More than 4,000 properties in Liverpool could be impacted by the adoption of a mansion tax.

From April 2028, owners of homes worth more than £2m will face an additional charge of at least £2,500 under a new plan unveiled during the Budget earlier this week.

The High Value Council Tax Surcharge announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves will be collected by councils who will then pass it onto the UK government who promises to use it to fund local services. The charge will come in from the start of the tax year in a little over two years’ time, with Ms Reeves telling the House of Commons she “will take further steps to deal with a long standing source of wealth inequality in our country”.

During questions at the Liverpool Council finance and resources scrutiny committee, Ian Williams, corporate director of finance and resources, revealed how many homeowners in the city may be impacted. Across Merseyside’s 14 Parliamentary constituencies, more than 22,000 homes could be eligible for the new tax.

In Liverpool alone, this comes to 4,179, around a fifth of all properties impacted. Owners of those properties will be liable for an annual charge every year, which will be added to any existing Council Tax and increase with inflation from 2029.

This tax will raise £400m by 2029 with the money used to support funding local services. The change is only expected to affect 1% of properties in England and a support scheme is planned for those who may struggle to pay.

To work out which homes are over £2m, it has been reported properties in Council Tax bands F, G, and H are set to be revalued. For a house valued at between £2m and £2.5m, people will have to pay £2,500. For homes up to £3.5m, the charge will be another £3,500.

The areas with the highest numbers of homes are Wirral West, Sefton Central, Southport, and Liverpool Garston. Responding to questions on the impact of the tax, Mr Williams said: “In terms of how many properties we know are in property band F, G and H, there’s 4,179, so that would be our understanding as the starting point.

“I think the government is going to look as part of the process to make sure there hasn’t been some drift between the numbers over the period but that’s ballpark where I’d expect it to land, certainly consistent with what global monitoring forecasting has been done that the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) fed into.”

On its website, the government said: “Under the current system, the average band D charge for a typical family home across England is £2,280. That is £250 more per year than a £10 million property in Mayfair, based on the band H charge in the City of Westminster, currently pays.

“This surcharge will change that, implementing a significant reform to improve fairness within England’s property tax system.”