Council Tax max increase again this year 3.99%

[Huggie86]

Seems most of all councils will be increasing tax again this year, just read on the the beeb. The max they can increase is 3.99 percent.

I think most did the same last year as well. I wouldn't mind the increases if I could actually see the money increasing services etc but with all the cuts over the years the increases are just keeping them providing the same.

Guess years and years of austerity will do that.

 

[SixTwoSix]

Moved into our current house 7 years ago, were paying around £120/month, close to £160 now. We also pay an extra surcharge once per year since a few years back for green bin collection.

 

[VincentHanna]

Indeed, they have to recoup the millions of pounds they aren't getting from central government support grants anymore.

In 2016/17 Essex County Council was getting £118 million from central government and in 2019/20 that was slashed by 84% to £18 million!

Central Government funding fell by nearly 50% between 2010/11 and 2017/18 and will fall by over 56% by 2019/20.

Between 2010 and 2020 £16bn will have been cut from local council’s budgets and the annual funding gap is set to grow to £7.8bn by 2025.

 

[dowie]

Well if you don’t like austerity then surely the increases are a good thing?

There was some nonsense on Facebook a few days ago comparing rates in Westminster to rates in some northern council and moaning that the wealthy/residents in expensive accommodation in Westminster pay a similar amount.

I don’t think they’d like the results if we went more towards the US style or running things and the local councils were completely autonomous in terms of setting rates etc...

 

[PapaLazaru]

And we can all look forwards to it getting much worse.

 

[stockhausen]

And we can all look forwards to it getting much worse.

Aint that the truth

 

[Scam]

Council tax is horrendously outdated and unfair anyway. Based on the estimated value of your property in the nineties and judged by a bunch of paper-pushers who mostly didn't even bother getting out of the car to properly assess the number of rooms etc.

Bring on a Land Value Tax and council tax that is a percentage of your property's value. That'd stop the boom and bust of the housing market and make sure people treat homes like homes rather than investments. But, that'll obviously never happen because most politicians are raking it in from their expenses and landlordism.

 

[Belly]

Reintroduce the Poll Tax.

 

[VincentHanna]

Council tax is horrendously outdated and unfair anyway. Based on the estimated value of your property in the nineties and judged by a bunch of paper-pushers who mostly didn't even bother getting out of the car to properly assess the number of rooms etc.

Bring on a Land Value Tax and council tax that is a percentage of your property's value. That'd stop the boom and bust of the housing market and make sure people treat homes like homes rather than investments. But, that'll obviously never happen because most politicians are raking it in from their expenses and landlordism.

How would that work for people who rent?

 

[Ahleckz]

4.64% increase for me. Bah! We've had our bin services reduce to 1 in 3 weeks, roads are a mess, there is litter everywhere, etc etc. What are they spending money on? Junkies, drunks and lay abouts.

I've just read they are going to charge for bulk uplift as well, so that'll be even more rubbish in the street and people flytipping even more. And it gets better, they are reducing road sweeping as well!

Glasgow is a complete dump already. It'll only get worse.

 

[VincentHanna]

4.64% increase for me. Bah! We've had our bin services reduce to 1 in 3 weeks, roads are a mess, there is litter everywhere, etc etc. What are they spending money on? Junkies, drunks and lay abouts.

I've just read they are going to charge for bulk uplift as well, so that'll be even more rubbish in the street and people flytipping even more. And it gets better, they are reducing road sweeping as well!

Glasgow is a complete dump already. It'll only get worse.

My wife works in adult social care. I know a large amount gets spent on our ageing population.

 

[stockhausen]

Council tax is horrendously outdated and unfair anyway. Based on the estimated value of your property in the nineties and judged by a bunch of paper-pushers who mostly didn't even bother getting out of the car to properly assess the number of rooms etc.

Bring on a Land Value Tax and council tax that is a percentage of your property's value. That'd stop the boom and bust of the housing market and make sure people treat homes like homes rather than investments. But, that'll obviously never happen because most politicians are raking it in from their expenses and landlordism.

How would you organise that - in practice - in the real world?

How do you "value" a property - get three Estate Agent's values and average them?

Would one OAP without a car living frugally in a large house pay more or less than a family of five with three school-age children and two Chelsea Tractors living in the same house?

 

[mattyprice4004]

4.64% increase for me. Bah! We've had our bin services reduce to 1 in 3 weeks, roads are a mess, there is litter everywhere, etc etc. What are they spending money on? Junkies, drunks and lay abouts.

1 in 3 weeks?! Not sure I could survive on that, I find 1 in 2 bad enough.
A shame, as Glasgow used to be such a marvellous place - I visit sporadically as my partner's brother lives there.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

4.64% increase for me. Bah! We've had our bin services reduce to 1 in 3 weeks, roads are a mess, there is litter everywhere, etc etc. What are they spending money on? Junkies, drunks and lay abouts.

I've just read they are going to charge for bulk uplift as well, so that'll be even more rubbish in the street and people flytipping even more. And it gets better, they are reducing road sweeping as well!

Glasgow is a complete dump already. It'll only get worse.

Are you with Glasgow City council?

I've recently moved to their "area" from East Dunbartonshire and it looks like they have been pushing for the highest they can get. Wasn't this bad in ED even though it was a much better area overall but now I'm closer to the city by 5-10 minutes.

 

[Dis86]

4.64% increase for me. Bah! We've had our bin services reduce to 1 in 3 weeks, roads are a mess, there is litter everywhere, etc etc. What are they spending money on? Junkies, drunks and lay abouts.

I've just read they are going to charge for bulk uplift as well, so that'll be even more rubbish in the street and people flytipping even more. And it gets better, they are reducing road sweeping as well!

Glasgow is a complete dump already. It'll only get worse.

Roads near me are generally disgusting. People are nothing short of animals. Also some of what's there can't have just blown in or fallen off a flatbed, has to have been intentionally dumped.

wouldn't stand for 3 week bin collections though!

 

[Orionaut]

Glasgow is a complete dump already. It'll only get worse.

Been watching old episodes of Taggert,

Back then (70's/80's) Glasgow looked like Soviet eastern Europe (And the more impoverished parts at that! ).

Is it really just as bad/worse??

 

[malachi]

Roads near me are generally disgusting. People are nothing short of animals. Also some of what's there can't have just blown in or fallen off a flatbed, has to have been intentionally dumped.

wouldn't stand for 3 week bin collections though!

Speaking of that, more and more people are having pets such as dogs these days. Big dogs too, never clean up after their animal in the street!

Moved away from that area now, I don't have to deal with that or council tax anymore

 

[HummuH1]

Except in Scotland, where again we're forced to pay higher taxes than our English counterparts just to listen to some manic woman bang on about some pipe dream, our Council Tax is to go up 4.79%. Great.

 

[Eurofighter]

I would say its due to cuts from central government and our aging population.

They need to sort out social care.

 

[Dis86]

Speaking of that, more and more people are having pets such as dogs these days. Big dogs too, never clean up after their animal in the street!

Moved away from that area now, I don't have to deal with that or council tax anymore

Actually one of the reasons I've just moved from where I was. We had woods out the front with a path through them which was used by dog walkers from about 5am. They seem to think that because they're up at that time everyone else is and have no problem with letting their dogs bark or yap incessantly. Same thing on an evening.

Lost count of the number of times they'd also let it off it's lead, it would find it's way to our front garden and have a dump. Out of sight to them, out of mind.