Labour isn't working - Thread 19

[TheNuthatch]

A chat thread for those who don't like this Labour government. 💙

We are bracing for the budget 😬

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5441764-labour-isnt-working-thread-18?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

To add I’m really sorry that this is happening to so many. All that fully funded fully costed stuff was nonsense.

It’s just hitting people for more.

Agree @Legolava. I’m in the NEU (as opposed to other unions) as we have a NEU rep on the staff body. All teachers should be in a union though - contrary to the belief we love to strike - because it can be such a toxic workplace culture from SLT bullying to pupil/parent accusations.

Absolutely.

And it just means that SME’s will suffer further, as people are forced to cut their cloth. I genuinely think that Reeves and her advisors lack the ability to think laterally, or think at all, for that matter.

I’m in a Band C property. I agree there should be a review of bands because (as a PP mentioned Martin Lewis) more deprived areas can be paying more than some affluent boroughs. Obviously the argument is that there are more financial burdens in an area such as mine (and fewer net contributors) however (if going by some of the descriptions of poster’s houses on the council tax thread) my house if much larger and I have land at front and back. I don’t think people would choose to live where I do though - everyone I know was born here!

I maybe naive but what was wrong with the poll tax? I was young so remember reading and hearing about the riots and I remember accompanying my mum to the court for failure to pay (but she didn’t care as she didn’t pay any bills) and waiting in really long queues.

Yes the bands are so out of date and frankly a bit arbitrary but it involves a lot of organizing to review and value so many houses. Seems a tall order for this government. I’m sure many more things will be suggested between now and the budget and it seems to be a situation of slinging random ideas out there and when the music stops just scrabbling around for a minute to find the closest chair whatever that happens to be. I mean what a way to govern.

We are in band D. We were just that point where we were about to take a long talked about and carefully resourced plunge in building our own home when it became clear that we'd end up shooting ourselves in the foot with this government. So that's not happening. We'll be staying put.

And I shouldn't complain because it would have been much worse if we were mid-build and the various property policy changes circling about us. It seems like they've picked their targets and it's unknowable how many ways they'll take their money.

Iirc, poll tax was per person and a fixed amount. Five adults in a council house would be paying five times the amount as a singleton in a mansion. I remember watching the protests in the news but I wasn't old enough to guage the impact in my own family.

I’m one of those rare people who thought that the ‘ poll tax’ was a good idea. I was living at home early 1980s and did give my parents money from my wages towards the bills and food , but they had ‘ rates’ to pay ( they didn’t own the property) and I should have contributed, even if it was only a nominal amount. I can understand why people didn’t like it at the time , it may have been unfair on many , but I thought it was a good idea for me plus I still used services provided by the council too. It wasn’t to be and wouid be just as unpopular today I’m sure , but if a household has people in it that work or living with parents , I feel it wouid be fair. Depends how much it is as well I suppose !

I don't mind the principle that houses are banded and that there is an element of paying more relative to the value of the home. Obviously it is all over the place now, and the inconsistencies can be galling.

But this shake up of the higher bands is very extreme - especially if it looks anything like the doubling of rates that has been floated and, as posters have said, will disrupt the housing eco-system as those houses become a riskier bet and harder to sell.

Also it’s just another tax hike, which wasn’t meant to happen.

It wasn’t a fixed amount across the country though
I was living in Wandsworth at the time and my bill was £0
presumably because we were a marginal seat and they wanted our vote…not an acceptable reason

I disagreed with poll tax at the time
Now however I think it would be a fairer system if it’s calculated as the same amount across the country and councils are given how much they need from a central pot

As it stands if we base bands on bedrooms those in larger properties are already paying more per head than those in smaller ones yet not using more per head on services

It wasn’t a fixed amount across the country though
I was living in Wandsworth at the time and my bill was £0
presumably because we were a marginal seat and they wanted our vote…not an acceptable reason

I disagreed with poll tax at the time
Now however I think it would be a fairer system if it’s calculated as the same amount across the country and councils are given how much they need from a central pot

As it stands if we base bands on bedrooms those in larger properties are already paying more per head than those in smaller ones yet not using more per head on services

oops posted twice 🤨

Well, yeah, there's always that. This is a tax hike that just fills the treasury gap engineered through incompetence at the last budget. If we had actual growth in the economy, if jobs had been created and if the welfare budget had been cut - then none of this would be happening.

.

I wonder if they increase Council Tax on 'Expensive' properties, it will be to much for even the Islington in London and Didsbury Manchester 'Wealthy' leftie loyalists !

Yep I really hope people keep that in mind. Anyone who is hit next is down to Labour’s incompetence.

Maybe not poll tax anger going back to pp but there should be some push back. Votes whatever

It won't take long to find out, I think they all fall in the next batch of local elections.

The reason why there will not be a poll tax revolt in the same way, is down to the fact we have to much to lose from even receiving a 'Caution' for being a bit over excited in our protests.

The Government know the problems will come from as always, the disaffected i.e the 'Working Class' . However, the disaffected are now looking rightwards and not historically towards the left.

Similar! We lived in London for 20 years and have moved to Abu Dhabi

Trouble in paradise, again 🙄

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg169p0850o

Doubling council tax on bands F through H could crash the housing market in the Southeast. This would hurt people across the country, whether they realise it.

I know that Labour has socialist dreams, but destabilising the middle class by taking away small businesses and farms through death duties, making housing nest-eggs precarious, destroying confidence in pensions, etc. - it could scar us economically and socially in ways that I won’t live long enough to see repaired.

I know there are people who think this will create a bonanza for them, that it will be their chance to grab a bit. I just don’t think it will lead to that, instead there will be fewer opportunities due to instability and lack of capital.

And for those who simply can’t immediately magic up thousands more presumably
fill the courts up
If you haven’t got it you can’t pay it and no one will want to buy higher band properties

Such a stupid idea

agree

It would crash the housing market in Scotland too!

Can anyone offer a simple guide to the framework of council tax?

Does central government fix the formula and local government fill in the figures, for example? So, maybe, there’s x% of the LA’s income chargeable from each of the different bands (x being set by central government) and the budget is set by the LA, to a limit imposed by central government?

I don’t understand why council tax would be in the budget. It’s a local charge. I would assume that changes to LA budget caps and maximum increases would be overseen outside the budget process.

And what’s in it for the treasury to increase higher band contributions? They’d give less from central funds?

All very unclear to me!