellor’s budget.
It has been revealed that the government may use aerial photography to help determine the value of properties in England.
It comes following the announcement of a new council tax surcharge aimed at homes worth £2 million or more.
There will be no escaping the eye-watering increases to council tax announced by Rachel Reeves on Wednesday.
The same day the budget was announced the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) did not deny it would use “modern technology” to help Reeves with her council tax raid, the Telegraph reports.
The same agency was previously given the responsibility of providing property values for 1.5 million homes in an overhaul of Wales‘s council tax system.
These Welsh council tax reforms were then delayed until 2028 amid concerns they would worsen the cost-of-living crisis.
But the VOA still developed the technology and methods to catch out unwitting Brits.
Officials from the VOA built an “automated valuation model” as part of the now delayed reforms that would be used to verify the size of houses and gardens.
The technology was branded “sinister” by senior Conservative Sir James Cleverly.
The quango also planned to check Energy Performance Certificates meaning more energy efficient homes could potentially be slapped with higher taxes.
James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, said: “It’s clear Labour have been using Wales as a test bed to develop the Big Brother technology to hike council tax on people’s homes.”
He added: “Labour ministers have failed to deny that the sinister Valuation Office Agency database will be used in England.
“And Labour won’t stop at higher-end homes, you can guarantee that this surcharge will be widened, and families will wake up and find their home is now classed as a ‘mansion’.”
Under Rachel Reeves new budget the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has revealed that 2.4million of Britain’s most expensive homes will face a surcharge.
The so-called “mansion tax” will hit properties worth £2million or more.
There will be four price bands, with the surcharge starting from £2,500 for properties valued between £2million to £2.5million.
It will go up to £7,500 for the most expensive homes valued at £5million or more.
Unlike normal council tax, which is funnelled back into local council budgets, this surcharge will go into central government coffers.
The Chancellor said the surcharge would be imposed on fewer than the top 1% of properties, and would be based on 2026 prices.
The surcharge will increase in line with inflation each year from 2029-30 onwards.
However, the OBR has said it expects council tax bills for average households to rise by 5% in April.
Council tax is forecast to raise £51 billion this tax year.
Measures announced in the Budget include…
It was suggested on budget day that that the VOA would use its valuation systems to force thousands of homeowners in England into paying more tax.
The agency also refused to rule out aerial photography and the use of satellites to strong arm Brits into paying more tax.
Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson previously told radio station LBC that the Government was considering using “powerful private sector data” to bring down the administrative cost of valuing homes.
Senior Conservatives, including shadow business minister Dame Harriett Baldwin, warned that Labour’s policies could end up clashing with privacy laws.
She said that there would “definitely be privacy issues around this”, adding that it was “very concerning.”
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the VOA said the agency would only use “freely available” aerial information that was in the public domain to value properties for the mansion tax.
The quango claimed this included Google Maps alongside a range of open-source data, the VOA denied that it had spied on homeowners.
The work done by the VOA in Wales also looked at local transport links, schools and crime rates in a given area.
This data was used as part of its model on council tax revaluation.
The Government is due to launch a consultation to advise on how properties should be valued for the tax.
A VOA spokesperson said: “We employ professional valuers who are involved at every stage, using modern technology and industry standard techniques combined with freely available information including sales data, property attribute details and government records.
“We also inspect properties where needed.
“This will be the same for our valuations for the high value council tax surcharge.”
The biggest budget shambles in history, writes our political editor Jack Elsom
WHAT we are currently witnessing is without precedent – and the biggest Budget shambles in history.
In an extraordinary clanger, the OBR has accidentally published the entirety of Rachel Reeves’ measures half an hour before she was due to deliver them.
The Budget is meant to be top secret until the Chancellor delivers her speech because so much of it is market sensitive.
Not only that, but the leak has stolen Ms Reeves’ thunder given we now all know what she is about to announce.
It is a bungle for the ages and one that will forever haunt the Treasury memory.
