Government announcing doubling council tax double for band G & H

[spookymelon666]

I know it’s not yet set in stone. We can’t afford it. There’s an assumption that these are high value houses. My house is worth no more than 300K 3 bedroom detached 125m2 with no front garden or driveway or garage and a tiny back garden and we are band G in Scotland. I’m so frustrated by the cost of living. We already can’t afford any holidays. AIBU that this isn’t fair?

Yanbu. Council tax system is a joke.

Council tax is devolved to Scotland. It doesn't matter what Westminster does or doesn't do, we don't have to follow suit.

Ffs. That is not a high band and it’s really unfair on those of us who live in areas where prices are already stupidly high 🙄

Any source to this rumour? First I've heard.

they are high bands - in England that’s properties that were worth more than £160k in 1991, maybe some quirks depending on area but in mine my large 4 bed detached house is band D. It would be very unusual if those bands covered any houses worth c£300k - around here house price inflation has been 2-400% over that 35 year period.

no idea what the bands are in Scotland, but as a pp notes it won’t be affected as it’s devolved.

It is a proposal being looked at for the April budget that I suspect has been leaked or focused on to gain an insight into how it will be received

If you are band G then that means that the majority of properties in your area are smaller or less luxurious. Only about 6% of properties in Scotland are band G or higher. The number of bedrooms is misleading and insufficient to judge property size - my sister and I both live in 3-bed semis, but mine is a band B ex-council property, and each of the two larger bedrooms can just about fit a double bed with little room for much else, and the 3rd bedroom can barely fit a single bed and the landing at the top of the stairs is very cramped with just enoughspace fir the doors, whereas in her Band F three-bed-semi there's room for an armchair and dressing table along with the kingsize bed in the larger bedrooms, the 3rd bedroom is about twice the size of our third bedroom, and the upstairs landing has space for additional furniture too. You cannot have much idea of your privilege if you think that any property that must by definition be in the top 10% locally is somehow also very basic. Move to a band E or F property if you can't afford to live in a band G one.

I’ve already posted on another thread about this as it’s something we’re really worried about.
However, I read the IFS report where this is one of many suggestions and I’d be very surprised if it’s implemented.
It would be incredibly unfair and wouldn’t actually target the highest value properties. Council tax bands are based on 1991 property values and house prices haven’t increased equally across the country. Prices in London have increased significantly more than properties in the north east for example. There are properties in London worth 2 million on Band C and houses in the north of England worth £400k in Band G. It would be inherently unfair and disproportionately impact the North.

I’m in a Band G house and already pay over £400 a month and I really can’t afford that to double.

So .. let’s look at the facts

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (an independent research group), produced a paper, that said there was a mismatch around Council Tax banding. This was to do with the amount charged, not being extrapolated using value.

What the IFS says is … if your Band G is worth 8 times more than a Band A, and Council Tax was calculated that way, so you would pay 8 times more .. it would raise £6bn

It’s not a Government Policy, it’s a paper that The Chancellor had (quite rightly) read.

Just because the Daily Mail said it’s true, doesn’t mean it’s true.

The suggestion that somebody just moves is not taking into account how difficult that is and how it will just become more challenging if you have a band G or H property. How desirable do think these properties will be if their council tax rates double? Particularly houses in Band G.

We also can’t afford it. Live in the south in a 3 bed detached property, so nothing extravagant. Our mortgage increased hugely with interest rates and both in public sector jobs. Council tax already 3500k a year. We would have to sell.

Don't go bringing facts into it.

It confuses people

The whole things needs a revamp. We are a band D for a terraced 3 bed in a poor part of the North. I pay £240 per months which is 1/4 of my net home pay. It's ridiculous. Meanwhile, the same bands in the South esp London a a fraction of ten price even though house prices are a lot higher there and general, people are a lot more wealthy. Council tax for many there is only a tiny tiny percentage of their wage and not a huge chunk.

I can't believe you are a band G, OP :(

Honestly in Scotland a lot of houses that would be on the cheaper in in the south east seem to make it into F/G/H bands.
There's no way most of the people living in them could afford a doubling of their council tax - it's already a steep bill.

Rebanding and reform of CT would take many years, will never happen, its like reform of the tax system generally, takes years, by which time there is a GE and Govts don't want to do anything remotely unpopular.

Did you mean to be so patronising?

People are worried. You don’t need to be a dick about it.

Yes I did. Glad you noticed

People are worrying because they are just taking what they read on social media as the truth, rather than looking into things properly

I am house hunting at the moment and in the price bracket I’m looking at, houses in my district are Band E and occasionally F, while in the neighbouring district a lot are Band G. That is a significant difference in the council tax rate (enough to discount considering Band G houses) for houses of the same value and yet the people living in £3m+ houses pay very little more. The whole system needs to be scrapped and something more consistent set up to replace it.

"not set in stone" = largely speculative. Right wing media is enjoying making this 'fact' before the budget is announced and having people worry about it suits their agenda just fine doesn't it.

Doubled is crazy we pay 396. More than our mortgage. We definitely can't afford 792!!!

That woman is determined to crash the housing market. 😡

And? There are ways which you can highlight this which don’t involve being patronising.

People are very worried about their finances so emotions are heightened.

I’m in band g in se. I am single income household and simply cannot afford it if it doubles ! My house is not large, and I have two teens. It’s completely unreasonable!

But they are worrying about nothing at all.

Anyone who actually applies some logic, would realise that CT reform takes years.

Its just another right wing anti Labour scare story, to be binned with all the others....
Remember the last CT one where Reeves was absolutely certain to remove the single persons discount?

That got the gullible up in arms on here, driven on by the usual suspects.

This would be batshit around us - it's an estate full of new builds which always get unreasonably high bands. There's a house round the corner, 134sqm, £400k, band G. Yet theres an older property on the market for £1.2m. Also band G.

BBC news are reporting on it now, so hardly ‘right wing’.

If true it’s very unfair. What council tax gets spent on has no relevance to the size/cost of a house.

I can see protests on the street if everything floated about this budget comes to fruition.