Cut benefits before increasing council tax

Wait for the budget before panicking is my advice. Not easy, I know.

Restricting the cars available on Motability would save no money. People would remain entitled to the same amount of PIP. Also no one buys a car via Motability. The cars are leased. This has all been explained a million times on MN, but people do love a disability benefit bash.

The problem with council tax is the bands bear little relation to today’s values. OP lives in a fairly normal house and is band F. There are £700k houses that are band G paying £4k a year. Meanwhile most of the houses on our London suburban road in a low tax borough are worth about £2m but are band E, £1200 council tax a year.

So if they double the rates for bands G and H, you’ll get £700k houses paying £8k p.a. tax and £2m houses paying £1200 pa. Grossly unfair.

oh not another benefits bashing thread.

Your issue, OP, is not that the government support disabled people, carers etc but that you bought a ridiculously expensive house you cannot afford.

I think there’s a point in there somewhere, but you need a better understanding of the Motability scheme. The “Ooh, they get a free BMW” schtick doesn’t make for a reasoned argument.

I'd take a half a million pound house over having mobility issues any time.

You've chosen a lifestyle you can barely afford. Why?

I chose the mobility vehicle I have because it is the 1 that suits my needs - literally, the only one, it wasn't a choice.

It has cost me an up front downpayment and the adaptations cost, I will have it five years and then I will have to find another up front downpayment and adaptations cost for the next one.

In no way is it a free vehicle. It also takes up all of my mobility payment every month, which yes... comes from the tax payer via the government (I am also a tax payer) but would cost you, the taxpayer, no more nor less were I to spend it on a wheelchair, taxis or buses, because the mobility part of my PIP payment is the same whether I use it to pay for a Motability vehicle, wheelchair or not.

Why not just say you think disabled people are liars or just expendable and you're happy to trample over them to get ahead.

Oh FFS, another benefit bashing thread.

Because those of us claiming are living the life of Riley didn’t you know? Foreign holidays, sports cars, latest tech…

Honestly, you have no clue. If my benefits were reduced, we would be in serious difficulty. Our income barely covers the essentials (my husband works). But that’s ok is it? Because we are poor and deserve to be poorer?

You can’t buy a car on motability you surrender all of your benefit payment plus pay extra down payment to use a car - it never becomes yours. I’m surprised you passed affordability for mortgage if things are so tight ?

I agree benefits need to be cut and also the flash cars on the mobility schemes. But I think fair enough a levy on more expensive houses.

This would also be unfair because of the discrepancy in what those bands actually mean in different counties. Someone in the same band could well be paying hundreds more or less a month, depending on their council.