To be scared about how we will cope with more tax rises - council tax

[partytimed]

i really loathe this government. Usually with politics I feel like whoever is in charge I don’t notice much of a direct impact on my day to day life. Yes I’m aware of slow erosions in public services and I was no fan at all of the tories, I voted for this government im ashamed to say, and they lied and lied about their plans. I am so much worse off and if they double council tax bands virtually all of our disposable income is going to be gone. It feels like theft. I don’t trust them to spend the money I make properly it all feels corrupt and it’s just so depressing and upsetting.

And what about those of us who aren’t ’the golden goose’ but will have their second biggest outgoing doubled.
I don’t live in a mansion. The vast, vast majority of band G houses in my area are slightly bigger than average family homes lived in by normal working people.

Property is the one thing people can’t hide. one way or another any government will be looking at squeezing money out of property next. There’s nothing left.

You will pay the increase or try and sell.
If it happens.

What else would happen? Unless you start a march/riot.

Our council keeps raising the “adult social care” (ie, subsidised nursing homes and at-home-carers) fee. They’re allowed to raise our council tax by x% each year, but for some reason this adult social care portion isn’t capped, so we go up every year by the allocated x%, plus the adult social care surcharge increase, which is astronomical.

It’s hilarious how the Daily Mail print a load of ludicrous speculation, and the masses just take it as gospel. EVIL REEVES IS PLANNING TO TAX YOUR DOG!

Honestly, people’s mental health will suffer if they listen to this rubbish. Just worry about things that actually have happened.

This is precisely why an updated version of the poll tax is needed. They keep saying 'fairness' . It is fair that everyone contributes.

Labour have already tried the golden goose stuff.

Same all over
Because nobody wants to look after their oldies nowadays. So we all pay to fund that and the lazy families can inherit the house. You will want the same when it’s your turn.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/nov/04/rachel-reeves-speech-tax-budget-labour-keir-starmer-latest-politics-news-live

Is that clearer and more acceptable for you?

Just looked at how my Council spends it's money, the largest amount is for housing followed by planning and economic growth.

Well, now you re entering the realm of how to fund local services.

We could go back to the rates system, have a local income tax or stick with value of the house.

ALL have their flaws and built in unfairness.

Or we carry on slashing services and continue complaining about the state of the country.

I've just 6 weeks in France, no pot holes, out leisure facilities in every village, one public infants school even had a mini athletics track.

I needed a GP, i got to see one within the hour, i then had to go to a Hospital, no waiting, no queues of Ambulances outside.

They pay substantially more tax than we do, despite a higher national debt, have far lower bond yields and hence lower debt interest repayments.

Something is very wrong in the UK and it it didn't just happen in the last 15 months.

Alexandra2001 - People pay for health care in France. Was yours covered by your travel insurance?

How easy do you think it will be sell a Band G house if the council tax doubles? Who wants to pay £850 a month?

My area already pays some of the highest council tax in the county. I have no issue with paying for public services but there needs to be logic and equity. That’s currently missing from the system and this would just exacerbate that.

What will happen is we stop spending money elsewhere. The rise would take up all
of our disposable income so we’d no longer be in a position to support local businesses or continue to donate to local charities.

Reeves is doing a press conference now to get people to be ok with tax rises.

They won’t be, bar a few on mn.

Doesn’t even mention Council Tax?

Oh I actually think that there will be a large amount of people who will be very happy with higher taxes, so long as it's not on them.

And given that 25% of top income earners pay 75% of all income tax revenue, the majority of voters will be happy to see other people paying more tax.

People pay for Health care here don't they via tax, as they do in France, that accounts for almost all health care spend by the country.

The less well off don't have Insurances.

But Healthcare is just one issue, what about roads, education, schools?

Bottom line is they have better services because they pay more tax.

No, all covered by GHIC, i had a small fee to pay to see the GP.

Rishi was right. You can't ever trust a Labour government with the economy.

@Alexandra2001 France’s finances are in an even worse state than the UK’s.

Yet as i explained, they have much lower borrowing costs..... no Liz Truss?

That is very unusual. Most Councils spend two thirds of their budget on children's services and adult social care. This is why increasing Council Tax won't lead to improved services for the general population but will be targeted towards specific groups.

We need to have honest and mature conversations about this. If as a society we aren't happy with this then we need to start making changes and managing expectations about what will be publicly funded and what individuals and family units will need to absorb.

Call me cynical but some of that absolutely is Labour's fault. They've known for decades about the ageing demographic/pension timebomb and none of them did anything but kick the can down the road. Labour are just as guilty as the Tories on this.

And wasn't Rachel Reeves going to 'cut harder and deeper than the Tories' after the financial crash as one of her pitches for government?

Finally, global instability. Tony Blair will be delighted you're letting him off the hook with this one.

Ha ha Says Rishi "Eat to Help out" Sunak and who gave the UK inflation at 12% and food inflation of 30%

But not content with that, gave us a recession in 2022/23.

Only decent thing he did was leading the Tories to their worst election defeat ever... just 119 MPs now, only Badenoch will do "better"

Yes it will make selling a band G house harder but not impossible
and many people already have their disposable income slashed due to increase of prices for essentials - so everyone will be in a similar position just some in a bigger houses.

Then local businesses will close, your local high street will get boarded up, people will be more stressed and angry and round and round and down we all go.

The UK has been broke for a while, but whilst house prices were rising many felt richer.

Get housing costs under control and things will start to change. That means a reduction in house value for all of us.

Yep

Labour's manifesto is, "fully funded and fully costed - no ifs, no ands, no buts… no additional tax rises."

"I have been very clear that every policy we announce, and every line in our manifesto, will be fully costed and fully funded."

“Nothing in our plans requires any additional tax to be increased.”

“We’ve got the Office for Budget Responsibility now… You don’t need to win an election to find out [about the public finances].”

“I don’t believe that fiddling around with tax rates is the best way to grow the economy.”

What happened, we’re already on the we’ve fucked up you’ll pay speech.