Council rates/tax increase over 30 years

[Vellincharm]

When I got married in 1987 the council rates, as they were called at the time, were 1.8% of our joint income. In 2023 our council tax is 11% of our joint income.
Services are not better at all and in some areas considerably worse.
Bailey again increased interest rates today because we're obviously to blame for price gouging, profiteering and greed.
What the hell is going on?

Please flame me if you like but before you tell me I don't understand economics then please let me have your explanation. We are being sleepwalked into compliance.

This is not about what class you think you are. This is a rich country being ground into the dirt to increase the wealth of the few.

An aging population and years of underfunding by the conservative government have left councils struggling to cover their outgoings

Well of course in order to consider it properly it helps to know if your joint income has remained the same as it was or if one of you have had to take a pay cut to retrain or for childcare etc.

I mean if there’s less money in the household than there used to be then of course the percentage of it going on council tax will be more. If my maths is right. 🫣😆

Some of it is down to the decentralisation of government. Back when council tax rates were lower we had a higher rate of income tax and the central government gave out larger grants to local councils. These grants paid for local services and you did not pay so much in local council tax.

Successive Tory governments have cut income taxes but they have also cut grants to local councils. So your income tax goes down but your council tax goes up.

What sort of cost would we be talking about monthly?

(For reference I'm in Amsterdam and pay something like 370 euros per year; that covers very basic things like rubbish/recycling collection, street sweeping and so on.)

Some of your council tax will be for the police and fire & rescue services, which aren't delivered by councils, with the possible exception of the big megtropolitan authorities.

Approx 90% of council spending was funded by a grant from central government, this is being reduced every year, but I can't recall how much it's down to now. The shortfall has to be made up through the council tax which we all pay.

They can no longer top-slice the education budget (the biggest spending department in almost any council that is an LEA) because schools' funding is distributed to schools under a set formula, unless they've become academies, in which case the council loses the money completely.

The number of people needing social care is rising because of our ageing population, the need for expensive emergency housing for homeless families is increasing because of rising homelessness (in turn due to the unaffordability of private rents), and the cost of everything councils have to buy is rising because of inflation. In some areas (notably ASC and child protection, but many others, too), they are losing staff because of burn out and have to employ more costly agency staff in order to maintain safe levels of provision or meet statutory deadlines.

The funding system is fucked, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see more and more councils under S.114 notices (the council equivalent of bankruptcy).

I live in the SE of England and pay £1,608 pa. If I lived with a partner, the bill would be over £2k pa.

Council tax covers schools here
So with all the children needing state provided schooling and all the elderly who need but cannot afford their own care I can see why its ££££

@CurlyhairedAssassin
It's a percentage so obviously our income has increased since 1987.
Our rates then were £96 per year. Our council tax now is £1680 per year in a band B house in a fairly deprived area.
If only our income had increased at the same rate.
So no your maths is incorrect, fgs

We pay £240 a month and in Scotland they are talking about increasing my band by 17%
:(

😮 €370 a year ... We're talking £1000 upwards depending on the size of your house.

Ah that makes sense, AFAIK schools are funded centrally here (otherwise it would be horribly unfair to children in more rural areas).

Apologies for the derail. It really does sound like an enormous amount, many elements of which you would think would be paid by the national government(s).

Schools is barely anything in the budget of the local council, there is also road maintenance, libraries etc. Social Care (children's and adults) is approx 80% of the spend of councils. With people living longer and with more complex health issues that increasing cost has to be met by local authorities.

We pay £204 a month. It’s over 10 months. So just over £2k a year. 3 bed ex council semi in the south west. It’s a lot.

I'm not complaining about the areas council tax has to fund.
It's the percentage of income for anyone who has to pay. I have no children or dependents who need funding, thank goodness.
I want far better social care in particular for the elderly and children but it never happens.
It's almost like throwing money down the drain.
If it worked I would be so happy.

I am employed by my local council as a social worker. Since the current government has been in power the cuts from central government have been huge- off the scale level of huge. When you get your council tax bill there is a breakdown of what this covers. Alongside bin collection, roads etc there is policing, housing and adult and children's social care etc. A lot of this is statutory- certainly when it comes to child protection. Cuts have to be made elsewhere. My city has been very good at generating income and is pretty dynamic in this respect, however every year we have received an email about the tens of millions the budget has been reduced by and how they plan to make savings. People are quite clueless really when it comes to how services are funded.

Certainly from what I've read here you would think that councils being centrally funded would make more sense both for ratepayers and for the councils themselves.

@willstarttomorrow
I totally agree, the cuts from Westminster have been unprecedented.
I think most rational people understand this but the cost on top of inflation, energy and interest rates cannot be sustained.
Only thing in our favour is a tiny mortgage with six years left.
God help the younger people, those in expensive areas and renters.
I lived through 13 to 15% interest rates and this feels so much worse.
But the rich get richer. It's always the way, although now it's more obscene as people struggle to feed themselves and keep a roof over their heads.

@Vellincharm I agree. I have a 17 year old and whilst I have an okay professional income, I am a widowed single parent and every penny I earn has been needed over the 10 years (bills/childcare etc) and a lack of any real pay rise over the last decade means saving has been impossible. No inheritance expected (care home fees- which is fine by me) but how the hell we get through university and DC gets the opportunities I had as a student/young person in the 1990s is scary. Rent costs are ridiculous in practically every part of the country and it is virtually impossible to survive on one income now. Unless young people have an inheritance or wealthy parents to help out how the hell can they even secure somewhere to live? I am not even talking home ownership - you need £1000s to secure a rental property.

I checked how much the resident of a £1 million flat in maida vale (borough of Westminster) pays in council tax. £1100.

My friend just bought a flat in Leeds for £70k, his council tax is £1100. My flat in zone 3 London worth £400k- my council tax is £1500, rising to £1600 this year.

It is some crazy property tax system which is very regressive. I know the reasons for that - more businesses in London, higher population density but how does that help struggling families in Yorkshire?

I pay £3400 a year, band F. I do love my council services and live in an area that as yet, hasn’t cut services to the bone like in the area down the road where I work. The categorisations rile me. The way they were done is out of date and was arbitrary even at the time. I paid £250k for a house and it’s band F. Friend bought a house £400k at the same time in the same area, band D. I don’t begrudge paying for services but I’d like it to be fairer.

Our council tax is 1.2% of our income.

But how things are funded has changed since 1987, so things that were centrally funded are now managed from local budgets. We also have a population living longer so putting more strain on care and social services.

@rosetintedmemories2023 - yes the system is crazy and outdated. Some of the wealthiest areas in the UK have paid the lowest council tax for several years now. Then there are areas with high rates of second home ownership...Ghosts towns for several months and often incomers do not contribute to the local economy in any meaningful way during the months they visit

Living with family until marriage, Jane Austen style marriage market (like in china where people would only consider marrying or partnering up with someone if he has a flat).