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?

when my DC were babies i lived in a different town here in Germany. (village attached to a town)
Our paper was collected by local clubs, so free to us, and they got money for doing it. Same for glass. Recyclables were collected in a yellow bin free of charge. Same for organic waste (we used a compost heap for most of ours tho, but it was free so no savings) General waste was weighed. The wheelie bins had a magnetic lock, we had a key and the bin had a master key. Once it was out on the street you couldn't put anything in it without the key (so no dumping by passers by).The truck weighed and emptied the rubbish, and you got a bill or a rebate at the end of the year. I think it was a test area though and i never found out what happened.

People were shit hot at recycling then, and i used reusable nappies then which made my neighbour rething using disposables when we got our first rebate.

The 50% doesn't reflect that now it's less than 50% that goes on property related things and more than 50% that goes on people related things like social care.

Ah the old pension argument! Typical one to throw in. Did I ever say I begrudge paying for children? No

BTW I have a final salary pension so I'll be fine thank even if they got rid of state pension

But you cant even see how for a single person they do end up paying more in and they have the least protection and help.

I think adult social care should be taken out of council tax and funded through income taxation. Council tax shoukd be left for bin services, fire etc. That would be fair.

I was single and lived alone for a few years, a small terraced house. It did used to strike me as unfair that I only got a 25% discount when 4 adults right next door to me (2 parents and 2 adult children) all got to pay less tax than me. I never understood why I should pay in more for social care, fire etc. just because I live alone. I do agree it should be a tax per person.
The bandings themselves are also unfair. I moved from a very small, new build but cheap flat, into an old 2 bed terraced house but worth 100k more, and I moved down a band so paid less than when I lived alone in a small flat?

Yes again 2 parent families really missing the point re one parent families. You are not and never "like" a single parent household. How is this so difficult to get.

@Lettuceandtomatoes CT goes up, compounded, by 5% each year, more in some areas.

This is unsustainable, within a few years it will be 4 or 5k per year.

A new way of funding has to be found, pretty soon no one will be able to afford it, single or families.

Expensive properties are under taxed and cheaper ones hit the hardest, wonder why that might be????

So anyone single should only have a one-bedroom home?

I hope you’re planning to extend this policy to couples and families who have the temerity to have a spare room.

We also get higher rates here as we live in a city that has lots of students who don’t pay it. Also doesn’t seem fair! It should be a fair tax across the country.

Agreed.

Exactly the same situation I was in. Lived alone in a small new build 2 bed flat worth 80k I was band C. Moved into a 2 bed terraced house worth 150k and was band B.

I live alone too. The tax is 50 percent property and 50.personal based on 2 people, hence a 25 percent discount if one person living there. Still have to pay for all the services I use such as bin etc so understand it in a way. My sister is in a 3 bedroom property band A I in a 2 bed band B. Both in same town. Mine is based on cake when bought it 24 years ago . As her's is a rented council house, I'm wondering if because it has never been sold, it has been.put in band A.

Would not be surprised if there is a re evolution of bands

It's a completely broken tax system and young people are hit the hardest.
Don't move to Wales though we have some of the highest council tax anywhere. I pay £350 a month for bugger all

I read about the millions some university cities are missing out on. Know students bring revenue, but not fair that rest of population make up for it. Also the costs vary throughout the country. It seems that in areas where there is a higher concentration of lower band properties, there seems to be higher charges than in areas where there are more higher band properties. I suppose revenue needs to come from.somewhere. Better than.poll tax i suppose but this not much of a recommendation 😞

As for comment we need more children being born, nonwe don't. There is too many people than resources on this planet. What we need is to change the system so the generation below aren't needed to pay for older people

Fo u get free dental care in Wales? Or do u pay an amount each month that entitles u to this?

Ditto. And the Welsh government who own the bus service are reducing, cancelling routes. It's all here down to living in a retirement area heavy social services burden and low density housing. They've bought electric bin wagons which can't cover the distances needed so have been moth balled.

What do you think your final salary pension is invested in? Only in the products of your work? Or in companies that are profitable and project growth because of a workforce made up of other people’s children.

This is not something limited to state pensions, paid for from income taxes of the next generation.

The reason so many of our taxation and societal systems are weighted in favour of couples is to encourage people to have kids. Society fails if there are no kids - not just the tax pot, everything. One of the simplest ways to boost economic growth is increased population - a larger, younger work force.

It’s why even the Tories are looking at how to make childcare more affordable - they don’t give a shit about helping families, they give a shit about the research that shows the affordability childcare is a top reason British families don’t have as many kids. Because fewer British kids means a weaker British economy (importing the young workers from elsewhere notwithstanding).

That's why I've said the system needs changing. The world doesn't need more people, our country might but there are other countries that are seriously over populated

We only have this society constructed for us to allow this many people to muddle along together. It doesn't have to be this way.

And as you siad it yourself it's weighted in favour of couples or families so you admit it then that single people are unfairly taxed.

How would that be fair? The highest earners are far more likely to have private provision for care, and assets available to sell to fund it.

We pay tax for services some of us may never use - but that’s how society functions.

I can’t see how moving adult social care (and why only adult? What about children’s social care and SEND?) to general taxation would be any fairer.

I know it isn't, but did you really want me to list every single thing and give examples or did you get the jist?

Police, fire, mayoral office, social care, elderly etc.. your area will have different charges depending on where you live so I can't possibly guess what you're paying for but everyone has bins!

Very argumentative...

And just how do you plan to do that? Don’t forget, we’re also going to have a shock as more jobs get done by computers / AI so our income tax system crumbles. Of course there are too many people in the world, and another way to make sure the older generation are looked after would be to move some people from overpopulated areas like Africa and Asia to the UK, but that’s not a very popular policy these days.

No, I don’t think they are unfairly taxed and I didn’t say that. I’m saying that we are incentivised to couple up and have kids. Think of it as a discount for procreation.

In what ways are single people unfairly taxed?

Because they pay the same rate of tax as people with children. Single people are essentially subsidising parents. It’s pretty obvious. Why would be subsidise procreation? We don’t need more people, we live on an overcrowded planet.