If Rachel Reeves is serious about reform, she should fix a steely eye on council tax

The levy on our homes has become antiquated, outrageously unjust and manifestly absurd. It's in dire need of modernisation

- Andrew Rawnsley

he ripest candidate for reform is council tax, the levy that helps finance local authorities.

e need to update Benjamin Franklin. Nothing is certain except death, taxes and relentless yammering about which ones Rachel Reeves will hike in the autumn. The chancellor has not yet set the date of her next budget, but it is treated as nailed on that she will be coming for more. Cue a cascade of conjecture about where she is going to raise the money.

This is unhelpful to everyone except journalists with airtime and column inches to fill and opposition leaders with voters to scare. Endless budget speculation spreads uncertainty, saps confidence and spooks the public. I think it likely that Ms Reeves will introduce higher taxes on bookmakers, a move that speaks to the puritanical streak in Labour's soul and has been pushed by Gordon Brown. I'm confident there's no chance that she will establish a wealth tax. While the idea is very popular among Labour members, it is regarded as nightmarishly unworkable by the Treasury.

Truth to tell, there is no one, including the chancellor herself, who knows the precise shape of what will be in a budget that won't materialise until the weather is much colder. Even if ministers did know, they can't rule out this tax increase or that one without opening the flood gates to questions about all the other ones being floated. So they have to squirm and stonewall while voters have their spines shivered about mooted "tax grabs", many of which will ultimately never see the light of day.