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?

We're on a water meter, 4 of us £35/month 🤣

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

We might be able to pay someone to fill in all the potholes with the money we save on the council tax

Google Poll tax and what happened when a charge per adult was implemented, rather than per property 😂

But which should we fill first? Who will do it? Who will organise it?

massive amounts of expenditure on things that nobody wants and nobody needs examples please - with actual information about these 'massive amounts' because this is just made up rage.

we don't have any governments or councils that we can vote for who want to look after the basic needs of the population what do you think housing, care, education, health, street cleaning, transport are?

Its a poorly conceived tax in many ways, not least because the highest values houses do not incur a particularly high charge relative to ordinary homes. However the necessary changes will be unpopular with many so there is little appetite for change amongst most political parties

Poll tax was so unfair . Sending household bills to teenagers still living with parents was so unfair .

I’d leave that to our local Facebook groups to sort out 😂😂😂

they would actually do a better job than our council for most things tbf

Who is 'we' in this scenario?

Are you volunteering to take your town planning exams at nightclass and run this new scheme?

Do you think things were better in 1650?

Who is organising things in your mad world with no council? Are you asking your Auntie June to sort everything out?

My question is what would the place be like if they actually worked on these things. If they hadn't closed our libraries. If they were repairing the roads...if they hadn't introduced and then removed a cycle lane because some idiots didn't realise how much it would affect the buses....how much did that cost? 😱

It isn't worth getting involved in council meetings because the amount of time money and energy spent on crap is just mind blowing.

I've just noticed that the breakdown this month separates "corporate costs" and "corporate services" ....perhaps I'll waste some time emailing them about that ...actually no it's not worth it.

I temped for Camden Council once.

I had absolutely nothing to do for two weeks, but I had no access to the Internet and I wasn't allowed to read a book.

If I could get that kind of work now - especially at home - or if I was allowed to read a book, I would absolutely jump at it.

Who was that novelist who wrote his entire novel while temping for Westminster Council? That's going to bug me now....

my late father used to encourage me to go into politics 😂

I don't think there is a place for anyone who actually wants to address these things.

I wasn’t being entirely serious (can no one on here take a joke any more?) but in all honesty I think there would be a group of people prepared to band together to get some things done. I’d certainly volunteer.

because council tax is based per house and band rating not per person. 25% discount is really a good will gesture

Google Rod Stewart. He got told off though.

Would they?

Where is the money coming from to pay for the potholes? How do they decide between all the thousands of potholes?

How do they decide between the furious FB groups in different areas?

The idea of scrapping local democracy and thinking your town would be better off with some ill-qualified people from FB fundraising for potholes and doing it DIY is 100% batshit.

How is it unfair OP when this is a personal choice you have made? Presumably your house can fit in two other people so take in two lodgers. As PPs have said, Poll tax did not work.

Oh, I think crowdfunding for pothole-filling would raise a lot of money here

Our local councillors are generally the batshit ones on the local FB pages, everyone else seems relatively normal.

The basic lack of understanding of how tax and public services work on this thread demonstrates why we have such an unfair system and people keep voting to keep it exactly as it is

In all honesty you are talking nonsense.

Modern society has processes.

I don't want some weirdos deciding to fuck up my local area with no democratic oversight, thanks.

If you want to volunteer, volunteer in the existing sane structures.

Council tax is unfair, the single person's charge is just one of the larger examples. So are business rates.

I favour local income tax and to have business local taxes based on turnover.

It doesn't include property value is the issue. A very wealthy person in a £2 million house with massive garden, should pay more than an oap, their adult child and their student grandchild in a mid terrace opening onto the street with a back yard. It needs to reflect the property.

There are some very good arguments for doing the opposite to reduce inequality. Reduce tax on income and increase tax on wealth.

No it wouldn't.

Look back in time at the period before public services.

It was shit.

Really! Did you read my opening thread?

It. Was. A. Joke.

i am not seriously suggesting we get rid of local councils.

I do think ours could do a better job than they are doing though.

@Dacadactyl that was your choice to be a SAHM. You still had the potential for two incomes.