AN "ARMY of state inspectors” could be employed to snoop on their homes if a controversial tax on people’s homes is ever introduced.

That’s the warning today from John Stevenson, the Carlisle solicitor hoping to be the city’s next MP.

John, the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Carlisle, says people should not assume that, just because there are so few houses worth £1 million here, they will not be affected by the Liberal Democrats’ so-called “mansion tax”.

“How will they know our houses aren’t worth a million unless they come and look?” he says. “The fact is that we will have an army of nosy state inspectors snooping around our homes regardless of how much they are worth.”

John – who has previously warned against the Labour Government’s plan for a wholesale council tax revaluation which will see people being penalised if, for example, they have a nice view out of their windows – says the Liberal Democrats’ idea is nearly as bad.

The proposed new house price – to be levied at the rate of 0.5 per cent of a home’s value every year – would be slapped on all homes worth £1 million or more.

“There is no way this new tax could be levied without the Government’s Valuation Office Agency undertaking inspections of all detached homes across Carlisle,” John says. “Whether or not people are hit by the tax, they will have inspectors intruding into their gardens, bathrooms and bedrooms.

“Both Labour and Liberal Democrats have now signed up to intrusive tax revaluations of people’s homes to hike up bills. People of all backgrounds face a double whammy of higher income tax and punitive property taxes.”

John is equally dismissive of the Liberal Democrats’ proposals for a new local income tax.

Liberal Democrats have confirmed their plans for a new local income tax of 3.5 per cent on the basic and higher rates of income tax – something that would add £236 to the average working family’s tax bill in Carlisle.

 “All this shows that there is now a clear choice for voters at the next general election,” John says.

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