Council tax rebanding....

[MrsT]

...has been put on hold. Is it time to abolish this awfual tax and revert back to the excellent and much fairer "Community charge"? We could trial it in Scotland!

[ummmm]

Haha....bring on the riots. Oh, the good old days...

[McMouse]

I thought the Community Charge was fair as it more closely reflected the households demands on local services. When it was abolished and we went to Council Tax I ended up paying less......I didn't think that was fair.

[jake-the-peg]

The only thing wrong with the community charge was the flat fee nature of it.

You could bring it back banded by income and that would probably be fine.

British taxes have always taken account of somebody's ability to pay. Taxes that don't do that are asking for trouble.

Any PM that doesn't recognise that basic fact is an arrogant fool.

You can say many things about Cameron but I don't think he's a fool

[craft1948]

I agree with McMouse.....

[MrsT]

But jake council tax takes no account of ability to pay,

[McMouse]

There is a house nearby which is in the same council tax band as me. They have at least six full-time wage earners out of a household of nine. I am retired in a household of three. Paying the same ct cannot be right.

[MrsT]

At least with community charge it's a per person tax so everyone in theory at least pays their share of local costs. That's what upset the great unwashed in 1990/1. heaven forfbid they where no longer going to be subsidised by rate payers!

[anotheoldgit]

I agree with jake on this, the only thing wrong with the 'Poll Tax' was the amount paid per person, why shouldn't every adult in a property pay for the services they receive?

Before the introduction I paid a said amount, but when the new tax was introduced both my wife and I paid this said amount meaning our charges were doubled.

A fairer way would have been to halve the amount of tax at the old price, and then make this the new price per person.

[MrsT]

It was not a tax on existance steve, anyone who lived in accomodation and was registered to vote was affected. So in order to pay rent/mortgage one assumed they had income and a life generally. Work shy layabouts got most of it rebated anyway. We didn't go round billing winos in the street!

[modeller]

The trouble with the poll tax was in a mobile society it becomes impossible to collect . Students as an example frequently change their address. My daughter had five different addresses over a period of 18 months. How on earth are councils going to keep up with that sort of movement .
There are some people who never have a permanent address how are they to be treated ?
T

[MrsT]

Just use the NI number modeller and keep score at some point they'll settle down then wallop!

[Dodger666]

Can someone with more knowledge of Council Tax & rebanding properties than me please explain what rebanding is all about if it isn't another way to get more money out of me.

When council tax was introduced all properties were banded and an amount of council was allocated to each band so the local authority achieved it's annual income from council tax. The following year the local authority needed more money due to increased cost so my council tax went up and has gone up every year since.

Now my property is worth more they want to put my property in a higher band so I pay more council tax. Now It may come as a surprise to Government but my property doesn't have an income of its own, in fact as it gets older my maintenance costs go up. Just because my property is worth more it's of no benefit to me unless I sell it. My wife & I still survive on our pensions and what little interest we earn on savings.

No doubt rebanding will come at the same time council tax goes up so we will be hit with a double whammy. Am I missing something?

[MrsT]

No I think you sum it up perfectly.