Council Tax Cost Cutting: reduce your band and grab any discounts Discussion Area

Sambob_3

Hi Everyone,
Through the link on this fantastic website, in October I discovered that our house was the only one on Band C, rest were on Band B. Took at least 3 letters and 6 phone calls to the VOA who finally agreed to a reband in December. Now just chasing the council for the rebate!
Thanks !!!

smk77

tracy12050 wrote:

So do you work for the council then? or are you reaping the benefits of being a single mother?.

No, I don't work for the council and no I am not reaping the benefits of being a single mother - no kids and wrong sex!

tracy12050 wrote:

These comments are about banding although I agree not in the sense of arguing about how much council tax we should pay! But it's about why should we pay it in the first place?

That's a completely different issue. If you remove council tax you have to increase income tax. It costs £X to run the country and therefore the tax payer *should* pay £X.

tracy12050 wrote:

If you take a closer look at the council tax, the police take their cut out of it, so i would expect to see police patrolling the estate, nonetheless to show we actually have some and for public reassurance like they used to do in years gone by.
The police are tied up dealing with more important issues because kids these days are bored to death as they have nothing to do as the council do not provide enough facilities for them or their parents do not have sufficient interaction or motivation to keep them occupied, let alone not being able to dish out punishment to those who are just blatantly disobiedient!

Why should the council provide these facilities for the kids? What do you suggest would keep young people entertained? I think that you hit the nail on the head with the parents though. There is a huge social issue that needs to be tackled and throwing money at entertaining these kids is not going to help. In my opinion its some of these parents that need educating. Tackle the root of the problem!

tracy12050 wrote:

I pay national Insurace and tax,this is supposed to pay for schools and my old age, not council tax, so i don't know what your point is in respect of schools & education!

My point is that you mentioned schools in your original post when you said "we don't have children so don't use the local schools". Why did you mention this if you weren't refering to Council Tax?

tracy12050 wrote:

Surely this forum is about the points raised or else i would not have mentioned it, you pay the council tax based on the value of the property you live in and then the money is used/wasted by the council for whatever it is they do, jollie's abroad, personal perks, helping the aged and sinlge mothers!
the bigger more expensve the house the more you get ripped off.

My wife works for the council and believe me, she's not had any "jollies abroad" or "personal perks". In fact, she has to work in a number of offices and does not get paid petrol expenses when working away from her home office. The office that she works from at the moment is cold and damp. I work in the private sector and make a fortune on my petrol expenses. She has the benefit of flexi-time but that's about it. Nothing compared to the benefits that I get in the private sector.

From what you are saying it appears that you think the more you pay the more you should get back? Surely, the more you pay the less you need? Those people who can't afford to pay much council tax are probably the ones that need to make the

tracy12050 wrote:

I agree the council should help those he need help who live in their constituancy, but why should I be pay for it? I pay my tax like everyone else so i should have my say what services i should expect for my money not be told what they will waste it on and how less a service i will get this year for it because a new school needs building or there are more single mothers in the borough.

How can the council help those that need help as you suggest if YOU don't pay for it?? It has to be paid somehow.

What services do YOU want? It sounds as though you don't need any. I can't think of much that i'd need.

tracy12050 wrote:

If the council are going to base banding on where you live and the size of the house then they shoud also look at what they do for that individual and stop charging all and sundry for services they don't receive.

Again, what do you want from the council? The people who need the services are the ones who can't afford to pay for them.

tracy12050 wrote:

banding is an issue that will never be resolved until the powers that be are challenged and even then most of the powers that be are too old and believe they know better.

Aren't changes coming soon?

tracy12050 wrote:

Lets hope one day we all receive the benefits we are owed for the taxes we pay no matter what your background, we deserve it you & me

Whilst we live in a society that cares for the less fortunate (not those that are tax dodger and playing the system!) if you pay more taxes than average then there is little chance that you will ever get back what you paid.

kelloggs36

I do agree with tracy12050 that the council are now charging more for less service, i.e rubbish collection. It is an ideology that recycling reduces non-recyclable rubbish to the extent that they can justify reducing the rubbish collection. There was an article on our local news last week that highlighted the problems the recycling services faces, so these need to be sorted out first before reductions can be justified - then a reduction in Council Tax should be passed on, or at the very least no increases until this reduction is clawed back. We have historically paid for this service and now they are reducing it - fine, but refund us for this reduction because they aren't increasing services elsewhere instead. They are just making more money out of us which is not justifyable.

newcook

Hello all and Happy new year!!!

Me and OH moved into a new house on a regeneration area August 2006 and have been placed onto band C. I wrote a letter to appeal and they wrote back saying that due to measurements etc the banding was correct but they have arranged a tribunal for next month to go and argue the toss!! my argument on the situation is that with it being a regeneration area it should be on band B rather than C and from what I have read what the tax covers I am not getting my monies worth!! the lighting is poor and the roads and pavement are not complete due to building work still being carried out on the new estate and will be like that for another 2 years til estate is complete. with the pavements the curb,'electric pavement slab point' (sorry - dont know what they are called!) and the little square water hydrant points stick out of the pavement by about 2 inches from where the new tarmac covering needs to go but as I mentioned this wont be til the estate is finished so when I am coming home from work of an evening it is safer for me to walk in the road so I dont trip over anything!!!
anyway - I am babbling now so I just want to know if I am right in thinking I should be on B rather than C???

Stu666

Can anybody let me know what the telephone number to contact VOA is? I disputed my banding online and received a letter in the post which made it sound like I didn't have a leg to stand on, so I shredded the documents. I've since read on here it's still worth challenging the decision, so I think I'll ring them this time.

Altarf

newcook wrote:

I am babbling now so I just want to know if I am right in thinking I should be on B rather than C

All of the reasons that you posted are irrelevant as far as the banding is concerned. All that matters is what your house would have been worth in 1991 had it existed then.

As for the lighting and the pavements, as the estate is not completed they will not be the councils responsibility yet. The council do not 'adopt' them until the developer has completed everything as the council will not accept them until they are in a perfect condition. This can take years after the estate has finished and may in fact never happen.

Altarf

Stu666 wrote:

Can anybody let me know what the telephone number to contact VOA is?

Google - http://www.voa.gov.uk/where/index.htm

smk77

kelloggs36 wrote:

I do agree with tracy12050 that the council are now charging more for less service, i.e rubbish collection. It is an ideology that recycling reduces non-recyclable rubbish to the extent that they can justify reducing the rubbish collection. There was an article on our local news last week that highlighted the problems the recycling services faces, so these need to be sorted out first before reductions can be justified - then a reduction in Council Tax should be passed on, or at the very least no increases until this reduction is clawed back. We have historically paid for this service and now they are reducing it - fine, but refund us for this reduction because they aren't increasing services elsewhere instead. They are just making more money out of us which is not justifyable.

Why does a council want to make money from you? The council is there to provide you with services - not to make profits. Any reduction in spending on waste management will be allocated elsewhere and rightly so.

We live in a changing world and the way that the council spends their money must also change. Environmental concerns that did not exist in the past are now with us and money must be spend on addressing this. For example, spending is now required on thing such as management of beach erosion and new waste strategies (we don't have infinite areas to dump our waste).
Money must now be spent on helping to provide affordable housing (part ownership type schemes) for first time buyers who would otherwise have no chance of getting on the property ladder. Congestion in city centres has led to the need to park and ride facilities and new train/tram system.

Waste management probably only accounts for about 4% of your council's budget. If for example you pay £1500 in Council tax then the waste disposal only accounts for £60 of your council tax. That's not just the collection but the other waste facilities that are provided by your council. A bargain if you ask me!

kelloggs36

I don't agree. If they say they need x amount to provide the services, then cut them, they should refund the difference.

janaltus

tracy12050 wrote:

I pay my tax like everyone else so i should have my say what services i should expect for my money

Tracy, I live in Hackney - which is widely acknowledged as the worst performing, most lousy, mismanaged and corrupt borough in the UK - with the highest council tax - so I empathise with you to some extent regarding your frustrations with your council. However, you should remember that you do have a "say [in] what services I should expect for my money". It is called "democracy". Once every four years you get to vote for your representatives (councillors). Most Council meetings are open to the public and you have an opportunity to express your views there too. Sadly, too few members of the public participate in the democratic process. Hence, councillors (some of whom are dedicated and hardworking, some of whom are in it for all they can get) don't always get it right. In the case of Hackney, of course, apathy rules and they rarely get it right!

I don't agree with much of what you say, but I'd defend to the death your right to say it. Just try saying it to your local councillors though (and maybe let us know how it goes).

N.B. I appealed for my Council Tax to be reduced from F to D as soon as banding came in. But, at the Tribunal, the Valuation Officer successfully argued that the value of the property was not the same as the price at which similar properties were being sold in the neighbourhood at the time. [No, I don't understand it, either] However, I got it reduced from F to E, which helped.