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.

Council tax is not a particularly fair or well distributed tax. But the Daily Mail and social media would have a meltdown if it shifted to income tax, capital gains tax or VAT, all of which would be fairer

And road maintenance. In our area it's gone to residential parking and high paid-for, parking. The fines have been ridiculous, there's been no leeway while people adjust. We could redirect some of that. As well as properly making the utility companies make good when they carry out work.

Council Tax is a sore subject with me. As a single childfree person who earned a good salary I have been a net contributer all my life. As a sinhgle pensioner I am now effectively subsidising families (net takers) who pay NOTHING extra for their children. 20% of my CT bill goes on childrens services and I resent every penny of that. If I ever move I will be sure to leave a huge bill behind me out of sheer spite.

Mine's £309 a month, band E, 3 bed semi, South East. I wouldn't mind but are roads are awful and my car has a permanent creak/ grind/ squeak.

I live alone in a two up two down Band A and I pay £134 a month, if I shared a Band D house I would pay the same amount, the whole system needs reforming. I can't understand anyone not knowing how much their council tax is, do they not open the bill/email, do a budget and monitor their income and expenditure? I would perhaps not resent the amount I pay if the area I live in wasn't a filthy rubbish strewn tip that I no longer invite people to my home, in fact much of the city where I live is a run down mess that makes me depressed when I go out.

Mine is £148 per month for a 3 bed semi. No water charges either which helps. Yours sounds really high

Council tax has gone up a lot but that seems very high, OP. Can you say approximately where you are? What band is your property? I'm paying £166 a month with a single person discount for a band E four-bed detached house. It's gone up 5%.

Edited to add that Martin Lewis has a guide to checking your council tax band and challenging it if you think it is wrong: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change/

How much was last year's monthly rate?

Those children grew up and are paying your pension. The generation before paid for your education. The current generation are paying for your NHS services, The next generation will probably pay for your social care. You will probably be still moaning then

Council Tax is a sore subject with me. As a single childfree person who earned a good salary I have been a net contributer all my life. As a sinhgle pensioner I am now effectively subsidising families (net takers) who pay NOTHING extra for their children. 20% of my CT bill goes on childrens services and I resent every penny of that. If I ever move I will be sure to leave a huge bill behind me out of sheer spite

I don’t understand this point. You were a child once too?

Mine's just under £200 a month before the 25% discount. I'm quite surprised, it's been in the top 5 most expensive nationally for a few years, it'll slip right down the rankings now.

I think that's pretty reasonable for a rural district, where it's more expensive to deliver services.

Something like 60p in every £1 goes towards social care costs ( I can’t remember exact figures). We have a population living longer, not necessarily healthier and unable to fund their care.

The remaining money has to go on highways, infrastructure, leisure, bins, libraries, schools etc. (and salaries!).

Don’t forget as well that inflation and fuel cost increases also hits Councils - keeping schools heated and bin wagons on the road could cost significantly more this year than projected, due to Trump bombing Iran.

Sorry, what? I’m a civil servant and live in a two bed in a fairly shite area. Do I not even deserve to have a house? Please explain? Or are you just one of these folk who think you literally pay my wages?

Sorry - you resent every penny which goes on safeguarding and services for the most vulnerable children who are known to social care, fostered, or adopted?

Should public sector workers do it for free? Who do you think should be paying the salaries in the public sector?

Top this:

We live an annexe to a larger property. We found the place from a family we knew who had lived here and were moving out. They never paid council tax.

When we moved in two years ago, our contract stated that our council tax would be covered by our rent, as it was considered part of the larger property owned by the landlord.

Two years in, the council randomly decided to reclassify our home as a separate property liable for council tax, and also to backdate it to when we moved in.

Because of this, out of the blue, we've had an over £4,000 council tax bill which, with back payments and the coming year's installments, works out at £811 a month.

No subsidies. No compromise.

Thankfully, our landlords have agreed to pay the backdated amount up until this year, in honour of the original contract, but it's come as a shock to them too.

Our share is still over £300 a month.

People have this weird belief about public sector salaries and what is actually funded!

People really need to understand the demographic changes and the impact that has on taxes. We already have more over 65s than under 15s.

As others have said a large chunk of the council bill (well at least mine) is social care services for the elderly and children. As the population ages and birth rates fall the latter is only going to increase.

Agreed. I don’t have visitors as I’m embarrassed by the borded up windows, graffiti, litter and dismantled furniture in gardens. I’m a civil servant, so don’t see myself ever really being able to afford living in a genuinely “nice” area.

What did you pay last year? It can’t have jumped from £150 to £232, unless you have moved and didn’t check the banding.

I guess so. We are but scum, it seems :)

Some people just like to take their misery out on others 🤷‍♀️

Mine is £357 a month for ten months. Grim.

I pay over 12 months and mine is £215 per month. Band E, one of the London councils. I owed them a big debt so was paying £600 a month for a long time 😭so going "down" to £200 is a lot better! Although now I'm used to paying £600 I intend to pay off the year in 4 months and forget about it for the rest of the year!