Council tax & stamp duty reform

[PeonyPatch]

Who is in favour of this policy?! I think I might be…

Lots of people won’t suddenly be able to pay lots of extra money

You’re not alone in these thoughts

So the number of bedrooms determines council tax? What if you’re a single parent? or these rooms are being occupied by disabled people

I wonder what other countries do

i think we could learn a lot from other countries tax systems

I’d still keep it to the number of bedrooms
More bedrooms = higher occupancy= more services used that our council tax pays for

The number of bedrooms isn’t that far off from the current way houses are assessed for ctax
It also quickly picks up on those who enlarge and develop

Interesting theory tbh. I’m not sure I agree on unoccupied bedrooms though. I’ve got a friend who lives at his family home and there are 5-6 people living there… so yes, that makes sense, they’re using a lot of services…

And so it begins - my landlord has just indicated to me this afternoon they may be selling up and leaving UK and liquidating assets 😢

That’s really stressful but I’m not surprised
I know people think writing to their MP is a waste of time but on the one occasion i did it with a complaint they came up trumps and got it all sorted

The more of us that do this the better

It may encourage some people to downsize if they’re not using the rooms aswell
but also means extensions are factored in if they incorporate an extra bedroom. Even if this room is on the ground floor and people label it ‘music’ room.

HMRC need to grow up a backbone when it comes to scams

HMRC are absolutely useless and barely staffed.

HMRC are absolutely useless and barely staffed.

Posting twice reminded me of that song
………So good you named it twice 🤣

Honestly i think if I decided to change jobs I’d try for HMRC. I’d get a kick out of catching the scammers. I’d even work OT for free 😇

Ooops, didn’t mean to do that. I was travelling home on the train, so think the lack of signal did it.

I can never get through to HMRC on the phone! And they owe me £250 as I overpaid tax!

More bedrooms = higher occupancy= more services used that our council tax pays for

Sorry @IAmNotASheep that ignores reality. 60-70% of overall council costs are down to Adult Social Care and Children's Services. The actual recipients of those services are - from the National Audit Office report - maybe 5% of households.

On a very simple level if it was truly usage based if Band D was £2,000 - that 5% in band D would need to pay more like £12,000 based on their usage of council services, and the other 95% around £600 on average. Can't see that being adopted.

HMRC has nothing to do with council tax.

Welcome to my world @PeonyPatch. For £3k a year we get our bins emptied (we have to pay extra for the green one), street lighting and road maintenance. Cheer up though, you’ll be getting your money’s worth (and mine) when you’ve got kids in school.

If it was truly usage based we’d be back to a poll tax I suppose
I was considering a cheap way that the Govn could evaluate spreading the costs without it costing HMRC a fortune to do so.

However
Im a bit lost on your band D scenario
What is it about band D customers that warrants £12k a year

True HMRC don’t. I think working it all out should be centralised though.

We don’t get green bins either and have no street lighting
we still pay the same as those that do
I might ask if I can have a reduction though 🙏

No street lighting anywhere? That’s unusual.

It’s a dark skies area

Our Neighbour. ( Sort of they’re not next to us ) put up a light in their courtyard and were told by the council to get rid of it
We’re allowed a dimmed light at the door only

People walking use those headlamps 🤣 and glow lights on their dogs

@IAmNotASheep sorry Council Tax being based on Band D equivalents. So knowing the number of Band D equivalents and Band D rate gives total council tax take. Pure usage basis would see the initial 70% of that charged to the 5%, and then the remaining 30% spread across all (includes a bit more loaded on the 5%). Very much back of a fag packet calc of course! 😁

but highlights what a mess council tax is, and how desperately it needs reforming.

the really shocking thing about the NAO report is how much spending on prevention has fallen. Just a downward spiral for many Councils in terms of funding.

but it’s all being reorganised where I live. Because apparently bigger councils = better councils. Though if that were true presumably Birmingham council would be the best in the country.🤔

If it makes you feel any better @IAmNotASheep although we do get Green bins for garden waste we also have to pay an additional charge for the privilege. I think it’s £50 now, though I’m sure I’ve heard of higher amounts charged in other parts of England.

Ours is £50 - essentially that’s £4 every time it’s emptied because there’s nothing in it in the winter.

I know HMRC have nothing to do with council tax @BIossomtoes I was replying to someone else.

We don’t even get street lighting on our road. We literally just get our bins emptied. I think it should be illegal for councils not to adopt new roads. If we get a pot hole in ours, we have to pay for it ourselves. I’ve now given up my car, so I’m basically paying for the roads to be maintained in the rest of the area, and I don’t personally even use them.

That’s if we ever do have kids, or stay in this country. In the process of applying for jobs abroad. Doesn’t feel worth it staying here anymore. The cost of living is crippling, and I feel like I live in an alternate reality compared with most other people who either receive benefits or come from wealth.

This. I voted Labour and I may have to again (I’ll do anything to prevent Reform getting in) but I’m bloody sick of being in the squeezed middle.

they need to do a proper wealth tax (on people with millions in investments) or apply the same for everyone but these sorts of threshold taxes aren’t fair.

We have solar panel lights in our front garden.