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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2024 23:38:46 GMT
I'm not sure that unhappiness council tax is the answer. Council tax is a regressive tax, so that disproportionately affects the lowest earners. Increasing the tax itself would therefore not just be regressive, but also be against Labour’s pledge not to raise taxes on working people. Is council tax regressive? Its based on the size of property and the poorest don't pay it do they? Or its allowed for in housing benefits. BTW, I think "unhappiness council tax" is very appropriate for many people  ) The Cameron government cut the payments to councils for Council Tax Benefit whilst giving them the legal license to pass these cuts on to claimants. As a result, almost all poor people in England are forced to pay between 10 and 30 percent of the council tax themselves, even if on JSA. Only poor pensioners get their council tax paid in full now. And many low paid workers like myself pay it in full. I live in a Band A property and enjoy the 25 percent discount for living on my own, yet my council tax alone still costs me 8 percent of my take home monthly pay. For someone taking home 100k a year, they would need to be paying 8k in council tax to be hit proportionately as hard as I am. And the fact is that a wealthy couple not enjoying the single persons discount and living in the highest band, would only pay four times as much as I am between them. Even if they earn 400 times as much as me. This is unacceptably regressive, all the more so to me since on this one I myself am a victim of this hugely disproportionate imposition. And the notion that the band you are in is based upon the value of the property - not the value of it today mind you but it's value of more than 30 years ago - even if you do not actually even own the property whose value determines what you pay, is clearly a grotesquely unfair one on so many levels. It's about time any government with a claim to being progressive stepped up to the plate and did something about this. Last time they were in under Blair and then Brown, they failed. This time they must do better if they want to be in with a fighting chance of getting my vote next time. Council Tax is a crushing burden on low paid workers like me, a hugely disproportionate burden whilst the wealthy get off very lightly. |
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Post by Zany on Jul 31, 2024 6:56:04 GMT
Is council tax regressive? Its based on the size of property and the poorest don't pay it do they? Or its allowed for in housing benefits. BTW, I think "unhappiness council tax" is very appropriate for many people ) The Cameron government cut the payments to councils for Council Tax Benefit whilst giving them the legal license to pass these cuts on to claimants. As a result, almost all poor people in England are forced to pay between 10 and 30 percent of the council tax themselves, even if on JSA. Only poor pensioners get their council tax paid in full now. And many low paid workers like myself pay it in full. I live in a Band A property and enjoy the 25 percent discount for living on my own, yet my council tax alone still costs me 8 percent of my take home monthly pay. For someone taking home 100k a year, they would need to be paying 8k in council tax to be hit proportionately as hard as I am. And the fact is that a wealthy couple not enjoying the single persons discount and living in the highest band, would only pay four times as much as I am between them. Even if they earn 400 times as much as me. This is unacceptably regressive, all the more so to me since on this one I myself am a victim of this hugely disproportionate imposition. And the notion that the band you are in is based upon the value of the property - not the value of it today mind you but it's value of more than 30 years ago - even if you do not actually even own the property whose value determines what you pay, is clearly a grotesquely unfair one on so many levels. It's about time any government with a claim to being progressive stepped up to the plate and did something about this. Last time they were in under Blair and then Brown, they failed. This time they must do better if they want to be in with a fighting chance of getting my vote next time. Council Tax is a crushing burden on low paid workers like me, a hugely disproportionate burden whilst the wealthy get off very lightly. I sympathise SRB as I have often moaned about Business rates. I thought HB covered council tax, my mistake. |
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Post by totheleft on Jul 31, 2024 7:46:38 GMT
Srb on top of the council tax we pay do you also have to pay water rates i do .
On top of your rent
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2024 8:38:06 GMT
The Cameron government cut the payments to councils for Council Tax Benefit whilst giving them the legal license to pass these cuts on to claimants. As a result, almost all poor people in England are forced to pay between 10 and 30 percent of the council tax themselves, even if on JSA. Only poor pensioners get their council tax paid in full now. And many low paid workers like myself pay it in full. I live in a Band A property and enjoy the 25 percent discount for living on my own, yet my council tax alone still costs me 8 percent of my take home monthly pay. For someone taking home 100k a year, they would need to be paying 8k in council tax to be hit proportionately as hard as I am. And the fact is that a wealthy couple not enjoying the single persons discount and living in the highest band, would only pay four times as much as I am between them. Even if they earn 400 times as much as me. This is unacceptably regressive, all the more so to me since on this one I myself am a victim of this hugely disproportionate imposition. And the notion that the band you are in is based upon the value of the property - not the value of it today mind you but it's value of more than 30 years ago - even if you do not actually even own the property whose value determines what you pay, is clearly a grotesquely unfair one on so many levels. It's about time any government with a claim to being progressive stepped up to the plate and did something about this. Last time they were in under Blair and then Brown, they failed. This time they must do better if they want to be in with a fighting chance of getting my vote next time. Council Tax is a crushing burden on low paid workers like me, a hugely disproportionate burden whilst the wealthy get off very lightly. I sympathise SRB as I have often moaned about Business rates. I thought HB covered council tax, my mistake. Business rates definitely need serious reform. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe they are based upon floor space rather than turnover or profit, and are disproportionately high for city centre locations. This punishes high street businesses, especially smaller ones who lack economies of scale of a kind Tesco can manage, whilst letting internet shopping businesses off much more lightly. If business rates were abolished they would need to be replaced by something, otherwise its another major loss of revenue that the powers that be cannot afford, but that something needs to be something much fairer, perhaps based upon profits, or turnover, or the estimated value of the business, something better than floor space. And some of the burden ought to be redistributed somewhat away from small businesses onto the larger ones. |
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Post by equivocal on Jul 31, 2024 9:14:06 GMT
I sympathise SRB as I have often moaned about Business rates. I thought HB covered council tax, my mistake. Business rates definitely need serious reform. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe they are based upon floor space rather than turnover or profit, and are disproportionately high for city centre locations. This punishes high street businesses, especially smaller ones who lack economies of scale of a kind Tesco can manage, whilst letting internet shopping businesses off much more lightly. If business rates were abolished they would need to be replaced by something, otherwise its another major loss of revenue that the powers that be cannot afford, but that something needs to be something much fairer, perhaps based upon profits, or turnover, or the estimated value of the business, something better than floor space. And some of the burden ought to be redistributed somewhat away from small businesses onto the larger ones. I think business rates are based on the open market rental value of the property concerned. In my opinion, that is the correct method of assessment because it should, in theory, lead to the most efficient use of business property. As far as the high street is concerned, if there are many empty/unused business properties, it should affect the open market rental values for properties on a particular high street.
I think one problem is that revaluations take place, from memory, something like every six or seven years. I believe businesses can challenge a rent/rateable value. I don't know how many times this can be done between revaluations and I don't know how nimble most businesses are in challenging valuations.
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Steve
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Post by Steve on Jul 31, 2024 9:33:13 GMT
I have heard the idea being floated that increasing Capital Gains Taxes to the same level as income taxes are being considered. I hope so, because CGT has long been used by the wealthy to pay much less than their dues on their incomes. I personally know of someone who used to pay herself minimum wage, whilst taking most of her income in the form of a massive dividend. She only paid the much lower CGT rate on this, the vast majority of her income. A loophole that must surely be being exploited by many others too and needs closing. CGT and tax on dividends are separately set. Dividends are tax free for the first £500 (was £1,000 last year) then 8.75% rising to 39.35%. CGT is tax free first £3k (was £6k) then 10% rising to 20%. It would be simpler and fairer just to roll both above those thresholds into taxed income as it was decades ago. |
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Post by Steve on Jul 31, 2024 13:11:07 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2024 14:19:20 GMT
Business rates definitely need serious reform. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe they are based upon floor space rather than turnover or profit, and are disproportionately high for city centre locations. This punishes high street businesses, especially smaller ones who lack economies of scale of a kind Tesco can manage, whilst letting internet shopping businesses off much more lightly. If business rates were abolished they would need to be replaced by something, otherwise its another major loss of revenue that the powers that be cannot afford, but that something needs to be something much fairer, perhaps based upon profits, or turnover, or the estimated value of the business, something better than floor space. And some of the burden ought to be redistributed somewhat away from small businesses onto the larger ones. I think business rates are based on the open market rental value of the property concerned. In my opinion, that is the correct method of assessment because it should, in theory, lead to the most efficient use of business property. As far as the high street is concerned, if there are many empty/unused business properties, it should affect the open market rental values for properties on a particular high street.
I think one problem is that revaluations take place, from memory, something like every six or seven years. I believe businesses can challenge a rent/rateable value. I don't know how many times this can be done between revaluations and I don't know how nimble most businesses are in challenging valuations.
You are quite possibly right. I am no expert in this field. But Zany himself pays business rates or his business does, so he ought to be able to tell us. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2024 14:38:35 GMT
Srb on top of the council tax we pay do you also have to pay water rates i do . On top of your rent I have a water meter but yes am having to pay another 3 percent of my take home pay every month for water bills. I have the misfortune to be living in the southwest where we pay the highest water bills in the country, approximately double what Londoners pay. This is because whilst only 3 percent of the UK population live here, we seem to be responsible for 30 percent of the coastline, the main beneficiaries of which seem to be the holiday makers who don't even live here. Incidentally, gas and electricity takes another 10 percent of my take home pay. So energy, water, and council tax on their own use up over a fifth of my take home pay. And thats before broadband, rent, telephone, fuel costs, and food are taken into account, not to mention the car insurance and purchase costs. My car insurance alone has shot up by about 65 percent this year, and now on its own uses up another 7 percent of my monthly take home pay. Even though I have social housing my rent alone uses up another 35 percent, my broadband and phone another 7 percent. So already thats 70 percent of my monthly take home pay on essential bills. Then I have to pay for the car, for fuel, and somehow find the money to eat. As you can probably already guess, this is not financially viable and I am slipping ever deeper into debt. I am left hoping my condition worsens fast enough and severely enough for me to get financial help soon. I cannot afford to stay fully fit and healthy for much longer. |
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