People who own second homes may have to pay more council tax in England under plans unveiled by the government.

We believe it is only right that second homeowners pay a fair contribution to these [local service] costs

Nick Raynsford, Local Government Minister

At present, homeowners are entitled to an automatic 50% discount to the council tax bill on their second home.

But under the new proposals, homeowners will only receive an automatic discount of 10%.

It will then be up to individual councils to decide whether to offer further discounts of up to 50% of the total council tax bill.

The government, which has spent years mulling over the measure, said the move could lead to �65m being raised for local services.

Contribution to costs

The government originally planned to remove the 50% discount completely.

But it said a 10% discount was necessary so that second homeowners would have an incentive to tell their local authority that this was a second home.

It said local councils who increased the council tax on second homeowners could put the money into local services.

And it did not "propose" to reduce the amount of money councils get from the government to offset any extra tax raised.

The plans will be included in the Local Government Bill which is being introduced in the current session of parliament.

Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford, said: "We believe it is only right that second homeowners pay a fair contribution to these [local service] costs.

"Indeed the fact that second homeowners currently enjoy a 50% discount is a cause of resentment in several areas."

Rural poverty

The government also announced measures for reducing the number of long-term empty homes.

Local authorities in England will be permitted to reduce or remove completely the current 50% council tax discount on long term empty dwellings.

The measures builds on other changes to local taxation of empty homes, which were announced in 1999.

Councils will also be allowed to share council tax information to help identify empty homes,

Jonathan Ellis, chief executive of the Empty Homes Agency, welcomed the measures: "The council tax discount on empty homes in areas of high demand for housing has acted as an incentive to keep homes empty.

"And the inability of local authorities to use council tax data has been one of the biggest blocks on local empty property work."