Council Tax goes up 1.99% and no pay rise

[Rumpokid]

Is it just me,or is anyone else fed up with this awful tax forced upon us forever going up.
It is no more than a bedroom tax which,some folk seem to object to and do not pay. Me and the wife have no chance,just keep taking the blows. Council try and justify it with pathetic reasons, yet they still cannot recover millions of arrears from non payers.

 

[G1BB0]

its one of the only bills you can get prosecuted for fairly quickly. I ballsed up my DD and didnt notice, 2 months arrears and got a very nasty letter demanding full payment with loss of right to pay monthly. I promptly rang and said I might move before march but I guarantee you would drag your heels paying back an overpayment! didnt go down to well. I now make sure its paid everymonth, I use a card in the post office as dont trust their DD system as been known to take double occasionally (never happened to me but know of others).

Unfortunately we have to pay it regardless, 1200 quid a year for mine, bargain

 

[drawboy]

If you work and pay tax then you are among the most heavily taxed in the world. If you earn a pound you lose 25% immediately then if you go buy a mars bar, you are taxed on the 60p that costs which means you paid another 15p or so to the government, put the few pence left in the bank for a rainy day and if it earns interest the government taxes that too. what chance do we have?

 

[G1BB0]

blokes at work have a big sharesave maturing, we were offered at 63p a share and they put £250 a month over 5 years, currently @ 93k.... capital gains will cost them 30k or something.... ok they are still making a decent wedge but jeez, talk about a kick in the nutz!

 

[MegaSteve]

The one thing that councils don't seem to look at when it comes to making savings is the salaries of its executive officers and the sheer number of levels of them...

 

[London mike 61]

If you work and pay tax then you are among the most heavily taxed in the world. If you earn a pound you lose 25% immediately then if you go buy a mars bar, you are taxed on the 60p that costs which means you paid another 15p or so to the government, put the few pence left in the bank for a rainy day and if it earns interest the government taxes that too. what chance do we have?

This just about sums up all that is wrong with our tax system and why the pound that you earn is down graded at every level.

The two taxes that really annoy me are stamp duty and inheritance tax , both are penalising hard working people and scrapping these would help the economy enormously IMO.

 

[drawboy]

The one thing that councils don't seem to look at when it comes to making savings is the salaries of its executive officers and the sheer number of levels of them...

Middle and upper management leach the life blood out of any business, they take large salaries but do not produce any benefits to the company. Simply sending email and passing on instructions to the workers that actually do something adds no value.

 

[shewy]

The annoying thing is what do you get for it? Not a lot, I get walloped by tax and for what my bin emptied once a fortnight? The roadtax pays for the roads, my streetlight is turned off at nights.How can they justify such large amounts?

 

[Doon frae Troon]

The one thing that councils don't seem to look at when it comes to making savings is the salaries of its executive officers and the sheer number of levels of them...

Running a Council is a big business, if you do not pay an equivalent salary and employ decent staff you will get poor performance.

My Council is one of the poorest performers in Scotland, they have sacked three Chief Execs in quick succession. Two should never have been appointed IMO.

 

[CliveW]

The roadtax pays for the roads,

You are joking aren't you? This hasn't been the case since 1937.

http://ipayroadtax.com/no-such-thing-as-road-tax/bring-back-the-road-fund/

 

[SocketRocket]

A major influence on your local tax is the amount that has to be paid into pension funds for Council Employees: Teachers/Police/Firemen/Council Staff etc. This amounts to around 10% of council tax and is increasing.

 

[Rumpokid]

A major influence on your local tax is the amount that has to be paid into pension funds for Council Employees: Teachers/Police/Firemen/Council Staff etc. This amounts to around 10% of council tax and is increasing.

A major influence to me is the change from rates to poll tax and then council tax..i am of a certain age where having the same house now had no where near the same robbery tax put on it years ago....
Where else would you pay for a service and receive very little for investment?,,(hold on,loads probably)..What riles me is how it is justified,yet our County Council is massively in arrears of unpaid bills....You should see the reasons they give for increase..It would be laughable if it was funny.

 

[Rooter]

Mine didn't go up this year! I am I assume in the minority?

 

[MegaSteve]

Running a Council is a big business, if you do not pay an equivalent salary and employ decent staff you will get poor performance.

My Council is one of the poorest performers in Scotland, they have sacked three Chief Execs in quick succession. Two should never have been appointed IMO.

Believe this reasoning has worn more than a little thin.. Upper salary scales should be based on a formula relative to average income across the council similar to JLP.. Plus many of the middle management levels need stripping out returning 'bodies' back to the 'coal face' where they have a use...

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Believe this reasoning has worn more than a little thin.. Upper salary scales should be based on a formula relative to average income across the council similar to JLP.. Plus many of the middle management levels need stripping out returning 'bodies' back to the 'coal face' where they have a use...

More to do with outdated union pay deals.
I remember an old swimming pool where the cleaner with her weekend and OOH enhancements was earning more [pro rata] than the manager.
Many councils still pay ft staff enhanced week end rates in the leisure sector.

Most English councils stripped out their middle managers in the 1990's.
Scottish Councils are still top loaded in management.

When I worked in England there were two people between me and the Chief Exec.
When I moved to Scotland in the late 1990's for a similar job/sized council there were four.

 

[Crazyface]

£1280 held at last years price, so some relief. But what do we get for it? Facilities wise FA! A dilapidated sports centre, there is no way I'd shower there, uuuurg ! Grubby swimming pool, shuddder. tennis courts that are full of pot holes and most have no nets up. Pot holes in roads, bumpity bump! A town centre that is quickly dying. Many many broken promises of a re-vamp and plans galor, but actual work done? Nothing! Current household waste disposal under scrutiny and looks likely to be privatized, us here at the disposal facility (us employed by the already private firm that runs it have no idea if we will have a job in the next few weeks when the contract runs out or not). Shocking! They all want sacking and the whole thing re-organising.

 

[Foxholer]

I got a nice glossy pamphlet about what the benefits of the CT were.

And some B/S about how they'd been able to provide these services for 1.99% increase! Strange how that number keeps cropping up. It allows them to say the increase was less than the maximum allowed - 2% - and makes it look as if they have done some sort of real calculation of need!

 

[MegaSteve]

Most English councils stripped out their middle managers in the 1990's.

Many of the middle layers of management have found their way back into place :angry:... Same for the NHS it would seem ....

I am with drawboy with regards the upper and middle layers of management leeching the lifeblood out of businesses and services...

I had a ruddy great hole dug outside my property on Friday by a utilities company... No fault found! Oppo's took many piccie's and e-mailed them off with their report from 'the scene'... They had to advise me though that hole wouldn't get filled until next layer of management came out and rubber stamped their report and another team would then be tasked with filling hole... How bloody ridiculous...