UK Council Tax system doesn't work

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.

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.

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.

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

Council Tax is just a disgusting way to squeeze money out of those who don't have any which at the moment is most people! My local council aren't even willing to talk to you if you miss a payment for whatever reason,and that includes being in hospital and waiting for benefits to be sorted while too ill to work. They sent my account to the bailiffs after one missed payment, and the day it should have been paid I was actually in surgery, when I returned home and called them to explain they said I should have rung sooner (this was 14 days after the date of the initial missed payment) I explained that due to my injuries I couldn't and the person on the phone said 'Well, it's with the bailiffs now' and that I should have found a way, I replied that next time I got hit by a car and was fighting for my life, I'd make sure that it was mid month so it didn't interfere with my council tax payments! I was told that abuse of the council staff was unacceptable. I spoke to the bailiffs and have ended up having the debt returned to the council as I'm a vulnerable debtor apparently - single parent unable to work due to illness/injury. The council just want their money and thats that. At least Dick Turpin wore a mask.

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!

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.

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?

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??

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!

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.

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.