• New house price tax say LibDems: Liberal Democrats this week have endorsed new tax plans, including consideration of a controversial new house price tax, slipped out in the small print of their conference motion. It calls for taxing "unearned economic rent" to "stabilise the property market" by introducing the "satisfactory" Danish model of a "national 1 per cent property tax". This would be on top of plans for a new local income tax of up to 5 per cent on both basic and higher rates of income tax.
• House tax backed by Labour: This house price tax is already being introduced in the UK by Labour Ministers. From April 2007, Northern Ireland residents will be hit with a house price tax of 0.63 per cent of their home's value every year (local taxes in the Province are lower than in mainland Britain). Gordon Brown's review of town hall finances is actively considering how to implement such a scheme across Britain. The Government has sheepishly admitted that middle classes will pay more under such a tax.
• Bridgnorth and South Shropshire would be hit hard: Under a 1 per cent house price tax, the average property in Bridgnorth would now pay a local tax bill of £1,948 a year and in South Shropshire where average house prices are now over £200,000, the house tax bill would average £2,105.
Mr Dunne commented: "I am concerned that both Gordon Brown and Menzies Campbell are actively planning to introduce a house price tax - and cynically tap into the rise in property values of recent years.
"Families and pensioners who have saved and improved their homes face the threat of soaring tax bills, without any improvements in their local services. Just because house prices have risen doesn't mean that local residents can afford even higher local taxes.
"Law-abiding, decent people are already struggling to meet the rising cost of mortgages, utility bills and local taxes. I doubt that these Lib-Lab plans for bigger tax bills will be welcome on doorsteps in the Ludlow constituency."
