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.

OP perhaps you need to google what Council Tax is before posting such a daft thread.

initially through community tax, continued through council tax

Community tax? Rates were brought in around 1700s, then Poll Tax, which became Council Tax. You don't seem that well informed.

Surely no one is this thick

Google is your friend.

I mean you are already paying their mortgage plus extra usually, so why do renters also have to pay their tax too?.

Its not their tax.

Do tenants not have bins collected?

You arent paying their mortgage. You are paying for a house. You are paying to use something they own.

Can you share a link from a reputable site please OP which shows its not for services?

“Unoccupied and substantially unfurnished” properties will be subject to a discount of anywhere between 0% and 100% of their normal rate of Council Tax, at the individual council’s discretion.”
www.counciltaxadvisors.co.uk/council-tax/empty-dwellings/

It depends on the council,

Yeah council tenants are funding everyone. Rent money going to government, council tax going to government. Everyone else is subsidised by them

Not true at all, how do you think the properties are maintained and the housing staffed?

you are clearly very misinformed and too ignorant/bitter to accept the facts, many links have been shared showing how money raised from council tax is spent. Whether that makes up 25% or 100% of a councils income is irrelevant as it is still being used to fund services the people living in that property use and without it those services would suffer and I'm sure you'd also have plenty to say about that.

Because streets need to be lit and roads need to be resurfaced, bins collected and services funded if you use none of these then maybe you have an arguement but it is not a property tax it is to pay for services.

It’s a tax for local services such as bin collections, the police and fire brigade, litter collecting etc.

If you asked landlords to pay it they would hike the rent up so tenants wouldn’t save a thing.

The money advice service set up by the government www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en
says
“Council Tax is an annual fee you pay to your local council. The cost is set by your council and goes towards funding local services”

Also, I rented prior 1990 and rates were sometimes payable by tenant or landlord, often negotiable because it was a much smaller sum in relation to today's council tax, but that doesn't have any sway on your non argument.

Tax is theft, council tax should be scrapped. Police, bin collecting etc should become billed for services.

You seem very bitter OP about the fact that you have to contribute to the local services. Weird

I don’t think anyone would say it’s a perfect way of paying for Council Services, but I don’t think that there is a perfect way.

I don’t have kids, never used the police or fire service and my council doesn’t provide a free garden waste service so shouldn’t I get a discount? But I own a home, maintain i, paid tax to buy it, so by the OPs idea, I wouldn’t but someone earning twice my salary but renting would?

Not every homeowner is loaded and not every tenant is on the breadline.

I think you’re confusing stamp duty and council tax.

@SpamChaudFroid Community Charge, popularly known as Poll Tax, replaced rates, yes. It introduced the element of personal taxation into a system which as you say for centuries previously had been based solely on property ownership and it did so to increase revenue collected. This personal element has persisted for three decades now leading to the anomaly that tenants pay tax based on the value of another person's asset.

Best of luck not paying it!

Tax is theft, council tax should be scrapped. Police, bin collecting etc should become billed for services.

So you would be happier paying for it, in a different way?

What a ridiculous post

that tenants pay tax based on the value of another person's asset.

That's incorrect.

The tax based on the asset is stamp duty.

Out of interest OP, why are you hating on landlords so much? What the hell would you do if people didn't have a property to rent to you? If you can't afford to buy, what would you do?

Landlords help people to have somewhere to live, and yes, obviously they make money from it. But tbh the income from property isn't as much as you might think. Once you've paid for the upkeep of the house, insurance etc, it does take a lot of money out of what you get.

And I don't understand why you keep saying shit like cOuNcIl TaX dOEesNt pAy fOr SeRViCes.

Are you a broken record?

There are many, many resources that tell you exactly what your council tax gets spent on. You should perhaps read some of those.

They are services that YOU as a tenant will use.

If you don't want to pay council tax, don't live in a property. Otherwise, there's nothing that makes you more important than every other household in this country.

Also the reason it was necessary to increase revenue from this particular levy was that central government cut funding to local authorities in the 1980s. As you say, @SpamChaudFroid people paid much less under the old rates system.

tenants pay tax based on the value of another person's asset.

If you want to rationalise it, the tax is paid by the person using the asset, rather than owning it. The owner is taxed on its capital value via capital-gains tax.

Always makes me that people who complaint about paying council tax are often the same who think that people should get social care free (care home fees etc). The first pays for the second!!

@SunshineAngel I love landlords and everything to do with them but this thread isn't about them.