Council tax bill - is this wild or are yours insanely high too?

[Notmycircusnotmyotter]

My local council took £232 in direct debit today for council tax. I'll be honest, I don't budget to the pound, so was shocked when I saw it and assumed they had wrongly taken off my single person discount. But nope. £232 is what 75% of the council tax charge is for my 3 bed terrace.

WTAF. This feels insanely high.

please don't tell me all about bankrupt councils and adult social care. I've heard it. I know.

My point is how are ordinary people paying these sorts of bills? I'm a single parent of two on a decent wage and it stings.

That was how it was for me, single parent no child support, holding down two jobs at times to cover all the bills. Retired a few years ago and was managing ok until the cost of living crisis hit and now I feel as if i am back to the start except I am no longer young, strong and hopeful! I did my budget the other day and compared to about 3 years ago, my essentlal outgoings (food, fuel, water, council tax, broadband, phone, insurance, tv licence etc) when added up have increased by 129%. I expect that my Band A single person's council tax will be well over £2k a year before I die! I try not to think about it. .

Thats mad. Mine is 160 with single discount. Small modern 3 bed terrace in SW.

Why aren’t all three bedroom houses, for example, taxed the same, regardless of size. Two adults in a larger house use the same roads, rubbish collections, schools etc as someone in a smaller house. I guess people could assume that a larger house equates to larger wages, but that’s not necessarily true.

Or maybe the poll tax wasn’t such a bad idea. People are saying that single people should get a bigger discount, so maybe council tax should be taxed per person, and not per house size … (runs and takes cover)

Two adults are not necessarily using schools.

But yeah, taxing individuals makes more sense in my eyes. A couple in a 4 bed house would be paying the same CT as a group 4+ friends house sharing next door (and they would all be paying less if they split the bill). Or a childless couple be paying the same as a couple with multiple children, which I assume would be making more rubbish and will be using schools etc.

I am not really sure what the answer is.

This was how it was done before council tax.

it was called..poll tax and caused riots.

i had to pay 20% as a student. As a single parent household we were much better off when we were children.

Ours is £350 per month