Fucking Council Tax Single Person Penalty

[Honper]

Or: why should I pay 50% more tax than my neighbours?

Council tax is a regressive abomination anyway and ofc like everyone else I resent paying it so my useless council can spend thousands on things like Tree Stories Near You or Four Foot Long Cycle Path Initiatives while failing to patch potholes so big that geese nest in them but still. As a single person I have a very particular axe to grind wrt paying 50% more TAX than someone in a couple.

I know that single life is more expensive, economies of scale yadda yadda and I already pay out proportionally more from my wages for bills, food and so on. I get that and it's not great but it's how it is.

But why is my tax liability so much greater than that of my married neighbours? I pay 50% more tax than each of them.

Come on, that's not right is it? It's not a bill. It's a tax. Single people's tax burden should not be so much more.

Or should it? AIBU?

But 4 people won't necessarily generate 4x the amount of rubbish. They might generate more, but not 4x more.

That's why I said it's "the fairest" way, not that it's totally 100% fair. I. Don't know how it could be completely fair to everyone all the time. Which is why I'm not in charge

You do realise that couples where one is to disabled or unwell to work still have to pay 100% despite one income? Two people doesn't always mean more money.

If it bothers you so much, you could get a flatmate or room mate in. It's your choice to live alone....

I too live alone, despite having a DP who also lives alone, because it suits us to stay this way until we are married. It's my choice and I don't see it as a 'single person penalty' but as the price I pay for choosing to live alone.

@SpaceRaiders LOL! I think I was quite polite to DixonD given the circs.

@LastOfTheChristmasWine that's double annoying! Paying more but getting less access to amenities because of an arbitrary rule.

I agree that it’s a pretty unfair tax and can lead to some odd results. What I find weird about it is that it’s determined by reference to a property address, but pays for more than just things like rubbish collection.

@NewNovember like I said it's up to couples how they organise the split.

Council tax pays for pot holes well what Is road tax for? i don't drive why am I paying to fix roads?

My husband pays the full amount which is per household. I could suggest he pays100% and I pay 0. So he pays more than you using your reasoning. But that would be pedantic

@ganvough yeah I guess if I was a complete mentalist i could entirely overhaul my life by inviting a stranger into my home and then WIN on the tax demand. That is an entirely proportionate and sensible solution, thank you 👏

@Easternext there is no road tax. I know, mind-blowing isn't it? There's a fuel emissions tax. It doesn't pay to fix roads. Councils do that.

As a single occupant I'm not bothered by the council tax and am grateful for the 25% discount. What got right up my nose was that adding a man to my car insurance brought the premiums way down. Not quite sure why single women would get penalised on that count.

So, should couples have to pay more rent for the same property than a single does?
Council tax is higher on multiple occupancy properties but gets split across more people.

It’s not just couples who get to split it - friends or housemates who share split too.

For those who want more space and the same level of service it’s normal to pay more I think.

Quite scary how few people understand the maths on this thread.

eyeroll that you think the 'single person' tax refers to relationship status rather than household occupier status. By your logic, I'm not 'single', I'm part of a couple and pay the exact same tax you do as a single person. Because we are both single occupiers.

Unless you think the council is going to start levying taxes based on your actual relationship status... What they offer is the only fair and reasonable way to levy tax. HOUSEHOLDS generate usage and waste and use council services. The logic is no one can determine whether one person in a house generates/needs 50% less waste, usage, services than 2 people in a house. So it's a standard household tax with the acceptance a single person does probably generate a bit less. Some people are in relationships, some are flatmates, some are single.

If you'd stop viewing council tax as a relationship status thing and a household thing, you'd probably be less prickly about it.

But thats the same as saying they pay 50% of gas , Electric, Food Shopping, Petrol.
Literally everything
Its a very odd way of thinking about it

@mildlydispeptic maybe because as a weak and feeble woman you're not big and strong enough to pick up a car and twirl a spare wheel onto it with your bare hands?

Actually no, I know it's not that. There's something about insurance algorithms where in some circumstances having an additional names driver with years and years' worth of no claims makes it cheaper. You could have done the same with a friend, if you were so minded, even one at a different address, if you said you'd given them permission to drive you to hospital every time you had a hip replacement/etc.

But again, this is a BILL. I am talking about TAX. You and I pay 50% more tax than couples.

You can recoup some costs - when you move in with someone, don’t tell the council for years and stay on a single person reduced rate.

Great. So now in addition to "take in some Jeffrey Dahmer type itinerant" I've got "tax fraud" as a possible solution. This is the thread of all the wins.

No, you don't pay 50% more than a couple. You pay 50% more than any TWO or more people who share a household, many of whom are NOT couples.

You also pay the exact same as people who are in couples but choose to live separately.

Council tax is households. How that household is populated is upto you.

Innit.

And yet we all get the demand, year after year.

🤣🤣🤣

I will no longer be responding to any posts that say "my husband pays all my council tax" or similar.

Oh grow up

council tax is paid on a property, not a person. What happens is there are two parents and two adult children over 18, they only pay 25% each! You know that doesn’t happen

more people in a property means more waste to be collected, more cars using the roads helping create those lovely potholes, elderly using adult social care etc etc etc

No it isn't. Because it's a tax.

It's not really "the same" as anything I don't think, but the closest analogy would be if single people had 30% of their wages over £12570 taken off them in tax instead of 20%. It makes about as much sense as that ie none.

Maybe it would help you to look at it as not a disadvantage to living alone but a bonus or incentive to those willing to live with someone else (which as PP have pointed out is not just couples) - it's the housing equivalent of a carpool lane. __