Council tax robbers
Discussion
Wheelrepairit said:
bigandclever said:
Rather an abrupt question sorry, not sure how to phrase it better, but what council tax discount do you get for that?
What,for being in a wheelchair, nothing.Reason being I don't have a downstairs shower/bath and I keep wheelchair in garage when not in use, that's not classed as house. But to be honest I would not expect a discount just because I'm disabled .
page 10 of Braintree's InFprm said:
People with disabilities
You may be entitled to pay less Council Tax if you or someone who lives with you has a room or extra space, or an extra bathroom or kitchen, or uses a wheelchair in your property, to meet special needs relating to a disability. We will reduce your bill by putting your home in the valuation band below the one it is now in. (For example, if your home is in band C, we will put it in band B.) If your home is in band A, we will reduce your bill by the difference between the amounts charged for bands A and B. This means that people with disabilities dont have to pay more Council Tax for the extra space they need.
You may be entitled to pay less Council Tax if you or someone who lives with you has a room or extra space, or an extra bathroom or kitchen, or uses a wheelchair in your property, to meet special needs relating to a disability. We will reduce your bill by putting your home in the valuation band below the one it is now in. (For example, if your home is in band C, we will put it in band B.) If your home is in band A, we will reduce your bill by the difference between the amounts charged for bands A and B. This means that people with disabilities dont have to pay more Council Tax for the extra space they need.
crankedup said:
Miguel Alvarez said:
crankedup said:
Admit that I didn't bother to investigate our tax banding when I moved into our house ten years back. This year for some reason (I blame P.H.) decided to compare tax bands with my neighbours houses. One of those houses is a new build of about 2007, a detached 4 bed en-suite 
whereas my house is a 2 bed 17th century detached cottage, very basic by today's modern homes, my choice! However, I was gob-smacked to see that the 4 bedder has a lower banding than my place! Worse still I cannot appeal. In fact all other 7 houses in our Hamlet are banded lower or the same and ours is the smallest home!
Why can't you appeal?whereas my house is a 2 bed 17th century detached cottage, very basic by today's modern homes, my choice! However, I was gob-smacked to see that the 4 bedder has a lower banding than my place! Worse still I cannot appeal. In fact all other 7 houses in our Hamlet are banded lower or the same and ours is the smallest home!Deva Link said:
Derek Smith said:
My LA have put round a questionnaire as to whether to move the parish boundary. All it will mean is a change of post code.
Are you sure? Royal Mail does its own thing with post codes. Caused all sorts on angst around here as people on the Wirral and in Southport got Liverpool post codes. 5pen said:
crankedup said:
Miguel Alvarez said:
crankedup said:
Admit that I didn't bother to investigate our tax banding when I moved into our house ten years back. This year for some reason (I blame P.H.) decided to compare tax bands with my neighbours houses. One of those houses is a new build of about 2007, a detached 4 bed en-suite whereas my house is a 2 bed 17th century detached cottage, very basic by today's modern homes, my choice! However, I was gob-smacked to see that the 4 bedder has a lower banding than my place! Worse still I cannot appeal. In fact all other 7 houses in our Hamlet are banded lower or the same and ours is the smallest home!
Why can't you appeal?whereas my house is a 2 bed 17th century detached cottage, very basic by today's modern homes, my choice! However, I was gob-smacked to see that the 4 bedder has a lower banding than my place! Worse still I cannot appeal. In fact all other 7 houses in our Hamlet are banded lower or the same and ours is the smallest home!Bullett said:
We had a letter today to say that they will no longer collect the brown bin for 'free' (that's garden waste) it will now be 40pa on top of the Council Tax.
What occurs is how will they know who has paid? will they have lists in the lorry?
Surely they'll just bill everyone and be done with it?What occurs is how will they know who has paid? will they have lists in the lorry?
roachcoach said:
Bullett said:
We had a letter today to say that they will no longer collect the brown bin for 'free' (that's garden waste) it will now be 40pa on top of the Council Tax.
What occurs is how will they know who has paid? will they have lists in the lorry?
Surely they'll just bill everyone and be done with it?What occurs is how will they know who has paid? will they have lists in the lorry?
Ideal for Local Authority unrepresented taxation.
Bullett said:
We had a letter today to say that they will no longer collect the brown bin for 'free' (that's garden waste) it will now be 40pa on top of the Council Tax.
What occurs is how will they know who has paid? will they have lists in the lorry?
Have a look under the top lip of the bin for the round space where the transponder will go. What occurs is how will they know who has paid? will they have lists in the lorry?
This will also allow the recording of the weight of stuff that you're dumping.
Tax is very unfair. It's unfair on the 10% minority who subsidise the rest of us. Without the 10% most of us would be paying substantially more.
The only way it could be completely fair would be if it was zero, and all services were paid for directly between producer and consumer. So let's see how Mr Average might approach that;
Refuse - sod that for a game of soldiers. I'll just dump it outside my house, or even better, outside that posh t
t's house
Police - why? Why should I pay for a service that I don't need? Me and my 17 brothers are all powerfully built. And anyway, in our line of work the police are more of a hindrance than a help. Actually WE can provide a protection service. For a fee of course. And if you don't pay your business gets burnt down.
Fire Brigade - again, not bothered. Of course you might be p155ed off if you live next door and my house sets fire to yours as well.
Health Service - why should I pay for your health? Not my fault my leprosy/typhoid etc is contagious.
As I mentioned elsewhere there are plenty of societies with little or no tax levy. Apart from those who control Oil they are consistently steh0les of the highest order.
The only way it could be completely fair would be if it was zero, and all services were paid for directly between producer and consumer. So let's see how Mr Average might approach that;
Refuse - sod that for a game of soldiers. I'll just dump it outside my house, or even better, outside that posh t
t's house Police - why? Why should I pay for a service that I don't need? Me and my 17 brothers are all powerfully built. And anyway, in our line of work the police are more of a hindrance than a help. Actually WE can provide a protection service. For a fee of course. And if you don't pay your business gets burnt down.
Fire Brigade - again, not bothered. Of course you might be p155ed off if you live next door and my house sets fire to yours as well.
Health Service - why should I pay for your health? Not my fault my leprosy/typhoid etc is contagious.
As I mentioned elsewhere there are plenty of societies with little or no tax levy. Apart from those who control Oil they are consistently s
teh0les of the highest order.OdramaSwimLaden said:
3188.22 a year or 265.68 per month.........welcome to Richmond.
That's what I paid on my last place, in the wilds of Cumbria. It's less on this place but because it's a private estate we pay an extra 1400 a year on service charges to maintain some of the stuff that the council charge us for in council tax, such as road and pavement maintenance and street lighting. Then again it's my fault for buying leasehold - never again.Wheelrepairit said:
<snip>
Police, yes your right, hope I don't need them in an emergency, seeing as it took them two days to come out for a break in.
as has been discussed umpteen trillion times before the only reason for attendance at a property crime post hoc is if there is good chance of high quality forensics ... Police, yes your right, hope I don't need them in an emergency, seeing as it took them two days to come out for a break in.
your visit kept being pushed down the tasking list by things where immediate attendance can and does make a difference..
If this boils your piss (as indeed it does mine) then you wanna try having a small business in the same town as I did.
In addition to my rip-off council tax for things I don't use and a mediocre service for things I do (probably only rubbish collection really) my business rates were about double my council tax.
And for that - you don't even get bin collection.
You might think that the local council would use a portion of the business rates take to perhaps promote the city centre and it's small, struggling local traders in some way, wouldn't you?
They obviously did think that same thing...they basically had a meeting three years ago at the council, and said 'you know what - it's about time we supported small, struggling local businesses in the city, with maybe a bit of online and printed promotion, perhaps a bit of better street lighting here and there in city centre walkways to shops, someone to help clean up a bit of graffiti and chewing gum from the pavements, and something interesting and 'arty' to create interest for shoppers - like a huge sculpture that spans the entrance to a sidestreet where there are some local traders that particularly suffer from low shopper footfall (i.e my business).
Pleased with themselves and their new idea dedicated to the local business community - they set up something called the local 'Business Improvement District' with an employed local officer who is supposed to go around listening and reacting to the concerns of local traders (but who in reality I have welcomed into my shop on just one occasion in three years).
Of course, this great idea was paid for by our existing sky-high business rates, right?
Of course it f
king wasn't! The whols sorry idea was unilaterally conceived and implemented by the council fktards without any consultation with local businesses, and the first we knew of it was when we received a 'newsletter' telling us aout how great it would be and how it would benefit us as traders.Oh, and that by the way, it will cost you YET ANOTHER yearly fee which will be a percentage of the rates you already pay (for me an extra 200 pa) and that it will be collected in the same way as business rates and with the same legal terms and authority, and that it is a compulsory payment, and that failure to pay will be pursued through the courts in the same way as non-payment of rates and council tax would be.
So basically, the local council devised a useless, ill-conceived scheme that they impose upon us without any mandate or way of opting-out, backed up by threats of legal proceedings if you don't pay for 'what we think is good for you' - or else.
And the improvements that have added massively to my footfall, custom and turnover? Yep, you guessed it - sweet FA.
It's like a bloody modern-day, state-sanctioned protection racket.
I despair
Deva Link said:
Are you sure? Royal Mail does its own thing with post codes. Caused all sorts on angst around here as people on the Wirral and in Southport got Liverpool post codes.
Edited by Deva Link on Friday 16th March 14:15
My sister lives in a nice part of Ainsdale (southern Southport) and hers is PR8 (Preston).
bucksmanuk said:
Deva Link said:
Are you sure? Royal Mail does its own thing with post codes. Caused all sorts on angst around here as people on the Wirral and in Southport got Liverpool post codes.
Edited by Deva Link on Friday 16th March 14:15
My sister lives in a nice part of Ainsdale (southern Southport) and hers is PR8 (Preston).
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