I honestly cannot afford to live

[Inkdrinker]

I work 40 hour weeks, yet I was paid 6 days ago and I'm already completely out of money. My rent is more than half of my pay, council tax is a further 250 pounds, my energy bills are ridiculous despite trying to cut down on using so much.

I have 3 kids to look after. How are people going survive this? This is by no means a ploy to ask others for money, I do not want anyone's money. I just want to know I'm not alone in this situation

I was merely pointing out that no system of charging council/poll tax or rates (as it used to be) will seem fair to everyone. Income only becomes a factor when under a certain level, where benefits kick in. And I wondered what thoughts were on a local income tax.

I suppose the fairest way would be to scrap 'council tax' entirely and for central Government to fund councils fully and properly out of central taxation, which is at least progressive to a degree, so lower incomes pay a lower percentage.

But that's never going to happen, although I'm not sure why there's the two part system for council funding with some collected locally and some from central funds?

Although I'd probably partly answer my own question by saying that a major beneficiary of scrapping council tax would be the typical asset rich cash poor older person who owns a valuable family home outright and council tax is a disproportionately high percentage of their income.

But that could possibly be addressed with less generous provisions for the family home in the IHT system, especially when people have benefitted hugely due to rises in property prices?

@BarbaraofSeville
I think that would be much fairer. If there needs to be some kind of wealth tax based on house value then find a way to collect this without further impoverishing single parent families who often don't even own the house they live in.

Poll tax was very regressive and rightly dropped.

Exactly. Personally I'd rather pay via that, ideally to a national pot distributed centrally to local authorities per capita. As although a local income tax would be fairer than CT, it would exacerbate geographical inequalities.

My earnings are not good right now (self employed) and ds is in between jobs. His dad cannot help us as he is on a meagre state pension. I am almost breaking down when I buy food in. I have never been so close to food bank territory as now.

This is for fun...Ever heard these? Horses sweat,men perspire and ladies only glow. Whatever possessed the good lord to put the nursery between the sewers? (Or words to that effect). Any others you have heard???

@RedRedWhiney

You need £12 to get a prescription prepayment certificate for a year. That's if you go to the govt website and choose the 12 months prepayment over 10 months direct debit.

www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescriptions-and-pharmacies/save-money-with-a-prescription-prepayment-certificate-ppc/

Not sure why you have never looked into it. You could have saved a fortune and will save a fortune going forward.

It's frightening how much things are going up. No wonder mental health problems are at an all time high it's so depressing now.

Said Marx...well that worked well in those Communist countries, didn't it?

Perhaps she spends more than you in local shops and services? Where will it stop? She has one person to pay for her utilities bills whereas you have that amount divided by two.Advantage for you. There's no limit on how many people sit underneath one light bulb. You can't sit and nit pick like this . Perhaps you should pay more as you are older and more likely to use NHS services?

I don't think the problems in Communist countries can be blamed on the principle of contributing according to ones means.

As the thread is about cost of living
I would be interesting to know how much MNs spend on food per week per person…..pls do not inc cleaning equipment etc.
Plus any eating out, takeaways, coffees etc.

We are currently 4 adults ( inc two 19yr old ds )
Food £60 / wk for all meals inc lunch
Takeaways £0
Eating out £0
Coffees on the go etc £0

There will never be a solution everyone thinks is fair. As it happens, I'm OK with paying council tax. I'd also be fine with the community charge AKA Poll Tax. I accept that every system of taxes and benefits disadvantages some of us.

Check gvmt stats. Transistion from child disability payment to adult disability Payment is seamless. New claims take 4-6 weeks.

🤣 Check reality!

The current system puts a higher burden on single parent and single adult households who already pay more per adult for most bills too. It's a struggle without the extra 50% CT burden.

Total agree with this re. Council tax @tornadoinsideoutfig

The same is true of the entire tax system: single people are taxed far more on the same household income. It's grossly unfair and massively disadvantages mostly women and children. It's absolutely deliberate.

food only? Or grocery bill including loo roll, cleaning products etc?

This is 100% reality and the quote from which “you can please some of the people some of the time” encapsulates this.

Nobody is ever going to feel their burden is fair - and will always point fingers looking for others to contribute more (and them less).

Everyone is self-serving.

I say this as a single parent household- and I KNOW I/my children take far more out of the pot than my piddly council tax will EVER cover.

To be fair, it doesn't make much difference to our bill. A loo roll a week is less than 50p per person. Washing powder, washing up liquid and so on last ages. Might depend on personal choices.

@FatSealSmugSoup your children will grow up, work, and contribute. They are an investment at the moment. Hang in there!

I calculated for food only
Just because in the last few weeks Ive only bought food
Although I know all the other stuff has gone up aswell

If you can break it down it would be interesting to compare it with what all the intel from online is telling us re rise in food costs.
If not, no worries.

Is yours per person or for the four of you? Either very low or very high! We spend £50 for two, adult and 16yr old DS, so £25 per person. Includes loo roll etc. We don't buy takeaways. I know how to feed us for less as I've done it before but DS didn't know any different then.

It is for all of us, I plan what we re buying and have been doing that now for a few months, it’s averaging at £60 now

It is low friends seem to spend more
but
we re vegetarian
we cook everything, even bread
we always freeze left overs if there’s enough for at least one person ( if not the fox gets it)
We do not buy any processed stuff
we ve cut down on treats…….
We don’t buy quorn sausages, pieces etc, very expensive. We make Seitan instead and use a lot of lentils
we shop in Aldi

Ps. It should go down a bit soon as we have some veggies and potatoes growing in the garden

Pps. The only thing not included is coffee
I buy beans in bulk from Discountcoffee or Nextdaycoffee whichever has the best deal on at the time.