Council Tax Debt

Fran

As has been said Council Tax is High Priority. You can go to prison. It has to be paid. It sounds like she's been trying to "get away with it", especially with the sort of advice you've been giving like having more kids & living on benefits. Living on benefits is no joke, as you say she would have maintenance and child benefit taken off, though I think they now allow you to keep a generous £5 or £10 of the mainentance!

I am not a great fan of the way that councils administer council tax bills. Last week my council took me to court for non payment of £21 which was for July 2003. They sent me the usual basic sheet of paper in April. I assumed it was something to do with CTax Benefit not having gone through and ignored it. I had one letter from them recently and one week after the letter I got a second letter saying they were taking me to court for the £21 which was now £31 plus court expenses. They wouldn't change their minds about this. There will be a lot of others in this area in the same boat.

This is a different situation than deliberately avoiding paying like your gf though. "Food is more important" is not an argument unless she prefers prison food which is the ultimate penalty of not paying. Are the CAB negotiating repayments for her? She must get someone to help get the minimum repayments that she can as she has not been able to do it herself. Yes moving accounts is one idea, but she should pay something if she does this or it will be seen as someone has already pointed out that she is refusing to pay.

Freddie_Snowbits

Reading this topic, and whether you agree or not, it is time to scrap this tax! Even the Mrs Freddie thinks this is extortion. It assumes that because you live in a 2 bed terrace, you are on a pittance and only gives you a small amount off what a person in a 5 bed detached pays. As a proportion of disposable income, those in the 2-bed terrace pay a lot more than those in the mansion.

It is no wonder that as a result of this, those in the 2 bed terrace get chased up, for what ever reason, whilst the obese felines of this world suck their toes.

I think everyone should write to their MP expressing the desire to scrap this tax!

??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? >:(

simonfr

The issue is being dealt with, with the help of the CAB. And i will let you know the resolution of this issue when it happens.
But the synopsis is as follows:

The sheriff officers are taking the full amount again. She was in communication with them regarding a payment plan when the arrested it again. And the WILL NOT budge. :-/

Tha CAB advised to switch bank accounts so they dont do this again in the next month, and remove all money before the end of the month. This will ensure that, if they do do another arrestment (which they said they wont do, once bitten, twice shy) there wont be financial hardship for her. The CAB seems to think that they will keep going till they have all their money, regardless of communications till something is signed, and they take an eternity for paperwork to follow through so they get more bites at the cherry.

Simon

Talking_Sense

I have to agree with some comments on this board, sometimes people should pay, but it is unfortunate when situations develop quickly, that some are unable to pay their CT in full every month.

This can lead to hardships, however caused, and events can sometimes overtake other developments. In situations like this, the councils are too stuck in the rigidity to allow flexibility in payment. I have to agree with though with a comment about contacting our MPs about this regressive tax, that places, amongst other things, people that are trying to better themselves by working and contributing to their needs, our 'servants' the Council can just wade in and take the lot!

Ok, so some of us appear to make mistakes and can end up in the situation of simonfr's GF, but with hindsight, it is easy to criticise.

With a local income tax, the burden would be removed.

Good luck at the CAB

Just found this, it may help, I think you're Scottish (I hope)

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/scotland_factsheets/factsheet_04.php3#5

::)

goolieman

We had the same situation a few months ago.
Aberdeen council claimed that my DP had unpaid council tax and so (the same baliffs) Scott and co arrested his wages three months in a row of £500 a month.
DP luckily had proof that it was NOT owed as the property was vacant and on the market, making him exempt, as he was also paying council tax in London at the time.
Although this evidence was presented to the council, Scott and Co still took their time in stopping the arrestment and continued to take money.
Fortunately after many calls to the council they got Scott and Co to cancel the arrestment and refunded most of the money (should have been all but it was much better than nothing, which is what we expected)

Our council tax at present is £1400 and has risen steeply from last year.

Also last year we had a court summons for unpaid council tax as the direct debit hadn't been set up properly and although the money was going into the appropriate account each month the tax wasn't coming out. Rather than inform us the first month it didn't go out they just waited and then gave me a heart attack with a summons on the door mat. No warning! All paid straight away so nothing came of it though, except a stringent scrutinizing of accounts every day!

Another thing, about income tax, DP got a pay rise last month which lo and behold pushes him to 40% tax, great, might not as well have got an extra penny.

Grrrrrrrrr.
I hope your girlfriend gets it sorted soon.

C

16011996

we all make mistakes being human, i really feel for your girlfriend, well done for looking for help from her, and i hope it all works out.

160.

forest4ever_2

I agree. Bring back the Poll Tax!
Or even better, lets have some council tax riots.

scooper

hi , of interest how long can you go to prison for , for debts with council tax, is it that severe?when does it get to that stage?

simonfr

Update Folks...

She has her new account, and manually changed payments from/to the new account, so previous bank doesnt get a sniff of where she went.

They didnt arrest the account last week, like i thought they would have, like they said they wouldnt before!!

She's happy, an account which isnt in danger of arrestment, and they're happy, they are getting regular payments.

Cheers,

Simon

mum26

not sure if this is the right place for this but am unsure where else to place it:

My friend went online last night to check her bank account, to find it empty and "account arrested"

as you can imagien she and her husband had a sleepless night and as soon as 9am rolled round she was on the phone to try and find out what was happening, suspicion being council tax.

But apparently it is unpaid poll tax by her husband back in 1990 / 1991!!!!

they are now left with no money, no food, no nappies (they have twins and a baby on the way), rent due to be paid which will now be late for their landlord, etc etc etc

what can she do???