Why do tenants have to pay council tax?

[Goodnightseamer]

It's a domestic property tax. But tenants don't own any property, so they're paying tax on something they don't own. They didn't use to have to pay rates, but they have to pay council tax. Why? NB council tax is not a tax for use of services so that argument doesn't wash. It is a tax where liability is created by the existence of a domestic property. Which tenants clearly do not own.

I hate paying council tax. I just can't afford £150 per month out of my nmw job but I have to pay it.

It should be means tested.

I fail to see what landlords buying boilers has to do with tax but good for you anyway.

@Thornhill58 was making a good point. It seems you're not interested in discussion, OP, bjust being rude throughout the thread in asserting your misguided 'logic'.

Getting your bins emptied, your local police, keeping the fire engines available. Having access to your libraries, musuems etc.

"Thirty years ago people were rioting on the streets over the shift to flat individual liability; now this is accepted as being because taxpayers are apparently consumers who buy services from councils"

People rioted because the poll tax charges were extortionate for families and were not in any way dependent on wealth. Now they are at least related, in scale, to the size / value of property you inhabit, so those who live in more expensive houses pay more.

On this thread most people are supporting the collective contribution we make to shared services, and not arguing in favour of a direct individual customer for each service at all.

And people in rental properties did pay rates. My parents lived in a council property when I was growing up and they paid rates. It was paid weekly at the same time as the rent and added onto it so it looked like one payment but you could see the breakdown and it was clearly included. .

because taxpayers are apparently consumers who buy services from councils.

In effect we are. Part of the responsibility of having a home (renters live in their home as well. Not just owners) is that we pay a contribution towards services we use.

And still, you cant answer why any of what you post should only apply to home owners.

@Goodnightseamer you are correct that council tax is a tax on the value if a property the proceeds of which go towards local services. The tax is reasonably progressive in that the value if the property occupied does correlate to the income of the occupants, the more expensive the property the higher the household income. This applies to tenants as well as owners. However it's not perfect for instance why give a single occupier a 25% discount on a tax that isn't a charge for services?

The only people who don't pay council tax are students. Not really sure how they have managed to slip through the net!

Council tax is better than poll tax but not much. Local services have to be paid for by the people who use them.

@Nonnymum prior to the introduction of the poll tax most council tenants paid their rates in with their rent rather than separately. Private tenants often paid their own rates but not always it was fairly common for the landlord to pay the bill.

It would be sensible for landlords to pay the council tax on the property they rent out. There wouldn't be any additional cost as they would just pass it on to the tenant as part of the rent.

Op is Jeremy Corbyn brainstorming another policy.

It should be means tested

It most certainly should not. People living in more expensive properties are already paying more for the same exact services.

In the 90s, the government tried to bring in a new way of charging for local services, based on the person, rather than the property. At that time the argument was that a single person in say a 2 bed house was paying the same as potentially 4 adults in the same size property, so it was unfair on the single person. The problem was that although single people had their bills reduced, the bills for others increased and it resulted in the poll tax riots (it was actually called the Community Charge) So to stop the riots we went back to a property based system, with a 25% discount for a single person in a property. However, although it is based on the property it does pay for local services, and pensions for retired council staff, and redundancy payouts when staff are made redundant. A manager in our rural council recently had a £300,000+ payout when he took redundancy, paid for by the ever generous council tax payers. It is a labour run council.

I'm an (evil fatcat) LL and I think from an administrative point of view it makes sense for LLs to pay council tax. Yes we'd raise rents to cover it but it wouldn't cost the tenants more because they'd no longer be paying CT. Tenants on HB would receive an increase in HB to cover it and councils could close down the whole department devoted to working out who gets what percent reduction based on what claim. It would increase revenue for the councils because owners are easier to track down if they're not paying than a tenant who's done a flit; they would also get revenue from properties not currently generating due to being occupied by students etc. And it would solve the problem of earners being liable for the full whack of CT in flats shared with non-earners

OP it is a tax for services rendered. You might remember the pathetic national reaction to community charge which tried to make it person based. The numerous exceptions and discounts on council tax are all person based not property driven. Send your local council a freedom of information enquiry. They'll be happy to explain.

People rioted because the poll tax charges were extortionate for families and were not in any way dependent on wealth.

The CC charges were for the individual, not the family. You neglect to mention the Transitional Relief scheme, and the Community Charge benefit that were available.

People rioted because they could in some cases...not entirely due to the introduction of Community Charge!

I’ve no vested interest but advise that CT is simply an occupiers liability.

Tenants on HB would receive an increase in HB to cover it and councils could close down the whole department devoted to working out who gets what percent reduction based on what claim

HB only applies to non working age claims, UC pays the housing element, which is DWP.

Tenants wouldn’t be getting their tax relief on council tax if they are low earners as the landlord would just be sticking it on the rent and the landlord wouldn’t be applying for tax reduction as not applicable

I agree with the many people who have pointed out that because Council Tax is paid by the occupier (except if the property is empty), it can be varied based on the circumstances of the occupier. Hence the student exemption, single-occupant reduction, council tax benefit/support, and so on. None of this would be practical to administer if the owner paid it.

The result of making landlords pay the council tax would be that all tenants who aren't claiming benefits would effectively pay full price via their rent. That means a big rent hike for students and single people.

Safari well that's not how it's worked out in Australia. We rent here...rentals are very reasonable despite the fact that tenants do not pay rates. The owner pays those. The rent for a 3 bed house, large garden in pleasant, safe market town is around the same as it would be in UK.

Haven't read full thread sorry. In NZ landlords pay the rates (CT) which is of course included in the overall rent charge

You're in the house you pay the council tax. If you cannot afford this, there is council tax benefit. Make the landlord pay it and watch rents increase massively across the board as landlords can't or won't absorb this.

@BillHadersNewWife - what an odd comment, that's just because your property prices are cheaper. I could get a mansion with loads of land in rural Wales for the price of a flat in London, still no relevance to council tax payments.

MrX no...rentals would STILL go up if the fact that landlords had to pay the rates was going to impact them. They

It is NOT a "domestic property tax" and it doesn't matter how often you keep repeating it. Did you ask this question because you were looking for genuine answers? You've had them.

It's a tax levied on the residents of an area which helps the council pay for services provided to those residents.

You may have your own opinion on whether or not that's fair, but THAT'S WHAT IT IS.