Council tax is a c**t

[Upholstery]

What kind of a tax doesn't take account of how much money you have? It's all just a bloody con.

The whole tax system needs reforming, surely councils with poorer areas receive less in CT than affluent areas. The government should fully fund the councils and the council tax should go to the government so it can be redistributed evenly.

I think central government should start funding EHCPs and all that goes with it, not fair on LAs

I pay it on my private pension. 5 more years until I get my state pension, then I’ll pay more. Just like every other tax payer!

Dear lord, you dont have a clue! I live in a band A flat (renter), and have worked all of my adult life! I don't have children and barely use the NHS. As a single person, I also create less waste than the average family too.

One of my friends is the same as me, except she owns her band A house.

Yes, a nominal amount. Call it a tax or supplement. They are responsible for a significant portion of all welfare spending. It is reasonable that even those reliant on the state pension should contribute.

Dear god. You may create less waste and pay towards services like education you are not personally using but you benefit from other people having children. Those children become the future workers, taxpayers and carers that keep public services and the economy running. You are not that special.

I didnt say that makes me special. I was replying to the other posters snobbish comment!

Thank for clarifying. My apologies.

What about those on pension credit and all their freebies?

To achieve more funding benefits need to be slashed.

Which “freebies” would those be? Can we have some specific examples?

Those on pension credit are offered council tax reduction, housing benefit, winter fuel, warm home discount,free TV licence, NHS dental and many more.

Removing these perks would save a fortune.

Anyone on benefits, regardless of age, gets most of those. Free TV licences are only for over 75s and NHS dentists are as common as unicorns so it’s a pretty pointless “freebie”. You try living on less than £12k and see how you get on.

So treat them differently to every other tax payer?

Those on pension credit have not contributed sufficiently over the years. Those on State pension have.

State pensioners do not get housing benefit or council tax reduction.

Ah, you need to understand where it came from. In the olden days, we used to pay “rates”, but only home owners paid them. Anyone who wasn’t a home owner, didn’t pay for local services but benefited from them (some say disproportionately as poor people were more likely to be using community groups and facilities).

I'm sure that council tenants paid both rent and rates. DH grew up in an area with hardly any private housing, all the estates were council. It was unusual to have a child in class that came from private housing. They still had good services, better than when their area was absorbed into the nearby city.

Do you have any evidence of that? No, of course not. Any state pensioner who claimed before 2016 is on the old state pension which provides eligibility for pension credit if it’s their only income. So you think someone who claimed before 2016 didn’t contribute, whereas a claimant after that date did? Despite paying the same NI contributions.

My experience of life is you were expected to pay your bills, no special privileges.

If you didn't earn enough you had three choices

Change job
Get an additional job
Stick with current job and live frugally within your means

If you had no job, the choice was get a job.

Pension credit is an insidious benefit.

Benefits (including council tax exemptions) should not be used to supplement income or as full income. It is up to the individual to manage finances not the tax payer. What if everyone adopted the entitled attitude, where would we be.

When you’re living comfortably on less than £12k you can criticise. How do you propose a pensioner changes or gets an additional job? It’s hardly entitled to expect to have enough money to live on after decades of work.

If you had no job, the choice was get a job.

even if you are wheelchair bound, unable to transfer, partially sighted and need carers 4 times a day.

A pensioner on the full state pension only receives £12,014. They have to survive on that. They have spent a lifetime contributing and still pay full Council tax.

Pension credit should be phased out. The public need to be aware that if they fail to make sufficient contributions they will not receive a tax payer funded pension. Ii is about time people took some responsibility for their own lives.

Disability is another subject.

Do you agree that unless someone has spent a lifetime disabled they should receive no tax payer funded pension?

I don't. I propose they work/contribute during their working lifespan.

Approx 35 contributory years required.

Working life starts at 18. That would make them 53. Therefore they could start work later say 27 and still qualify at 62 or start at 18 and take 14 years off to raise a family and still qualify. Ituis upto the individual how they arrange it.

According to the MN majority, disability is very much the subject. What with free houses, new cars, holidays 4 times a day and helipads.

That said, I am intrigued by your comment. Are there only two flavours of disablity in your world ? "Lifetime disabled" or not ? Nothing in between to give a vague hint that maybe it's a complex subject without a sloganisable answer ?

(For anyone who wants to report this post it's sarcasm level has been rated: mild)

Remove housing benefit and you will make people homeless.

Even the full state pension?