Council tax very unfair to single people

[Lettuceandtomatoes]

The council tax for my area is £1800 full whack, a single person 25% off. I pay £140 a month which is ok until I realised the three adults next door are paying £60 pounds each and a couple paying £90 each. So why this inequality aimed at single people, picking up the tab?

How do you suggest it changes then OP? That doesn't impact you living exactly where you want to, obvs.

Problem is you have posters here who it wouldn't benefit then to have a fairer system but hey god forbid they actually recognise the unfairness and acknowledge and agree that single people.have zero security and help if it all goes tits up. I mean its not like those those single people are paying towards their kids education,.uni fees, childcare and so on and still demand more help from the government 🙄

This. Spot on.

It’s wonderful to hear from someone who talks actual sense

But three times as many people are using them, which means three times the financial and logistical pressure on said services.

All of this!

The lodger thing is absolute crap. I flatshared for most of my 20s and some of my 30s and I had some great experiences but also some horrendous experiences including a flatmate threatening violence on me and the landlord having a go at me for calling the police. And another one where a flatmate removed one of the knives from the knife block the day after we had an argument. I’ve got no proof why she did it, but I believe it was to intimidate me. I assume she kept the knife in her bedroom. Then she had her (rough) mum walking up and down the hallway overnight to intimidate me.

You really don’t know what you’re walking into living with an unrelated adult. I would never live with another adult again unless it’s my future husband!

And even with the nicer housemates that I’m still in contact with, I was never able to be myself fully as I had to be considerate of them. I can walk around in my underwear here, leave the breakfast dishes until later, sing along to music with my tuneless voice etc, cook as long as I want to without worrying I’m hogging the kitchen…My stress and anxiety levels have plummeted since I live on my own.

That isn’t relevant. You CHOSE to be a SAHM. If you’re single, you don’t have the option of a double income.

Not relevant. Council tax is not based on your income.

And just to add I don't begrudge my taxes being spent to help families out but I do when that group cant even empathise with the situation of a single person and call it out. I mean saying so on here is no hardship your not suddenly going to find your council tax changing.

Put it this way every time in the past 20yrs of my working life there hasn't been one single budget where there has been anything specifically to help or support a single person worker that no other group also benefited from.

Let that sink in

And theb if we dare to whinge or rant we get told well get a lodger from people who have been lucky to find love and for some stay married cos they know divorcing and living alone is too expensive. Because sure sharinf space with a stanger it the same as haring a space with aomeon you love....erm no! Talk about a slap in the face.

there's more to council tax than just bin collections... a lot goes on outside of a house which is paid for by council tax. OP's neighbour could be involved in a fire at a different location during the day and be rescued by the fire brigade, paid for by the council tax. that doesn't mean her whole house has been using that service at the same time. and the rescued neighbour would have paid less from their own pocket towards that service than the OP.

But if you are single you can focus on your career and climb the ladder, earning more money without having to think about or take into account your OH or children! So unfair! Inequality, inequality!

Losing single person discount when students are home for the holidays is a shocker. It basically wipes out all their minimum wage earnings

Completely agree @Spectre8 good point about the budget. It really irks me when politicians give speeches about “helping hard working families”. I know it’s just a turn of speech but when you look at it in the context of their policies it’s as if they really think single people with no kids don’t exist or matter.

😂😂😂😂

what does the council provide in your area? Is it only bins associated with the property of does your family use more council services than a single person?

But it people are just pointing out that they do not agree. That is the point of the whole forum. Sometimes people have varying opinions. It is ok.

Council tax is not fair on many fronts. But actually, many single people are not getting a poor deal at all. Some certainly are, but checking your toys out of the pram because people do not agree is not great op.

Oh FFS. That’s an option open to everyone. You chose to have children - don’t expect those of us who don’t to pick up the financial slack.

We only exist to hand over more taxes to pay for other people and their choices. That's the sad truth.

Council tax is not fair on many fronts. But actually, many single people are not getting a poor deal at all.

In what way?

Yes thay career ladder that's so easy to climb just because your single except if your a minority and you have other barriers in place or for various other reasons it's not always possible

This reply is completely irrelevant to the post.

Your DH isn't a single person, he is married and you have chosen to be a sahm instead of working.

This doesnt make you a single occupancy household in any sense.

It's an absolute piss take. Per person in my household costs us £600 plus per person...next door £300 . I'm single -not 3/4 of a couple.

If you have kids, you're using more services so should be charged more per child IMO.

Are you joking? The majority of people lumbered with paying council tax are "hard working families" because if you don't work you get council tax benefit and pay very little or nothing. Be grateful there are so many "hard working families" to subsidise those who don't pay!

So true! Sadly for years I subconsciously believed this too due to societal conditioning. I had a friend with kids from two not so great men, and I thought it was selfish of me to say no if she asked for money as she had kids. So I kept gifting her cash every time she asked for it, even though she was living in a house paid for by housing benefit and didn't work until her youngest was 5, while I was holed up in grotty flatshares despite working full-time paying taxes.

Even now this friend only works part time (16 hours ) and was asking me for money until quite recently.

It was just during the pandemic the penny dropped and I realised that I didn’t need to keep funding her choices in addition to the tax I pay.

I’ve suggested she work full time if she wants more money since her kids are all secondary school aged now!

You don't lose the single person discount when your student children are home from the holidays.

As long as they're still enrolled as full time students they're exempt from council tax.