to think I might as well not fucking bother?

[Handay]

Recently had a good appraisal at work. Put a bit of effort into it beforehand to make sure I gave specific examples of where I'd gone above & beyond, was a very positive experience and ended up getting a bit of a pay bump. Not that much, but at least a bit of a reflection on my performance, and I was quite chuffed with myself for the outcome. I'm not massively career minded so it was enough for me.

But then this week alone, the council announced that our council tax would be going up by 4.5 % and I also got a letter from our energy supplier telling me the bill was going up by over £90 a year.

This won't wipe out my pay increase but I will see less of it.

Aibu to wonder why I fucking bothered putting all the effort into my appraisal just to hand over more money to these bastards?

Hey spengler, did that wicked council take your ability to think straight along with a council tax rise? Who needs rubbish collection? Schools? Social Services? Police? Etc. why should I have to pay for services I don’t use?

Oh spengler you sad thing. If you live in society with other people - I assume you do, here you are - then part of your unspoken but universally accepted and understood social contract is that everyone pays something towards services that benefit the majority. Thus council tax. Please stop digging holes to bury your rubbish in. You've paid for it to be hygienically removed. No need to trudge into town, you've paid road tax, you can drive. Burgled or mugged? Call the police. Unless you're shacked up in the backwoods of USA with your own personal arms stash of course.

Council tax is theft so I can see your annoyance

It's absolutely not.

OP, at least you will have the money to cover these rises rather than having less money each month.

@longwayoff But if the majority of what I’m paying for doesn’t benefit me what am I getting out of this ‘Social contract’?

no need to trudge into town, you’ve paid Road tax, you can drive - no such thing as Road tax, at least not in the uk, roads are paid for out of general taxation. I agree the emissions tax I’m paying on my vehicle should be spent on that though and not have to be paid by non drivers.

Burguled or mugged? call the police you’re optimistic, the cops are far too busy policing “wrong speak” on social media to bother themselves with a petty mugging or burglary. I would like my right to defend myself enshrined In the law though.

I think households should be taxed per head, sort of on a “polluter pays” principle.

Council tax pays for services that you may or may not currently use, but might one day.

For example, you may say I have no children so why pay for schools? Well I assume you do need the services of GPs etc who at one point in their life went to those schools. You therefore do need schools.

You may not use a library yourself, but you may well benefit from the support those libraries gave the person who is providing you with they help you need. I may not produce much rubbish myself, but I am happy for the council tax to be used to clear the bins of everyone else on my street because I do not want to have to deal with the rodent problem that would ultimately cause.

I'm sure no one wants to pay taxes, but without them most people would not have access to many of the services they do.

My energy bill has almost doubled cos the stupid smart meter hasn't been sending the readings

Beyond annoying.

Spengler. Look around you and see what ten years of cuts and more cuts have brought us. Splitting hairs about which tax pays for what is just distraction. I don't want to live in a Mad Max dystopia, and it's an odd choice for you to have made, but fortunately most of us feel that social cohesion, fragmenting though it is due to views like yours, is preferable. I hope you feel better soon.

I hope you feel better @longwayoff - statism is a hell of a drug

floribunda18 exactly this. Biggest disparity in Europe and set to get bigger. Thank God we can move and work in a different country if we want to ...

Certainly is spengler. Right up there with having an NHS and ambulance service to pick you up when you collapse by the roadside or having the fire service save your house from burning down as you stand there in your libertarian individuality clutching one bucket and sniveling "Get away from me I can do this all myself.".

@longwayoff - If libertarian means thinking people can fend for themselves and limiting government intrusion into people’s lives I don’t see what’s wrong with that.

Council spending largely comee from central government (ie our other tax money) with only a small portion coming from council tax.

This does not of course stop me hating it, because it's got the word 'council' in the name and thus is a reminder that yet more of my money is going to our bent incompetent council to spend on pointless vanity projects and back handers to their mates.

Likewise it stings that any part of my really quite modest pay increase, five years in coming, is going into the pockets of energy company shareholders.

Bastards.

@Handay -right. And plowing tax payers’ cash into socialist vanity projects.

Ours are a complete shitshow. There's one particular development they are involved in that's been going on for four years, massively behind time and over budget, when you read updates in the paper you can tell it's because all involved including the council are fucking around, passing money into unaccountable hands and trying to fuck each other over. It's a complete omnishambles and has cost a lot of money. So yeah, have my extra 4.5%, bastards.

Surely your pay increase was more than £200 per year?because 4.5% rise on council tax unless you live in a mansion is probably less than £100 plus the £90 energy increase. If you got a payrise of around £200 per year you need a new job anyway because if that's supposed to be a reward it's truly appalling.

I absolutely see your point handay

I managed to didge my appraisal last year and I'll probably do the same this year

Its a massive form involving a fair bit of time and a lot of thought

And no matter how well Ive done I'll still be on minimum wage...i just can't be arsed

It is very disheartening for you

Council tax is unfortunately unchangeable. Energy bills, however, can be sorted with a quick money supermarket search. Get some quotes, call your current supplier and tell them you'll be switching unless they match the tariff.

Didge is dodge

And of course as a single person I already pay 25% more than someone in a couple. It won't make you feel better, but actually you pay 50% more. If Council tax were £2000, and the couple split it equally, each'd pay £1000. As a single person, you would pay £1500 - 25% less than the full household rate, but 50% more than each person of the couple.

Though of course it's a nonsense to look at it like this - it's a tax on the property, and if there were 4 people living in it, not two, the Council Tax wouldn't change.

Yet more bastardry.

"But if the majority of what I’m paying for doesn’t benefit me what am I getting out of this ‘Social contract’?"

Go to any African or some of India etc and you'll understand that the safety we live in, in the UK is worth every penny.

Put people in more desperate poverty amd show them that those with a bit more, really don't give a fuck and Society will descend into chaos.

The Social contract is that you aren't prey for the predators.

I'm impressed that your bills are going up by so little. My Gas/Electricity is going up by £400.

But anyway, it's the myth of disposable income.

How is your lifestyle? It all depends on your standard of living.

Sympathies for feeling like your pay rise isn’t going as far as you thought when you’ve obviously worked really hard to earn it but YABU with the ‘gouging bastards’ thing about your council.

I don’t know where you live but willing to bet at least 75% of the money they spend goes on looking after older people, vulnerable adults (with disabilities or mental health issues) and looking after kids / keeping them safe. The rest pays for everything else - libraries, leisure centres, fixing roads, collecting rubbish, children’s centres and probably investing in a few regeneration projects to either bring in more business rates or create jobs.

In addition some of the increase will be for police and fire services.
Anyone can pick the odd thing they disagree with that the council pays for but on the whole i’d Rather pay enough so that people with disabilities or older people are being looked after - even (shock horror) if i don’t personally know those people.

But anyway, it's the myth of disposable income. how’s it a myth? Helping people keep more of their hard earned cash is the one thing government at all levels should be doing.