Why do we pay council tax?

[deadheadfred]

Why don't they just grit the roads and stop wasting money on grit bins. I think it would just work out cheaper to grit it with a gritter then running around to every box in Sheffield. And by the way.. I have don't some shoveling..

 

Sheffield Council has a fleet of about 20 gritting wagons, so it's never going to be possible for them to clear all the roads just as soon as the snow falls. They seem to be kept pretty busy clearing the main bus routes at the moment, so don't expect them to look at the side roads for a while.

[Mr Prime]

I know council bashing is very fashionable but I doubt council offices are just filled with tea drinking chimps. There is method and planning and if areas are ungritted it's probably to do with prioritisation and saving materials. I remember hearing about a nationwide shortage of grit last year. Think of the logistics and cost of having a fleet so large it can cover every road in 24 hours or less on permanent standby. These conditions crop up occasionally yet the expensive fleet would be sat there permanently thus leading to complaints of wasted money.

 

As for the classic "why don't they just...", again there are reasons why they don't just as has been pointed out with the grit bins. It seems to me people see every service through the eyes of the individual consumer as if they were in Meadowhall, "I want, I don't see why I can't get".

 

The idea of the masses having a say in how council tax is spent sounds good on paper but can you imagine what massive open meetings with hundreds or thousands of people would descend to? There would as pointed out be selfish individuals demanding their barely used road be gritted regrdless of this taking grit away from elsewhere.

 

Finally a quick look at the kind of nations where there is no council tax should give us an idea of the benefits of it.