8. Plaid Cymru Debate: Council Tax on Second Homes

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:10 pm on 16 October 2019.

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Photo of Mark Reckless Mark Reckless Conservative 6:10, 16 October 2019

The Member’s put his point on the record. I need to complete the point I was trying to make to conclude my argument, which is, yes, as the motion says, if it’s a second home, you should pay council tax—that’s appropriate, and you shouldn’t have an exploitation of a loophole. However, if the tax system is designed to say, actually, if it’s not a second home and you’re really having it on a holiday lettings basis and you’re genuinely doing that commercially, and, as per HMRC, it is available, genuinely, for at least 30 weeks a year, and your use is incidental for the remainder, and genuinely rent it out for at least 15 weeks, then that strikes me as a reasonable hurdle to clear to say, 'Actually, this is a holiday letting. It’s occupied for much of the year. People are there spending money in the local area. I’m paying my income tax on that according to HMRC rules. It’s fair and appropriate to say it is that rather than, actually, a second home I’m disguising to avoid council tax.' But if we are to say that, I really think we need to move to the stricter HMRC FHL rules that have applied since 2012-13. It would also make it simpler, because there’s then one system you get for both your council tax exemption and the HMRC rules. And I don’t understand why Welsh Government would continue having this much laxer thing, which I think is properly described by Plaid as a loophole.