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Wales is charging a 150% tax on second homes and it's working. (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 9 months ago by pelespirit@sh.itjust.works to c/politics@sh.itjust.works

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To try to tackle this, the Welsh Labour government, alongside Plaid Cymru, introduced measures to curb second-home ownership. This included giving councils the ability to push council tax on second homes to 300% the usual rate. They also closed a loophole whereby second-home owners could register as a business in order to pay the much lower business rates.

Gwynedd council used these powers to hike council tax to 150% in April 2023. By the end of 2024, house prices had fallen by 12.4% as second-home owners tried to sell up. In Pembrokeshire, house prices fell by 8.9% after the council increased the council tax to 200% on second homes (though this was reduced to 150% recently).

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[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That would work better, wouldn't it. I bet they can pick their primary home or do they have to prove it? If they don't have to prove it, it would be easy enough to say that the Wales home is their primary and their second home is in a place with not tax burdens. I guess we have to do this everywhere?

[–] Oni_eyes@sh.itjust.works 7 points 9 months ago

Most places have a specific occupancy duration to qualify as a primary home, right?

If not, that seems to be a good option. Primary counts if used by owner for living >240 days of the year (random number but figured it should be at least 3/4 a year or so). Like how we calculate whether someone counts as in state vs out of state for tuition.