Council Tax

[TheCountOfNowhere]

Just got my council tax bill in.

1800 quid in tax, just to live ina small 4 bed house.

It strikes me as a total con. I spoke to a council lacky about it, they told me it costs £1 to get my bins collected, that's £26 quid a year.

They've turned the street lights off round my way too.

The 1800 quid they collect is after tax too, so in reality the tax is

£3000

This is a total con.

If you dont pay it, they come and take your stuff and/or lock you up.

Something needs to be done about council tax.

It's grotesque.

Is anyone else sick of this thievery ?

[Reck B]

Just got my council tax bill in.

1800 quid in tax, just to live ina small 4 bed house.

It strikes me as a total con. I spoke to a council lacky about it, they told me it costs £1 to get my bins collected, that's £26 quid a year.

They've turned the street lights off round my way too.

The 1800 quid they collect is after tax too, so in reality the tax is

£3000

This is a total con.

If you dont pay it, they come and take your stuff and/or lock you up.

Something needs to be done about council tax.

It's grotesque.

Is anyone else sick of this thievery ?

Ask them how much of your council tax pays for public sector pensions.

(PS It's about £450 of your £1800)

Edited March 19, 2012 by Reck B

[Save me from the madness!]

What about the policing, fire service, Education, Social Service (you and your family may not need it, but you can bet the society you live in would be far worse without social services - kids begging, drunks mugging people at knife point etc), maintaining roads, maintaining park land and trees on public footpaths, help for elderly (we'll all be old one day), and the disabled etc.

I'm no fan of tax, but Council Tax seems pretty cheap to me, perhaps the higher bands need to increase to make it fairer as the lower scales pay far more as pro-rata.

[Reck B]

What about the policing, fire service, Education, Social Service (you and your family may not need it, but you can bet the society you live in would be far worse without social services - kids begging, drunks mugging people at knife point etc), maintaining roads, maintaining park land and trees on public footpaths, help for elderly (we'll all be old one day), and the disabled etc.

I'm no fan of tax, but Council Tax seems pretty cheap to me, perhaps the higher bands need to increase to make it fairer as the lower scales pay far more as pro-rata.

Genuine question - how were these services funded before council tax was introduced?

[stuckmojo]

What about the policing, fire service, Education, Social Service (you and your family may not need it, but you can bet the society you live in would be far worse without social services - kids begging, drunks mugging people at knife point etc), maintaining roads, maintaining park land and trees on public footpaths, help for elderly (we'll all be old one day), and the disabled etc.

I'm no fan of tax, but Council Tax seems pretty cheap to me, perhaps the higher bands need to increase to make it fairer as the lower scales pay far more as pro-rata.

My council tax bill (2,000 for a 3 bed terraced house in ******ing Gateshead, not Belgravia) breaks it down, to some extent.

Police, fire et cetera amount to only 15% of the council tax.

The rest is to run the massive civil service gravy train.

[scottbeard]

Genuine question - how were these services funded before council tax was introduced?

Presumably Community Charge (Poll Tax) and before that Rates - the predecessors to Council Tax.

[abroad]

Genuine question - how were these services funded before council tax was introduced?

Rates then poll tax then council tax. In Belgium you pay local tax as a percentage of your income tax(7% of income tax bill). Home owners(not renters) also pay a tax based on thoretical rental value of their house. Rubbish collection costs me €30 annually plus €1 per bag of rubbish(you buy them at local shops) and the binmen only lift official bags.

Edited March 19, 2012 by abroad

[Scary]

I could never work out how some assessment of the relative value of your house relates to the strains you put on council services.

[Dorkins]

What about the policing, fire service, Education, Social Service (you and your family may not need it, but you can bet the society you live in would be far worse without social services - kids begging, drunks mugging people at knife point etc), maintaining roads, maintaining park land and trees on public footpaths, help for elderly (we'll all be old one day), and the disabled etc.

I'm no fan of tax, but Council Tax seems pretty cheap to me, perhaps the higher bands need to increase to make it fairer as the lower scales pay far more as pro-rata.

Oxfordshire County Council:

Only a small part of council spending comes from council tax, the majority of their income comes from central government and is funded out of income tax, NI, VAT etc.

[the_duke_of_hazzard]

I could never work out how some assessment of the relative value of your house relates to the strains you put on council services.

If you live alone in a 5 bed house, you're effectively squatting on resources that the rest of society could make more use of.

[Guest_James Toney_*]

What about the policing, fire service, Education, Social Service (you and your family may not need it, but you can bet the society you live in would be far worse without social services - kids begging, drunks mugging people at knife point etc), maintaining roads, maintaining park land and trees on public footpaths, help for elderly (we'll all be old one day), and the disabled etc.

I'm no fan of tax, but Council Tax seems pretty cheap to me, perhaps the higher bands need to increase to make it fairer as the lower scales pay far more as pro-rata.

answers to your questions

policing is terrible, no police about, education is crap, too many chavs about,

kids begging, drunks mugging people at knife point etc happening all the time, and rising

maintaining roads, not happening, motorways are always bloacked with cones, no work being done, taking years,

[Democorruptcy]

Just got my council tax bill in.

1800 quid in tax, just to live ina small 4 bed house.

It strikes me as a total con. I spoke to a council lacky about it, they told me it costs £1 to get my bins collected, that's £26 quid a year.

They've turned the street lights off round my way too.

The 1800 quid they collect is after tax too, so in reality the tax is

£3000

This is a total con.

If you dont pay it, they come and take your stuff and/or lock you up.

Something needs to be done about council tax.

It's grotesque.

Is anyone else sick of this thievery ?

Something will be done about it alright but it isn't what you want.

Just think how much money they are going to need when the huge salary rises under Labour start turning to pensions and the new set of troughers take their places. It's going to be double troughers to pay! Some troughers left last year so the pension cost went up 3% in one year.

The cost to council tax payers of town hall pensions went up by 3 per cent last year - at a time when local authorities were imposing cuts in services, such as bin collections and meals on wheels to reduce costs.

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2048574/Town-hall-staff-pensions-cost-households-400-council-tax--28-total-bill.html

Did I mention councils are now funding 20% FTB deposits when interest rates are at a 300 year low?

They are now being triple AAA rated to borrow money because taxpayers backstop them as lender of last resort

http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=29810

[57percent]

Mine's really quite cheap.

Headline rate (band B ) is 528, but you get 25% off for living alone, so pay 396.

Of this, only 215 is council tax, the rest is for Boris/Ken to p*ss up the wall.

To put it in perspective, it works out as just over 1 working day of my other taxes.

Edited March 19, 2012 by 57percent

[Mrs Bear]

Genuine question - how were these services funded before council tax was introduced?

Poll tax, briefly, and before that, rates.

You still see 'rateable value' mentioned.

Edit: we live in Kingston, one of the highest CT areas in the country, if not the highest.

Band A - £1124.58

Band H - £3373.74

yet we are next door to Wandsworth, with one of the lowest.

Band A - £452.36 - £468.82 (higher if you're in the commons conservation areas)

Band H - £1357.07 - £1406.47

No wonder so many EA ads say 'Wandsworth Council Tax'

Edited March 19, 2012 by Mrs Bear

[scrappycocco]

my respond is the riots, these youths weren't educated and where were the police to quickly contain them - so where is my council tax actually going - non jobbers ......

further potholes aren't being taken care of by councils in time, loads of cars are getting damaged and councils are trying to wriggle their way out of the claims.......

i laugh at the value for money claims when it all could be done a lot cheaper and everyone would be better off...........

[richc]

Poll tax, briefly, and before that, rates.

You still see 'rateable value' mentioned.

Edit: we live in Kingston, one of the highest CT areas in the country, if not the highest.

Band A - £1124.58

Band H - £3373.74

yet we are next door to Wandsworth, with one of the lowest.

Band A - £452.36 - £468.82 (higher if you're in the commons conservation areas)

Band H - £1357.07 - £1406.47

No wonder so many EA ads say 'Wandsworth Council Tax'

Yeah, but your local services are twice as good.

Honestly, how does that make any sense what so ever? I thought that part of the reason that council tax is so low in Westminster was that they made a lot of money in other areas (parking, rates), but how could that be true for the difference between Wandsworth and Kingston?

Edited March 19, 2012 by RichC

[The Generation Game]

Poll tax, briefly, and before that, rates.

You still see 'rateable value' mentioned.

Edit: we live in Kingston, one of the highest CT areas in the country, if not the highest.

Band A - £1124.58

Band H - £3373.74

yet we are next door to Wandsworth, with one of the lowest.

Band A - £452.36 - £468.82 (higher if you're in the commons conservation areas)

Band H - £1357.07 - £1406.47

No wonder so many EA ads say 'Wandsworth Council Tax'

Just adds another £50pm onto the rent.

[tim123]

Just got my council tax bill in.

1800 quid in tax, just to live ina small 4 bed house.

It strikes me as a total con. I spoke to a council lacky about it, they told me it costs £1 to get my bins collected, that's £26 quid a year.

Why is it that people think that CT just pays for the bins to be collected?

75% of the money collected goes on welfare and education which IMHO ought to be funded from central government, but isn't.

tim

[57percent]

Why is it that people think that CT just pays for the bins to be collected?

75% of the money collected goes on welfare and education which IMHO ought to be funded from central government, but isn't.

tim

Most of it does come from central government.

The council tax is a fairly small part of local spending.

The question remains why there's such big differences between similar places. Comparing Wandsworth to Camden and the facilities provided are much the same. Is one council that much more efficient, or is the equation from central government wrong?

[Dorkins]

Why is it that people think that CT just pays for the bins to be collected?

75% of the money collected goes on welfare and education which IMHO ought to be funded from central government, but isn't.

tim

The majority of council income comes from central government, so it is funding these services.

[abroad]

Mine's really quite cheap.

Headline rate (band B ) is 528, but you get 25% off for living alone, so pay 396.

Of this, only 215 is council tax, the rest is for Boris/Ken to p*ss up the wall.

To put it in perspective, it works out as just over 1 working day of my other taxes.

Interestingly, I have a band B flat in West Dunbartonshire in Scotland(value about 95K). CT is about £980. subsidising London

Edited March 19, 2012 by abroad

[RufflesTheGuineaPig]

If you live alone in a 5 bed house, you're effectively squatting on resources that the rest of society could make more use of.

And the value of your property is made up entirely of it's utility. Which is entirely based upon the services that are provided to it, such as schools, roads, hospital and employment, most of which is dependant upon government expenditure.

[trippytinker]

Just take a look at the Council leaders salaries

[Rare Bear]

Most of it does come from central government.

The council tax is a fairly small part of local spending.

The question remains why there's such big differences between similar places. Comparing Wandsworth to Camden and the facilities provided are much the same. Is one council that much more efficient, or is the equation from central government wrong?

Because most of council spending does not come from council tax a small saving in total council spending will produce a large saving in council tax. The system shows up the inefficient councils. It was the same with the poll tax, the idea was that people would vote for less inefficient councils, hence it's unpopularity amongst councils as well as the usual rent-a-mob types.

[TheCountOfNowhere]

What about the policing, fire service, Education, Social Service (you and your family may not need it, but you can bet the society you live in would be far worse without social services - kids begging, drunks mugging people at knife point etc), maintaining roads, maintaining park land and trees on public footpaths, help for elderly (we'll all be old one day), and the disabled etc.

I'm no fan of tax, but Council Tax seems pretty cheap to me, perhaps the higher bands need to increase to make it fairer as the lower scales pay far more as pro-rata.

What about the policing : I was attached once in a pub...50 witnesses...police refused to attend because their would be drunk people in the pub. I was broken into once. Policed refused to look at CCTV footage, too much hassle for a small roberry !!! They are a joke from my experience. They basically seem to operate to generate revenue for themselves now. They have big salaries, great pensions and retire at 50 something, then go back on contract work.

fire service: I know of no one who has every been in a house fire or called the fire brigade. These could be part time volunteer jobs.

Education: I pay for that via my other massive central government taxes

Social Service : Society should look after society, we are being forced to pay for society to not look after itself very well.."kids begging, drunks mugging people at knife point "....I hate to burst your bubble but go through any town in the UK and you get this.

maintaining roads: I Pay a massive amount of road tax and petrol tax.

maintaining park land and trees on public footpath: Right now, the way things is, you want me to pay for something that is a luxury.

help for elderly Dont mind paying for that even though most of that should be soaked up by famillies, specially with old people they need help. That should be 5 quid a month's worth.

Basically, your post makes no sense. You are trying to justify the massive theft from the council tax payers to fund someone elses view of how we should live our lives, how we are foced to live our lives. Look at the state of the place for goodness sake. it's not workting.The who system is broken.

Edited March 19, 2012 by TheCountOfNowhere