AIBU to think uni students should pay council tax?

[alwaysreadthelabel]

I live in a uni town. We have massive areas that were non student resident housing areas but are now mainly student areas. I cannot get my head round why students don't pay council tax. They use all the same services as non student residents, admittedly not for the whole year but at least for 9 months. They use the roads, bins, libraries etc. .... why do they not have to pay council tax?

I know some will say they can't afford it but that could be said about any household bill. It really confuses me.

Some of you need to find manners and learn how to answer in a more polite and debating manner

And some OPs need to learn the humility to back down and admit they are wrong when everyone is giving them very good reasons why they are wrong. Otherwise you may come across as either somewhat narcissistic, insecure or just fucking thick.

Scream
Yes, exactly I was a student during the poll tax years. I didn’t pay as I wasn’t on the electoral role and was therefore under the radar. My friends weren’t either and therefore didn’t need to pay. I agree with the apathy to voting as a result. I didn’t vote for several years.

Im a student and i am taking out 60,000 of student loans to get me through my nhs radiography course.
Most of this is going on fees. The nhs used to fund these courses...now students pay themselves...so many people will now not train for nhs jobs due to the dept they will incurr. ( lets not make it harder for them eh?).

I paid 57k to qualify as a teacher so I could educate other people's children. That's my contribution to the local community - if you do a PGCE you spend a lot of time teaching as you work full time for 22 weeks helping to teach children and pay for the pleasure of doing so.

Find some manners or people will think you are fucking thick.

I do think in towns and cities with a large student population there should be more Halls built so some of the houses students currently live in can be released to families. I know some places have plenty of Halls but many don't.

A lot of families that don’t work don’t pay it OP want to pick on them too?

The maintenance loan tends not to cover rent, from what money are they going to pay this?

When the CTAX legislation was introduced (LGFA 1992 iirc), those who lived in a HIMO, or had individual tenancies on a house, were not held liable for CTAX, but the l/l was. Thus, the l/l could be liable, but applies for an exemption as the tenants are students.

If they were in Halls, as opposed to private lets, they would be exempt, as presumably the university pays some sort of rate to the LA.

University education benefits society in general which is why some allowances should be made tk facilitate those in higher education. When they graduate they will generally be earning more, paying more tax, contributing to society.

I don't think giving them 3 years extra of not paying council tax is unreasonable due to that.

When they graduate they will generally be earning more, paying more tax, contributing to society

Lots will but many only work for a short period then quit to have a family, take low paid work to avoice loan payments etc. There are no consequences for not paying back student finance so many take this route just because they can.

I don't think they should pay the full amount but everyone should pay something and household based on the number of people. The value of a house has no relation to the waste etc used.

Actually some students do pay. I had a carer live in my house with me during one of my courses, the council can only give 100% discounts to places with all students, so although we were both not supposed to pay (me student, him low income) I paid 50%.

The majority of students will have parents who ARE paying.

If they choose to live in the local community surely they should contribute like the locals do
As opposed to where? Space?

Afaik landlords pay. Also if one of the students is doing a part-time degree e.g. Masters over 2 years then they pay their percentage, they are only exempt by doing a full-time degree. As for locals not benefitting, as a landlord I don't think that's necessarily true! E.g. My dd's student house in Coventry was previously rented by a family at £700 a month and after it was converted into more/smaller bedrooms for students the income was £2500 a month. So not all doom and gloom for everyone!

Council tax is a rather blunt instrument. I live in a house with eight adults all earning a decent living, yet the total bill for council tax is only marginally more than when I lived in a household of two last year.

I agree with this. I think they need to widen the difference between the bands. (They use band D as the datum, the other bands are a small percentage higher or lower and, iirc, the difference is only around 9%)

I also think they should add more bands at the top of the scale, and do a full revaluation of bands/properties. I don't see how they can realistically work out what a house built in 2019 would have been worth in 1991.

Op come baaaaack and do another flounce, not seen one for ages.

I think you might be a bit hard of thinking, if you think you're on a low income but your child still didn't get the full maintenance loan. That's just not how it works, you know many of us here do know about it don't you?

My DD's loan doesn't cover her rent, in a two parent family years you only have to earn £30k each (hardly high income) to get the minimum loan and having two at once at university doesn't attract extra loan either. No they can't then afford even band a council tax

As many parents are already supporting their children financially at Uni and we are already paying Council tax on our own homes, charging CT to students would mean WE are paying CT twice! Why should we do that? Also most Uni students are probably at home for 5 months of the year (given the length of Uni holidays) so why would they pay full CT in a town/city they are not living in for nearly half the year.

University education benefits society in general which is why some allowances should be made tk facilitate those in higher education. When they graduate they will generally be earning more, paying more tax, contributing to society

This. And this is also the reason why charging tuition fees is a nonsense. We need qualified graduates to keep our services and the economy going.

If they choose to live in the local community surely they should contribute like the locals do

They do, they spend their money in the local area. Imagine how poor your city would be if you didn't have the university there and all those people spending money there.

I don't think your question should be why aren't students paying? Perhaps the landlords should pay, as they make so much money out of students.

Having a university in your town brings jobs and inward investment. You need to look to your local council and ask whether they are doing a good enough job deploying their existing resources, such as they are.

If you don’t like it, you should move to somewhere without a university.

This has to be a wind up.

@MyDCAreMarvel
The OP is not being ridiculous the student's SHOULD pay council tax, the are not school children there adult's in further education, i have worked in a university for 25 year's and work with student's every day, the amount of money they spend on takeaways and alcohol you wouldn't believe, my daugher lives on her own pays a morgage, bill's and food, pays over £100 a month in council tax that's with the 25% rebate, goes out once a month with friend's she couldn't afford a weekend of booze and takeaways every week like the student's do, yes they should be living in the real world and pay council tax

People with Alzheimer's are exempt from council tax but my Grandpa still uses roads, lights and bins. The selfish old bastard.

Gilead

I create extra rubbish as I'm incontinent. Due to my arthritis I often have to purchase pre cut veg etc. thereby creating yet more rubbish. I have severe mobility issues too. I don't pay council tax as I am receipt of various benefits due to the severity of my disability. Should I not be able to access services?“

You are on a very low income, clearly. Of course you should be exempt. What’s the alternative, locking up thousands of people who can’t afford to pay through no fault of their own?

I disagree though with blanket exemptions: fairest way to me is case by case. If you can comfortably afford to pay towards public services, you should, disability, student, pensioner, whatever. I understand the argument that it could be expensive to administer. Don’t understand that argument though. Website making perfectly clear who is/is not eligible for discounts/exemptions. Most people seeing they weren’t just wouldn’t apply. Time to ditch blanket bus passes and winter fuel allowances too. Yes, lots of people donate them to charity (because it’s nigh on impossible to opt out of receiving them) but that’s not as effective for society as retaining that money in the public coffers.

Perhaps if everyone who could afford to contribute a bit more did, life wouldn’t be so impossible for those in hardship. There isn’t a bottomless pot and the money has to come from somewhere.

You are being ridiculous OP.

Are your services any worse because there are “freeloading” students living in your area? Or does the council make up the shortfall?

Have you any idea how much it costs to go to university these days?

You are being very short sighted. Students need more financial support and not less.
In the future the non council tax paying students will be paying into tax for you.