Dunne warns of Council tax revaluation taking place by stealth across England.Philip Dunne, MP for Ludlow, warns of "paparazzi" surveillance being covertly rolled out by the Valuation Office Agency - an arm of Inland Revenue. In a stealth council tax revaluation exercise, every home in the country faces photographs of their home - inside and outside - being stored on a computer database, in order to identify features which could be taxed.

• Two million homes already snapped by stealth: Covert photogrpahy is already under way by council tax inspectors, despite the supposed delay in the English council tax revaluation. New figures have revealed that in the last year, the number of photographs of homes stored on the system has soared from half a million to over two million.
• Estate agents collaborating in privacy raid: The Valuation Office Agency is also using taxpayers' money to obtain information on the outside and inside of people's homes - by buying up data from estate agents, Rightmove. Unsuspecting homeowners are putting their property on the market without realising that tax inspectors are using it to find out how to hike up council tax bills.
• Tax spies armed with clipboards and long-distance cameras: The 'Health & Safety' manual of the council tax inspectors reveals that they are being armed with telescopic lenses & cameras, clipboards, laser pens and location plans and maps of every home. The inspectors are instructed to record any abusive or hostile behaviour by householders. They have the power to impose £500 fines, via the courts, on any household who refuses entry or obstructs the state snoopers.
• Scrap these powers says Opposition: Conservatives are pledging that the next Conservative Government will abolish the powers of the inspectors to enter people's homes and gardens.

Mr Dunne said:

"I am very concerned that the privacy and property of honest, law-abiding citizens is under threat from paparazzi-style council tax inspectors.

"There is already public unease at Labour plans for a compulsory national Identity Card Database to cover 40 million plus people and the new Children's Database due to capture information eventually on 11 million children. The Government is now rolling out a property photo database to match and conducting a council tax revaluation by stealth across the country.

"Not only are civil liberties under threat, but I fear the photographs taken by these tax inspectors will be used to hike taxes on family homes - by taxing features like conservatories, extensions, gardens and patios. Conservatives are campaigning against these plans to send camera-wielding inspectors into Ludlow's bedrooms, bathrooms and gardens, and we will abolish the snoopers' powers of entry.

Council tax is very high on local concerns in my constituency, as evidence by my recent survey which placed it second only to community hospitals as the local issue of greatest concern."