There is a Grade II-listed seven-bedroom home of “ambassadorial proportions” for sale in Westminster, just along from the old Conservative party headquarters, if you’ve got the odd £17m to spare. But there is one financial worry the buyer won’t have: council tax. The new owner will be presented with a council tax bill for 2017-18 of just £1,376. We know this because that is the maximum council tax bill anyone in Westminster paysfor a top-tier, band H property.

Meanwhile, a pensioner in Nottingham living in a small bungalow worth about £150,000 is likely to be in the council’s C band and facing a tax bill of £1,645. Why are millionaires in London paying hundreds of pounds less in annual property taxes than someone struggling on a small pension in Nottingham?

The iniquities of council tax worsen every year. The annual survey of local authorities by accountancy body Cipfa this week revealed that households in England will see the highest council tax increases for 14 years. The average rise will be 5.1%, or double the rate of pay and pension increases – and that comes on top of a rise of 4% last year. The average band D equivalent in the north-east is now £1,799; in inner London it is £1,194.

A friend lives in a four-bed house in north London, worth nearly £1m, yet it was put in band B two decades ago, and she’s in no hurry to update the council or her £1,000-a-year bill. A woman I know lives alone, yet her council, almost randomly, prohibits anyone applying for the 25% single person discount that is available at most other councils.

Tax bands that made some sort of sense when they were last evaluated in 1992 – a quarter of a century ago – are absurd today. Westminster has the same A to H system as everywhere else. Its A band is for properties valued at up to £40,000 in the borough, while its very highest level, H, is for properties valued at more than £320,000. A search on Rightmove reveals a solitary one-bed flat for sale in Westminster for less than £320,000.

Since the poll tax eventually spelled the end for Margaret Thatcher, politicians have imposed an exclusion zone around council tax reform. Yet the need for reform grows ever more urgent. It should start with an acknowledgement that property taxes can be progressive and efficient. Generally, we under-tax wealth in the UK, which means we place excessive burdens instead on working people’s income and spending, while the rentiers who have prospered from property wealth gains have been left relatively untouched. Taxing property is also relatively simple, as houses can’t be hidden. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Labour’s Progress group and many others have outlined sensible proposals for reform, while Scotland has already started down the path of change. Can we please follow them?