Council tax very unfair to single people

Because single people are deemed 'lesser'. This is apparent not only from gov policies and things like child tax credit/married tax allowances and so on but also from the way single people - especially if you're female- are spoken about. This forum is an everyday example of that.

Rank 1: married with kid/s
Rank 2: married
Rank 3: coupled
Rank 4: single

It will never change.

Having RTFT i beginning to think you may have a point.

A large chunk of council tax in my area funds the local drainage board of which everyone residing locally benefits from as in theory it manages & reduces flood risk along with fire, police etc which is irrelevant whether your property has a higher or lower occupancy.

Sorry if this is a silly question.

Has this been going on for a long time? Most councils have provision whereby you don't have to pay council tax on a deceased person's property for a period of time.

I realise you may have exceeded that period of time ....but I thought it was worth mentioning, because dealing with things after a loss is horrendous, and sometimes it's hard to get the right information. 💐

They're all well off so I doubt it

And if that empty house catches fire the fire brigade will come and help. If there's a crime the police may eventually do something. The lamppost outside will be maintained to help keep the area safe. The road hopefully kept nice enough while you sell the house.

Can you go on a meter? Then you’d just pay for what you use

@Newrumpus

There was no student exemption. Every student in a tiny box room crammed into a corridor of each hall of residence at my university was expected to pay the same as the gentry landowners. Of course there were riots.

%%%%%%%

Yep

When I was single and lived in a small house / cheap council tax
Then cheap poll taxes
Then cheaper council tax as I got to receive 25% discount.
I could afford it.

Now, many years later
Much more expensive council tax as we saved and got a bigger house.
No discount ad there is 2 of us.
But I can afford it.

My adult kids just starting out in smaller houses , cheaper council tax

It's seems the fairest way.

Well he works in London part time, has a flat there so he's paying twice

Elderly couple in our road have their own carers her four times a day, him once a day. Next door to them a couple with four children of school age. Next to them an Airbnb, next to that a single man. We all pay the same council tax. Our needs all differ.

All, of these people may be paying nothing (or vey little), if they are receiving Council Tax Benefit.

There is talk in Wales

It's even worse wiith the water bill, £600 for a two bed flat with me as as the only occupant, no single person discount. A family of four wouldn't pay any more, but they'd use a lot more water.

I'm still trying to sell my late father's house. Just been billed 186 for an empty house.

That is incredible ! If only someone had thought of that before ..

Depending on the elderly couples needs they may also get an exemption.

The single man pays 25% less.

I think there should be a special extortionate rate for AirBnBs...

I pay £170. Four kids, one disabled work part time single Mum.

Elderly couple in our road have their own carers her four times a day, him once a day. Next door to them a couple with four children of school age. Next to them an Airbnb, next to that a single man. We all pay the same council tax. Our needs all differ.

Exactly this.

That’s the whole point, you don’t have any evidence. So what I am pointing out is that without evidence you could easily argue it either way.

It’s actually not “fairly obvious” that more people equals more risk for fire purposes because actually you could argue it the other way, and say that with more people you have more eyes and more bodies to look out for and deal with any issues before you’d ever need to ring the fire brigade. E.g. a plug in the living room starting a small fire while you are asleep, if you live alone you won’t notice until it’s a huge fire that’s woken you up & requires fire brigade. If there’s 3 other adults in the house then any of them could be in the living room and notice the first spark and easily extinguish it🤷🏻‍♀️

Taxation is not paid because a person 'costs the country more' it is paid because taxation is the price we pay for a civilised society. The more you can afford the more in £ you pay - although often the actual % is lower.

This is vital if you want a lawful, functioning modern society.

If you don't want that, well, what exactly do you want? Do you really want to go back to no law and order, no education, no street repairs, no hospitals? Enjoy fighting off bandits.

Caravaggiouch · Today 20:05
There’s basically no link between amount paid and services received for CT because so much of it goes on very small populations of people (children’s social care for e.g. which thankfully most people never need to use). The amount spent on stuff we all use like bin collections and road maintenance is minuscule. And there’s no link between how deprived an area is and the amount you pay - e.g. average band D in London much less than in north east of England.

So virtually any system will feel wildly unfair to many people.

True, two-thirds of local council spending is on adult & child social care + homelessness. Services, which virutally nobody uses - as you say the amount spent on bins and roads is MINISCULE !

Those poll tax riots were somthin' else .. I can so remember those bills I was a teenager , they went straight in the bin , I was too young for household bills . 😂Never paid them . Council tax is so much better .

Yes I do