The great rebanding rip-off - ten top losers revealed

12.00.00am GMT Mon 8th Nov 2004

Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Leader Mr German has revealed the top ten hardest hit communities in Wales, where more than more than four out of five households will face rising bills.

The list shows communities in Cardiff and Wrexham being hammered especially hard.

He said: "The village of Worthenbury in Wrexham has seen 94% of houses go up one band or more. In the Riverside area of Cardiff 93% are hit. That's 5,584 households going up a band or more and just 21 coming down in an area where many of the houses are exempt from stamp duty. And it makes no difference if the house is owned by a pensioner who has lived there all their lives, or a young person buying their first home. The tax will go up and take no account of their ability to pay.

"It isn't just urban communities that are hit by revaluation: Manafon, Powys has 88% of households going up, Newport Pembrokeshire has 84%. In all these places, despite the Assembly giving a raise in grant, and despite the best efforts of the local authorities, council tax is going up as a result of revaluation."

Mr German will be meeting with representatives of the apolitical pressure group 'Is It Fair' shortly to hear how they are campaigning to scrap the unfair council tax system.

He added: "More and more people are coming to the conclusion that council tax is unfair and must be scrapped. The revaluation exercise in Wales has simply accelerated the process here. Already, MPs in England are seeing the pitfalls that lie ahead for them when revaluation takes place there. The only way out is the axe this unfair council tax and replace it with a local income tax."