English: I'm very grateful to Sam Rowlands for his contribution this afternoon, and his keenness to work collaboratively on what is such an important agenda in terms of making council tax fairer. I suppose the reason why we've referred to our consultation as making council tax fairer, rather than council tax reform in itself, is because 'fairer' is the outcome that we want from this, and the 'reform', if you like, is the how we get there. I'll start where you ended, really, in terms of looking at other ways in which we can achieve an improvement in fairness of council tax. Of course, over the last Senedd term, we undertook a great deal of research that looked at exactly that, really, in terms of different options for reform. We engaged experts in the field through the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Bangor University, Cardiff University and others, and looked at a number of ways in which we could take this agenda forward. One was the local income tax to which you referred, and we discounted that because it didn't have some of the benefits that Sam Rowlands began his contribution talking about, in the sense that council tax is based on property, which is a fixed asset, it's simple to understand, it's difficult to hide your property and so on. So, I think there are definitely some benefits through a property-based system. We also looked at a potential land value tax, and Bangor University undertook some research for us on that. We're committed to continuing to look at that idea, not only as a replacement for council tax but also for non-domestic rates, although I think that it's well recognised it's more difficult to do so for non-domestic rates. But we're continuing that work, exploring what a potential longer term programme of reform could look like, in parallel with the work that we're undertaking in the immediate term in terms of the council tax reform agenda. We've also been very mindful of the revaluation and the impact of it. As Sam Rowlands says, there are around 1.5 million domestic dwellings in Wales that are currently liable for council tax, and each is placed into one of those nine bands. A revaluation will provide an update to everybody's tax band, but I think it's important for people who are taking an interest in this already to recognise that just because the value of your property has gone up since the last revaluation, it doesn't necessarily mean that your council tax will go up, because the overall take from council tax is not to be increased; that's not the purpose of this exercise - it's about redistributing that more fairly across the bands. I think, again, Sam Rowlands is right in terms of recognising the impact of transitional arrangements. I think it is fair to say that at the last revaluation, when it came into force in 2005, we did introduce the idea of transitional arrangements probably too late. We're doing this right from the outset now to explore what those transitional arrangements should look like, because that was one of the lessons that we learned certainly from the last revaluation exercise. I think the fact that we are considering additions to bands and we're undertaking the revaluation exercise is important, but I don't think that we should lose sight of the importance of the work that we're doing in terms of reviewing our disregards and exemptions, because they will be critical in ensuring that we provide the right level of support to those who need it, alongside the review of our council tax reduction scheme, because we're keen that we continue to support those households that do need that support. In terms of the previous revaluation, Sam Rowlands gave us the figures in terms of how properties were previously affected. We know from the work that the Institute for Fiscal Studies has done that if we were to revalue keeping the nine current bands, around a quarter would move up bands, a quarter would move down bands and around half would stay the same. But that research was undertaken prior to the pandemic, so we've asked the IFS to do another piece of research to update that so that we do get a better understanding of the implications in this particular regard.
Welsh: Rwy'n ddiolchgar iawn i Sam Rowlands am ei gyfraniad ef y prynhawn yma, a'i awydd i gydweithio ar agenda sydd mor bwysig o ran gwneud y dreth gyngor yn decach. Mae'n debyg mai'r rheswm pam rydym ni wedi cyfeirio at ein hymgynghoriad fel ymgais i wneud y dreth gyngor yn decach, yn hytrach na diwygio'r dreth gyngor ynddi ei hun, yw oherwydd mai 'mwy o degwch' yw'r hyn yr ydym ni'n ei geisio, a'r 'diwygio', os mynnwch chi, yw'r ffordd yr ydym ni'n ymgyrraedd at hynny. Rwyf i am ddechrau gyda'r pwynt y gwnaethoch chi orffen arno, mewn gwirionedd, o ran edrych ar ffyrdd eraill o sicrhau gwelliant o ran tegwch yn y dreth gyngor. Wrth gwrs, yn ystod tymor y Senedd ddiwethaf, fe wnaethom ni lawer iawn o ymchwil a oedd yn edrych yn gyfan gwbl ar hynny, mewn gwirionedd, o ran gwahanol ddewisiadau ar gyfer diwygio. Fe wnaethom ni ymgysylltu ag arbenigwyr yn y maes drwy'r Sefydliad Astudiaethau Cyllid, Prifysgol Bangor, Prifysgol Caerdydd ymysg eraill, ac fe edrychwyd ar nifer o ffyrdd y gallem ni fwrw ymlaen â'r agenda hon. Un ohonyn nhw oedd y dreth incwm leol yr oeddech chi'n cyfeirio ati hi, ac fe wnaethom ni ddiystyru honno am nad oedd ganddi rai o'r manteision y dechreuodd Sam Rowlands sôn amdanyn nhw yn ei gyfraniad ef, yn yr ystyr bod y dreth gyngor yn seiliedig ar eiddo, sy'n ased sefydlog, sy'n syml ei deall, mae hi'n anodd cuddio eich eiddo ac ati. Felly, rwyf i o'r farn fod rhai manteision yn bendant i'w cael drwy system sydd ar sail eiddo. Rydym ni wedi ystyried treth gwerth tir bosibl hefyd, ac fe wnaeth Prifysgol Bangor rywfaint o ymchwil i ni yn y cyswllt hwnnw. Rydym ni wedi ymrwymo i barhau i edrych ar y syniad hwnnw, nid yn unig i ddisodli'r dreth gyngor ond ar gyfer ardrethi annomestig hefyd, er fy mod i o'r farn ei bod hi'n dra chydnabyddedig ei bod hi'n anos gwneud hynny ar gyfer ardrethi annomestig. Ond rydym ni'n parhau â'r gwaith hwnnw, gan archwilio sut ffurf allai fod i raglen hirdymor i ddiwygio o bosibl, ochr yn ochr â'r gwaith yr ydym ni'n ei wneud yn y byrdymor o ran yr agenda i ddiwygio'r dreth gyngor. Rydym ni hefyd wedi bod yn ymwybodol iawn o'r ailbrisio a'i effaith. Fel dywed Sam Rowlands, mae tua 1.5 miliwn o anheddau domestig yng Nghymru yn agored i'r dreth gyngor ar hyn o bryd, ac mae pob un yn cael ei roi yn un o'r naw band hynny. Fe fydd ailbrisio yn diweddaru band treth pawb, ond rwy'n credu ei bod hi'n bwysig i bobl sy'n cymryd diddordeb yn hyn eisoes gydnabod nad yw'r ffaith fod gwerth eich eiddo chi wedi cynyddu ers yr ailbrisiad diwethaf yn golygu, o reidrwydd, y bydd eich treth gyngor chi'n codi, oherwydd ni fydd y defnydd cyffredinol o'r dreth gyngor yn cynyddu; nid hynny yw pwrpas yr ymarfer hwn - mae'n ymwneud ag ailddosbarthiad ledled y bandiau sy'n golygu mwy o degwch. Rwy'n credu, unwaith eto, fod Sam Rowlands yn iawn o ran cydnabod effaith trefniadau trosiannol. Rwy'n credu ei bod hi'n deg dweud, yn ystod yr ailbrisiad diwethaf, pan ddaeth i rym yn 2005, i ni fod yn rhy hwyr, mae'n debyg, wrth gyflwyno'r syniad o drefniadau trosiannol. Rydym ni'n gwneud hyn yn iawn o'r cychwyn cyntaf nawr i ystyried sut ffurf y dylai fod i'r trefniadau trosiannol hynny, oherwydd dyna un o'r gwersi a ddysgwyd gennym ni'n sicr o'r ymarfer ailbrisio diwethaf. Rwy'n credu bod y ffaith ein bod ni'n ystyried ychwanegiadau at fandiau a chynnal yr ymarfer ailbrisio yn bwysig, ond nid wyf i o'r farn y dylem ni golli golwg ar bwysigrwydd y gwaith yr ydym ni'n ei wneud o ran adolygu ein proses o ddiystyru ac eithrio, oherwydd fe fydd hyn yn hollbwysig o ran sicrhau ein bod ni'n estyn y gyfradd gywir o gymorth i'r rhai sydd ei angen, ochr yn ochr â'r adolygiad o'n cynllun ni i gynnig gostyngiadau yn y dreth gyngor, oherwydd rydym ni'n awyddus i barhau i gefnogi'r aelwydydd hynny y mae angen y cymorth hwnnw arnyn nhw. O ran yr ailbrisio blaenorol, fe gawsom ni'r ffigurau gan Sam Rowlands o ran sut yr effeithiwyd ar aelwydydd yn y gorffennol. Fe wyddom ni o'r gwaith a wnaeth y Sefydliad Astudiaethau Cyllid pe byddem ni'n ailbrisio gan gadw'r naw band sydd gennym ni ar hyn o bryd, y byddai tua chwarter yn symud i fandiau uwch, byddai chwarter yn symud i fandiau is ac fe fyddai tua hanner yn aros yr un fath. Ond fe gynhaliwyd yr ymchwil hwnnw cyn y pandemig, ac felly rydym ni wedi gofyn i'r Sefydliad Astudiaethau Cyllid wneud darn arall o ymchwil i ddiweddaru hwnnw er mwyn i ni fod â gwell dealltwriaeth o'r goblygiadau yn hyn o beth.