People should have their council tax bands revalued to make them pay more

[Jon26]

Would you be happy to pay for only what you use if it cost you more to do so?

 

If I was using every single service the council provided then yes I'd expect to pay more, however on the basis that I'd probably only use 50% of the 400 services then I'd expect to pay less. Probably too difficult for the council bean counters to put an appropriate cost model in place though.

 

"Pay as you use" definitely appeals, it would probably provide a small incentive to recycle more.

[carosio]

What is the big deal about the size or value of the house, fair enough if you have a big house with 10 seperate flats etc in it. However why Council Tax is based on property value still puzzles me.

 

Surely the amount of people living in a property should determine levels of council tax.My house is in Band A, a 2 up 2 down on a council estate. Three of us including a child live here.

 

There are some families living in 3 bedroom homes with 5 - 8 people using services, extra bins etc etc. Where as an older couple may not have any children at home and recycle for instance, not have a car etc and still pay the same!! .

 

It's because a property tax is very hard to avoid, the principle of fairness plays second fiddle to the certainty of raking in the money.

 

Prior to the "Community Charge", the old "rateable value" system was based upon what the property could be rented for (per annum), so obviously a larger house in a nicer area could reasonably be expected to fetch a higher rent.

[Miss_P]

i have never heard a bigger load of tripe in a long time, does this person not know there is a recession on and its ppl like them who perhaps have grt well paid jobs and dont struggle from month to month like 99percent of us who should be paying more if thats how they feel.PLEASE!!!!!!! leave everybody else alone i think we all pay way over the odds as it is.

[jgharston]

If you revalued properties for council tax, you'd have to revalue all properites and readjust the council tax bands to fit. If most band A properties that were worth under 40k in 1991 end up being worth up to 90k today, than band A would probably be values up to band 90k, see http://mdfs.net/User/JGH/Docs/Council/Tax/Bands and http://mdfs.net/User/JGH/Docs/Council/Tax/Reform2

[Cyclone]

If I was using every single service the council provided then yes I'd expect to pay more, however on the basis that I'd probably only use 50% of the 400 services then I'd expect to pay less. Probably too difficult for the council bean counters to put an appropriate cost model in place though.

 

"Pay as you use" definitely appeals, it would probably provide a small incentive to recycle more.

 

If everyone just paid for what they used then the price of each service would have to go up to keep the overall council income level as it's unlikely that anyone uses 100% of services.

[RosyRat]

As I said "happy to pay for what I actually need and consume", this includes police, fire, parks, planning, conservation, road provision and similar services but not schools, libraries, housing offices to name a few. If the council are doing millions of other things then there must be blatant savings that could be made, because they're certainly not delivering millions of services or things.

 

In fact I've just checked the council website which states they provide 400 services.

 

Not to worry. Council services are to be slashed, so many of the ones you don't use will disappear. Plus ones you do use of course. And you'll still be paying the same amount of Council Tax, as the Government grant to Councils is being slashed too.

 

Then you won't have anything to complain about, as the Council will be making blatant savings, won't they? By not providing services. Win, win I'd say.

[Jon26]

Not to worry. Council services are to be slashed, so many of the ones you don't use will disappear. Plus ones you do use of course. And you'll still be paying the same amount of Council Tax, as the Government grant to Councils is being slashed too.

 

Then you won't have anything to complain about, as the Council will be making blatant savings, won't they? By not providing services. Win, win I'd say.

 

You're right the actual price of council tax won't reduce. But by cutting back on what is currently provided now it should mean we won't see as bigger increases in council tax in the future as we could have done. So I do believe that long term there should be relative savings.

 

I'm not complaining about how much council tax I pay, I don't actually now how much it is without checking. If its sensible and feasible then I'd always prefer to have choice and pay for what I use.