Vegescoob

Please people. I for one, realise that we need more gender equality officers, housing benefit officers, drugs outreach workers and the associated departments to back them up.

unclebuck

This is of course why the property price boom was never controlled in the first place. Labour let prices run riot for this very reason. Everyone is going to get clobbered.

(and I've been saying this was going to happen for months as it happens....)

Simon C

I just wish I could afford a house, and a rise in council tax will put it even further out of my reach. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not on a low salary, but flats round here start at 120k!!! How is a single first time buyer supposed to afford that, plus all the rising bills?

moses

i hope to God all the councils get bombed at night and their debt collectors

they make life hell for people


its shocking they wanna tax everything while they all take so much wage

unclebuck

50 year mortgages. Yes that's right, a debt that you will *never ever* be able to pay off just to live in a shoe box. Nice....

DrEvil

FFS! as if we don't pay enough already for sub-standard local services.

A two up two down in Redhill costs circa 200-230K now, unless your sponging ch** barsteward!! Then most of its paid for by the tax payer..

Who they're gonna screw even more. great.

Simon C

Is anyone stupid enough to take 1 of them out??? I'm just hoping for a market crash!!!

scoob_babe

Flipping heck Alex - bad day?!?!?

You can hope for a crash but most people who bought houses 2-3 years ago and weren't first time buyers will still be ok.

NotoriousREV

Of course council tax will increase, it does every year and the last 2 increases were the biggest we've seen, however people are going on here as if their council tax is directly linked to the assessed value of their home, which is patently untrue.

The assessed value of my house in 1991 was something like £30k and is band c. Current value of my house is roughly £150k and will probably still be band c or at most band d (the difference in bands is only about £50 - £100 a year) so council tax is hardly going to "rocket" although it will go up.

And frankly, I find people complaining that they're being penalised because their house has outperformed the market laughable. I mean, you've gained tens of thousands of pounds in the value of your home but don't want to pay an extra £100 a year in council tax yet you demand better council services.

Obviously, I'm not overjoyed at the thought of paying out extra, but this thread is blowing things way out of proportion.

DJ140

It makes me laugh that people rise to the pslewis bait. He is clearly mentally ill and out of touch with reality.

He has his minority views, and plenty of money apparently, so let him pay whilst we rise up and let this government know we how we feel about this unfair tax.

Why not tax the working people, not the pensioners that have no way of increasing their income, but are hit with massive rises in Poll Tax. I know several people who live in the home they were born in, are pensioners and get f*cked over with massive increases every year.

Doesnt sound very fair to me, but then I can see reason, some people think they can, but can't. My grouchy old man is one of them!

antera309

I'm sure the relative house prices have shifted considerably since 1991. for example, prices of 1 and 2 bed flats have now moved closer (relatively) to that of 3-bed semis, thanks to the higher demand for these kind of properties.

Things that you can be sure of:
- Hard working young singles & couples on average wages will get clobbered.
- Pensioners and students will get clobbered.
- Lazy b*stards who feign sickness and pop out unwanted children just to avoid having to work will get all the rewards at the expense of the above.
- The rich will not notice any difference.

antera309

That's "Perceived wealth", not actual wealth. It could be wiped out in an instant through no fault of your own.

imlach

All I can add to this is :

"Do they not teach basic mathematics at school any more?"

Good grief. The majority of you really do need to dig out your old maths schoolbooks from primary school and understand percentages. While you're at it, dig out your english schoolbooks and try to remember what the words "relative" and "rocket" mean

If this thread reflects the general understanding of economics, no wonder people are losing control of their own finances and getting up to their necks in debt.

tiggers

imlach, Notorious,

You are forgetting the first law of SN NSR - never let any opportunity to diss the government go by whether it's valid or not

tiggers.

r32

And frankly, I find people complaining that they're being penalised because their house has outperformed the market laughable. I mean, you've gained tens of thousands of pounds in the value of your home but don't want to pay an extra £100 a year in council tax yet you demand better council services.

Demand better services? You must be joking, where I live we only get our bin emptied every two weeks now, every one ends up with piles of rubbish and bins with maggots in during the summer, its increased fly tipping enormously. The local council have implemented parking charges for the local towns which are now slowly dying with an average of three shops a week closing (oh by the way the council workers can park free) even the disabled have to pay!
Local roads are in a mess, higher taxes on local businesses so they can pay for the traffic calming measures that have increased accidents. Unemployment in the area has risen due to firms closing and relocating. I could go on and on .....
Lets see if our homes jump a band? Also the value of my home has increased, but its all relative and I cant spend that extra increase without selling my house and not buying another. Council tax locally has increased by more than inflation for the last 5 years......

NotoriousREV

That sounds to me like you're demanding better services?

imlach

That's not really a valid argument. House prices inflation is relative. ie, you only MAKE money should you decide to downsize/downgrade/relocate into a home of lesser value.

Unless you want to eat into the equity of your home, the fact the value of your home has gone from, say, £1000 to £100,000 makes no difference. It's not real money until you realise the asset, and most people generally don't downsize/downgrade just to obtain cash for using in their everyday lives.

Yes, of course you can remortgage, but that's additional debt, and is not 'free' money you've gained over time as you seem to imply.

Gordo

FFS!!!!

I can't believe the **** I have just read in this thread.

a) Council tax is inherently unfair. The only fair system was the poll tax - i.e. everyone should pay the same as everyone receives the same services. People don't have to pay more for their water or sewerage because they live in a nicer house, why should they have to pay more to have their bins emptied?

b) Council tax is shooting up because Brown has been reducing the central funding to councils - forcing them to raise money locally. It doesn't matter what flavour your local council is - they're being forced to put up taxes way above inflation - ANOTHER New Labour stealth tax

c) Labour is hell bent on taxing anything they can see - your pensions have been dangerously eroded (by over 30% cumulatively in the latest report I saw - this has been the main reason the UK stock market is depressed). Get the dangerous holier than thou Labour scum out before the next tax hike!

Gordo

De Warrenne

I take it yer not 'Gordo' Brown then?

Nexuas

So let me get this into perspective for my life...

I brought my house 12 months ago, for considerably less than the average value for my street, as the place was a run down dive that need extensive modenising.

I paid almost 30K less than other houses in the road have sold for (All houses are the same size and type) so will my council tax band be less than the rest of the road??? I think not.

Also the rise in prices since 1991?? Have I had any benifit from that? Nope I brought my first house in 2002 so have been on the property ladder 3 years in this time the market has slowed considerably, but I am told by others above that I am laughing at the 10's of thousands of pounds I have made on my property... Please get real.

Life is not fair, I never expect it to be.

But this will be an excuss for a tax rise. I understand that the houses are to be rebanded and the amount each band pays will remain the same (Except for the above inflationary increase which we should all be waiting for again) but do you not think the government/council will take this oppertunity to shuffle the bands a little, yes there may only be a difference of £100 a year on each band but all they need to do is shift 20000 homes up one band and look an extra £2MILLION in the coffers each year. Please tell me this is an oppertunity that is going to be missed??? Thought not!!


Oh and PS lewis? How do you sleep at night??? You know with so much cash stuffed under you matress that you need not have another finacial worry in the rest of your life?

DrEvil

Sort of, been a little fed up with the way the cost of living seem to keep rising, unlike wages which have been dropping (although starting to rise again now). Generally fed up with the tax system - but hey, can't change it.

Our local council & local services are completely useless as well, so I resent paying them even more for the bad services they provide. But they have a captive audience.

Of course - council tax might drop after they re-evaluate!

Jza

God Pete - you really are a true lefty socialist if ever i've had to listen to one.

The fact is - the rise will effect the poor people as well you muppet

If you made the mistake of being JUST ABLE to buy a terraced house for £25k ten years ago - and can still JUST pay your council tax, your house is now worth 5 times that now and you will therefore get a nice hike in your council tax just for your trouble.


You could of course move... into a nice council house and live off the state that you were paying for before your misfortune to live in a country where the government deems these type of stealth taxes necessary to keep pumping into the grossly inefficient public sector

Labour or opposition party supporter or whatever, good old Blair doesnt care about you as long as he can tax you to hell

Jza

pslewis

It beggars belief the stupidity on this thread ..... the reasons I am wealthy and the big-mouths on here are not (and never will be) is because simple, and it is SIMPLE, economics take a back seat

If your house remains in the same band (as readjusted) then you will pay the SAME amount that would have been due if the adjustment wasn't carried out! Dear God - isn't that simple enough for the thicko chavs on here??

If your house was in Band D and it was correctly valued before, then it will be in Band D after the re-adjustment

Continue getting your 'facts' from the Sport/Sun/Mirror! ....................

Pete

scoob_babe

Having the house re-banded or not doesn't make a huge difference to us. What does hack me off is the annual rise for which there are no discernable benefits. The hospital is under constant threat of closure (making Watford A&E the only one around for about 5 large towns), the roads are appalling (no, tarmac in the hole doesn't make it better!) and as for police on the beat.....
If I could see the benefits with my own eyes and council services improve, I don't mind paying. I do mind paying and getting zip in return!

pslewis

The Council Tax may be too high and I agree that it gives very poor value for money! (its going into funding the Pension Scheme for the council workers)

BUT .....

Lets not get drawn into the idea that the re-valuation is anything to do with an increase!

Pete

Gordo

Bless you Pete, I wish I had your faith in the honest upstanding citizens who lead our Government.

They haven't passed up an opportunity to raise the tax take so far, why make it any different this time? Just like the exam results improving each year, they'll moderate the banding levels such that a few more fall into the higher bands than previously - of course, this will be because their houses have outstripped the average growth rate, not because the council are grabbing more cash

Gordo

douglasb

Absolutely correct, Pete. And why do they need to put so much into the pension schemes? Because that theiving b'stard Gordon Brown has stolen £5 billion per annum from our pension funds. That's £35 billion that "Prudence" has stolen so far.

pslewis

And used to fund Hospitals, Schools, The Old and Infirm, the weak, the poor, etc.etc.

Pete

Petem95

Cricky!!! Is that pslewis backing down?!! Never thought I'd see the day!!

ajm

and to tackle truancy, don't forget!

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=400369