Council tax bill - is this wild or are yours insanely high too?

There seems to be such huge disparity in council bills. That is £1,764 a year. I’m in a lower band than you, miles away from London and my band is over £3,000 pa.

We moved in 2014, took a few months for the appeal to go through and assessor to come out so by the time it was accepted we were here about 8 months. Neighbours definitely got a backdated refund, they appeared at our door with flowers and!
A quick Google says the legislation allows for an appeal after 6 months if a 'relevant decision' has been made so perhaps our successful appeal allowed theirs to be considered I really don't know, just going off personal experience.

General taxation. I'm sure my scholarship at school didn't cost the state much.

Besides the discussion is council tax which doesn't pay for schooling and nhs.

I doubt either of you pre-date compulsory education or the founding of the NHS. So your education and healthcare would have been funded by rates, poll tax, NI, or another form of general taxation.

The point is you will have taken plenty out in the past and will more than likely take plenty out in the future. You were not contributing as a child and probably won’t contribute much as a pensioner. You can’t opt out for the middle years when you are not utilising services if you still want help to be there in the future.

Yes, that’s a really mean take. I’m an older person and glad to say bitterness has not eaten at my soul. I could never resent help for needy children or animals.

Gosh, I can’t believe how much all your council tax is. Mine is £147 per month, no discounts, Band F, nice part of London.

Bankrupt councils and social care......

But you already knew that. Add in all the adhd, spectrum, lack of parenting and schools are now underfunded. Roads are falling to bits. NHS costs rising due to an aging population and being replaced with people who would rather take benefits than contribute. Add in the illegal immigrants who we are subsidising etc etc etc etc

Someone needs to start pissing back in the bucket because middle earning britain cant support this much longer.

I'm a single, child-free pensioner too. Children's services accounts for around £350 of my £1,500 council tax.

I don't resent it. I want there to be enough well-educated adults to provide the essential services, inc health care, that I will inevitably need more of as I get more decrepit, and a well-educated workforce that will be able to pay enough tax to fund those services.

The only bit of my council tax that I really resent is the town council, who cost me over £200pa for providing a few bins and benches and maintaining a cemetery and a park, and run 2 buildings that can be hired for functions. They had the cheek to put their share of my bill up by a whopping 27%!

Im public sector and for the number of people I manage, level of responsibility and budget I would earn twice what I do now in the private world. Trust me even with my pension, you are getting value for money. That said I hate council tax!

Yes from central govt not rates

Care assistants are not council employees (mostly paid by agencies), so they do not have access to a public sector pension scheme and you are likely not contributing to their pensions in any way (because many agencies class them as self-employed).

So do you want the people providing personal care to elderly people, who are already on NMW, to be paid less than minimum wage?

Or do you want elderly people with no assets (because those with assets self-fund) to be left to lie in their own faeces if their families can’t pay for their care?

Those are the two options if you want to cut funding to adult social care.

Varies by borough.

Mine is now almost £400 for a three bed terrace.

When did this happen? My neighbour challenged it when he moved in and his house was dropped to a C. So I filled out the form but was told in writing by the Scottish Assessors office that you can only do this within 6 months once the missives are completed on the property. Because I had been in my house for years, they would not even look at it. Let alone backdate anything.

Do you live in a Labpur council area, OP? I do, which is why my Council Tax has been very high for the last 30+ years. The only service I use is having the bins emptied but, unfortunately, it's part of the principle of taxation that we have to pay for services we may personally not be using (schools, social care etc).

That's simply not true.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/quarter-of-council-tax-revenue-spent-on-unjustifiably-generous-staff-pensions-xrvlmj6hp

Mine is £3000 a year. I live in an average sized 3 bedroom house and because its a new area we also get factoring type charges on top and nothing done (there isn't even a bin here).

It's very well known.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/quarter-of-council-tax-revenue-spent-on-unjustifiably-generous-staff-pensions-xrvlmj6hp

The good news is that as a single, child free person, you are more likely than many others to need social care support. You can claim "your share" then.

I cannot imagine being so bitter about providing support to the most vulnerable children in society.

Yes it is, however a friend in outer London pays less between her CT and Water than I do.

@JackandVictor assume from username that you're also Scottish? When we moved into our home it was banded as an E but Google told me other comparable houses in the street were D. I appealed and had it accepted so ours was rebanded down and the excess already paid was refunded. Told our next door neighbour who did the same and had 8 years of overpayment paid back to them. May be worth exploring for you.

is that including your water and sewage charges though? you have to take those off to compare against England and Wales rates.

3 bed semi
£344 a month
It’s a lot

Well id be happy to pay for neither tbh

My council tax is my biggest monthly bill aside from food (which I can at least tweak). Thankfully I’m now mortgage free but the insane council tax bills are something we just can’t tweak. Even downsizing doesn’t give much of a break, my elderly mum’s tiny 2 bed flat was nearly £170 pm before discount.

Although, to be fair, the council really do seem to invest in our town. Unlike a lot of towns that deteriorate over the years this one has improved a lot. It’s just when I go through financial struggles (bit of a roller coaster) it’s hard when you can’t just trim that one bill a bit.

I live in a 3 bed house in spain with a big garden and my council tax equivalent is 65 € a month. A big difference to the UK! However, stamp duty when you buy a property is higher here so swings and roundabouts I guess.

Our potholes are filled in promptly too because we can't have tourists damaging their rental cars...