Council Tax Controversy
Colin Crawford appeared on 19th November on Radio 4’s You and Yours programme to give expert assistance on the legal position in relation to the current controversy about service personnel having to pay council tax for their, or their parent’s, property in the UK when on active service or living in barracks.
The perceived unfairness in their having to pay this tax arises from the fact that the law requires the tax to be paid on a property which is a "sole or main residence". Case law has established that any person continues to have their main residence in the UK even when working abroad for 11 months of the year and returning only once to the UK to live in it for a short holiday. Equally, any person may have two residences in the UK and case law establishes that if one of these is occupied only because of work, and they continue to also occupy another property to which they will return after the work commitment ceases, then that remains their main residence even if they spend much more time at the work related residence. A discounted lower tax may still have to be paid on the other property as a second home.
These principles apply to all, including service personnel and any special sympathy for those serving their country on active service would need to be translated into a statutory exception. In the meantime, in order to be fair to other council taxpayers, the local authorities are under a duty to collect the tax.
