Richmond joins call for government to pause proposed 'mansion tax'

Richmond Council has joined three other London boroughs in writing to the government to urge a pause on its proposed high-value council tax surcharge, often referred to as a 'mansion tax'.

The councils — Richmond, Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster and Wandsworth — warn that residents in their four boroughs would collectively pay around £275 million under the policy, representing more than half of everything the measure is expected to raise nationally. That concentration concerns them.

A central argument in the letter is that many affected homeowners are long-term residents whose properties have risen in value over decades, but whose incomes have not risen in step. Forcing such residents to pay a substantial annual surcharge on a home they have no intention of selling, the councils argue, is fundamentally different from taxing wealth that can be readily realised.

The four leaders also take issue with the government's framing of the measure as a council tax surcharge. None of the revenue raised would be retained by the local authorities or used to fund local services, they note — making it, in their view, a national tax collected disproportionately from a small number of London communities.

The full letter and Richmond's position are set out on the Richmond Council website.