Treasury has today launched a public consultation on reforming the rating system.
 
Currently, the ‘rateable value’ of a domestic property is calculated by estimating the rental income it would have earned in the 1960s, when the Island’s housing market was completely different.
 
The consultation proposes rates based on current capital value - the price a home would fetch if sold on the open market. Properties would be grouped into nine valuation bands, ranging from below ?125,000 to above ?1 million, with those in the top band paying eight times more in rates than those in the bottom one.
 
Under the proposed scheme householders would declare the capital value of their property so that its banding could be determined.
 
Modernising the system using capital valuation would mean some households paying less in rates than they are at present, and others more, but it would not increase the overall amount of revenue raised.
 
Treasury Minister Eddie Teare MHK said: ‘It is more important than ever that we have a rates system which is accurate and fair.’
 
He went on to say, ‘Our current system is decades out of date, is full of anomalies, and it can produce big differences in rates bills between nearby properties with the same market value.'
 
The consultation is open until April 27 and the consultation document can be found on the Isle of Man Government website at http://www.gov.im/consultations.gov?menuid=16916&type=current
and can be completed on line at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ratesreform