In thinking the Govt have not thought through the changes to council tax benefit?

[JakeBullet]

As of next April most of the poorest members of society will be asked to make a contribution to their council tax. There are real issues with this as for most families although the amounts will be smallish, perhaps amounting to less than £7 a week it comes at a time when they are already being squeezed financially.

The feeling amongst councils is that many will refuse to pay, especially if it is a stark choice between paying this amount or buying food. As the amounts are so small it will be uneconomic to go down a route of trying to enforce it.

I am a single parent and currently rely on benefits (my son is autistic), however because my family consists of just myself and DS it is likely that a small amount going back towards council tax will not pose a problem. The same might not be true for other families who for whatever reason find themselves on benefits.
I don't think the Govt have thought this one through and in reality what this will mean is that councils which supply vital services will face massive shortfalls.

I don't think the Govt have thought this one through.

C tax is not based on anyone's abilty to pay. it is based on property values. So you can live in an expensive house and have a basic income. We earn just above the threshold for c tax benefit and £126 pcm out of our income is a very high proportion. (band C) Maybe the lib Dems have the right idea with the mansion tax thingy and then poorer people can be subsidised. The bands need to be made more expensive at the very top end? I guess it still does not reflect ablity to pay though

But property values have sod all to do with the majority of people it will affect. They rent. The value of the property wasnt their choice. The monthly rent was. And the two dont always go hand in hand.

" Glitterknickaz Mon 22-Oct-12 11:42:58

Lougle that ruling has been challenged by the Government. Until the appeal has been heard by the Supreme Court we will be expected to pay £40 a week rent and £27 a week council tax as well as losing £56 a week disability premiums on our tax credits.

So yeah.... we're screwed basically. "

Are you sure it's that high, Gltterknickaz? Because my (Band C) council tax bill is only £24 per week in total, without any discount....surely if you're only expected to pay 15%, then the bill can't be £180 per week before any discount?

im pretty sure she already has to contribute towards ct and has just added on the aditional sum she will have to pay.

dont forget low paid workers rarely get full ct benefit

No I don't 'want' cuts. But I realise there's no credible alternative.

The ones you mention, some of which personally I totally agree with you. But even if we did those we don't come close to plugging the gap.

The reality is that we MUST make some cuts. To say otherwise is simply denying the obvious.

Then why is borrowing up if the only way is to cut? Genuine question. Why are they still cutting when people have nothing left to give?

Cuts havent worked. What makes you think another round will solve the issue?

It varies between local authorities, the amount you'll have to make up.
Whilst my LA has yet to set a firm figure it's looking like much more than 15%, £27 is at 50%.

Rent figure is 100% definite though, as we are on 'market rent' that housing associations are now compelled to set.

simple answer is stop paying the council tax, what do you actually get for your money really?

Either you missed this post Happy or it simply doesnt fit with your agenda.

HappyMummyof One tax credits are a business subsidy so that employers can get away with paying low wages.
How the hell are people on part time hours in places like supermarkets suppossed to get extra hours when those extra hours are being filled by people on workfare.
Even if by some miracle you got the extra hours one week you may not get them the next or you could only get the extra hours very intermittently.
That means you have to keep ringing up HMRC every 5 mins with the changes. Their system just cant keep up.
Also a lot of part time jobs say that they need some one for 18 hrs a week but MUST keep themselves AVAILABLE for the rest of the time JUST IN CASE.
Happy you just havent thought it through.

and dont forget under uc a low paid worker can be forced to quit a part time 16+hpw contract in exchange for a zero hour contract that the gov hopes can be offered to you conditional on you waiving all your employee rights,and if you refuse to accept such a stupid swop or waive your rights you will be sanctioned by having uc stopped for 3 months.

and treat an employed person working less than 30 odd hours a week just how they treat a compleatly unemployed person unless ofcourse your hourly rate is more than about £7.22

its a compleatly badly thought out plan designed to do nothing other than target the most vulnerable.

and so far looks like it wont even save any money

Darkeyes, working tax credits may as well be a business subsidy, you are right. But Child tax credits are not, because you don't have to work to get them.

This is supposed to be about council tax anyway. I don't think that asking people to pay towards council tax is unreasonable. We all benefit from council services after all, and we don't want those services to be affected. We want clean streets, a local police force, a local fire service, social care, rubbish collections etc, and these things have to be paid for somehow.

But are all those services provided from council tax? I do not pay council tax but have the same services. The only thing that my council provides is a refuse collection from the rates I pay.

I don't know how it works in every area, but in mine we get sent a magazine full of crap containing information about where our council tax goes. So I know that in our area the council tax we pay funds all of those things.

Council Tax includes a precept towards Police and Fire Authorities, does it not?

Council Tax raises about 10-15% of a council's total spend (the rest comes from government grant, which is massively reducing whilst government wants to cap council tax rises).

Significant statutory spends are social care (adults' and children's) and waste collection & disposal and street cleansing.

most people who will be effected by the change allready pay towards ct.

lots of employed people recive a small amount of ctb that will be decreased further.

The majority of people do pay for the NHS, education and welfare. The only people who don't are those who live on full benefits, and many of those, not all, have paid in at some point.

My rates bill used to have information about where the money went but it never provided any police, fire or social care at all. My rates paid for refuse collection ( i have to take my bins 3 miles for collection) and water only, the bill stated road cleaning and street lights but we never had either being in the countryside.

Your rates pay for shite christmas trees and jedward turning on the lights bureni.

When the ConDems said they would make work pay, what they actually meant was if you don't work you'll get bugger all.

Bureni are you in a District or Borough Council area? They are a bit different from County Councils or Unitary (City) Councils.

the only service I use is the refuse collection and the water before I got it disconnected, never had a Christmas tree nor have never seen Jedward (thank God) you can keep those idiots.

What about all the people who work for tax credits? Major employer in my area - biggest office in country.

Shafted from both ends when the jobs go - in an area with very high unemployment rates

Im in a Borough council area.

Oh I know you dont see it. But thats where your money goes. Its ridiculous.