POLL - What council tax band are you in? (especially those in a terrace!)

[mumfor1standfinaltime]

Hi,

I am doing a poll about council tax bands.

I live in a new build 2 up 2 down terrace with no garden.

My band is B.

This may be useful.

cd is in my borough innit

we get good services though so can't complain

titchy, yes I think you are right about values of property.

Problem is, I live in a 3 yr old house which is totally impossible to value for council tax bands. They see 'new house' they 'make it up'. Simple as that!
If my house was a victorian terrace it would be a band A. Why??

comeoveneer - been searching for that!

Yes - it is all supposed to be based on the revaluation which was done in the 1990s. The govt had planned to review this but postponed it when they realised the political fallout from doing so.

It is based on the valuation, not on the amenities (garden etc), and is supposed to be backdated to the values at the time. So someone buying a tiny flat now would be in Band G based on actual previous values, but they fiddle it somehow.

Incidentally we are Band B and are a 2 bed grnd flat with a tiny garden.

We're band C - end of terrace

I think it is unfair to use valuation of property too.

Example - an old lady buys a modest bungalow in 1972 for say around £5000.
It is now worth £300,000. She has paid her mortgage years ago.
Why should she pay council tax which is worked out on the value of her home?

Shouldn't it be on what amenities we have?
Ie a garden, recyling facilities? Street lighting? etc

But what's the solution? If everyone pays the same based on receiving the same services then millionaires will be paying the same as the little old lady living on a state pension! Though no doubt the millionaires would say they ought to pay less as they don't use the meals on wheels or day centres that the little old lady uses!

at least the LibDem idea of paying according to your measn (i.e. like income tax) is better than the current system I s'pose... No one system will be perfect though.

The problem with an income based system is that it is really unfair on many people as well. A couple on a pension of 20k but with no mortgage would be much better off than a couple with children on say 40k but with 10k childcare costs per year and 10k mortgage costs.

You can't fix it so that it feels fair to everyone, but at least by basing it on property value it complements the other taxes on income and on consumption. I think the problem is that it is a visible tax, whereas most others like income tax or duty are taken at source, so you don't really notice it.

I know what you are both saying. It is so hard to know the best way to do it. Yes it is a very visible tax, never thought of it like that.

Just seems odd I suppose that a tax is done on the supposed 'value' of your home. I rent my home so I don't have a choice really of 'choosing' the value of my home. If I were to buy then council tax band would have to be a big factor of the purchase.

Just needed to vent

Band F - F for fucking rip off!

God only knows what it will be like for everyone when properties are re-valued for this purpose.

Im a band B 3 bed mid terrace

my dads house is a band G (4 bed detacahed in a very nice area, picturiesque villahge right by the sea) and my mum is an F, bigger 4 bed detatched but not in quite such a nice area

We have a new build 3 bed, 3 storey town house - so end terrace really I guess. We are in Sheffield, council tac band D.

We have a newish 4 bed detached in Band D. It is £140/month, but I think Kirklees is expensive.

G

i live in a 3 ben semi in rotherham band a mine is

The prices are fixed by th elocal authorities I think so a band a in ne England may cost less than a band a in cental London. Band a is usually a shed. When we started out we were on band a.
Basing it on property values is hard on people on fixed incomes...but if people in band g are unhappy they have the choice to sell up and move somewhere smaller. People could now be paying a lot for a mortgage on a band a property, in some parts of the country a starter home is more than 10 times the local average income. For people to be paying mortgages of 5 times their salary and high council tax based on their wages would be hard on them I think.
Again different for renters.
Goodasgold is not a big fan of tax, income VAT, NI, fuel, IHT, CGT are not my favorites.

I was band B when I lived in a one bedroomed flat in a terrace in London. I tried to challenge it, but when I asked the local authority for details of comparable properties that they had based the valuation on, I realised that they were probably right - there is only a limited time period to make any challenges as well. See Council Tax Valuation to compare similar properties.

My titchy terrace (16 feet wide) is band E. No idea why it's not D. OK, this is the south east, a 'comfortable' area but I don't think this house is above average.

I'm band B, 3 bedroomed ground floor flat, shared back garden with the flat upstairs. I live in a cul-de-sac and whole street are band B.

But if you live in a poor area with lots of band a and band b, the levels of council tax have to go up because otherwise the council would get no income.

Council tax is based on the value of your property. It is possible to appeal. Our last house was a good sized 4 bedroom detached property but it did have a tiny rear garden which obviously had an effect on the value. I appealed within a few weeks of moving in and the band was reduced from F to D. The houses next door were exactly the same as ours but had bigger gardens and so remained band F.

Council tax is very unfair because property value has no bearing on ability to pay and council tax has more than doubled since 1995 making it a huge drain for pensioners. Also, one elderly person living on their own is likely to use far fewer council services than a family with grown up children living at home (becoming increasingly more common with property prices being so high). The poll tax did address this issue but had other problems too. Local income tax is probably the fairest solution but could be an administrative nightmare.

Gosh - that was a bit of a rant - maybe I should have a coffee break .

I agree that pensioners are adversely affected by council tax, but I don't feel that a local income tax addresses the systemic unfairness, it simply shifts the burden of unfairness onto another group.

Income as a raw measure is an extremely poor indicator of disposable income, with people's mortgages ranging from negligible to 50% of their take home pay. Equally childcare costs take up to 80% of many women's income.

Unless you can find a local income tax system that addresses these issues, you will just end up with another system just as unfair as the current one.

Interesting thread, reading different bands.

The reason I have challenged my council tax band is because I live in a new build 2 up 2 down with bathroom and downstairs loo. This is it.
We have no front garden, no back garden. No yard.
Outside our back door is the street.
Outside our front door is the street.
Wow isn't open plan so wonderful..

My band is band b. A 3 bed house with a big garden, garage and drive just a few streets away is also a band b (my friends house!). To me this is unfair. A 2 bed victorian terrace with a back yard a few streets away is band A. Surely I should be a band A?
I think it is because it is a new build. Also the valuation officer admitted to me that they haven't even looked at the property, and weren't aware that it had no garden!