I have a £2m property but I couldn’t afford Reeves’ mansion tax ...Middle East

A mansion tax hitting only those in the top council tax bands would be “crude and unfair”, Rachel Reeves has been warned.

The Chancellor is expected to announce a new levy on homeowners in the highest-value properties at Wednesday’s Budget.

Christopher Broadbent, who lives in a farmhouse with 50-acres of land in East Sussex worth around £2m, is worried that a mansion tax could “hurt” him and his wife financially.

“I think a mansion tax is socially divisive,” the 75-year-old told The i Paper. “It will exacerbate the perceived divide between those who are seen to be rich and those who are less well off.

“I voted for Labour,” Broadbent added. “But I’m uncomfortable with this because it feels like the politics of envy – ‘You live in a big house, you have to pay more money.’ They don’t know people’s incomes.”

Mansion tax could create ‘bizarre unfairness’

Properties in the top three council tax bands F, G or H would be revalued to see if they are liable to pay a mansion tax, according to reports on Reeves’ plan.

Though the Treasury has not confirmed any details, it is thought that the 300,000 highest-value properties in these bands could be made to pay a surcharge.

Properties worth £1.5m or more in the top bands would be hit, property experts have estimated.

However, tens of thousands of property millionaires could escape the tax, The i Paper revealed last week.

There are 33,000 homes in the lower A to E bands worth £1.5m or more, according to Hamptons estate agents.

Property experts warned that penalising only those on the top bands would create “bizarre unfairness” between people living in homes with the same value.

One said Reeves will be banking on lack of sympathy for people whose properties are worth at least £1.5m.

Reeves warned against ‘blunt’ definition of wealth

“It seems like they’re doing it in a very crude way, a very blunt instrument,” said Broadbent of the mansion tax plan.

“It feels like fiddling at the edges. If you were to overhaul the entire council tax system, it could be done in a way that is fair.

“It should be based on affordability, on what people can afford, and not simply punish people who live in a valuable house and fall in certain [council tax] bands. You have to be careful about who you define as wealthy.”

Broadbent is the co-founder of a sustainability consultancy. He is preparing to stop working, with a modest private pension ready for his retirement.

He and his wife currently pay around £3,600 a year in council tax in East Sussex, with their four-bedroom farmhouse found in one of the top three bands.

Hamptons has estimated that homeowners hit by the mansion tax face an average bill of £2,000 a year.

“I don’t know if I would have to pay it,” said Broadbent. “I would hope there would be agricultural relief – that they would look at the land differently from the house itself. But I suppose it’s possible I will have to pay it.

“I’m fortunate enough to be comfortable at the moment. But it doesn’t mean I’m rich,” he added.

“If my council tax were to go up to something like £6,000 a year, with this new tax, it would really begin to hurt. Especially as I’ll be living on a pension soon. My wife and I would have to cut back.”

Pensioners may defer huge tax burden to children

There are Treasury concerns about people who are “asset-rich, cash-poor” – particularly pensioners – being hit by the new tax.

Reeves’ team is understood to be looking at a mechanism allowing them to defer paying the mansion tax until they move house or after they die.

Property experts say some might be motivated to sell their home and downsize, rather than pass the tax burden onto their children.

“Not everyone will be able to afford thousands of pounds more in council tax,” said Broadbent. “I don’t understand why you would want to punish people to the extent that they may have to sell their home.

“If it were an extra £2,000 a year that you had to defer, and you lived another 15 years, you would be leaving a burden of £30,000 for your children. It doesn’t feel fair.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said a “mansion tax payable on death” was an “unjustified raid on pensioners”, while Reform UK has called it “cynical and cruel”.

Some Labour MPs and tax campaigners have welcomed the mansion tax as one way of redressing the “regressive” council tax system.

It sees those on the lowest incomes pay a larger percentage than the wealthiest households.

Tax Justice said a mansion tax would be “a fair step forward” because it is “asking those with the most to pay a bit more”.

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However, some Labour MPs in London are worried it will hit too many middle-class families in the capital, and are said to be urging Reeves to raise the threshold to £2m.

The Government is said to be hoping to raise £600m through the mansion tax.

A spokesperson for the Treasury said it does not comment on tax speculation outside of fiscal events.

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