Wales Is Being "Used As A Council Tax Guinea Pig" For Revaluation, According To Assembly Lib Dem Leader Mike German.

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 31st Mar 2005

German made the claim during a press briefing in London where local government spokesman Ed Davey repeated the party's promise to replace council tax with local income tax.

The assembly leader said the Labour government in Cardiff had been forced to introduce a new tax band when they "saw the misery revaluation had caused, but it didn't help and there was misery anyway."

Speaking on the 15th anniversary of the poll tax riots, German said that just as Scotland had been used as an "experiment for that deeply unpopular tax" Wales had been a "guinea pig" for revaluation.

"Just as the poll tax was deeply unpopular and unfair, more and more people are unhappy with council tax.

"Labour has already forced council tax bills to rise by up to 22 per cent in Wales and the same will happen to England and Scotland after the election.

"The increase bears no relation to income or ability to pay. The whole revaluation process is random and arbitrary, with some poorer areas seeing bills rise by hundreds of pounds, while some richer areas get tax cuts.

"That is why more and more people are coming to the conclusion that the council tax must be scrapped," he added.

German said that revaluation in Wales had led to a third of homes being moved into a higher band whilst just eight per cent had moved down.

He also said the system was "uneven," with 60 per cent of homes in Cardiff moving into higher bands and that three families had seen their homes move up eight bands -more than trebling there bill.