News0 min ago
What Is Council Tax For?
66 Answers
Genuine question, I have no idea.
I always thought it was for the upkeep of the roads, taking away our rubbish, the police, etc?
I have just had a conversation with a lad on the bins. I left some black bags outside, because I had SO much rubbish over the weekend, I couldn't fit it all into the one wheelie bin I have. He emptied the bin, but walked straight past the bags and onto the next house.
I went outside in my pj's and asked him if he could take the bags, but he said "sorry darling, I'd love to, but I could get the sack".
I asked why and he said that (and I quote) " it costs them £1100 to empty the truck, and if we get caught taking bags we'll get the sack".
Firstly, £1100??!! Is that each time? Surely not!
Secondly, I thought that's what council tax covered? This is a family household and sometimes, just sometimes, we will have more rubbish than what fits into one single wheelie bin - especially at this time of year.
I explained that they were now soaking wet and that I couldn't take them to the tip myself as they would stink! He had a quick look around, and then threw them all into the back of the truck. Bless him.
He said if I had any in the future, to "leave them behind the wall, not on the pavement because if someone from the council saw them and then saw they had gone, they'd be in trouble".
So, what am I supposed to do if I have more rubbish that what fits in the one wheelie bin I have?
Why can't they take bags? Is it because it costs so much to empty the truck? I thought council tax covered this? If not, what does it cover? I can't remember the last time I saw a road sweeper, or a bobby on the beat. Last time I saw a rozzer was when he gave me a parking ticket last week!
I always thought it was for the upkeep of the roads, taking away our rubbish, the police, etc?
I have just had a conversation with a lad on the bins. I left some black bags outside, because I had SO much rubbish over the weekend, I couldn't fit it all into the one wheelie bin I have. He emptied the bin, but walked straight past the bags and onto the next house.
I went outside in my pj's and asked him if he could take the bags, but he said "sorry darling, I'd love to, but I could get the sack".
I asked why and he said that (and I quote) " it costs them £1100 to empty the truck, and if we get caught taking bags we'll get the sack".
Firstly, £1100??!! Is that each time? Surely not!
Secondly, I thought that's what council tax covered? This is a family household and sometimes, just sometimes, we will have more rubbish than what fits into one single wheelie bin - especially at this time of year.
I explained that they were now soaking wet and that I couldn't take them to the tip myself as they would stink! He had a quick look around, and then threw them all into the back of the truck. Bless him.
He said if I had any in the future, to "leave them behind the wall, not on the pavement because if someone from the council saw them and then saw they had gone, they'd be in trouble".
So, what am I supposed to do if I have more rubbish that what fits in the one wheelie bin I have?
Why can't they take bags? Is it because it costs so much to empty the truck? I thought council tax covered this? If not, what does it cover? I can't remember the last time I saw a road sweeper, or a bobby on the beat. Last time I saw a rozzer was when he gave me a parking ticket last week!
Answers
Rather than give you the lowdown on how my council deals with my rubbish I’ll try to answer your question, “What is council tax for?” In the last financial year my local authority spent £631m. Of this, £268m was spent on children’s and education services, £133m on Housing services and £110m on adult social services. So, about 81% spent on these...
16:04 Thu 20th Dec 2012
In our area we have weekly food waste collection and collection of recyclable/non-recyclable waste on alternate weeks.
The food waste goes in securely fastened caddies and apart from anything else means our large wheelie bin is now no longer smelly from weeks of food scrap stains etc (!). We now have no fewer than 6 bins: one for food, one for non-recyclable, 3 for recyclable and one for garden waste.
It's just a shame that the waste collection seems to vary so much from area to area. Especially for recycling: we can't put tetra packs in our recycling bins but if we lived a few yards up the road in a different council area we would be able to (!). Nor will they take plastic bags, which have to go to the local supermarket, while the tetra paks go to a different supermarket that just happens to take them. I can see why people get put off ...
The food waste goes in securely fastened caddies and apart from anything else means our large wheelie bin is now no longer smelly from weeks of food scrap stains etc (!). We now have no fewer than 6 bins: one for food, one for non-recyclable, 3 for recyclable and one for garden waste.
It's just a shame that the waste collection seems to vary so much from area to area. Especially for recycling: we can't put tetra packs in our recycling bins but if we lived a few yards up the road in a different council area we would be able to (!). Nor will they take plastic bags, which have to go to the local supermarket, while the tetra paks go to a different supermarket that just happens to take them. I can see why people get put off ...
We have two wheelie bins, one for greenstuff and food waste collected weekly and the other for non recyclable stuff with is collected every other week, then we have a blue box for glass, and bags for recycling, practically everything goes in these, cardboard, cans, empty plastic bottles, wrappers, newspapers etc, we don't have a huge amount if non recyclable waste but what we do have OH takes to the dump everyweek and he refuses to put food waste in the wheelie bin so he takes that too.
I live in South Staffs & come under Lichfield Council for waste collection, so from what I have read on here we must have the best Council in the country. We have 2 Blue wheelie bins to put all recycling products in, 1 Brown w/b for garden waste & 1 Black w/b for household waste. Because most things are recycleable & excess food scraps go into the Brown garden waste bin we very rarely use the black bin at all.
WR.
WR.
Rather than give you the lowdown on how my council deals with my rubbish I’ll try to answer your question, “What is council tax for?”
In the last financial year my local authority spent £631m. Of this, £268m was spent on children’s and education services, £133m on Housing services and £110m on adult social services. So, about 81% spent on these services, which have nothing to do with emptying bins.
Out of the £631m only £48m was spent on “Capital” projects (e.g. building new roads, car parks and schools). Half of that sum was spent on schools.
But here’s the rub. Only £134m (21%) of that spend came from Council Tax. The rest came from Central Government, including £54m in business rates. (Business rates, although collected by the local authority, are remitted to central government, who then dole it back out to local authorities as they think fit. Usually local authorities in “deprived” areas get far more out than they pay in. Those in “affluent” areas, vice-versa. - it’s a handy “wealth distribution” tool. Business ratepayers get even less than council taxpayers for their money anyway. They do not get their bins emptied and they do not get a vote in local elections).
So, assuming council tax revenue is spent in the same way as the income my local authority gets from central funds, it seems that it is mainly for funding schools, social services and housing services. Emptying the bins is way down the list of expenditure. In effect, it is simply another form of general taxation.
As far as emptying the bins goes it used to be simple. You put your rubbish out on the appointed day, the council collected it and what they did with it was up to them. Now dealing with rubbish has evolved to such a degree that some of those involved with its administration seem to have developed some sort of mental illness. The notion that taxpayers should be “fined” for such trivialities as leaving their dustbin lid ajar, or putting the “wrong kind of rubbish” in a particular box is utterly ludicrous.
In the last financial year my local authority spent £631m. Of this, £268m was spent on children’s and education services, £133m on Housing services and £110m on adult social services. So, about 81% spent on these services, which have nothing to do with emptying bins.
Out of the £631m only £48m was spent on “Capital” projects (e.g. building new roads, car parks and schools). Half of that sum was spent on schools.
But here’s the rub. Only £134m (21%) of that spend came from Council Tax. The rest came from Central Government, including £54m in business rates. (Business rates, although collected by the local authority, are remitted to central government, who then dole it back out to local authorities as they think fit. Usually local authorities in “deprived” areas get far more out than they pay in. Those in “affluent” areas, vice-versa. - it’s a handy “wealth distribution” tool. Business ratepayers get even less than council taxpayers for their money anyway. They do not get their bins emptied and they do not get a vote in local elections).
So, assuming council tax revenue is spent in the same way as the income my local authority gets from central funds, it seems that it is mainly for funding schools, social services and housing services. Emptying the bins is way down the list of expenditure. In effect, it is simply another form of general taxation.
As far as emptying the bins goes it used to be simple. You put your rubbish out on the appointed day, the council collected it and what they did with it was up to them. Now dealing with rubbish has evolved to such a degree that some of those involved with its administration seem to have developed some sort of mental illness. The notion that taxpayers should be “fined” for such trivialities as leaving their dustbin lid ajar, or putting the “wrong kind of rubbish” in a particular box is utterly ludicrous.
They're great at investing monies in banks
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//they collect every two weeks now!.......recycle every week, no reduction on council tax though!.....disgraceful!......... //
You are right welshlib, no reduction in council tax eother for the disgusting lack of street lighting, they are now off longer than they are on and must be saving councils a bomb, which is not passed on through council tax.
You are right welshlib, no reduction in council tax eother for the disgusting lack of street lighting, they are now off longer than they are on and must be saving councils a bomb, which is not passed on through council tax.
