# Council Tax



## garvin (May 7, 2002)

Received my bill for the coming year yesterday ............ increase of 7.7% - now how can I put this .................. aaarrrrrggggghhhhhhh!!

Why does this bloody tax always outstrip inflation by a huge amount. I did some analysis last night and since 95/96 the compounded RPI to date comes to almost exactly 25% (government figures), my council tax bill has gone up over this period by an astounding 122% 

The worst bit though is that the Police Authority charge has increased 198% over this time ................. for what :evil:


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## Rogue (Jun 15, 2003)

Mine's has gone up 4% to Â£2,090.
The thing that annoys me most is that I work for the Local Authority, and can see all the money they waste in here.
(and yes, that includes me posting during work hours  )

Rogue


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## L8_0RGY (Sep 12, 2003)

Mine's up 4.7%

Not as bad as it could be but still incredibly annoying.


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## ronin (Sep 6, 2003)

6.5 % - that`ll be for the green recycle box i got launched onto my garden monday then.........


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## SaulTTR (Apr 30, 2003)

7.5% increase. Enough said :twisted:


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

7.5%. As a higher rate tax payer, with no kids, plus private medical and dental care, I consider this to be excellent value. I just wish the local authority would build more roundabouts and take some police off the streets. :wink:


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

Mine aint too bad, only 2.9% increase for the base council tax with a 7.5% increase for the Police Authority.

Although it does piss me off that the single person discount is only 25%, as it should be an obvious 50% at least :x


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

I agree with you Rogue - there is huge wastage in local govt - however its the core depts that cost the public and not, as is percieved, the frontlines services like waste and roads.

We never hear of Financial Servs or the likes cutting back on staff.... :?


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## Rogue (Jun 15, 2003)

saint said:


> I agree with you Rogue - there is huge wastage in local govt - however its the core depts that cost the public and not, as is percieved, the frontlines services like waste and roads.
> 
> We never hear of Financial Servs or the likes cutting back on staff.... :?


Too true mate, too true.
At this time of year (end of financial year) there is a huge spending spree of Services trying to get shot of money they've held onto so they won't lose it from next year's budget.
The amount of "spend for spending's sake" in "Mad March" is incredible. :x

Rogue


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## jonhaff (May 20, 2002)

bring back Poll Tax, make everyone pay for services not just house owners. It can only be fairer that everyone pays rather than afew?


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## Hannibal (Dec 1, 2003)

Excuses from my local council tax website....



> Why does Council Tax rise more than inflation?
> There are a number of reasons why Council Tax rises more than inflation:
> 
> changes in the level of Governmentgrant that we receive.
> ...


So what they're saying is I am paying for... yet more recycling bins (that's 4 different ones now) to take up space on the drive, disposing of other peoples junk, the grant the government gives them dropping (yet my income tax has gone up), pay rises in excess of inflation and finally, the only one I actually want.... keeping the pub open (why doesn't the money for this follow the responsibility though??)

got to be with jonhaff on this one, services increase with an increase number of people, so why not charge per person??

H


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

Hannibal said:


> got to be with jonhaff on this one, services increase with an increase number of people, so why not charge per person??


I think they tried this once and one or two people protested a little. :wink:


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## JonW (Feb 1, 2004)

It's the 14.6% increase in policing costs that pisses me off. So they can retire at 50, why should we have to pay for such wonderful terms of employment. I'll be lucky if I can rtetire before I'm about 70 as will most on this forum as everyone's pension scheme seems F****d, not the Police or Uncle Tony though.

Just need to pick up another camera fine to make it a wonderful weekend. Last one cost me Â£800 + 6 points

.......................................... well made my point, feel better now, embarrassed about 93% increase in Parish Council tax, as I am on Council


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## vlastan (May 6, 2002)

Mine came today and the increase is 4.5%. Last year was 17%. The increases for the police are phenomenal. It went up 10%. The way it goes in 10 years the police will be funded 100% by council tax payments. :x

My yearly bill is almost Â£1500 now...anyone has higher than this?


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## davidg (Sep 14, 2002)

vlastan said:


> Mine came today and the increase is 4.5%. Last year was 17%. The increases for the police are phenomenal. It went up 10%. The way it goes in 10 years the police will be funded 100% by council tax payments. :x
> 
> My yearly bill is almost Â£1500 now...anyone has higher than this?


Yep :x :x :x Â£1870 :x


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## Hannibal (Dec 1, 2003)

vlastan said:


> My yearly bill is almost Â£1500 now...anyone has higher than this?


A couple of pennys under 2 grand 

H


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## JonW (Feb 1, 2004)

vlastan said:


> My yearly bill is almost Â£1500 now...anyone has higher than this?


Â£1800 and I live in a supposedly cheap area :evil:


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## L8_0RGY (Sep 12, 2003)

My council tax is now Â£1,888.02 a year


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## mike_bailey (May 7, 2002)

Mine is Â£2026, a net 5.4% increase. What galls me most is that my local borough increased their's by 4.8% and Ken's GLA has increased by 7.5% (a total waste of money IMHO).

If I walk 50 yards from my house I'm in Bucks


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## L8_0RGY (Sep 12, 2003)

It does seem ridiculous.

My council have put it up 4.7% (i think), yet, as you say, GLA have put theirs up 7.5%

What will this pay for? An extension of the useless moneywasting, loss making Congestion Charge zone???


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

what % though is the tax compared to the value of your homes?


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## whirlypig (Feb 20, 2003)

Ours is now Â£1919 and we live in a 3-bed semi in Sheffield, not sure what the increase has been, around 5% I believe.



> what % though is the tax compared to the value of your homes?


I thought the money was for public services so the size of your house shouldn't really have a great bearing. If it did then they'd have a sliding scale, we're just a couple of grand into this band which stretches to twice the value of our house. We've got no kids, rarely use the doctors and have called out our local police twice in the last two years, on both occasions they were too busy to come out. I don't feel we get value for money and begrudge paying the same as a household double ours in size. :? [/quote]


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## jonhaff (May 20, 2002)

scoTTy said:


> Hannibal said:
> 
> 
> > got to be with jonhaff on this one, services increase with an increase number of people, so why not charge per person??
> ...


I know and i never understood why... they stood up to the miners it wasnt that many more people, give it a few more years and it would have worked i rec?!?! will never know.

Its still fairer for each person to pay , cos its not just house holders that need public services most people need docs/dentists/police/health/travel/buses/etc at some point...


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## L8_0RGY (Sep 12, 2003)

whirlypig said:


> Ours is now Â£1919 and we live in a 3-bed semi in Sheffield, not sure what the increase has been, around 5% I believe.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


[/quote]

Likewise, i feel annoyed too as i'm in the highest council tax band so this means, Mr Abramovich could live in a house in my borough worth Â£15 million and i live in a 3 bedroom flat (which i won't say how much it's worth but it's not even near a million) and yet i pay the same council tax.

Down the end of my road is a private garden square with loads of big houses and it is ridiculous to think that there are families living there with gardens and everything and i'm paying the same council tax as them.

Unfortunately it's not worth getting the council round to reband my flat as the values were done in 1992 ( :? why so long ago, surely they should be revised every year) and Band H which i'm in states your flat has to be worth over a certain amount which it is - but, they ought to have some rationalisation so that millionaires living in massive houses pay x and young TT drivers pay x minus a certain amount.

We have just let a small studio flat in South Kensington for Â£195 per week and the council tax has just gone up to Â£115 per month  
This is where things get out of proportion.


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

L8_0RGY said:


> Unfortunately it's not worth getting the council round to reband my flat as the values were done in 1992 ( :? why so long ago, surely they should be revised every year)


[1] There is no need to do it every year because the bands are based on the value of the house as it would have been in 1992 so this doesn't change.

[2] Having said that, next year all properties will be rebanded (not sure if this is/was secret or not. :roll: I guess this will take into account that some houses have moved into other bands relative to some houses that haven't or something like that.

Somehow I doubt the bills will come down. :?


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## phil (May 7, 2002)

Didn't we have this rant last year? And the year before :wink: 
Mine went up, but not much. Council tax is the only thing that's cheap around here (relatively speaking).


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## mike_bailey (May 7, 2002)

I wanted to appeal about my banding but didn't get around to it until a year after moving in and you've got to do it within 6 months for some strange reason.


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## scott28tt (Jul 30, 2002)

We have just sent our banding appeal off today, 5 months after moving in. Has anyone ever had any success going through this process?


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## mike_bailey (May 7, 2002)

scott28tt said:


> We have just sent our banding appeal off today, 5 months after moving in. Has anyone ever had any success going through this process?


I succeeded in getting my band reduced in my previous property, it went very smoothly perhaps because it was brand new and had probably been stuck in a band that depended on the developer's asking price rather than what we actually paid.


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## vlastan (May 6, 2002)

My house is band E. But I doubt that I change this now, as I have been living here for 5 years now.

I didn't know that you could challenge the banding...interesting to know.


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## scott28tt (Jul 30, 2002)

vlastan said:


> My house is band E. But I doubt that I change this now, as I have been living here for 5 years now.
> 
> I didn't know that you could challenge the banding...interesting to know.


See http://www.voa.gov.uk for details 

There has to be a 'valid reason' for you appealing, the property being valued for the first time (cos it's new) is one of them. (and you only get 6 months to do it in)

You can also find out the bandings of other properties through the site, could come in handy if you want confirmation of the bands of other houses in your street, or a house you want to buy, or you're just a nosey bugger :roll:


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## L8_0RGY (Sep 12, 2003)

vlastan said:


> My house is band E. But I doubt that I change this now, as I have been living here for 5 years now.
> 
> I didn't know that you could challenge the banding...interesting to know.


I've challenged the banding in a block of 18 flats our company has owned for years as the council tax is extortionate.

A lady from the council is coming round on 6th April to measure every flat and inspect it's condition so i'll see how we get on


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## GHuTTch (Dec 4, 2003)

The biggest rip-off with council tax is that the local authorities say that they have to put up the charges to cover the cost of the NI increase that Gordon Robber Brown put on and to cover their pension fund deficits. 
In the private sector companies can't put up their prices to cover these things - they just have to make efficiency savings. And council tax payers are being caught twice - we have to increase our own pension contributions or move out of final salary schemes, pay the NI increases and then pay more council tax so that local government employees have nice juicy pensions and don't suffer.


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## phil (May 7, 2002)

The problem with council tax is, like the fucking railways we're paying somebody to pay somebody else to provide the service. And they're not interested in providing the service. They're interested in making money. 
I'm no leftie, but it really pisses me off that it's the same nutcases who are moaning about us giving up our national identity to Johnny foreigner when they're happy to sell off our national assets for a fast buck. 
so there.


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