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.

Why does how much a house is worth influence the cost of services? People in larger homes already pay higher water bills, more electricity. They don't use a bigger bin. They don't necessarily use public services more.

I have no vested interest - I live in a band C property which is heavily discounted due to disability/carers. I can just see why people are upset that they are being threatened with a doubling of Council Tax, especially when the Council Tax system is so variable across the country.

The council tax rise if it happens won’t affect us as our house is band D. But tax rises in general will mean we are hit, and as both myself and DH are in the 40% tax bracket we are expecting to be hit quite hard. It will mean we cut back on our ‘extras’ spending, the things that are nice to spend on but not really necessary for our lifestyle, like charity donations and supporting local businesses. We were considering a cleaner but we won’t if taxes go up, and we’ll cut back on things like hair cuts which are so expensive now anyway. The general public didn’t want the welfare cuts or the winter fuel allowance cuts so the government did a U turn on those. The money needs to be found somewhere so now it’s tax rises instead. I just hope the rises are fair and not all put on the middle.

You can’t salary sacrifice a house, or pay yourself in dividends with it, or hide it in a trust fund. People with more money have numerous ways to avoid paying percentage wise over the average earner. So it seems obvious any government will try and claw some of that money back via the one thing people can’t hide.

There will be winners and losers as with everything, band E houses will be more desirable!

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What these plonkers warbling about “the rich” (over £45k!) paying more don’t get is that, like a pp observed, people will cut back and spend less .

If my council tax doubles to £8k (and if you saw my house you would be guffawing at its mansion-like status; I challenged the band but they said I had a double garage ) well, that’s no holidays and no eating out for a start. Imagine the impact if more and more people are tightening their belts.

This is going to grind the economy to a halt.

So much for ”our plan is fully funded and everything will be funded by growth”. What growth, if nobody can afford to spend money/support businesses, and we’re all cutting down as hard as we can?

I completely agree, it won't affect me either but it's such an unfair tax. I really hope that if Labour are that spiteful to introduce this, then all those affected refuse to pay it.

I can almost see you sitting there rubbing your hands together with glee at the thought of this.

At least he didn’t steal our hard earned money in the same way.

this lot make me feel ill

So 15 pages later, this angst is traceable only to a headline in the Sun and perhaps to a slightly vaguer one in the Daily Mail? And a suggestion from the IFS, which has no official status. Thanks to @Poppingby for sourcing the Sun headline and the PPs who referenced the DM.

It appears from the Guardian article that Rachel Reeves has not mentioned anything about Council Tax increases.

I am on record on MN saying I see no need for DH to have WFA and although it’s going to be relevant for me, I think higher rate pensioners should pay NI. But cliff edges make bad policy, and I’ve felt it necessary to state my pro tax positions because we are in fact Band G.

Council tax should be rationalised in other ways, however. When we lived in America property tax was re-evaluated every year (and very occasionally went down). That seems excessive, but valuations every five or 10 years would be reasonable.

This is what most people do anyway, only you probably live in a better area and have more savings and a better pension.
I work but don't have s cleaner, takeaways or spend unnecessarily.
I'm not middle income, I'm lower income snd my house and area reflect that.

I would have hoped that two professionals with degrees would be able to afford a takeaway or a meal out every 8 weeks, and be able to share with local charities. Why are you turning this into a race to the bottom?

If most people did that already we would have very few shops, cafes and restaurants left…a lot of lower paid staff are going to lose their jobs as a result of this budget.

So however much you earn we should all have the same standard of living?

I bet your job is stress free and you don’t commute, work long hours or weekends. But never mind, it’s totally fair that the idiot doing all of the above and trying to keep a business afloat should be penalised.

What is this spiteful jealousy everywhere? I don’t care if people’s kids go to private school, or they have five holidays a year. Why the glee about levelling down?

Because left wing politics is all about the politics of envy.

It doesn't matter if the poor get poorer so long as the rich don't get richer.

3 more years of pain with this lot and then likely Reform in and lower taxes!

I’m afraid that Reform/cons will split the vote and everyone else will band together. Then we’ll have an Islamic state, run by men who say they’re women, and everyone’s house confiscated to accommodate the people streaming through the open borders.

Oh lord no we’re going to get clobbered from numerous directions.

Just like everyone else

But we also can’t do that much about it and I would still vote labour again to stop reform getting in.

We want the finance of the UK sorted out, we have two teens who at some point want a job.

Labour won’t help them, they’re making it worse.

Sky high debt and job losses.

This is so right. We should reward hard work and encourage as many to do the same. Problem with people on the left they hate people living better lives rather than using those people as inspiration. I think people now think they are entitled to everything regardless of how hard they work. This world is so upside down

I think this is true. You can tell by the language they use. People must pay 'their fair share' as if it's obvious that just because someone has more money they should pay multiples more into a system that is disproportionately benefiting those who actually contribute nothing.

Why wouldn't you start from an assumption that everyone should look to cover their own costs to the State unless there is some valid reason they can't? Whether happened to self respect and independence? People seem worryingly happy to accept handouts from other people and not take much responsibility for bettering themselves.

I feel the same. I can't wait to be rid of this vile govt. I never thought I would vote Reform but I will do anything to be rid of them.

I'm a single mum with a ds17. He will go to university next year. He will get the maximum loan but it won't be enough to live on so I will support him.

We don't eat out ever. I park run to avoid gym membership. I'm in my 60s, recovering from bc and work full time. I cook from scratch & make our bread to minimise costs. Grow as much of our food as I can. Only watch terrestrial TV. I cut and dry wood to supplement our heating.

I'm doing the best I can to raise my ds, feed him healthy food, give him access to a decent education and the activities of his classmates at school. He's had a weekend job since he turned 17, to help with money. I honestly don't know where else I can cut back.

Reeves is like the Sheriff of Nottingham, dragging this out and making everyone even more miserable and stressed. She's damaging the economy with all the speculation.

Reform won't be able to lower taxes if they get in without blowing up the economy, the deficit is too far gone.

What they could offer is the same level of taxation but with lower Government spending which is hardly a vote winner.
Alternatively you could vote Green who promise to massively increase taxes, increase debt, increase spending, have the financial markets bankrupt us and make Labour's economic policies almost seem prudent.

So, what you have done in 2020 when the jobs of 3.5 million people employed in hospitality in the UK were at risk because people were reluctant to go out. Understandable, because up until then the government had told them to stay in. Another thread for another day, but I’d hazard a guess you were in favour of the lockdowns..

You had no past events to go on
You couldn’t predict the future
You couldn’t afford to confine to fund furlough
You knew that 3.5 million jobs were at risk

Would you (a) do nothing and potentially cause mass unemployment or (b) incentivise people to go out.

And, say what you like about Rishi but he wasn’t in it for the freebies, unlike this miserable bunch. He understands how to lead. And he correctly predicted the average person would be £2,000 worse off under Labour :)

We have started sending emails to contractors.

’We are sorry, but owing to Labour’s previous, and expected tax raid, we are no longer able to justify using your services - we thank you for your service to date, and wish you all the best in the future’.

Time to batten down the hatches.