44 comments Add a comment
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!
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 pensions 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
Leave a comment
Do your local councillors do anything real for you but claim expenses? Its a nice little earner for them.
The council tax on my flat is if I pay the full amount when in work that is, roughly £14 per week. The rent itself is about £75, so thats 90 gone before household bills like gas, water, tv licence, electric key, plus buses to work and then my foodshop.
I think that what they've done recently, cutting back council tax benefit so that even people on JSA who receive £71 per week before paying the above bills (rent is covered) have to pay a couple of £ a week is disgraceful.
My solution is thus: re-instate full CTB for JSA and those on old age pensions like my grandfather who's 87 and always worked until 71 years old yet still paying council tax,
Make it based more on income ie a base point to start paying from and homeownership as it based on the value fo your property which is pretty pointless to someone renting who can't afford a mortgage deposit.
Also, take it direct from wages as in USA where your federal, state and local taxes come out of your payslip without having to get in touch with the council like here.
Italy: Livigno
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livigno
Spain/France
Andorra: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andorra
Monaco, Lichtenstein, Channel islands etc..
UK Council Tax is a rip off.
epetitions.direct.gov.uk
Paste the above link into the search box & support this petition to cut council tax for pensioners.
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 ...
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.
Bulldog
Ian Duncan smith needs OUT ! He is the cause of these benefit cuts