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?

Yes, yes, get us all into HMOs, that's a societal goal worth pursuing.

Having lots of people living on their own in houses suitable for more than 1 person doesn't help with the national housing crisis. It's not in the government's best interests to promote single person households and the council tax system reflects that.

* "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?*" 😆

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.

Income tax = personal
Council tax = household

Personal (not equal) household

This is a very concept of taxation separating out the individual from the taxable entity- even in business where you have sole trader tax (that treats the person and business as one entity) and limited company tax (business is separate to person).

Imagine if you were a lone business person paying company tax, and there was a partnership business with two people paying the same rate of company tax. You'd be individually paying more than the other business splitting it between both. And it would have nothing to do with whether you were 'single' or in a 'couple' but how you structured your business. Same goes for how you structure your household.

That's why many single people do live with flatmates.

I don’t know how old you are, but in the late 1980s one government thought the same as you and introduced something called the poll tax. It has to be the most unpopular thing a government has ever done during my lifetime.

Soz, no. Not taking responsibility for that. The housing crisis is caused by asset hoarding in a speculative property market which is in turn fuelled by currency devaluation via quantitative easing (aka money printing) none of which has anything to do with me being a lone adult living in a tiny flat.

My previous post was in answer to @Summerfun54321 .

Yes house sharing is good for society, it's better for energy demand and housing demand etc. If you got a lodger you wouldn't be a HMO. Plenty of grown adults house share, it's not something to look down on.

I assumed single person discount worked in favor for single people, because my council tax is massive but then that goe to paying for schools bins etc which I know I'm using having family. The cost should be made fair

A single person still has one bill emptied each fortnight. It cost the council the same to get my bin emptied as it would do a single neighbour. I think council tax also pays for things like benches in parks and town market area, upkeep of parks, streetlights and floral displays around your area. I no longer have little kids but I still want the play parks maintained for little children to play in. I notice the floral displays when I go into town. I appreciate street lights and as I get older I might want to sit on a bench more. I think 75 percent is fair, especially if you have kids to use park facilities.

Go on then, you first. Move into a house share with your family. I bet your kids have a room each don't they? No need for that : how scandalously wasteful! You've probably even got a dining table and all sorts. What the fuck for? Just eat pot noodles on your lap in your bedroom. No one needs to have a nice life and their own personal space to enjoy being in. We're all just units that burn fossil fuels at the end of the day and we could do that much more efficiently.

@atoxk you'd think, wouldn't you? But no, we actually shoulder a higher tax demand than people in households comprised of couples. It's crap.

This.

It's SO unfair.

£250 a year would be a very small price to pay for the luxury of having your home to yourself. Actually on a Band C property it would be more like twice that amount, but still a bargain.

Well obviously one's home does come with actual costs, which in the case of a single person are all payable from the one wage.

What we're talking about here is tax liability.

You sound quite keen to have the place to yourself @HolyZarquonsSingingSeals . Have you considered marriage counselling? 🤔

aahhhhh Poll Tax .... do you want riots again !

You must be absolutely boiling over with rage every time you think that your income tax pays for schools if you don't have children, for hospitals if you rarely if ever need medical help, for fire engines if you've never had a house fire, and so it goes on.

Its called living in society, we all have to chip in.

oh and by the way not "everybody else" resents paying LA tax, I don't even think about it most of the time, I pay my bit for living where I do and knowing that even if I don't benefit from everything, someone is needing it, so that's what I put towards. The greater good. Haven't you seen the thread about becoming less individualist....

It’s not something to look down but it’s definitely not appropriate for Everyone. If people want to life with others they can but it shouldn’t be encouraged as such. It can be hard enough to live with a partner or parents etc without sharing with someone unrelated to you especially if they are a stranger and sharing with friends has it’s issues and risks. I’ve seen a lot of people including me struggle in house-shares. I don’t know about society but it’s definitely not good for many individuals!

You don't have to be a couple to get the discount. If you're nice to live with you might have a friend to share with, relative or coworker. Much greener too.

@daisychain01 Oh man I'm trying, I really am. But it's so hard to be less individualist when I get a tax notice addressed to me only that I myself have to pay.

I think it would probably help me to be less individualist if my local government didn't demand from me, as an individual, so much more than the individuals living next door who are a couple.

But, yeah, consider the lillies and all that.

Exactly, this. I had some terrible experiences as a lodger or tenant for eg. One woman starting off nice then once I extended the contract trying to control everything down to what time I washed dishes etc and acting in ways to intimidate me once I gave notice. Waking up to an immigration raid in another flat and having someone move their sister in who left the bathroom in a terrible state every day. Living with 2 men who never cleaned the kitchen, smoked weed occasionally and kept forgetting to close the back door in a high Crime area.
My peace of mind, safety and mental health is so much better living alone.

And btw YANBU - the council tax is one more example of singles being treated unfairly in society.

it also grinds my gears when politicians trot out lines about helping hard working/vulnerable ‘families’ ? It’s like hello…why just families??

Agree with you so much and I think the poster you quoted was talking out her hole.

Like you I have lived in houseshares previously. I never ever would again. Particularly beyond a certain age that set-up comes nowhere near to the privacy and dignity that an adult needs.

I know that now affordable housing is so scarce - people are having to submit bids to get assured shorthold tenancies fgs, which only last six months, it's disgusting - more older people who didn't catch property before it soared 22 years ago are having to do this. But I very much doubt that many of them are happy and at ease in their living environment, ie in their home. It's an appalling state of affairs and not one we should be nodding into.

It's not just for bin collection, it's also for costs towards your local police, fire service and social care. That info is there on your bill.
Fortunately I haven't had cause to use any of those services in the past year, should I demand a refund?

Can if you like. 🤷‍♀️

Write in green ink.

@Honper - what would your suggestion be as an alternative ? genuinely interested

I don’t drive and I don’t have kids. My environmental impact isn’t too bad. I’d rather go vegan than flatshare again after doing it for over a decade.

Living with people be they friends or stranger can be very difficult and sometimes risky. Even people you know can be very different once you live with them. There’s many people I love as close friends, but I’d hate to live with them for various reasons. I’ve had some lovely flatmates, and I’m still in contact with a few but even as nice as they were I feel so much freer and relaxed living solo.