Issue - meetings

In accordance with the Notice of Motion received under Section 4.19 of the Constitution, Councillor Rhys Tudur will propose as follows:-

Given

-        That the Welsh Government has conducted a consultation on varying the Land Transaction Tax

-        That varying the tax would give the Council the opportunity to tackle effectively the rate at which second homes are purchased

-        That varying the tax would open the door for this Council to bring pressure to bear on the Government to give its fair share of the revenue derived from land tax

This Council calls on the Welsh Government to give Gwynedd a greater role in being able to decide on variations for the Land Transaction Tax.

Given

-       That the Welsh Government has conducted a consultation on varying the Land Transaction Tax

-       That varying the tax would give the Council the opportunity to tackle effectively the rate at which second homes are purchased

-       That varying the tax would open the door for this Council to bring pressure to bear on the Government to give its fair share of the revenue derived from land tax

This Council calls on the Welsh Government to give Gwynedd a greater role in being able to decide on variations for the Land Transaction Tax.

Submitted - the following notice of motion by Councillor Rhys Tudur in accordance with Section 4.19 of the Constitution, and it was seconded: -

Given

-           That the Welsh Government has conducted a consultation on varying the Land Transaction Tax

-           That varying the tax would give the Council the opportunity to tackle effectively the rate at which second homes are purchased

-           That varying the tax would open the door for this Council to bring pressure to bear on the Government to give its fair share of the revenue derived from land tax

This Council calls on the Welsh Government to give Gwynedd a greater role in being able to decide on variations for the Land Transaction Tax.

The member set out the context to his motion, and noted: -

·         That the Land Transaction Tax is the most potent tool we have to tackle the summer housing problem and effectively manage second house sales over time, without producing side effects as bad as with other taxation tools, such as the Council Tax Premium.

·         That the Welsh Government consider exercising more powers to vary the Land Transaction Tax so that it is even higher on second houses, while also devolving some forces to the councils to vary the Land Transaction Tax on second houses within their counties.

·         That the motion asks the Government to give Cyngor Gwynedd a greater role to be able to decide on ranges for Land Transaction Tax on second houses, as Gwynedd has the highest number of second houses in Wales.

·         That here in Gwynedd the highest revenue was raised from Land Tax on second houses throughout Wales, but rather than coming back to us, the money currently went to central Government.  As such, it was hoped that varying the tax would open the door for the Council to receive a fair share of the revenue derived from Land Tax to help fill the financial gap facing the Council.

RESOLVED to adopt the motion, namely: -

Given

-           That the Welsh Government has conducted a consultation on varying the Land Transaction Tax

-           That varying the tax would give the Council the opportunity to tackle effectively the rate at which second homes are purchased

-           That varying the tax would open the door for this Council to bring pressure to bear on the Government to give its fair share of the revenue derived from land tax

This Council calls on the Welsh Government to give Gwynedd a greater role in being able to decide on variations for the Land Transaction Tax.