Council tax bills may rise by up to 4% from April - MSE News 23 December 2019 at 6:27PM in Reclaiming mortgage fees, council tax, etc 4 replies 1.4K views

Former_MSE_Naomi

Some local authorities in England will be able to raise council tax by up to 4% in April 2020...

Read the full story:
'Council tax bills may rise by up to 4% from April'

Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply.

hellojohn8doe7

For a band B property, where I am living, council tax in 2019-20 is already 14.1% higher than what it was 3 years ago in 2016-17.

In addition to yearly cap, there should be a maximum cap for every 5 year period?

An increase of 4% every year will very quickly show its compounding effect and force some people to downsize as council tax is no longer affordable. Same is happening with the train prices. Prices are increasing very fast but this is not reflecting in the punctuality and reliability of the train services.

kuratowski

Firstly, I don't understand why this is posted in the reclaims board?

Secondly, I do agree with hellojohn8doe7 to a large extent, continual increases above inflation are not sustainable. On the other hand, local council budgets have been squeezed by the slashing of central government grant since 2010, councils are struggling to meet their statutory obligations, and the money has to come from somewhere.

hellojohn8doe7

local council budgets have been squeezed by the slashing of central government grant since 2010

- this has been done to fund the reduction to the income tax.
- when your personal allowance is increased from 6,475 (2010-11) to 12,500 (2019-20), surely the money has to come from somewhere, which in this case is from cutting local council central grant.

however, local council should understand the compounding effect of annual increase (net 14.1% in 3 years for my case) and ripple effect that this may cause.

kuratowski

Central government made the decisions to cut the grant, and central government defined the statutory responsibilities of local councils (especially social care, for which demand is increasing). It's a textbook case of willing the ends and not the means.

Also, the maximum level of increases to council tax is set by central government - they are the ones who have allowed inflation busting increases for the past 3 years. Due to the rising demand for social care, see para 1. It seems to me your complaint should be directed to the successive chancellors who made all these decisions, not your local council.