Sir Keir Starmer’s north London home is likely to escape the Chancellor’s planned “mansion tax” set to hit thousands of properties in the capital.
Rachel Reeves is expected to announce a surcharge – estimated at an average of £4,500 – on homes in the highest council tax bands in her Budget on Wednesday.
The Treasury has reportedly watered-down original plans to impose the levy on properties worth more than £1.5million after a backlash and target only those valued at more than £2million.
The extra payment is expected to be added to council tax bills on homes in Bands F, G and H as the Chancellor attempts to plug an estimated £20billion black hole in Britain’s finances.
Sir Keir’s family home in Kentish Town is in one of the higher bands but worth between £1.5million and £2million, meaning the Prime Minister will likely avoid the levy.
The Chancellor’s £1million Band G house in Dulwich will dodge the extra tax.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy’s Finsbury Park property and Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden’s homes also fall just below the £2million threshold.
However, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, whose north London home is worth an estimated £3.7million, will face having to pay the levy.
The former Labour leader has previously back a mansion tax and suggested that property owners should pay an annual 1% levy on the value of homes over a £2million threshold, the Telegraph reported.
Attorney General Lord Hermer also owns a £4million home in north London.
Research by The Standard has found almost 600,000 London homes are already in the three highest council tax bands – placing many in the capital at risk of becoming liable for the new tax.
Exact details of the policy remain unclear, but it is thought the new levy could be imposed from 2028.
The Chancellor hopes to raise between £400million and £500million with the plan.
It is also being designed to make fairer a system that sees owners of some of the most expensive properties in the UK in boroughs such as Westminster pay less council tax than those in poorer areas like Blackpool and Redcar.
Revaluing homes in the three top council tax bands would be a mammoth task, while imposing a surcharge on those already classed as council tax band F, G and H properties would be much simpler.
But these bands date back to 1991 and fail to take account of the huge changes in the London property market over the last four decades, particularly in inner boroughs.
The seven London boroughs with the greatest amount of Band H homes are: Westminster (16,772), Kensington & Chelsea (15,176), Camden (4,730), Barnet (4,339), Richmond (3,606), Hammersmith and Fulham (2,914) and Wandsworth (3,007).
Just 29 homes in Waltham Forest and 50 in Hackney are currently in the highest band, which does not consider the soaring property prices in east London in recent years.
Bromley has more than 30,000 homes in Bands F and G, placing many of its residents at risk of a mansion tax, while there are around 20,000 in Croydon and 15,000 in Enfield also in these categories.
