New 'council tax' levy thing - help

[TaylorSwiftsWeddingPlanner]

I'm really very worried about this rumoured new levy/tax. How likely does everyone think this will be?

We're a normal family living in a Band G home. We already pay £380 council tax in the SE. The property is worth £750k, we bought it for £660k five years ago. These aren't enormous numbers, these feel average for a normal house. We're mortgaged to the hilt in order to get on the ladder too.

I work full time, as does my DH, and we just about make ends meet. No luxuries. No private school. No holidays. It's a normal, albeit tight, existence. We're not millionaires, we're not in mansions, we're just average. How on earth do I go about finding the additional £300+ a month this is going to cost us? We'll have to sell, I guess.

I am so very worried, can anyone else look into a crystal ball and tell me how likely this is going to be?

Nothing has been announced yet, so all you can do is wait and see, and then I suppose worry about it then (if it happens).

I think they’ll do something far more modest, given absolute meltdown it will cause - but everyone will feel happy about it because they were fearing a £3-400 a month bill.

They can’t be charging £800-1k a month in council tax - it would be truly insane. Completely detached from the reality of incomes.

I feel these measures all assume homeowners have no mortgages, most people can’t anywhere near afford the proposals (which are just media rumours…).

My understanding is that it's a separate levy to the council tax, because RR wants the money to go to the Exchequer, not local services. So it's council tax + this new 'mansion tax'. I, too, am clinging on to the belief that this is just rumour, but it had to have come from somewhere, and this hearsay tends to be spawned from somewhere. I honestly can't afford £380 council tax and another similar value on top, per month. We'll go under in the first month.

Worrying won't change anything and if past behaviour os anythig to go on it wont materialise.

They seem to constantly "leak" every idea anyone from rachel herself to the tea boy comes up with.

It's a disgrace...

She'd be better offer stopping foreign aid (given some of it goes the singapore and britian is notlw as rich /poor as poland) and overhaulling motorbility (then theywpuld be able to increase the allowance for the people who should actually benefit from it (ie severely disabled and those with mobility issues vs the 20-30 bloke i see pulling out blue badges and parking in David lloyd disabled bays before doing leg day...

I feel you OP. I am in a small 3-bed bungalow in the SW that's an F! Sincerely hope I don't get treated as though I live in a mansion.

The bigger house in the same town that I sold before I bought this was a band D 🤔

Current council tax bands are not the way to decide a mansion tax and I am hoping they come to such a conclusion. Bandings are not consistent, reliable or recent.

Nothing about council tax ever seems fair or consistent. We don't use more or less services because our home is larger or smaller. Also, most people have quite large mortgages nowadays, which can make things tricky. It needs reviewing, but I have no idea what would be better.

Same with income tax. Higher earners don't use more services, but they pay more tax.

At least their salary is their salary and tax applied accordingly.

But council tax bands don't equal the value of the house/land fairly. Just too out of date.

I live in a house in the SW that is a new build and cost £400K. Because it’s a new build, the bands are always higher as there’s no 1991 cost to go off so we’re an F. Houses that are significantly bigger and vastly more expensive all over my town are a lower band because of the stupid rules they use. I’m so frustrated by this council tax leaked info. I already pay £320 per month on council tax and see absolutely nothing for it bar rubbish collection. The estate isn’t even adopted by the council so it’s private roads etc. We pay a maintenance fee for all the upkeep of the land.

Any council tax changes will cause utter uproar as there is no fair way given how erratic and different the rules are across houses and areas.

Yep, we're in a 20-year-old house in the SE, paid £310k for it in 2017, yet we're an E and pay £260 a month. According to the calculator on MSE it should only be a D.

Also pay £50 a month maintenance(!)

The Council tax banding system really needs revising.

I live in a tiny 2-bed ex–shared ownership flat that also has a cladding issue, and the property price hasn’t changed at all since 12 years ago. I’ve just found out we’re in Council Tax Band F, and I honestly feel like I can’t take any more. My neighbours have been struggling to sell, and I feel completely betrayed by the whole situation.

Considering how much councils waste our money on, I’d also be upset if the banding’s changed too much on higher banded houses. It’s just another stealth tax and services won’t improve because of it either. Most of it will go on the shortfalls they have in budgets.
It’s a bit of a controversial subject, but maybe ‘ hiving off’ things such as school transport may be one area to look into. A lot of companies seem to make a tidy profit from this and costs councils a fortune. I’m sure there could be savings made instead of just hiking the CT ?
( I know that this is is a simplistic view of one area of council spending etc)

The bands are ridiculous. On the other end of the scale, I live in a £2 million farmhouse in the Cotswolds. We are Band G and pay £399 a month.
I’m sure we should be H but I’m not going to complain!

I posted about this too. Also band G and same standard of living as you. Our house isn’t a big house it’s modest and the smallest of all my kids friends. No space to the front, no garage and on street parking. 3 beds, kitchen so small you can’t swing a cat in it. Yet band G. The banding is unfair and now this. If they do do it, then our house will be unsellable. I feel like running away and hiding from the world.