Council Tax Snoopers Snap Homes
THE digital camera has long been a useful tool for traffic wardens eager to attain proof of a parking infringement but now it seems that other council officials are themselves getting snap-happy.
According to official figures, council tax snoopers have taken over 1.3million photographs of homes in order to catch out owners who should be paying higher bills.
In all, 823,000 properties have been snapped and then added to an electronic database in the past two years as Government officials look for signs that homeowners have added to the value of their property with additions such as conservatories and attic conversions.
Eric Pickles, the Tory housing spokesman, is unimpressed. Says he: “This new evidence proves the privacy and property of honest, law-abiding citizens is under threat from Gordon Brown’s greedy hands – and his paparazzi council tax inspectors. I am alarmed that faceless Whitehall bureaucrats are now rolling out a sinister property photo database. Not only are civil liberties under threat, but I fear these photos will be used to tax features like conservatories, extensions, gardens and patios.”
However, pebble-dashing, Union Jacks and garden gnomes will lower your bills by 100%.
Posted: 28th, May 2007 | In: Money Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
