It is government taxing local areas for local needs.
For everyone up in arms that you bought a property and then the banding went up you should be looking at your solicitor. All properties that have undergone significant works such as extensions are marked as new banding pending on the VOA website. We were told that a house we were buying over 20 years ago had this marker.
Back in rates days, pre community charge or Poll tax an owner was the one who paid for a increase in rates charges for any home improvements. It meant landlords were unwilling to invest money into a property they did not live in as they personally wouldn't benefit. This is why it was moved to rebanding on the sale of the house.
Every year you will get a leaflet telling you where your money is being spent. Central government funding keeps getting cut so your local area suffers more as the councils try to work out how they will fund all the services they provide. Why do you think bin collections have gone down to fortnightly collections?
Having worked in Council Tax I think the bottom end needs a reband and the top end absolutely needs a rebanding. Someone in a 6 bed can be paying the same as someone in a 12 bed house. @Elsvieta Council Tax is classed as a hereditament comprised of 50% property and 50% two adults living there. Previously if one person was living there it was a simple 25% discount on the adult part. Second homes were charged at 50% to reflect no adults living there and being charged elsewhere. Places with large tourism then had properties sitting empty and not getting money which would have paid for services hence the change to originally up to 90% which meant owners lied, said there were single adult tenants reducing the 90% down to 75%. I personally think second homes should be charged at 100%.
@Earlybirdvsnightowl "I thought bands were set but everyone pays a different amount even in bands. So I don't get it how it's worked out."
Every property in that council's area will all pay the same amount unless a person or property exemption is applied (students, carers, the property being occupied by a disabled person in a wheelchair where adaptions have been made) however, what you probably mean is why someone living in Liverpool band D pays a different amount to someone living in Milton Keynes band D. It is dependent on what your local area needs funding for.
Where I lived the banding was relatively easy to guess because a new build 3 bed detached was a D band. Every other band is a percentage worked off that, so E band (4 bed detached) is so much percentage higher than the D band, a C band (3 bed semi detached) is so much percentage lower than the D band. An A band was a bedsit or studio, B band a 1 bed house or 2 bed flat as a rule of thumb. An F band was an "executive" 4 bed ie 2 en-suites or a 5 bed detached house.
Basically council tax is a government tax collected locally. Their powers are huge, they can take money directly from your salary, send bailiffs to lift your car off your drive. My advice is always prioritise that bill. If you cannot pay the full amount that month pay everything you can, contact them, please. If you get someone like me and you should, we will do anything we can to help you. Our job is to collect that money in. Sadly once it starts getting to reminders/final notices it is out of our hands due to central government legislation which covers this. Contact them early. Try to pay that year in that year because the next year's bill is coming and it will be higher. And as staff, we all pay council tax too so we understand.