Council tax bands in England have not been revalued for 17 years There will be no revaluation of council tax bands in England during this Parliament, the government has pledged.
It means there will be no rise in local taxes for householders based solely on the increased value of their homes.
Every property in England is in one of eight council tax bands, depending on value, and these were last set in 1993.
The government said Labour had been “actively planning” to carry out a revaluation but Labour said its election manifesto had promised not to.
A revaluation is long overdue, but would prove highly unpopular with householders who find themselves in a higher band and therefore paying more in council tax, said the BBC’s Greg Wood.
“This is a cynical and misleading manipulation of facts based on what was ultimately a routine updating of the Valuation Office Agency’s records”
Labour Party spokesman
A revaluation in Wales in 2005 placed about a third of all homes there in a higher band.
The government says that a rise from Band D – the bench mark for council tax – to Band E would cost an extra £320-a-year.
Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said: “We have cancelled Labour’s plans for a council tax revaluation which would have hiked up taxes on people’s homes.
“Hefty council tax bills are a constant financial worry for many people. Today we are setting their minds at ease, and protecting the interests of the less well-off in particular who were the hardest-hit from Labour’s council tax revaluation in Wales.”
But a Labour spokesman said: “The Labour Party made an unequivocal commitment that there would be no council tax revaluation in this parliament.
“This is a cynical and misleading manipulation of facts based on what was ultimately a routine updating of the Valuation Office Agency’s records.”
The Taxpayers’ Alliance, which campaigns for lower taxes, said families would be relieved there was to be no revaluation.
“Council tax has doubled in the last 10 years whilst many services have been scaled back, executive pay has spiralled out of control and charges have increased; it’s time council tax was cut,” spokesman Emma Boon said.
What band a house falls into is determined by inspectors from the government’s Valuation Office Agency (VOA).
There has been criticism in the past from some quarters over what data about people’s homes is collected and kept by the VOA.
Mr Pickles said the government was moving to address this issue, and that an independent data audit of the VOA would protect privacy and civil liberties as part of dismantling the “database state”.
The Scottish Parliament has no plans to revalue homes in the foreseeable future.
In Northern Ireland, which has a different system of local taxes, property values were re-assessed in 2005.
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