good !

I can vouch for him.

Is that the advice of an activist or an agent provocateur ? Until I know you better I will refrain from brining my bullhorn to any party. Others may not be so concerned and will act anyway.

Personally I have no problem with any configuration that makes owners pay a fair share for services ( certainly don’t condone using services without paying for them), and , an additional valuation which compensates that local community for the disruptive effects of second home/holiday lets and tourism in general. Indeed given that tourism is coming to be seen as an extractive industry with locals at best getting odd supervisory jobs while revenue and profits get siphoned off to other side of Clawdd Offa this kind of regime must come into force a.s.a.p

This is an incredible suggestion, Brychan. I love it. But we can guarantee the tourist industry will oppose it because they’ll argue it will be ‘bad for tourism’. The ‘Welsh Government’ will go along with that because they have no interest in doing what’s best for Wales.

This suggestion needs a wider audience so can I float it on Twitter?

My above suggestion has prompted the question of ‘Is that legal?”
Yes!

IF, we remain part of the EU. There is case law. Sweden had a problem with wealthy Danes pricing out Swedes on coastal villas near Malmö. They wanted access to Danish citizen tax codes to lever additional municipal tax. Was it allowed? Sweden won the Öresund Bridge Hoppers case in the European Court. They also one a similar case with Finland in the far north where there was an “insulation tax” to bring second homes up to energy standard. Although these cases was won, they may have to collect it in Euros rather than Kroner.

If we get a Welsh government who’s prepared to act we would have to:

(a) Stand in the Senedd and tell Helen Mary Jones that she cannot access the ladies toilet and has to go use the gents. Although she may identify as female she looks like a fat bloke. So stop pissing about attacking Welsh citizens.
(b) Suggest the removal of the ethnic throw from the neck of Bethan Jenkins. White girls who marry a Bollywood stars do not automatically become oppressed. She can replace it with my IFK Göteborg scarf.
(c) Take a barrow full of radioactive Cardiff mud up to Bryngwran and tell Rhun ap Iorwerth he can add it to his veggie patch and grow Moron Wylfa.
(d) Give away a free train ticket to Leanne Wood outside the Womens Cooperative centre in Islington, so she can return to campaign for the community allotments in Blaenllechau, where she’s needed.

I’m sure Max Andersson MEP and Jill Evans MEP would be very willing to give evidence to the Senedd committee.

If they say it’s not within the powers of local authorities to draw such arbitrary boundaries, I can then show them a video of Mark James driving into the Nantycaws recycling centre being turned away by his own contractors after verification of his registered home address. I think he was told to return to the main road to turn right until he sees the sign saying “Croeso i’r Ddinas Gaerdydd”, to recycle his laylandii cuttings. It’s written on his driving license.

I wonder if Adam will look at my suggestion? If we remain in the EU we do it on Welsh terms, not what London tells us.

Dafis – I think we’re missing an opportunity. Premium council tax on second homes in Wales should be abolished. It’s crude and ineffective. It should be replaced with the secondary residence premium and based on the income tax code.

All income tax payers with a main residential address in Wales now have a “C” prefix. For example, my tax code is C1250L. The “C” is for Cymru, the 1250 represents £12500 tax-free allowance, and the “L” means I don’t have dependent children. It there is a household in Wales that is not resident for purposes of income tax, the “C” missing, then the 1250 can be added as a premium of £1250 to the council tax bill at the beginning of the year. This also diverts the holiday home owner from the avoidance practice of registering the holiday property as a ‘small business” exempt from council tax altogether, because what they will do is register their Welsh address as their main residence. This would mean the whole of their primary earnings (in England) would be collected in Wales, a proportion of which does not go via London, and directly into the Welsh budget. It’s also easier to administer, a council just needs to cross reference income tax codes to main residencies, and apply the premium where “C” is absent.

An English person with a second home in Wales is charged a premium of £1250pa. If they designate the Welsh address as the main home (the avoidance loophole), then ALL of their income tax is paid in Wales. This is more than £1250, paid directly to the Welsh budget. It’s also a way to stop the ‘Welsh clearances’ in Fro Gymraeg where children get a decent job in Cardiff or ‘away’. They can remain a Welsh taxpayer. So when parents die they are not forced to sell the ‘family home’ and there’s the option to remain as primary occupancy with a “C” tax code, which never attracts the premium. Keeps existing Welsh owned houses in the hands of Welsh people.

Easy to administer too. Every council has a list of residential addresses and the tax code of the occupant can be downloaded from HMRC. If the ‘C’ is missing, then the premium applies.

Plenty of people “prepared to speak” but apparently not invited to speak ! What do you suggest – should an alternative event take place ? That again falls into the old cythrel y canu tradition.