Council Tax
- Thread starter jrwagh333
- Start date
Under the current Law in England and Wales as it stands, in one single year the Courts sent 1,202 people to jail for non-payment. The average sentence was 32 days at a cost of imprisonment of over £100 per day with some Magistrates imprisoning people for three months.
It has been reported in the Independent newspaper - ‘Courts jail civil debtors unlawfully’
that:-
“the bench jailed for nine days a young mother who owed £22 – she was freed two days later on the orders of a High Court judge… A 74 year old in a residential home was arrested by police at the council home and taken before magistrates who sent him to jail… Justices sent… a mother of four, to jail for 28 days. Her 21-year-old son, physically and mentally disabled, is dependent on her care…”
“The High Court has said that Magistrates' powers to jail are to enforce payment, not to punish, and that they should only be used as a last resort. “Despite this stream of recent authorities, Magistrates are continuing to make the same errors and continue in increasing numbers to punish the vulnerable,”
“One of the main reasons is that Council Tax… defaulters have fewer rights than criminals. There is no Legal Aid - meaning the poor and often those with learning disabilities have to represent themselves at hearings they do not understand; there is no requirement for pre-sentence reports so Magistrates are often unaware of the full impact of their penalty; there are no "public interest" considerations which in criminal cases allow for decisions not to prosecute, for example, the elderly; and there is no appeal - apart from judicial review.”
“Ian Wise, a barrister…who has taken hundreds of such cases to the High Court, said:
“The time has come . . . to put an end to this appalling catalogue of injustice.”… “Every day in the local paper you can read of criminal cases where people convicted of taking and driving away, assault, credit card fraud and criminal damage are being placed on probation – yet people with little or no income who try but fail to pay their local tax are going to prison.”
Please sign and share the E-petition to Change the Law @
https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/57160/signature/new
to Stop being put in Jail for not being able to afford to pay Council Tax.
It has been reported in the Independent newspaper - ‘Courts jail civil debtors unlawfully’
that:-
“the bench jailed for nine days a young mother who owed £22 – she was freed two days later on the orders of a High Court judge… A 74 year old in a residential home was arrested by police at the council home and taken before magistrates who sent him to jail… Justices sent… a mother of four, to jail for 28 days. Her 21-year-old son, physically and mentally disabled, is dependent on her care…”
“The High Court has said that Magistrates' powers to jail are to enforce payment, not to punish, and that they should only be used as a last resort. “Despite this stream of recent authorities, Magistrates are continuing to make the same errors and continue in increasing numbers to punish the vulnerable,”
“One of the main reasons is that Council Tax… defaulters have fewer rights than criminals. There is no Legal Aid - meaning the poor and often those with learning disabilities have to represent themselves at hearings they do not understand; there is no requirement for pre-sentence reports so Magistrates are often unaware of the full impact of their penalty; there are no "public interest" considerations which in criminal cases allow for decisions not to prosecute, for example, the elderly; and there is no appeal - apart from judicial review.”
“Ian Wise, a barrister…who has taken hundreds of such cases to the High Court, said:
“The time has come . . . to put an end to this appalling catalogue of injustice.”… “Every day in the local paper you can read of criminal cases where people convicted of taking and driving away, assault, credit card fraud and criminal damage are being placed on probation – yet people with little or no income who try but fail to pay their local tax are going to prison.”
Please sign and share the E-petition to Change the Law @
https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/57160/signature/new
to Stop being put in Jail for not being able to afford to pay Council Tax.
Stupid idea.
Man of Honour
Funny that the OP hasn't made an appearance since
After having seen GD deliver a unanimous verdict OP is now heading to Romania where such problems don’t exist.
Soldato
I haven't read the full thread but the only people who go to prison are the won't pays not the can't pays.
It is the same with TV licence fines - they are only a proportion of your income, not the full £1000 as TVL make you think. But that is a whole other thread.
It is the same with TV licence fines - they are only a proportion of your income, not the full £1000 as TVL make you think. But that is a whole other thread.
Permabanned
haha don't get me started on TVL 
The problem is that the irresponsible class confuse won't pay because too busy buying other stuff (often cigarettes, alcohol or drugs) with can't pay, and the courts don't agree with them.
The same attitude is the reason food banks are popular and food stamps aren't with the same group.
Man of Honour
Well it's good to see that you've responded to some of the points raised and not just replied with some more copy and paste.
Oh wait.
Caporegime
How the hell has the OP got 2k posts if that's the kind of dross he fires out?
Permabanned
he's probably got a good reason, just a different side of the fence to most of us
Don
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/the-poll-tax-courts-jail-civil-debtors-unlawfully-1569210.html
Talk about pulling something out of your ****. You've edited a 1995 report on the "poll" tax to try and make it look current.
Disgusting behaviour to try and backup your position. You should be ashamed.
Soldato
I don't smoke or take drugs and only drink alcohol when I go to pub odd weeks. I wish I could afford to smoke and drink every day. Maybe I could If I didn't pay my £73 CTax every month.
Man of Honour
1995? LOL!
Associate
- Joined
- 1 Aug 2006
- Posts
- 461
But your saying abolish job seekers, child tax credits, all of it. No more freeloading.
How is it freeloading, i agree job seekers etc is a safety net and not a lifestyle, but people are entitled to it if need be, i would love somebody to call me a freeloader if i needed it after i having paid 10 grand in tax this 2013-2014, because they would get a punch in the face if they did.
People should pay their bills yes, but food has to come on the table first.
Soldato
Permabanned
Soldato
Shock as OP turns out to be a fraudster.
I don't have a big issue with it as a deterrent after plenty of warning. What would be much better is simply forced deductions after someone has demonstrated they're incapable of managing their budgets... They're given the chance to manage things for themselves, take on personal responsibility etc...
If they can't then manage to pay it then perhaps it should be deducted from their income (benefits) at source...
If they can't then manage to pay it then perhaps it should be deducted from their income (benefits) at source...
The part right at the beginning where he says it is a petition about his council tax bill.