The Treasury has rejected Conservative claims it covered up blunders in council tax banding, leaving many householders paying too much. The Opposition said as many as 400,000 households could be paying too much council tax because they were incorrectly banded. The party based the allegation on the 2005 Council Tax Revaluation Board, requested by shadow local government secretary, Eric Pickles. He said: ‘It is scandalous the Government has found out many homes could be wrongly banded, but has refused to correct these errors to avoid paying refunds and incurring bad press coverage.' But a Treasury spokesman said: ‘Nowhere in the document does it talk about tens of thousands of people paying too much council tax, or being in the wrong band. Neither do we recognise the large numbers quoted.' The Local Government Association said anyone concerned about their council tax banding should contact the Valuation Office Agency. But Lib Dem shadow communities secretary, Julia Goldsworthy said: ‘If the situation was reversed, I could guarantee these people would have had the taxman breathing down their neck demanding money.'
