Council tax increases

[#1]

Yes I know a depressing subject but why the above inflation rises ?

For the last couple of years the rises have been above the level of inflation and the current position sees many councils millions of pounds in debt.

The government  continues to reduce the money it gives councils year on year so it will become the norm to continue with rises well above inflation.

For many people any increase in wages or pensions will do little to increase their standard of living, indeed taking increases in other areas such as energy and food over a 12 month period many will be worse off in real terms.

The question then is where is the government spending money that could or should be given to councils to provide essential services.

Also is it possible to find out exactly the amount of government money given to individual councils ?

[#2]

@gleneagles

"The question then is where is the government spending money that could or should be given to councils to provide essential services."

It begins with a B. Must be into the billions now! 

[#3]

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@gleneagles wrote:

Yes I know a depressing subject but why the above inflation rises ?

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I'd say because that Councils are so starved of money from the Government they have no option but to make above inflation increases to allow them to continue to offer the services they do. For example, I do not want my Council to go to three week bin collections, I'd rather pay a bit extra to ensure that doesn't happen.

[#4]

I think a lot of people would pay a little more tax to improve many services. 

[#5]

@nozzer IF that was actually happened, then maybe, but we all know that isn't reality.

[#6]

Yes it is too depressing. Every year I think where am I going to get that extra £100 £200 £300+ from.

In the following months the councils put on puzzled expressions trying to work out why the city centres are turning into ghost towns with shops closing everywhere.

Then they just fall back to the old chestnut of putting up parking charges and increasing fines.

[#7]

Well for anyone who knows me it will come as no suprise as I like to moan, and my council is no different.

I haven't checked but I've no reason to suspect mine will go up too.

For example we had our local high street remodelled and repaved a few years back.

It didn't need need it, and they spent a staggering something like £15 million on works I didn't ask for which I will have to subside from my taxes.

Wss it worth the money? Errrm let me brainstorm on that .. I don't think so. 

[#8]

If you have the time and patience, you can see exactly what is being spent, including amounts less than £500 apparently:

https://www.gov.uk/understand-how-your-council-works/spending-and-accounts

[#9]

Fundamentally a dishonest ( why am I not surprised!) central government. They are well aware that more taxation is probably needed. Although if they killed the useless vanity projects like HS2 and stopped "public services" being delivered by private companies who not only have to cover their operating costs but also pay shareholders dividends and board executives obscene amounts of money, that would go some way to helping.

They want to be able to claim to be a low tax party - so forcing councils to pick up (some of) the slack they can cheerfully blame someone else for the increases while trying to claim the benefits.

Council tax is far more regressive than say income tax or capital gains tax. As a consequence the burden falls harder on people who probably would never vote conservative than it does on their natural supporters. 

[#10]

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@Alex wrote:

For example we had our local high street remodelled and repaved a few years back.

It didn't need need it, and they spent a staggering something like £15 million on works I didn't ask for which I will have to subside from my taxes.

Wss it worth the money? Errrm let me brainstorm on that .. I don't think so. 

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I know what you mean.  An area in the centre of this part of town was 'remodelled' a couple of decades ago.  So wonderful was it in fact that it won prizes for it.  Then about ten years later the council decided it needed to be completely changed again including the use of imported Italian marble.  The drunks who use the area, due to its proximity to a well-known supermarket constantly selling cheap booze, don't really care where the marble came from.  The council also smartened up this road and two neighbouring ones under what they called "showcase streets".  This was only a few years ago, but the tarmac has worn away leaving large bare patches, and this road is a dead end so not that much traffic.

Having said that, our council has kept the actual council tax the same for quite a few years now although the amount we pay has gone up due to the GLA levy increasing.  We have been warned that it will have to go up next year due to the government puttin in an ever decreasing amount as has been mentioned here.  Most goes to social care it seems.

[#11]

What the government is doing (the devolved governments are doing likewise) is shifting taxation so that it's clearer  what our tax £££ are being spent on. Local councils have not (still aren't really) accountable because they give the impression of giving us a fairly huge amount of services for our relatively tiny council taxes. If ALL council cash came from local residents and businesses there would be far more interest and action in pushing councils than there is. 

Overall it's pretty obvious that we don't pay nearly enough tax. Headline spending like HS2 get the blame but we simply don't pay enough to cover policing, NHS, military, pensions and social support. Keeping income tax levels roughly constant and allowing (forcing) council taxes to rise is a way of addressing that. Cutting the huge pensions bill will have to come soon too (and I'm a pensioner  ).

[#12]

I disagree, I don't think the blame is on us for not paying enough tax.

I think it is more to do with inept people in charge, taking a nice salary with long lunches and giving a nice backhander to the management of contractors, who also take long lunches too.

For example my council decided to rebuild a mini roundabout not far from me. How long did it take them? 6 months. I know who the contractor is so they must be pleased with that job.

Look at it another way, should we pay x2 more tax, x3 or x4? Will it make any difference? Or the inept people in charge award themselves a nicer christmas bonus, a pay rise and take even longer lunches?

With my council all they do is install Marshalls humps everywhere, the bin and recycling system is rather akin to a mental challenge from the Crystal Maze. If you're lucky they might collect them. Then you have to pay extra for garden rubbish which should be part of the council tax.

Trouble is the council can do what they want, do the government excuse of raising taxes of pretending "It is to save the planet". You have to pay what they demand else you'll go to prison. Don't know about anyone else but that is not on my to-do list.   

I've got so many bins on my driveway I may have to move house to have a bigger one!

[#13]

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@Alex wrote:

I disagree, I don't think the blame is on us for not paying enough tax.

I think it is more to do with inept people in charge,

Anyone here from Northampton ? Their Council activities are regularly on our local news.

"Inept" is a polite description of a total fiasco........

[#14]

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@quelquod wrote:
Cutting the huge pensions bill will have to come soon too (and I'm a pensioner  ).

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So you think the full state pension of some £8,500 p.a. is excessive?

[#15]

And how many people get the 'full' state pension ?

Fortunately I have been in work all my life and paid the standard contributions but my annual state pension is much less than that figure.