Mansion tax inspectors can photograph people's homes without owner's permission or knowledge in attempt to collect new levy

GB News reports that Valuation Office inspectors may photograph homes from public highways for the new levy, and it gives both the Conservative attack and the Government's reply. In its own voice it says properties will be "slapped with a levy", a loaded verb that echoes the Conservative line it quotes. Otherwise the body attributes the snooping charge to Katie Lam and states the legal position plainly.

1. Uses a loaded word

   Minor

   “slapped with a levy”

   Why this matters

   In its own voice GB News says properties will be "slapped with a levy", lending its narration the tone of the Conservative attack it quotes.

   The impression it gives

   A reader takes the levy as an arbitrary penalty rather than a tax set by the Government.

   The context

   The same sentence gives the plain facts: around 150,000 properties and a charge of £2,500 to £7,500 a year. The verb echoes Katie Lam's quoted line about the taxman slapping families with a bigger bill.

   How we know

   • Elsewhere in the article“another excuse for the taxman to slap them with a bigger bill”