Impacts of Council Tax Reform – Research Programme

The Welsh Government is undertaking a programme of research to inform the Programme for Government commitment to reform council tax to ensure a fairer and more progressive system. Council tax is currently based on property values which are twenty years out of date. The Welsh Government is committed to the aim of making council tax more up-to-date and fairer. The current programme of research builds on the extensive programme of work between 2017 2024 to explore reforms to local taxes and local government finance in Wales, included the exploration of the impact of council tax reforms by the IFS, published in 2023/4. This contract will develop further this previous research as well as cover related areas of local government finance reform and interest. Summary - The Welsh Government is commissioning work, over a three-year period to further understand the impacts of specifically council tax reform, but also potentially other types of local government finance reform, across a range of research questions and themed work packages.