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?

The only fair way of doing this as I see is to have a local income tax... but that would be much harder and more expensive to administer.

Are you the Ghost of Thatcher?

I had to pay 100% tax on a bloody empty house for six months! So you get a 25% discount for one person, and a 0% discount for 0 people. That one rankled a bit…

(we’d found our dream house but struggled to sell our old one)

Agree, and on the bit about newer properties being in much higher bands than older ones. I’m in F for a 2 bed flat, meanwhile 3/4 bed detached old houses are in D and E!
my bins go out every other collection, so once every 4 weeks, sometimes 6-8 weeks for the recycling……single occupants generate less rubbish.

Also, most of people's Council Tax doesn't get spent on the services they use, such as waste collection and highways, the two largest chunks of Council budgets (about 75%) are Adult Social Care and Children's Services (excluding schools which comes via a specific grant from Central Government).

Even if you don’t drive you still rely on roads for buses, taxis, deliveries to your house and deliveries to shops so you can buy things??? Not to mention an ambulance being able to get to you if needed!

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.

I’m now single, working, and get my 25% discount and I am perfectly happy with that. When the Community Charge was introduced, I was a SAHM so my DH had to genuinely pay double what a single person paid. At least you now have the option of downsizing to a band A property and not paying much at all.

We can all moan about our taxes going to things we don’t use, but there is an awful lot we do use without even thinking about it. And as most of local government spending comes from central government grant, YABU.

Its a tax on property not income. You benefit from sole use of the property, you have access to all the same services, you get a 25% discount on the property tax as do many categories more likely to be on low incomes.

If you don't want property taxes then what do you want? More poll tax models? That worked so well with wealthy owners of large properties seeing huge reductions but their staff and people in overcrowded housing paying vastly more.

I'm saying seek a property with a flatmate if necessary.

I'm saying living alone in a self contained property is a luxury especially in a time when housing is limited.

Living with others isn't a luxury, it's a pain in the arse largely but it's cheaper.

In what way have I NOT answered your question?

A lot of people want a 50% discount rather than a 25% discount.

As the majority of local tax isn't spent on services for your house, it seems a reasonable request.

Why should they pay proportionately more for care of the elderly and looked after children in the borough than a house of 2+ adults?

I dont think its the right tax really. Its nice to have a local tax for local priorities like a youth centre or an oap warm room but Im not sure its structured that well. But yes its a propert tax not a people tax. If you buy a sofa as a couple you share the VAT between two as well.

Council tax only covers about 25% of the cost of running the council services anyway because lets face it stuff like education and social care cant really be left to what the locals raise.

How can OP get a flatmate if they live in a "tiny" flat - presumably one bed or studio?

Why do you assume that every person living alone does so by choice, don't you know there are some very lonely people in the world?

By moving to a flat with a flatmate.

It does seem unfair and I get where you're coming from. The whole council tax setup seems unfair though to me. Really it should be a tax per person. Our house is not that big but in a stupidly high band as we're in an expensive part of the city. Just because we spent more on a house doesn't mean we should subsidise other people in the city who chose to spend their money elsewhere. There are plenty of higher earners than me living in cheaper council tax bands, but because I don't drive, we needed to live centrally which is what pushed the cost up.

Where are all these mythical 2 bedroom flats?

and it's based on the value of properties 30 fucking years ago.
But that's just a proxy to assign the bands - it was just a quick way of going back to something like the rates when the Poll Tax failed - it's not inherently wrong just because it uses an out of date value.

You should familiarise yourself with what your council tax actually pays for then you might feel better about it

Your posts are just getting non sensical now! Why are 2 beds "mythical"?

There are usually more 2 bed flats on a development than 1 beds because 2 beds have more longterm growth for tenants.

For example in london right now there are 4,200 1 beds to rent but over 11,000 2 beds.

Do you think elderly widows/widowers should find a flatmate?

County council is responsible for pot holes. Most of its funding will be from council tax and a very small amount from central govt that can be used on highways (govt money is collected via tax I suppose).

As a rule 2,3,4 bedroom homes ar emore plentiful than 1 beds in most places. Living alone is a financial luxury. Living with people doesn't cure loneliness.

Being able to afford to live alone as a single person is an achievement.

My neighbours have all 4 adult children living with them. I'm grateful I can afford to live independently even if I'm laying 3 times the council tax of each adult in their home. It's a relative luxury.

Well if they are going to complain about paying bills alone then yes.

It still costs the same to heat a 1 bed flat whether 1 person or 2 are living in it. Is OP expecting a 50% reduction in her gas bill too?

What about if they own their flat? I suppose your answer will just be "sell it" since you seem to think everything is so simple.

And what about the second part of my question:
Why do you assume that every person living alone does so by choice, don't you know there are some very lonely people in the world?

Moving to a tax per person would be fairer in some ways - but as the Poll Tax showed, it costs a lot of money to keep track of people and they move around a lot (in the case of the Poll Tax some people moved a lot to dodge it). Houses tend to stay where they are, so relating the tax to the house is simpler.

@Swiftswatch

It costs the same but the gas bill is divided between two incomes, not one.

And even if single person earns £50,000 and Mr and Mrs X earn £25,000 each, Mr and Mrs X will take home more, because they will pay less tax.

Being single is extremely expensive.