I've been watching the news and it looks like Sunak is going to allow councils to increase Council Tax.

[caringcarer]

I just can't believe Council Tax is to rise really high now on top of all the other bill increases. Council Tax is already so expensive. I could cry. Do you think it will be from next April or straight away after budget? At least with utilities the more you use the more you pay so you can cut it back if you want to but with Council Tax you can't.

Ours is already about £200 a month.

Everything is going up SO MUCH.

We do okay but I’m starting to get really nervous.

No surprise that slippery Rishi is spreading the blame for tax rises. He blamed councils for not handing out covid support grants just the same. He beggared up the furlough and SEISS grants, and instead of apologising and changing the rules, he just threw money at councils to hand out to affected businesses instead, without giving them rules re eligibility etc and then blamed them when he got criticised for the 3 million he excluded. Basically he likes "delegating" blame to others for his mistakes!

What choice does he actually have ? If inflation is going up at a massive rate then council costs will go up at a massive rate. Energy. Wages. Pensions.

So really we can take our pick. Keep interest rates low and have killer inflation so we have to pay more money for things like food, fuel and CT. Or raise up interest rates to kill off inflation and in turn make mortgages more expensive.

And yes, he will try to blame everyone else for it. Because that's what all politicians do.

We've reached a point where there is no more "just bung it on the credit card". Every bit of money that is paid to one group is going to have to be extracted from another, or found in cost savings.

I know we've got to bite the bullet but this was one thing I dread. Our council services are shocking but they continue spending on white like rainbow crossings and graffiti murals. I really begrudge paying them more.

Our council tax has risen by 5% each year for a while. Are they saying 5% on top of this?

My local council owns 50% of an airport. You’d think the streets were paved with gold, alas it’s dog shit.

Social care for the elderly has to be paid for . We are all going to feel the pain of increased costs for quite a while .

we will end up paying for failed council investments...
Almost £1 billion spent on a failed project.
"Under the direction of a senior council officer Thurrock borrowed from about 150 local authorities across the UK with little public scrutiny. These loans were not for direct funding of council services, or investing in infrastructure – instead they financed solar farms more than a hundred miles away.
At last count Thurrock owed other councils an unprecedented £1bn."
www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2020-05-22/thurrock-council-borrowed-1bn-from-taxpayers-to-bet-on-british-sunshine

Yes it's the waste the DIE or inequality officers as I call them, who are wasting money making their chums happy with abilest zebra crossings.

Whilst the United Nations told the UK it is being excessively abilest.

Urgh, our council tax always rises by the maximum every year so this will be awful. We already pay £225 a month.
We only got a Direct Debit discount last year but this year it didn't apply so it's annoying really

Meanwhile we have a local council who spent quarter of a million pounds fitting mood lighting and outdoor decking to our tiny village library and then closed it down less than a year later. They certainly know how to waste our money.

How about they reduce waste and increase efficiency rather than constantly expecting the hard pressed taxpayer to keep paying more for less.

I already pay £235 pounds for 10 months of each year. Dreading it being even higher.

We have fantastic floral displays in both summer and winter but they must cost a fortune.

I would rather the load be spread. Sick of everything being on income. That only affects one cohort of people all the time.

We have an ageing population & don't have the infrastructure to support it. CT will keep going up.

Why’s there no windfall tax on the energy companies then? They’re making incredible profits because of the Ukraine crisis.

Bloody good point this.

Sick of everything being on income. That only affects one cohort of people all the time.

yep, far too much focus on income. Will they bring CGT in line or dividends? unlikely!

Yes this is a really good point, and the reason I begrudge it going up. I worked in procurement for the council too, and it was eye opening how money was wasted, and how decisions were made.

When I was there they cut several social care services whilst simultaneously wasting money on shit like in the above example. They ‘have different budgets allocated for different things’ which I think is a cop out personally, considering the state of public services today. There are so many other examples I could give of money mismanagement, easily totalling millions (and that’s just in the couple of years I worked there).

Making the general public throw money at things doesn’t fix public services, it just gives them more money to waste.

My London council has managed to raise £11.5m in LTN related fines - no idea where all that extra income has gone though, certainly not towards local services that's for sure.

Ours is already £240 a month and i only have a 2 bed house! Its extortionate.

I cannot afford council tax now, never mind the increase.

I need to decide this month if I should pay my electric or council tax.

We don't have council tax where I live (in Ireland) but I'm always amazed reading about how much it costs on Mumsnet.

To be fair, the govt have stripped local council budgets while expecting more and more services to be covered by them. He’s avoiding funding things properly by shifting the blame to them.

Always prioritise council take @makemeamum