Commission a full Independent Review of Council Tax and Stamp Duty
The Parliament petitions site records 101,910 signatures for this petition, which closed on 23 July 2026. The Government responded on 13 April 2026.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Commission a full Independent Review of Council Tax and Stamp Duty
We call on the Government to commission a full, independent review of Council Tax and Stamp Duty to deliver the fundamental, evidence-based reform the UK’s housing market urgently needs.
Council Tax arrears have risen to £8.3 billion, with more than two million households struggling to keep up. We believe a tax based on 1990s property values no longer reflects today’s homes or people’s ability to pay — and it fails to provide a stable way to fund essential local services.
We believe Stamp Duty remains a narrow, one-off tax that distorts the housing market and traps families in unsuitable homes.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 13 April 2026; the petitions site lists the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government as responsible. Its summary:
Council Tax and Stamp Duty are important Government revenue sources, raising £60 billion a year to fund essential services. Government is committed to a fair system and supporting home ownership.
The opening 330 words of the 783-word response:
Council tax is a tax on properties, where property bands are used as a proxy for relative ability to pay. For 2026-27, the system accounts for 53% of the local government core spending power, which local authorities need in order to provide local services. Councils are directly accountable to their local communities for how they raise and spend council tax.
In England, homes are put into one of eight valuation bands based on their capital value in April 1991. The purpose of banding is to arrive at relative values of homes rather than assessing the actual value of each one. The valuation of all properties in England is carried out by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) who undertake this role independently of ministers. While properties are banded by VOA, the local authority is responsible for determining the level of council tax in their area. This reflects the service needs of each area having taken account of the council’s other sources of income, as well as historic council tax decisions taken by the local authority over several decades.
Council tax is a settled tax which is understood by taxpayers, and which has a high collection rate (95.9% in 2024-25). As such, the taxbase remains broadly stable and the revenues are relatively predictable which means that local authorities have a degree of certainty in their financial planning. To ensure fairness, the council tax system includes a range of reliefs and exemptions, with 34.3% of all dwellings subject to a discount. These range from a single person discount and student discount to a severely mentally impaired disregard. The Government requires local authorities to provide a council tax reduction scheme to support low-income households, with 3.6 million claimants in England. Support for pension-age households is centrally prescribed by the Government and working-age support is designed locally, reflecting the needs and circumstances of local communities. Local authorities also have discretionary powers to offer further support to those they feel are in hardship or financial difficulties.
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies. Measured against each constituency's electorate at the 2024 general election, the most came from Croydon West, with 8.3 signatures per 1,000 electors (648 in all).
101,788 of the signatures were from the UK and 122 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures | Electorate, July 2024 | Per 1,000 electors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Croydon West | 648 | 77,891 | 8.3 |
| Lewisham East | 526 | 73,380 | 7.2 |
| Dulwich and West Norwood | 504 | 74,259 | 6.8 |
| Lewisham North | 501 | 74,205 | 6.8 |
| Peckham | 476 | 72,127 | 6.6 |
| Streatham and Croydon North | 502 | 76,313 | 6.6 |
| Liverpool Walton | 454 | 69,317 | 6.5 |
| Vauxhall and Camberwell Green | 454 | 69,652 | 6.5 |
| Liverpool Riverside | 456 | 71,380 | 6.4 |
| West Ham and Beckton | 506 | 78,964 | 6.4 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| London | 23,093 |
| North West | 15,455 |
| South East | 12,519 |
| West Midlands | 9,008 |
| East of England | 8,916 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 7,547 |
| South West | 6,500 |
| East Midlands | 6,431 |
| North East | 3,870 |
| Scotland | 3,783 |
| Wales | 3,721 |
| Northern Ireland | 212 |
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/754331.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
a929b26f2ea1ce58… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.