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?

No I never paid a penny as a teenager and I don't think any teenager's living with parents should ..

Why not, if they’re working?

I do think there should be an exemption for people in full time education.

Council tax is based on property & location. Not occupants. You are already receiving a discount because you live alone. But it doesn't make the services any cheaper. It's not down to the council how many adults are splitting the bill.

I'm not passing my bloody tax liability onto my kids; don't be soft.

I think working adults should all pay their own way in terms of tax.

If you want to subsidise your adult children that’s up to you.

So like there was a Malcolm Rifkind who lived is a castle like house(very nice) was billed less than an ordinary household . Two teenagers and two adults .
I never paid a penny and plenty like me I was eighteen .

These children which people have will be paying YOUR state pension one day.

Just a return on the investment for their healthcare, education, any benefits.....

It doesn’t seem any less fair than the current system tbh

Do you think an mp (very nice house) should be billed the same as a teenager living with parents ?

Do you think someone living in a small flat should be billed the same as someone living in a 3 bed house worth over twice the cost?

I don’t think either system is particularly fair. It must be possible to design something better.

In the end taxes are unfair in many areas but OP is suggesting we should all pay our way via a flat rate.
If you apply same thinking to income tax and NI then for 22/23 we collectively paid about £470 billion across the three.
There were ~ 67.5 million people in the U.K. at that same time. ~ 14.5 million were under 18 so I’ll assume you might want to let them off tax until they are adults.
So split it between the ~53 million adults and that’s about £8,870 each (including employers national insurance).
You may well contribute more than that today and be better off if we all made the same contribution to be fair but lots of single people would not be better off (particularly the very young and the very old on fixed incomes).

Well depends where it is doesn't it? Buy in area you can afford to live in . Everyone would know what they are willing to pay when buying .

I did.

The council tax is actually lower for properties I couldn’t afford to buy!

Council tax is fundamentally unfair because it's not based on ability to pay and also based on really old house values that have often dramatically changed from enormous extensions and renovations. It's just so wildly random what band people are on in our village now as it's not 1991 anymore.

I’d actually prefer to see all current taxes scrapped and everyone to pay the same percentage on the money they get in, whether that’s from income, deemed income from wealth, or capital gains. So those with more would pay more, which is fine, but gets rid of all these weird anomalies.

I've heard the council tax is lower in places like Mayfair where there is not much demand on council services .

Sadly I don’t live in Mayfair - but that is a good example of something being unfair; I imagine many residents of Mayfair could more easily afford high council tax than people elsewhere in the country.

I'm happy I rent private and live in Northern Ireland. We don't pay water rates as well. It's all included in my £500 per month rent for our 3 bed house. I couldn't afford to live in England anymore.

Actually if I did live in Mayfair I’d be paying half the council tax I do now, assuming the same band (D). I’d have to be living in a Band H property before I paid more.

Maggie had alot of ideas which people didn’t want to listen too.

council tax is one of the unfairest tax. Why should someone who is lucky enough to work from home be penalised because they have turned two of the smaller rooms into home offices.

we chose to buy a bigger house on the “poorer” side of the street, which was cheaper than a three bedroom flat on the “richer” side of town. Our council tax is £1500 a year more than that flat now.

personslly I think it should be done on income, but the educated self employed will work out a way not to pay

Perhaps 10% if all income earned should be paid in tax as soon as you earn it, payable by an app.

so if you earn £500 u pay £50
if you earn £5000 u pay £500
if you earn £50000 u pay £5000
if you earn £500000 u pay £50000

its a tricky one

My water is on the council tax , there is no water bills or meters .Scotland refused to sell their water off .
I did live N Ireland for a couple of years behind the wire , there is no council tax or water bills .

Council tax is bizarre and unfair. Agree it’s unfair to single people and it’s extremely unfair to people who live in poorer areas who end up paying vastly more.
A single person living in Hartlepool would be extremely hard done by, not fair at all

'You are already receiving a discount...' It doesn't feel like a discount when you already have to pay the rent/mortgage on your own but you're paying double per person, per head given the amount of services you will use/need.

Jumping on this thread unashamedly to ask what happens in the following case?

Dd (19) is doing a full-time Level 3 course at the local college but is going to uni in September to do a degree.

Am I entitled to the single person's discount now and in the future?

It definitely costs more everyday to be a singleton. But why should society (ie the rest of the population) subsidise any one's choices? It all boils down to "this is good now v this is shit now but it will get better". I am not offering any answers and would love to read some.

FTR, I am 67 but with a DC25, who will have a deposit on a property in due course, BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN SAVING FOR IT since the birth.