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

I'm a retired public sector worker. When I went home at the end of the day, I hadn't increased the profitv of an organization, I hadn't produced something tangible, so I couldn't point to an item I had made. What I could do however was point out that I had :
Made a different to the lives of several people.
Given advice that would have improved a person's life.
Often went above and beyond so that I could assist a person with something that actually wasn't my job.
No, I don't expect a pat on the back for it, or a fanfare lots of us did precisely that. However I did expect to be paid for it. And it wasn't a fortune although I do get a decent pension.
You could have joined us, if you want.

pay on square meterage of land you own

Band D in my local area is just over £350 a month😬

All of us using those public services...

🙄
Presumably you were once one of these ghastly children. Who was educated and received healthcare, maybe you drive on roads that the council tax goes towards maintaining, have access to public services such as libraries, bin collections, benefit from street lighting. Maybe you’ll need social care as you get older.
Yes it could be a fairer system, but it’s the old live together / die alone adage.

Well that's because your landlords were breaking the rules - a separate dwelling has its own council tax, you can't just rent out an annexe as a separate dwelling and claim to be exempt from council tax. That's tax evasion.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/debt/council_tax/chargeable_dwellings

Where did you get that figure from?

This is pointed out to them on every thread they put their whining moan post. But they just ignore facts and keep moaning.

This. Which though I whine about it, I see adults and children’s social care as critical services. The former will only get higher too.

We pay a lot, a bit under £500 I think. We have no beef about what we pay but we have a huge beef about the quality of the services provided for the money and recognise this has a greater impact on the least privileged, paying the lower amounts.

Children's Services have been in and out of special measures for years.
Shortage of SEN places in fit for purpose schools.
Street lights go off at 10.30.
Town Centre is a mess
Green belt being assigned grey belt
Roads full of potholes which are not dealt with
Pavements in need of repair
Rising crime
Unable to comment on elder care
Bins OK but the community recycling centre is now closed Monday to Wednesday.
Libraries are fab
Local Councillors are crap, Residents' Association
One of the wealthiest counties and a privileged borough. Rock on the unitary authorities and let's see if they do better.

Depends what area of the country surely? OPs sounds low to me for a 3 bed, we pay £250 a month for a small 2 bed semi

Ours is £289.

Ours is £365 per month. Its tough.

Is that between 2 of you? I am in a Band A on my own and pay £134 a month, live in a two bed two up two down and don't have a garden.

How would you make it fairer.

I pay over 12 months and mine is £215 per month. Band E, one of the London councils. I owed them a big debt so was paying £600 a month for a long time 😭so going "down" to £200 is a lot better! Although now I'm used to paying £600 I intend to pay off the year in 4 months and forget about it for the rest of the year!

Mine is £357 a month for ten months. Grim.

Some people just like to take their misery out on others 🤷‍♀️

I guess so. We are but scum, it seems :)

What did you pay last year? It can’t have jumped from £150 to £232, unless you have moved and didn’t check the banding.

Agreed. I don’t have visitors as I’m embarrassed by the borded up windows, graffiti, litter and dismantled furniture in gardens. I’m a civil servant, so don’t see myself ever really being able to afford living in a genuinely “nice” area.

As others have said a large chunk of the council bill (well at least mine) is social care services for the elderly and children. As the population ages and birth rates fall the latter is only going to increase.

People really need to understand the demographic changes and the impact that has on taxes. We already have more over 65s than under 15s.

People have this weird belief about public sector salaries and what is actually funded!

Top this:

We live an annexe to a larger property. We found the place from a family we knew who had lived here and were moving out. They never paid council tax.

When we moved in two years ago, our contract stated that our council tax would be covered by our rent, as it was considered part of the larger property owned by the landlord.

Two years in, the council randomly decided to reclassify our home as a separate property liable for council tax, and also to backdate it to when we moved in.

Because of this, out of the blue, we've had an over £4,000 council tax bill which, with back payments and the coming year's installments, works out at £811 a month.

No subsidies. No compromise.

Thankfully, our landlords have agreed to pay the backdated amount up until this year, in honour of the original contract, but it's come as a shock to them too.

Our share is still over £300 a month.