UK Council Tax system doesn't work

How much longer must we put up with the insane system of Council Tax imposed on us in this country? I'm a pensioner, living in a tiny one-bedroom flat in London. My Council Tax bill is over £1,200 a year and it takes away about one fifth of my pension - so work out what they leave me to live on!

Rats in the rubbish, Where does your Council Tax go?

If I owned a similar flat in Spain for example, my Council Tax would be more like £140 per year. So what is it that they get right that we get so obviously wrong in this country? It's simple. In Spain such items as Police, Education, Health, Hospitals, etc. are paid for by central government. Local Councils only pay for such things as street cleaning and lighting, rubbish collection, etc. (i.e. residents' priorities).

The Spanish system is fairer as it allocates national costs to the tax payers of the whole country (sharing these costs proportionately among the people who can most afford them) instead of penalizing a minority who are being taxed out of existence.

It's clear the Spanish system is better and we must ask why we perpetuate our out-dated methods. Simple: UK Councils employ huge numbers of staff (many in non-essential, meaningless jobs) which not only carry inflated salaries, but they also draw "gold-plated" pensions as well, protected from inflation by index-linking which causes them to rise automatically every year. There is no ceiling to these rises and the Councils must pay them forever. The projected cost of such pensions is now hundreds of billions of pounds and Councils are still recruiting staff!

Councils now see that the cost of such pensions is spiralling out of control and they are desperately raising our taxes to pay for them. Even more iniquitous, Councils are now getting rid of essential spending commitments so that they can divert more money to pension’s funds. Guess why they're really switching to fortnightly rubbish collections?

Adopting the Spanish system would probably put about a penny onto our Income Tax (expenditure would be lower following such centralisation). Income Taxpayers and Council Employees will therefore not be happy. But they are living in a fools' paradise if they imagine the UK system can continue. More and more Council Taxpayers are finding it impossible to pay these unfair charges. When financial meltdown comes in a few years time, everyone in the country is going to feel the consequences.

By: Council Tax Payer

Other Related Gripes

Justice for marginalised pensioners
Fortnightly rubbish collection and fines
Waste removal and recycling policy
Paying council tax on an empty house
Benefit-claiming council estate residents
A question about state pension and tax deductions
Ticket machines that don't give change
Kids who ride quad bikes on public land
Planners and property developers
Household waste recycling
UK income tax too high and wages too low
Growing palm trees in the UK, no need for plastic
People who buy their council house
Society is going down the tubes
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There's no point working

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Lower council tax for pensioners - e-petitions
epetitions.direct.gov.uk

Paste the above link into the search box & support this petition to cut council tax for pensioners.

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Charlie - 27-Jan-12 15:33

Lower council tax for pensioners - e-petitions
epetitions.direct.gov.uk
A significant reduction for pensioners regarding council tax rates. It seems unfair that the rate is the same when their income is so much lower (by not working). Those on benefits don't have to pay and it seems very unfair to ask pensioners with a vastly reduced income to pay the same as those who ...

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Charlie - 27-Jan-12 15:30

Charlie, why don't you apply for Pension Credit? It would give you about an extra £25 a week.

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Petra - 1-Apr-11 12:36

My council tax is £16.96 per week out of my total pension of £107.74. I can't afford to have the heating on in winter - I've never had my boiler serviced - it's too expensive - & I set my heating to only 5 degrees throughout this winter - to stop the pipes & boiler from feezing. I wear lots of layers & use a blanket & hot water bottle to try to keep warm. Life ain't much fun on a pension.

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Charlie - 1-Apr-11 12:21

Council tax non payment punishable by imprisonment including pensioners, and disabled,What about poor services non collection of rubbish unswept and non gritted streets, housing benefit delays,obnoxious council staff typical government dept behaviour. Who punishes the council non accontable bigots.
I fully condone assaults on these people.We are at there mercy all the time the only way through is a leghthy complaints procedure of 3 months before it allows to reach the council ombudsman who are another load of overpaid bigots.

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yo sushi - 25-Dec-10 06:55

this country is full of scum starting from the top, always trying to screw the poor,

+11

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rickyrass - 26-Oct-10 23:29

What has council tax to do with a property anyway? We all get the same services so we should all pay the same amount of council tax. The size of the house doesn't always reflect on the income but it does reflect on the cost of running it; repairs etc.

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pollywolly - 26-Oct-10 14:10

I am trying to get my local council to give me an answer to why we pay them council tax to deal with the rubbish and recycling and yet are expected to do it ourselves. So far they have come back to me to tell me how to clean out any tins or bottles I may have. I think this is insulting. I also asked them whether they could not organise all the terminally workshy people in my town (and believe me, there are plenty) and those doing "community service" to do this work. No answer yet. So far the tax payers of this town have had to pay for a lot of different size boxes which can't have been cheap, and enormous vehicles to deal with this nonsense. I am not against recycling in the least. This is all to do with huge fines being imposed on them if they don't toe the EU line.

-4

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Anna - 17-Sep-10 17:41

If the gentleman who wrote this article has no significant resources other than his flat then that council tax at £1200 per year is unlikely to ever cover the cost of providing him with home care services and later nursing care as he gets older. In case you forgot a large proportion of social care for the elderly and disabled is paid for out of council tax.
I won't deny there is waste and inefficiency but it's easier to gripe about it than try and fix the problems in the system.

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Local government worker - 13-Dec-09 09:35

Local Councils are for small minded people with large egos. Abolish Local Government. It is hugely wasteful. Outsource all of the services. Privatise the Mayoralty.

-9

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Abolish Council Tax - 5-Dec-09 23:27

Just wait till the council tax is replaced by the "local income tax" (easier to collect)

Only the ones on paye will have to pay then, (and anyone that declares earnings)

The box tickers have to top up their pension fund from somewhere.

-8

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Gainsborough lad. - 5-Dec-09 21:50

I pay far more for council tax than I spend on food. That cannot be right.

Income tax per month ca £500
Council tax per month £140
Food £120 per month
Water £45 per month

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Out of Balance - 12-Jul-09 10:28

I own the Freehold to my property, the wording says "Freehold and free of all incumbrances" So what the hell is thousands of pounds in wretched council tax if it is not an almighty great incumberance? How can this be legal? What do we get for it anyway? The police will only usually be interested in recording crime, the dustmen will not collect my ash dust, and they are talking about turning off the street lamps! This stupid government have broken us in this land! There is a damned speed camera round every corner, So called household sundry bills are nothing like sundry! They are all now cumbersome great millstones around all our necks! We should say that from tomorrow all public pension funds are frozen and if they want them to continue to grow then they have to pay in out of their own pockets and not ours! I would like very much to either have the 45% that is extorted from my council tax payments reimbursed so that I could put that away for my own future and not theirs! I think that most of these feckless town hall pen pushers should take pay cuts or just be sacked, we dont need them. I also think that no council officer or executive should be paid more that 30k. If they were told that tomorro I wonder how many would actually resign? So many of these people have become snoby, arogant, parasites and we desperately need to cull them!

-1

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Sicked off taxpayer. - 6-Jul-09 23:45

You are bang on right here mate, soon the goose that once laid the golden eggs will stop laying as there are too many jobsworths and box-ticking wasterers sucking the workers dry,
and they know it.

-4

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Gainsborough lad. - 6-Jul-09 23:29

I couldnt agree more! I am sick to the back teeth of this punitive and vindictive tax! I bought a large house in 1989 and converted it into flats to let out in the hope that I was providing myself with a retirement nest egg for my old age. Then the old rates were £225.00 on the whole property, now they are trying to extort 5 lots of council tax from the same property over £6000.00! with the result that it is now very difficult to find tenants. They tell me why dont you sell your flats to pay this tax! Lovely that isnt it! 45% of this damned tax goes on their gold plated pension funds and inflated salaries for useless jobs! Once you have had your six months relief they are now seeking the whole amount from me and I am being bullied into court. I have explained that they are ruining me but they could not care less. This stinking system is deliberatley designed so that even if the tenant cannot pay then the housing benefit will pay and thus they get their 45%! its no wonder that up and down the land we see our public buildings pools, hotels. theatres and the like being torn down and replaced with evermore rabbit hutch flats!

Its time we daft lot in this country rose up against this state operated extortion racket as the French did just over 200 years ago when that ruling elite felt themselves so much more worthy than their peers and tried this sort of thing on with their population! I will willingly give up my time to sharpen the blade and sit there pulling the lever all day until we have got rid of every one of these self serving greedy scumbags!

Why should any of us give up our lifes work and any nest egg that we have built up to keep this bloody lot in luxury?

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Overtaxed sicked off UK voter. - 6-Jul-09 23:19

I also agree with comments made on here. I lived in France for a while and what a difference in council tax.... Better health,schools,sports development,public services etc..
Does anyone know of a website that gives information on council tax equivalents in the rest of the EU countries??

-4

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flexo - 3-Jul-09 13:41

I totally agree with everyone on here especially with "King Arthur 13-Sep-2008 18:07" This country sucks - we are an embarrassment. Other countries have it so right with everything and we are so so so far behind. lets all emigrate!

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Blackwilo - 21-Mar-09 21:23

Council Tax going up again. Why does everything in this country go up by "inflation busting" amounts except my salary. Is there anyone else out there who agrees with me? This miserable tax has now doubled in the eight years since I've been resident at my address and bears no relation to income or ability to pay.

All I'm paying for is the pensions of council workers. I myself have no private pension scheme and not a hope of getting one.

+12

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MajorlyFedUp - 4-Feb-09 16:41

vote for whoever promises the best deal for you.also before the election write to the mps of the party you choose although dont tell them that.get it in writing from them.

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tututu - 28-Jan-09 20:03

Council tax is completely unfair when you can have 2 houses next door to each other paying the same, but one is occupied by a single healthy male, employed, no kids, - and the other is occupied by an unhealthy family of 5, unemployed etc etc.

Apparently the majority of my council tax goes on schools. How is this fair when I have no kids and will never have kids in the future to benefit from my tax?

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Skidmark - 26-Oct-08 00:22

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