Council Tax bands

I understand the background thank you, I just disagree with you that it’s unfair,

The poll tax was grossly unfair at the time and remains so now
if you cannot see why
and how a "per person" tax can be gamed, read more

How exactly would adding to the top council tax bands have ANY effect on poorer families

School rolls are falling in London due to reduced birth rates not council tax of £800 a year

@Rhayader
"The current system massively favours central London. They hardly need to charge a thing because people who live out of area pay into businesses who then pay business rates."
Piffle.
Council tax and business rates are ENTIRELY unconnected.
Read more about reality

I think a per person charge would be fairer as well, but people keep bleating on about the poll tax as though nothing’s moved on in 30+ years!

Failing that, I’d like to see Band D in each area equalling the average house price in that area and adjust up and down from there. There are some very odd and unfair anomalies which the councils seem to like ignoring.

A lot of London schools are closing because there are not enough children to go to them. Families are already struggling to live in London and your system would make it even more expensive. You can always pay more if you want to. We have a voluntary scheme in our area. You could set one up in yours.

I could get behind more bands but I think Labour have already ruled that out?

The current system massively favours central London. They hardly need to charge a thing because people who live out of area pay into businesses who then pay business rates.

@DadJoke the current system is pretty unfair. The amount of care you receive for free massively depends on the wealth of the area you live in. Do I think local government should retain control of budgets? Sure. But the richest areas should be subsidising the poorer ones, especially when it’s only rich because of business rates as explained above (ie Westminster council).

I really think this is a great opportunity to get rid of stamp duty which is just a ridiculous tax… My aim would be to kill two birds with one stone. Why should frequent movers be penalised?

A central proportional land tax with more bands on council tax would have a very similar effect to the 0.5% proposal tbh - unless your land tax is extremely low? What would you set it as?

@Rhayader
I have explained in words of one syllable how council tax works
and could be simply improved
please reread

Land taxes are a central government tax (of which I happen to approve)
Council taxes are a LOCAL tax and should stay that way

Why do people with higher salaries pay higher percentages of tax? Why do people with higher bands now pay higher amounts?

It’s the “broadest shoulders” argument but this time it’s going after unearned wealth that is largely accumulated completely tax free instead of just increasing income tax again which hurts younger generations.

I’m low income. I can’t get any financial support from anywhere as I have savings. I have done without for decades in order to save.

Why should I (as a single mum, with 1 incoming wage) in a cheap, small house pay the same as someone in a big expensive house?

What are your suggestions for raising more revenue?

Property wealth is the only way to raise significant revenue outside of income tax, NI and VAT which have already been ruled out — other than perhaps tariffs?

It’s a tax on an asset that is impossible to hide and impossible to move offshore and relatively easy to value.

This is very similar to a genuine proposal from senior MPs in the party and may actually be on the cards.

So, you want to abandon local taxation altogether? That will be a big blow to local democracy.

@Rhayader If you think areas with large student numbers have the highest band D council tax
you need to educate yourself
it is ABSOLUTELY not the case

Every Band D and Council tax base is a matter of public record

The UK is already the most centralised economy in the OECD
should we put even more of our funding at the whim of Whitehall ?

It wouldn’t go to the council though. Central government would distribute based on population and other requirements like the schools funding formula.

Why should areas with lots of universities have high taxes on everyone else to pay for the students?

@Winteriscominginfast everyone’s not liking my suggestion but most people would actually pay less. Work it out for your own houses.

Our house is a five-bed terraced townhouse in the SE, but has tiny downstairs so really two of the 'bedrooms' are just extra living space. Only worth around £350k, which is much cheaper than 3 or 4-bed homes with a more traditional layout. There's no scope for really adding value either, so house price hasn't gone up a huge amount.

Yet, we're also band E! It's ridiculous... Our house wasn't even built in 1991 so there's no way they can calculate our band fairly.

I did briefly look into challenging it, but I think you have to demonstrate that similar houses are at a different band. Which is all well and good, except that there's not many like ours, and I'm pretty sure they're all E as well!

I thought the proposal of everyone paying 0.49%ish of their current house value was quite sensible. Selfishly, it would pretty much cut our CT bill in half!

I only pay 20% towards CT as I am on UC.
And that is another thing... how would your suggested scheme work with people who do not pay (some people are exempt from paying CT), or pay a reduced rate? The cost can not be passed on to them via their rent in that case.

I'd be a bit happier if the cost of each band was the same in all council areas.

This

But then some councils like mine with high population density & high house prices would be insanely rich & other places wouldn't be able to fund basic services?

@Rhayader seems not to realise that only 5 % of houses sell in any year
and many homes have not changed hands in over 100 years

Those who think a "Poll Tax" system would work need to read more history.

Its very simple
Every Council area needs a tax base on which to levy taxes.
Property are the ideal - they are physical, traceable and limited

Each council then sets a total charge level to meet its needs, spread across the properties
the legal term (since 1894) is precept

@Tulip8 This is literally how pretty much every other OECD country does it.

I don’t know enough about the systems to know what happens for social housing - but I’m open to suggestions…

If someone cannot pay council tax what happens now? There’s more than 6bn in council tax arrears atm, it should be collected like any other debt.

@XenoBitch In that situation the owners would need to pay and hopefully you would contribute… have you done the maths, how different would it be to council tax? A 500k house would pay £2,500 a year.

My situation is odd, and I am not sure how this would work with people like me. I neither own or rent... I live in a friend's house. I pay no rent, and they paid off their mortgage years ago. I know of a few other people in similar situations (family has bought them a flat to live in etc).

So no rent to add the tax on to, and an unfair burden for the owner when they are not living in the property or getting rent money from it.

That makes no sense. What about the little deal you have if owners can't afford it? I rent from a HA, they aren't just going to pay it for me.

And it would just give private landlords even more incentive to raise rents higher and rip renters off (whilst taking a break from the CT with the cool little idea you have).