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?

"Larger properties with more bedrooms pay more per head than properties with less beds per head"

But it's a property tax, not a person tax.

So it should be proportionate to the value of the property.

Your point is based on the fact that larger, more expensive homes pay more than small, low value homes.

That's how it's supposed to work.

It can’t be a nationwide measure though, as why should people living in more expensive parts of the country be massively penalised just because of where they live?

The ‘if your house is worth 10x more, you should pay 10x more tax’.

Where I am in London you can pay £1m for a two-up, two-down. In eg County Durham you could pay £100k for an identical house, same amount of space.

Why does the first example need to pay so much more for the same local services as the second person? Their houses might be identical - the first is just on the hook for vastly larger mortgage repayments.

Agree with this.

If it is based on value, then it should be based on value relative to the local area.

And maybe I have owned my gold bars for many years and I am emotionally attached to them.

Their value has rocketed because the market has risen without any effort on my part.

Should I therefore moan about my high "tax on gold bars" bill?

You can’t live in gold bars. They serve no purpose other than as a store of value. So it’s a really weird comparison.

Do you live in a gold bar?

It’s not really useful as a comparison.

Problem is - not everyone is sitting in a mortgage-free home with a large income, having made hundreds of thousands on the value.

And the tax impacts everyone - not just those people.

Except for being worth a huge amount of money, while I moan about being hard up and having to pay some tax.

It’s currently a tax on your property

However the expenditure is based on usage. The usage is based on people both numbers and needs

A 3 bed £500,000 property does not use more than a 3 bed £250,000 property or less than a 3 bed £1,000,000 property.

( The idea that value is even relevant today is laughable given how things have changed since 1991, not least due to the one owner extension building boom )

If we don’t want to have a country wide crash in the housing market which will effect the economy at all levels ( as we’ve had in the past )
we do not
do things like 10 x for some bands

We look rationally at need and usage
We consider methods that will not create a crash
We consider a system equal for all that can be justified

OK, so you don't want a property tax.

So increase income tax, VAT, NI and introduce a wealth tax.

Good luck with that.

The huge advantage with a property tax is that it's very difficult for people to dismantle their house and ship it overseas, or to pretend they haven't got one.

Why all the taxes?

Fully funded fully costed remember

Council tax rates are set by the local authority not central government.

Good ! Houses G and H must be worth 2million if you can afford that you can afford another 4k

If you calculate on “usage” it needs to be on the number of people in the property? A 5 bed house with 2 people in it uses less services than a 3 bed house with 6 people in it?

I didn’t say I didn’t want a property tax
Just that your idea would crash the economy

I agree with and think a more workable tax / adult person to pay for council services that we all benefit from seems only right. Plus it’s a better system rather than what is now clearly outdated.

The huge advantage with a tax per person is that we can’t dismantle ourselves. We can move abroad of course but then we’re not costing anything so ….thats all fine then

Don’t talk rubbish

If you RTFT many examples of G and H not worth that at all

I can site many in my area in Kent that are no where near 2million

Thankyou !

Agree

And that would be “fair” wouldn’t it? You use more, you pay more, like with electricity or gas? It won’t happen though.

They are not in London

By that logic, if you choose to have child number 3/5/10 you can afford it, right? No handouts required?

This.

If anything houses should be charged according to how many people live there. A larger house doesn’t automatically mean that the occupants are using more services than smaller houses.

Absolute rubbish. My band G property is worth less than £500k

It’s not about using more

One 30 year old not using social care at the moment will be using less than a 30 year old using it
Meanwhile Everyone needs the police and bin men

Its based on existing in that council area and paying equally for services

So
For example picking a small area near me as an example
Swale
Council tax paid 105 million ( after deductions for single person occupancy UC etc )
Adult population 125,100
That's £839/ person

Looking at how that figure currently stacks up with extg system ( image)

If two people are living in band A they will pay more but if it’s one person they will be paying less
Single parent households currently have between 44-49% child poverty. A ctax like this would reduce their bills,