Council tax hikes on holiday homes aren’t ‘anti-English’ or detrimental to tourism. This is about preserving embattled communitiesJust over two years ago, Wales gave councils the powers to massively increase council tax on second homes. If you were to read recent headlines, you would think this was a disaster.“Fury,” said the Express. A “botched” policy that is “in tatters” after “£30k off house prices” lamented the Telegraph. Indeed, these publications are correct: the changes have led to something of an exodus of some second-home owners. What the titles seem to have missed, however, was that this was the point. Continue reading...