Boris: Increase council tax and cut business rates in the capital
LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson has called for a cut to business rates and increases to council tax for those who own expensive homes in London.
Speaking at a Communities and Local Government select committee yesterday the Mayor said businesses are being “clobbered” by high rates while rich homeowners pay low rates of tax as council tax bands have not been reviewed. “If you compared what a Russian oligarch is paying on his stuccoed schloss in annual council tax compared to what such a gentleman might be asked to pay in Paris or New York or anywhere else, it is quite stunning the difference. No one has yet quite grasped that,” Johnson said.
He added that he would oppose a mansion tax and called on the Treasury to give Londoners a referendum on whether to devolve more power to elected bodies in the capital, away from central government.