Conservative county councillors have raised concerns that Hertfordshire would be "amongst the biggest losers" were the Government to bring in a proportional property tax.

In essence, as part of a proportional property tax, residents would be asked to pay an annual tax based on a percentage of their home's current market value.

And there has been some speculation that the tax could be one of the options considered as part of a radical tax shake-up.

At the latest meeting of Hertfordshire County Council (July 21), Conservatives called on the county council to "strongly oppose" any proposals to bring forward a proportional property tax – or a mansion tax in any form.

And they called on the leader of the county council, Cllr Steve Jarvis (Liberal Democrat, Royston West and Rural), to write to new Prime Minister Andy Burnham to make clear their opposition to "ever more local taxes", as well as seeking to redress the 'Un-Fair Funding Review'.

Proposing the motion, Cllr Christopher Alley (Conservative, South Oxhey and Eastbury) said that house values may not reflect actual wealth.

And he said that some in South Oxhey – that he described as one of the "poorest communities in Hertfordshire" – could end up worse off.

Meanwhile Matt Cowley (Conservative, Harpenden South West) expressed fears that a tax linked to property values could lead to some who had lived in Hertfordshire for generations being priced out.

But following the 30-minute debate, the move was voted down by the majority of the county council – with leader of the county council Cllr Steve Jarvis among those to speak against it.

Cllr Jarvis stressed that the current Council Tax system "leaves a lot to be desired". But he said the motion had only set out what shouldn't happen.

"I guess my concern about this is that instead of saying, 'actually we need to fund local government in a different way, let's talk about how we might do it fairer'.

"Essentially this motion says we shouldn't change it at all; we'll leave it with all of the defects it had in 1992.

"And I just don't think that's a useful thing for us to be writing to the Prime Minister […] because I don't think he will pay any attention if that's all we say."

Leader of the Green group Cllr Kirsty Taylor-Moran (Green, Ware North) also spoke against the motion, signalling that she would vote against.

She said criticism of the current system was legitimate, suggesting it was unfair, regressive, outdated and in need of reform.

But while she said she was in favour of reform, she said there was not a tax policy to look at here.

And she said that to pre-emptively write to a minister to complain about something that is not a solid proposal seemed "bizarre".

Meanwhile Cllr Ian Albert (Labour, Hitchin North) also pointed to the motion's failure to set out any alternative proposals.

He questioned whether the county council should even debate motions "every time there might be a report in the Daily Mail or the Daily Express".

And he suggested that while there should be a review of Council Tax more generally, this was not what was proposed by the Conservative motion.

The motion was not backed by a majority of the county council – with 31 voting in favour and 38 against.