council tax band G & H to double

[StrawberryThief1930]

has anyone seen the rumours that the council tax rates for bands G and H are going to double?

I know everything is just rumours at the moment but im worried this one might stick. easy to implement in an existing system and doesn't require the revaluation of thousands of houses etc.

I'm about to buy a G band house. Seriously questioning whether we can afford it. The current council tax is £4k a year. so £8k a year. Over £300 a month more than we had budgeted. we have spreadsheets coming out of our ears trying to check we can afford this house. Buying with a 40% deposit. im sweating...

anyone have the same worries? or further thoughts?

I agree that many of today's pensioners grew up in a time that today would be considered awful poverty. For the majority of the population the homes, entertainment, attention, clothes would almost be considered cruelty today. It was so normal for people to have say 10 toys and the smallest wardrobe of clothes, one loo for a large household (maybe outside), weekly baths and frost on the windows. Such a massive contrast to today's DC.

Then those who bought a home and saved for retirement are now comfortable, many can't really believe it after their simple, poor start in life. Those who didn't manage to buy and save continue to be poor in retirement.

I don't know if the current generation will be poor in retirement or not, in the leaner years it is really hard to imagine things getting easier but the reality is, they do. Mortgage feels smaller as it doesn't increase with inflation, children eventually leave, you might become more senior at work. The current generation have the benefit of pension savings being the norm from a young age, plus mandatory employer contributions. Started young, these should really start to compound and grow by the time they are drawn upon.

I don't understand the current envy of different generations, it's really unhealthy. They are different for sure but it's a massive leap to say at 30 'we will never be able to afford to retire', that's just not true.

You’re aware then that in the best interests of the health of those that need care Social services advice and prefer people to remain in their homes.

Who is going to want to buy them? There are two bigger ones on either side of me up for sale currently. Yet again it's punishment for working hard and being ambitious.

Exactly
employer pension contributions have only been mandatory since 2018
All those born before 2000 will not have had the benefit of this massive perk to employment for their full working lives and for those now or nearing pension age the recent contributions won’t make much of a difference.

Only those who retire around 2070 ( assuming age increases ) will have had a working lifetime of that money into their private pensions

If you think that social services aren’t influenced by outside factors, Including budget which pay their wages, you are very naive.

@DrPrunesqualer that tells me nothing about the reduction in social housing.

Equally there are far more higher rate tax payers today than the past.

Today's pensioners took more out of the system than they paid in. Thats a fact.

mandatory since 2018All those born before 2000 will not have had the benefit of this massive perk to employment for their full working lives and for those now or nearing pension age the recent contributions won’t make much of a difference.

😆

You are aware today's pensioners are richer because there were far more generous pension schemes in existence vs today?

It's impossible to debate with people who ignore reality.

Well if they do and, on one level, I hope they do, I shall not pay it.

I would venture that all the people like DH and I should link arms and refuse to pay it. The prisons are very full at present and there is nowhere to put us.

Together, we can help bring down this joke of a Government. We can circle the ULEZ zone and bring London to an empty standstill. Across arterial roads, motorways and railway tracks.

Starmer OUT. Reeves OUT. Rayner's GONE. Labour OUT.

Vive la revolution.

Well it was kind of one extreme or the other. You can't make blanket assumptions.

An awful lot of regular workers received absolutely nothing in terms of pensions. And women weren't even permitted to join the scheme.
Then those with DB schemes had much more generous terms that typically available now.

No employer contribution was mandatory and it was entirely normal to receive nothing at all.

Well it was kind of one extreme or the other. You can't make blanket assumptions.

It's not a blanket assumption. The two main reasons pensioners are well off is due to housing gains & pensions. That won't apply to every single pensioner obviously.

Starmer OUT. Reeves OUT. Rayner's GONE. Labour OUT.

Vive la revolution

And is going to save us? Reform?

If only people were as passionate during the Tories & their years of low growth.

If you said 'some of today's pensioners are richer because of more generous pension schemes', fine.

It's very much not all tho, as I say, there are also many who did not have access to those and are distinctly poor. You can't put all pensioners into one pot, just the same as any demographic.

@Chewbecca The context I was replying to was as a group though & as a group they have better pension provision than younger generations.

Some within that group do yes, but others have much (much) worse pensions! That's my point.

But I am talking overall as a group...

employer contributions only became mandatory in 2018

Its a fact
Nothing funny about that
It’s a huge benefit to working people that many today will not have had

I would have thought the Left would be celebrating that

Agree
Cotton has no clue at all

Pensions that only employees contributed to with 2% taken away in management fees
Pensions that were not transferable from one job to the next so lost in time completely in management fees
Imagine years and years worth of pensions lost after redundancy because you hav to move office and pay into yet another completely different scheme and can’t afford to pay in excess of 2% into your old ones.

Imagine getting letters now telling you your old pensions are down to £0 after paying in all your lives.

You have no idea Cotton

Exactly

I can see a lot of requests to cancel the direct debits

Have you appealed this using those houses as examples (fairly straightforward process on gov.uk website and a response within 28 days). Good luck.

Maths was not the reason they hugely watered down the WFA cut to a level that made it pointless. It was because of the massive uproar. Of course it should have been cut. The triple lock clearly needs to go too but no party will dare to suggest that at present now that they have seen the screaming over the WFA.
It's clear that the whole benefits system needs reviewing.

I'm not sure what you mean by a classic response.
It's a response based on an understanding of the facts.
You are making a lot of assumptions in your post. You are assuming that today's young people will be able to access steady jobs, income, the benefit of a growing economy (like their grandparents and some parents) and therefore be able to save. Current evidence shows that many graduates are already struggling to find work. This will get worse in the short term and quite possibly longer term too. If they have no job for some periods of their 'working life' and no ability to save and are unable to afford a home, how do you suppose that they will be better off in old age? Many are choosing not to have children, some because they cannot afford them or cannot afford a home large enough to raise them. As I'm sure you know, the pension age has risen to 68 currently and will certainly be raised more or the pension scaled back so that many get nothing. How do you suppose the current younger generation will be comfortable in old age given this?
You don't seem to have thought this through at all.

You don't seem to have read my post and have made an unrelated point. I was talking about economic prosperity and asset price inflation, neither of which the young will enjoy.