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?

@Newrumpus

There was no student exemption. Every student in a tiny box room crammed into a corridor of each hall of residence at my university was expected to pay the same as the gentry landowners. Of course there were riots.

%%%%%%%

Yep

When I was single and lived in a small house / cheap council tax
Then cheap poll taxes
Then cheaper council tax as I got to receive 25% discount.
I could afford it.

Now, many years later
Much more expensive council tax as we saved and got a bigger house.
No discount ad there is 2 of us.
But I can afford it.

My adult kids just starting out in smaller houses , cheaper council tax

It's seems the fairest way.

Can you go on a meter? Then you’d just pay for what you use

They're all well off so I doubt it

And if that empty house catches fire the fire brigade will come and help. If there's a crime the police may eventually do something. The lamppost outside will be maintained to help keep the area safe. The road hopefully kept nice enough while you sell the house.

Sorry if this is a silly question.

Has this been going on for a long time? Most councils have provision whereby you don't have to pay council tax on a deceased person's property for a period of time.

I realise you may have exceeded that period of time ....but I thought it was worth mentioning, because dealing with things after a loss is horrendous, and sometimes it's hard to get the right information. 💐

A large chunk of council tax in my area funds the local drainage board of which everyone residing locally benefits from as in theory it manages & reduces flood risk along with fire, police etc which is irrelevant whether your property has a higher or lower occupancy.

Having RTFT i beginning to think you may have a point.

Because single people are deemed 'lesser'. This is apparent not only from gov policies and things like child tax credit/married tax allowances and so on but also from the way single people - especially if you're female- are spoken about. This forum is an everyday example of that.

Rank 1: married with kid/s
Rank 2: married
Rank 3: coupled
Rank 4: single

It will never change.

What is unfair is the national variation. In London we paid about £1200 a year, moved 20 miles West into Buckinghamshire and for similar size property, its £3500. And get less as have to pay extra to get our garden waste collected.

Because there were riots when Margaret Thatcher wanted to do what you would like.

It was called the poll tax.

It couldn’t, because legally it is not allowed. Councils can only use capital resources to fund revenue expenditure with explicit permission from central government - usually if they’re going to go bust otherwise e.g. Birmingham.

Councils vary. I haven’t worked for one which I thought was carrying out fraudulent activity (jobs for mates) or with procurement rules designed not to give value for money, but obviously some do.

Well said.
Makes sense.

Council tax is such an unfair tax full stop. It’s not based on ability to pay. It would be better to scrap it and increase income tax slightly. It disproportionately affects those on lower incomes.

I paid poll tax as a student in Scotland in the early 90s, but not sure if it was the same in NI, England or Wales. I think it was at a heavily reduced rate though.

@Caravaggiouch The point I'm making is it's a damn stupid law that needs to come off the books.

Water meter?

Council tax is just a way to rob money from people and then waste it on shite, whilst providing shit services. They don't care about single people or couples or family, they just want to get money to waste.

Bonkers! So would neighbours living 4 in house at much less cost. Have you forgotten the point of this post was unfairness?

Council tax is such an unfair tax full stop. It’s not based on ability to pay.

Er......yes it is. A large percentage of homes receive Council Tax Benefit, so pay nothing, or very little.

Can't you go on a water meter?

And yet you don't pay more if there are more than two adults in the house. The whole system is a fudge devised in the fallout from the Poll Tax, it needs reform.

The tax is for the property. The council does not care how it is split. The tax is x amount for a set property. There could be 4 adults in some, one in others. The 1 gets a discount, yet enjoys the whole property. Is that fair on the 4?

Erm, what?

Council services are really vital. Yes the government have cut things back so far that services are now very poor (thank you Tories) but surely you understand that social care, school transport, road repairs, bin collections, recycling, planning administration, street cleaning, housing, libraries etc etc etc are all worthwhile.

What on earth would your town be like if the council just disappeared?

This makes sense

Exactly!

The whole thing is just a money go round.

I don't think anyone minds paying for social care and education etc.

Well, a handful of people probably mind 🤷🏻‍♀️

but what most of us are pissed off about is massive amounts of expenditure on things that nobody wants and nobody needs.

we don't have any governments or councils that we can vote for who want to look after the basic needs of the population.