A decade of council tax inequities? Geographical perspectives and a research agenda

Local taxation reform is back on the agenda in the light of the recent Local Government Bill. In reviewing the literature on the council tax, it is noted that researchers tend to view this from one of two perspectives: either as a fiscal policy, focusing on the tax burden, or as a housing policy, focusing on the property price valuations. Recent debate on council tax reform has gone as far as suggesting that there are regional inequities in the council tax, but what tends to be neglected remains the council tax incidence at the local scale. A research agenda is proposed here as a means of promoting geographically conscious inter-disciplinary research on local taxation.