The dreaded Council Tax

Mike_S_8

margaretclare wrote:

I've only discovered quite recently that part of what we're paying for are the Regional Assemblies. ... I was made aware of this only this week by an article in our local paper, the Southend 'Evening Echo'. It seems we are now part of the East of England Region with a regional assembly at Cambridge, even though many of the local MPs, the Chairman of Essex County Council, and many others, are totally against the idea. And, importantly, this useless Assembly is taking up money which could be better spent.

Not only that, Margaret, you also live in a grand hierarchy of "regions of regions" know as Transnational regions - another set of bright ideas dreamt up in Brussels and which impose on us yet other unadvertised layers of expensive, unaccountable, unwanted and faceless bureaucrats.

I, apparently, live in the Arc Manche Transnational region - http://www.arcmanche.com/e_intro.htm

You live in Essex, so you are in the North Sea Transnational region - http://www.interregnorthsea.org/ for more details. Click around in there, on the map, etc., for more info.

EDIT. Trying to get at the information for all the UK is difficult but try http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/interreg3/abc/voletb_en.htm as your starter for 10.

margaretclare

Mike_S wrote:

Not only that, Margaret, you also live in one of the "super regions" - regions of regions - know as Transnational regions - another bright idea dreamt up in Brussels and which impose on us yet other unadvertised layer of expensive, unaccountable, unwanted and faceless bureaucrats.

Thank you for this, Mike. I clicked on the link you gave and I am appalled. Absolutely appalled. Never mind Scottish and Welsh devolution - the whole of the east side of the British Isles as far as the Orkneys and Shetlands to the north and the Thames estuary to the south, apparently becomes part of Denmark!

I have sent an email to the address given, info@interregnorthsea.org, as follows: "I am one of a growing number of people who does not want to live in a North Sea Region. I live in England, which is a nation with its own character, language and customs. I don't want my country to be split into regions and tacked onto part of the continent of Europe, from which we are separated by the English Channel and the North Sea.

Can you tell me at what stage the English people are to be consulted on
these changes, who has authorised them, who ever gave a mandate to your
authority to include us in this unwanted structure?

Would you please re-draw your map? England is bounded by the Scottish border to the north, the Welsh border to the west, and by the North Sea and the Channel coasts."

I should never have voted to 'stay in' the Common Market back in the 1970s, but then, who would have guessed that even if we voted to be part of an economic community for reasons of trade and prosperity, that our very existence as a country would be threatened?

And why are we never told about these things - how can we be said to live in a 'democracy'?

I can only think that the only way forward is to support any of the alternative political parties who state unequivocally on their manifesto - withdraw from Europe. These changes have crept up on us without our knowledge and consent. I think that we should make as many people as possible aware, because I'm certain that few are aware at present, although obviously many are concerned about 'the dreaded council tax' - now you know why it's 'dreaded'.

Margaret

lodestoneman

seven-day-weekend wrote:

Are these people all members of the isitfair protest group?:

I can confirm that Mike S certainly is, and so am I, but I've never heard of the rest of them.
Why not have a look at : http://www.isitfair.co.uk/publicforum2/index.php

EdInvestor

These "regions" would appear to be a new wheeze dreamed up by some bright spark to extract money from Brussels.

Got an idea, submit it here

Since they've been around for about 10 years and nobody has ever heard of them, I think we can safely say that they're not much of a threat.

Mrs._M_7

I too am a member of the Isitfair Campaign. This wretched tax not only affects the pensioner but anyone on low earnings or fixed incomes. What about the young attempting to get on to the property ladder? £30 per week is just like another Mortgage. Unaffordable and unacceptable. Council Tax has to go.

ManAtHome

But what you replace it with? Whatever scheme is dreamt up for any form of taxation, it will always be unfair to some (if not most) of the population.

lodestoneman

ManAtHome wrote:

But what you replace it with? Whatever scheme is dreamt up for any form of taxation, it will always be unfair to some (if not most) of the population.

Council Tax typically takes between a quarter and a third of the State Pension, and you can't get CT Benefit if your whole life savings amount to no more than the price of a pretty indifferent family car. Not a very good reflection on our so-called "welfare" state is it.

Council Tax only provides 25% of local funding, the other 75% comes from Central Government via the Inland Revenue anyway, so why not the rest of it? Why do we need to fund some 500 seperate local tax collecting departments right round the country when it can all be done automatically by the Inland Revenue with a couple of pence (or whatever) increase in the basic rate of Income Tax. This would not only be much cheaper by cutting out unneccessary duplication by each and every council, it would also be immeasurably fairer to all since it takes proper account of 'ability to pay', i.e. your disposable income having regard to your committments, and no, unlike seven-day-weekend, I don't believe that someone whose income is too small to pay any Income Tax should be forced to pay a third (or indeed any) of his meagre income in Council Tax.

Mrs._M_7

Lodestoneman, this average figure of 25 percent paid by the council tax payer really needs some explaining. Many of the tax payers in the Shire counties are contributing much more than 25% in fact. That figure rises to well over 40% and falls to well under 15% in some Metropolitan and Unitary authorities. The average council tax in say Surrey is over £1,400 and in Manchester about £700. This difference is caused by the nationwide banding system based on the value of property. We must remember that there are many rich people living in the North and many poor people living in the South. So as long as Local Authorities are kept afloat by a property tax it cannot be fair.
See the Isitfair document offering solutions, fairer solutions, on the website https://www.isitfair.co.uk.

seven-day-weekend

lodestoneman wrote:

seven-day-weekend, I don't believe that someone whose income is too small to pay any Income Tax should be forced to pay a third (or indeed any) of his meagre income in Council Tax.

I didn't say someone who didn't pay income tax should pay a third of their income in CT, I said they should pay SOMETHING.

Oh well, works out better for me, a non-income tax payer.:T

ManAtHome

And why should I, as a single taxpayer, pay more for using fewer services?

From my point of view, either property tax or pay-for-what-you-use would be fair... as it would mean I'd pay less.

And as for "ability to pay" being fair - see some of the other threads about benefits v savings as whether all think this is fair.