TopBanana

This was always going to happen. Decentralise services, headline tax rate stays the same, council tax goes up.

pslewis

The country needs a certain amount to run ..............

Its how its split that is the issue ...................

And NO-ONE likes paying more tax!! I don't (and I pay more in tax than most of you earn!)

But its pointless crying about it ..... do something

Pete

MattW

yeah lets all vote Veritas.






















Maybe not

Diesel

Now I vowed not to deal with PS any more as he has burst his bubble as far as I am concerned and completely lost the 'clever' wind up plot. So let me tell you ANOTHER story in this context... [you call it 'DOING SOMETHING' Pete]

Who was I to meet on Monday but Cherie! (Honest to God!). How? I ended up in a Labour party fundraiser [in Mayfair serving champagne and socialism...] by accident. I was absolutekly DEVASTATED as the invite did not mention THE REDS (only the posh club itself ) and there there is little I dislike more than PINK Nouveau....

SO I downed their RED wine, giving a toast to:

• Iraqi Invasion deception
• Iraqi Invasion principle
• American sycophancy/obsequiousness
• Council Tax outrageous increases
• Speeding Stealth Tax
• Spin
• David Kelly
• Hutton Report (up for a comedy award...)
• Stamp Duty lack of indexation/fair banding
• General arrogance & hypocrisy
• Lack of integrity
• General Stealth Taxes
• Inheritance Tax lack of indexation
• Childcare passive disincentives
• Disintrest in property inflation v homes v first time buyers
• Almost 100% fuel tax
• Congestion taxing
• Pensions worth pants
• Huge MP pay rises and absurd expenses
• ETC ETC ETC

After all those toasts I was as drunk as a Labour Lord as you can imagine and then the room started taking the **** out of Robin Cook via their boring speaker. So, I had to mention that Robin seemed to be the only principled un-self-serving member of the whole party, and that I found their distaste for such values an affront to decency and general morality...

GULP - to say I was unpopular would be an understatement - but at least I know how PS feels now...and have spread the 'labour is pants' word to lobbyists afew MP's and party faithfull alike. They seemed genuinely gutted by my negative reactions to their party - still there's plenty of 'less challenging' Chavs and Trolls to canvass left...

D

Vegescoob

How I envy you and your having had such an opportunity.

NotoriousREV

You lot do realise that revising the bands doesn't mean they'll recalculate the council tax bill itself? You only need worry if your house has significantly outperformed the market since 1991.

jods

Maybe I'll leave the UK and turn up in the Caribbean(or anywhere preferable to the uk right now) demanding, sorry, Asking politely, if it would be at all possible, if it wasn't too much trouble, for a roof over my head, and dental care (Grenada has EXCELLENT dental care provisions - Great University there), also as I don't like the heat / humidity cos it discriminates against my bum cheeks - makes them chafe against the old kanga briefs i would ask for the temperature to be turned down.


What do you think my chances are ??

I'm hopeful


























NOT














It is down to that fcukwit in #10



he has sold us all down the river






You know what - Even the gypos that used to bother me on a sunday morning, selling pegs, have moved on !!!


so if the Gypos are moving out - WTF is moving in ???




Still - One good thing is that you can invite them in for a cuppa tea then stab them.... "Well Cnutstable, he was going for the Hobnobs"

Brit_in_Japan

NotoriousREV (and dare I say it, pslewis) are correct, there is not going to be an across the board hike in council tax because of a reassessment of house values.

Think of it this way (and ignore the fact that council tax has been going up faster than inflation - it's not relevant, bear with me), the total council tax raised will be the same. The amount that each household pays will change only if the relative value changes with respect to other houses. Roughly speaking, there will be an equal number of houses dropping a band or two as there will be going up a band or two. Millions may pay more but that will be matched by the millions who pay less.

It will actually address (unseen) imbalances in the current system so in fact it is perfectly fair. It's a bit of a non-story really.

r32

This is indeed bad news, how does any one ever get on the housing ladder? I have two kids, both want to get a place of their own but they just cannot afford a huge monthly mortgage bill. House prices have rocketed compared to wages, now if council tax rockets too. The price of houses is not coupled to inflation so those that think this is fair need to think again as your council tax will rise out of proportion to your income.

Its another way of labour milking middle Britain. Stealth taxes, what have we seen, its 67 tax increases or new taxes under Blair, they promised not to increase tax, but an average wage earner now pays a larger percentage of their income in tax than at any time in history......... is this OK?

For those of you that think this will not generate a net increase in council tax revenue think again, you are misguided and in 12 months you will be thinking theyve screwed us all yet again...................

blueone

If you don't want to pay council tax, turn your home into a place of worship or become a student. The good thing about being a student is that you don't have to pay the CSA a penny either!
When Blair gets back in, as all of you know he will! Just watch how he teams up with his mate Bush again, going into action as the Worlds Police force. Spending your council tax increases on more Bombs for business. There are going to be some severe Law and Order reforms as well in the UK. Is it a coincidence that the new Head of the Met is also called Blair? I think not.

Daryl

>A spokesman for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said: "The system is based on 1991 values. And that isn't fair, or rational.<

Since when was the cost of council services to an individual, based on the price of their house, fair or rational in the first place?

OllyK

ajm

This isn't about how its split, this is about raising the total. Most houses have risen in value, hence the overall tax collected will be more. Labour is raising taxation once again.

We will pay more and in return we will see more cutbacks and poorer services as Labour squander and waste our money on frivolous projects and bureaucratic inefficiencies.

As for doing something, one can only assume you are suggesting we vote Conservative at the next election..... way ahead of you on that one!!!

OllyK

No - you need to take in to account ability to pay AND the amount of resources used.

ChrisB

Peter, my local council couldn't organise a ****-up in a brewery and get it anywhere close to right.

They have a long history of screw-ups but half the residents either don't vote or are too stupid to understand

Bottomfeeder

Sorry guys, but I can't see past the fact that there is a damn good possibility that I/we will be paying more coffers, for less services, just because i/we want to live somewhere where our kids can grow up safely.
And the fact that it will add more people to the growing list of 'homeless' (unable to afford to live in their own house) pushing them onto the 'system' forcing the 'system' to tax fortunate few who can afford to own their own home to pay even more....................It's a vicious circle


How the tax is arrived at for band D

Bucks County Council Ł857.62
Wycombe District Council Ł108.41
Wooburn Parish Council Ł45.28
Bucks & MK Fire Authority Ł44.65
Thames Valley Police Ł120.51


So, based on this charges:
Have I ever in the 6 months I have been here seen a police man? NO
Have I ever in the last 6 months seen a road sweeper/cleaner? NO
Can I walk the mile from the house to Tesco on pavements, without having to walk on the road due to poor quality pavements, no pedestrian crossings? NO
Do the refuse men collect my bin every week? NO, I have to sort all my refuse into Glass, paper, cardboard, garden waste, food, metal etc, and then I have to place one of these on the pavement at certain times on certain days so the poor fellows who get paid collect it can wheel it 3 feet to the truck.


SO WTF AM I PAYING ALL THIS MONEY FOR ?

NotoriousREV

OK is this in big enough letters? Your council tax is not going to rocket. The bands are being reassesed based on modern house prices. Council tax is not a calculation based on your house value (i.e. base rate * house value) it is based on your areas spread of housing to cover the entire council tax bill.

Once the bands are reassessed you will likely be in the same band you were and therefore liable for the same council tax as you were previously.

What you should be complaining about is the massive rises in council tax due to the police charging more for doing less and the Government directing funds away from councils forcing them to raise the deficit locally

angrynorth

r32 sees this correctly, its not about people who have been in their houses for years and will see the benefits from the house value increase. Its the way it affects first time buyers and those with the first step on the ladder.

Nimbus

I think what Notorius is saying is this...

Example values and prices..

Now (1991)
Band / House Price upto/ Tax
A / 25K / Ł200
B / 50k / Ł300
C / 100k / Ł400
D / 150k / Ł500

New (2004)
Band / House Price upto / Tax
A / 50K / Ł200
B / 100k / Ł300
C / 200k / Ł400
D / 250k / Ł500

So, if your house was valued at Ł75k in 1991 you pay Ł300. In the new system, if your house is now valaued at Ł175k, you still pay Ł300 even though the value has increased. It's only if the value has out performed the market (so it's now valued at 210k for example) that you will be paying more.

ajm

Everyone should still vote Conservative though....

angrynorth

The house I have moved into (and those that many first time buyers will be looking at) will have outperformed the market though, yet I will not see any benefit, all that will happen is that my already expensive council tax goes up even more.

A 2 bed terrace in some parts of Oldham can sell for Ł150k plus yet still remain at a low band. So if you are going to buy one of those as a first or second house, you will have to foot the cost of the increased council tax, plus an extortionate mortgage whilst staying on a wage that hasn't increased at the same rate as house prices, let alone council tax rates.

I completely understand your point of view but I think you fail to recognise the problem that these increases will present to those who have recently bought houses in semi-decent upcoming areas that are seeing demand outstrip supply. Which of course causes disproportionate house price increases. The council tax will increase in accordance to those increases but that only goes to add to the cost of living for those people.

Nimbus

Hey, I'm not supporting this! I'm just trying to show how I *think* it's supposed to work. I know there will be problems and big increases in areas where the market has performed better than the average.

I think it's another way for labour to increase their tax while trying to pass it off as an "update" to a system that does not need updating...

unclebuck

They call it a 'reform'. There will be many, many similar 'reforms' happening in the 'Third Term' if New Labour are allowed to remain in power by a seemingly increasingly stupid population.

UB

angrynorth

Hypnotised seems to be a bit more appropriate.

Leslie

I remember how they assessed the council tax bands last time. They sent the local house agents around to decide the worth of the houses. In most cases they just drove around and made a guess at the values without even looking inside the houses. You had a limited time to appeal against the assessments and not many of those appeals were upheld either. Nice little earner for the estate agents and even better for the government.

Wonder how they will do it this time?

Les

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

Because we Welsh have an Assembley of WŁ$%*&rs, the worst NHS, worst sickness record (Merthyr) we are being rebanded this April, no doubt as a feeler for the English. Watch what is happening in Wales. It's coming to a street near you soon!!!!!!!!!

Sprint Chief

Caveat:

People have pointed out that it is just rebanding, but if the distribution within the banding changes towards the higher bands (e.g. a ratio of number of houses in band f divided by the number of houses in band a etc.) then it will be a back door tax increase.

If the distribution stays the same, it is not; if the distribution shifts towards band a etc., it will be a back door tax decrease.

Until we have these figures we can't tell. Mind you I cannot think of ONE example of any government or council executing a "back door tax decrease", these are always high profile!!!

Petem95

Sadly yes, oh how I love Backup-Exec!!

Just gimme that chance! (bring on the election!)

Petem95

Only if EVERY student living in the house is a full-time student with no job, if one is a part-time student with a job too (probably as they cant afford to study with no income), then council tax has to be paid - found this out first hand the expensive way as a house mate was part time student, part time work so he could afford to live..

r32

This is total borrocks, believe me they will increase....
Just wait and see.
(changing to decimal currency will not increase prices....oh yeh!)
Doesnt matter how big you make the letters, it will be an opportunity not to be missed.....
We will be able to say I told you so.........