Council Tax - Room with a view?

[WendyS]

What does everybody think about the new proposed powers to allow Council Officials to view inside our homes, and to pay extra council tax for houses with panoramic views, patios, counservatories or living in quiet cul-de-sacs? How many more steath taxes are we going to have to pay before Council Tax gets reformed?

[ICEMANSAV]

Hi Wendy, I asked the same Q a while ago, look here for some views, mine also ;-)

[boobesque]

well it would be good for me, i pay loads for my 2 bedroom box, and my view is of a wall and fence, wohoo, ooh unless i stand on tiptoes and look out the other window, then i see a pub and main road!

but its a very unfair way to do it.

[smudge]

Very unfair! They also propose to charge yet more tax on houses with a garage - but of course we already pay Council tax on that already!

[january_bug]

And, smudge, it would mean it's a toss up between having a garage (more council tax) or not having one (more car insurance premium) - rock and hard place anyone!?

[jake-the-peg]

Wendy where's the reference on proposed powers of entry for council officials from?

I can't find anything on it immediately on-line

[MsBadely]

The people who live opposite me are ugly and their house is the colour of dog vomit.

Will I be entitled to a discount?

[CT]

If you live somewhere nice, make a mess, block the view etc, before they arrive.
'Honestly, that skip's been there for months'.

[kempie]

The Story.

[january_bug]

Cor - and you wonder why that paper's nicknamed the "Torygraph" LOL :-)

[Chessman]

Not too put too fine a point on it, its a Labour Goverment, itd what they do best, and have always done.TAX.

[kempie]

...a Labour Government... since when!

Here is some text from the Labour website.

"The Labour Party was set up in 1900 to fight for representation for the Labour movement - trade unions and socialist societies - in Parliament."

"The values Labour stands for today are those which have guided it throughout its existence.

• social justice


• strong community and strong values


• reward for hard work


• decency


• rights matched by responsibilities"

Spot the inconsistencies.

[bernardo]

It's probably a scare story which has been put about in order to get people more likely to accept whatever watered-down proposals that are likely to be made in future.

[jake-the-peg]

Maybe I'm cynical but I tend to agree with Bernardo and Kempie too about the change in the labour party. I'd like to believe in an afterlife, I'd love a ringside seat when Tony Blair met Nye Bevan

I'm sure that the potentially explosive nature of local government funding isn't lost on them. After all they halted the rebanding after the Welsh experience.

I smell some "expectation management" going on here

[Chessman]

I believe that it would be against the law to be taxed on something you don't own, eg, views out of the window.

[kempie]

...and yet we pay VAT on the supply of a service.

I cannot see how we "own" a service.