Council Tax - whats yours and do you think it a good system?

elwistua

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Have not had mine yet but Bedfordshire is one of the highest council taxes in the country but our town is dying - No Shops - No Jobs and all manufacturing has gone. We have been waiting for a bypass for 40 years yet on a Band C last year was £1,483.35 a band F was £2,410.45 and we have been told that the increase this year is 4% So in Comparison to us you have a cheaper Council Tax.

You can thank the Tories for the Council tax because it was MT's idea after the poll tax fiasco.

Taxes in this country are crippling compared to other countries

Mrs T may have been responsble for the council tax but given the concept of the Poll Tax wasn't it way ahead of its time and a fairer regieme?

silvercar

krustychops wrote: »

Hi Guys
Please forgive me as i am new to this site and probably posted incorrectly.
Can anyone help please
In December 2009 i moved into our new home. We recieved a council tax bill in February from the period 1st Dec 2009 to March 2010 for a sum of £620. I called up in Feb and payed off £100 (as i am quite strapped at the moment) i was then told that i would be issued a new bill. On Friday i recieved the new bill minus the £100 and told that i must pay the £520 within 7 days.

As your bill is outstanding they will demand payment. Pay what you can as soon as possible. Didn't you budget for council tax?

Also i have recieved my 2010 bill from April through to Jan and they want my first payment of £189 paid by the 1st of April.

I thought that you didnt pay council Tax between Jan to Mar is this correct????

No, you can pay in 10 instalments from April to January. So there is nothing to pay Feb and March, but the bill covers the whole year.

Also will i be able to pay my Dec to March bill in installments monthly preferably????
Thanks in advance for your replies
K

Ask them.

daveyjp

donaldtramp wrote: »

In my area £100 from every man, woman and child in the region goes to pay Council/public sector pensions.
That's £1 in every £5 that they receive!!!!

If you want a partial (and very irritating) explanation of where a lot of your tax goes have a read here....(It covers every Council in Britain)
http://tpa.typepad.com/home/files/council_spending_uncovered_3_pension_contributions.pdf

Now you know how to react when the local public sector try to hold you to ransom when they go on strike. They have no idea how good they have it.

This is very amusing
HORRIBLE DRAGON THREATENS COUNCIL WORKER FANTASY LAND[/

Using the journalist system of logic I can also categorically state that absolutely NONE of anyone's Council Tax pays for Council Pensions.

The 20% figure is utter ballcocks and uses the journalistic system of maths where 2+2 really does equal 5, or 6 or 20% if you want it to.

To start unravelling this myth seek out how much of your Council receives from Council Tax payments - mine is just 15%. What is 20% of 15%? This is the actual amount paid from your Council Tax for pensions.

Poeple who believe this drivel play into the hands of those who make these 'facts' up and print them as gospel.

donaldtramp

Using the journalist system of logic I can also categorically state that absolutely NONE of anyone's Council Tax pays for Council Pensions.

The 20% figure is utter ballcocks and uses the journalistic system of maths where 2+2 really does equal 5, or 6 or 20% if you want it to.

To start unravelling this myth seek out how much of your Council receives from Council Tax payments - mine is just 15%. What is 20% of 15%? This is the actual amount paid from your Council Tax for pensions.

Poeple who believe this drivel play into the hands of those who make these 'facts' up and print them as gospel.

Ok, it is the equivalent of £100 per year for every man woman and child in my area from all taxation.
IT IS STILL OVER £20 MILLION POUNDS A YEAR into COUNCIL PENSIONS in my small Council.
I don't want to pay into others pensions....
I'd rather have £400 off my Council tax bill. Thank you very much.

What about the MASSIVE pension deficits?
Who do you think is going to liable for them???
(I'll give you a hint, it aint gonna be the Council employees)

Andy_L

donaldtramp wrote: »

I don't want to pay into others pensions....

So do you sit at home never spending money then? Otherwise at somepoint you are contributing to someone elses pension.

daveyjp

"I don't want to pay into others pensions...."

I therefore assume you don't buy anything, ever.

Old_Slaphead

Andy_L wrote: »

So do you sit at home never spending money then? Otherwise at somepoint you are contributing to someone elses pension.

a) A significantly lower proportion of his discretionary spend is subsidising private sector pensions (that's because they virtually don't exist anymore)

b) That subsidy is discretionary not obligatory

---

I see that BA staff have agreed a 4.5% increase in contributions to keep their FS pension benefits. That sets the benchmark for the public sector - and even with that increase they'd have the bargain of a lifetime.

Andy_L

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

a) A significantly lower proportion of his discretionary spend is subsidising private sector pensions (that's because they virtually don't exist anymore)

b) That subsidy is discretionary not obligatory

a) Is it? Genuine question - whilst the per head %age public sector pension contributions is higher than the private there are more of them.

b) If he spends money anywhere he's helping to pay private sector pension contributions unless he only shops at places with no company scheme & no employee makes any private provision.

He's obsessing about the pension when whats important is total renumeration. If I was to wave my magic wand at make all public sector pension liabilities disapper & instead pay the employers 15-20% contributions as salary he'd pay just as much but I damn sure that he wouldn't be happy because he wasn't subsidising their pensions

Old_Slaphead

Andy_L wrote: »

a) Is it? Genuine question - whilst the per head %age public sector pension contributions is higher than the private there are more of them.

b) If he spends money anywhere he's helping to pay private sector pension contributions unless he only shops at places with no company scheme & no employee makes any private provision.

He's obsessing about the pension when whats important is total renumeration. If I was to wave my magic wand at make all public sector pension liabilities disapper & instead pay the employers 15-20% contributions as salary he'd pay just as much but I damn sure that he wouldn't be happy because he wasn't subsidising their pensions

a) Private employers are paying about £30bn pa to employees pension schemes and this figure is reducing. Public sector needs to accrue (£180bn paybill at say 20%) £38bn pa and this is rising - tho' probably won't be for much longer. Given that there are 4x the numbers working in private sector then clearly the per capita contribution is significantly lower.
b) He will also pay VAT on his purchases - so he will also be contributing to public pensions even with discretionary purchases.

Andy, we've debated these issues before. The justification for generous public pensions was to offset ostensibly lower public pay. Given the pay rises over the last decade and perks now enjoyed compared to the vast majority in the private sector (note : we are not all bankers, we do not all receive bonuses, company cars, pensions etc. Many in SMEs get minimum holidays, sick pay etc) that justification no longer seems valid.

hullight

I just think the single person discount should be more than 25%...considering students get a 100% discount for some arbitrary reason.