council tax

[dilligaf]

Have just heard a 73 year old put in prison for not baying �53? backlog of Council Tax. Thank god. Another hardened criminal behind bars.
What a laughing stock this country must appear to the rest of the world.

[yummymummy]

Thought I'd add something as I used to be in a CT Recovery section, boo hiss!  Official line would be, if you don;t pay then you end up in court and it's down to the magistrates on the day to make a decision.  It is quite a long road to committal action though and there are other options, but it is a last resort. 

Thinking about it sensibly, if you add up all the services your County Council, District Council, Local Police and Town/Parish council provide, it is likely to come to more than the CT bill.  Obviously some people use more services than others, and I guess that pensioners use the least.  Saying this, they still have rubbish collected, use libraries, rely on fire service and police, and would expect things like nuisance neighbours, fly tipping etc to be dealt with.

Also, a lot of pensioners will receive the �200 in addition to their Winter Fuel Allowance regardless of their income, and the benefit levels for pensioners are way higher than for young people which has always annoyed me.

[dilligaf]

Thanks for your thoughts yummymumm I realise pensioners do get a few extra "perks" apart from their entitled use of local services.
One of the points I was trying to put across is how much did it cost to put her in prison? Surely there must be something she could do, possibly for the council, where she could "earn" the money she owes. Not talking about hard labour but perhaps clerical work at the Town Hall. I am sure there are many tasks she would be capable of carrying out.
It may also deter other defaulters.
There must be plumbers, electricians, painters ,( the list is endless) of people who have refused to pay and could be put to some useful comunity work.
I feel sure prison is not the answer especially when there is already concern about overcrowding.

[caracasjim]

Why not just fix the council tax system.All you need is to set the council tax according to the purchase price of the property and not some valuation which will vary from year to year.The purchase price would be very low for old people who bought their houses long ago and therefore only people with lots of cash who drive the house prices up would pay the high council taxes. Capital gains tax would level out the revenues for the IR so everyone would be happy. (except rich b**tards who are never happy anyway)

[Otrere]

I didn't think she was let off?? From what I heard on the news is that someone paid her bail who thought that she should have paid it and wanted to stop her from being in prison on principal?

Sorry if someone else has said this, I haven't read all the posts.

[sinbag]

 

I'll tell you why they should get away with it as some of you say because it is a unfair tax, the "poll tax"  was fairer because every one had to pay the younger people most of which do the damage around town get away scot free, the older people most of them dont go out at night ,so they dont use street lighting, the police service re: binge drinking, tearing round the streets at high speed,  but they have to pay even when living alone ,yet some teenagers are earning  good wages, if there is two or three wages com ing in a household  who all use public services  They should pay their wack

[portocat]

I think council tax is too expensive for what you get back.  We have to drive down a road which looks like something out of a war zone to get to our house, because the access to our street is not maintained by the council - but our actual street is (and there is only one way in - along the war zone road!) I have written to the council asking for a reduction on our council tax, since we have had 3 flat tyres in almost a year.  and they refused.  So I say good on her for refusing to pay! 

[marshall7347]

as a pensioner who has just subscribed to this site, may i bring some facts that i think are missing.i worked to 63yrs old and had to finish due to ill health.i live in housing assocciation (formerly council) property.i took out a private pension for a better retirement.as our joint income exceeds the govt allowance, whatever we get above,say i.e.�10/ wk, 65% is taken in rent & 20% in council tax leaving �1.50 per wk.we would be better off if i had not taken out the private pension,then rent & c/tax would have been FREE   

[mikeh47]

Why should she be a special case. She is happy to accept her Local Government Pension, funded from the Council Tax, but feels she should not pay.

Typical oldie and retired Social Worker.

[Steve_Luts]

MikeH47, I couldn't agree more..this is a person whose earnings during her career, and her pension contributions, were paid for BY OTHER TAXPAYERS! Now she decides she doesn't want to pay any more she's thrown her toys out of her pram (granted that's cr@p analogy given her age, just humour me!)

It annoys me that the oldie thinks she can pay what she wants whilst the rest of us toe the line. Ridiculous oldie with a warped view of how the modern world operates if you ask me!

[smudge742]

I don't think she should have been sent to prison, neither of the 'criminals' that have been punished recently were refusing to pay.....just refusing to pay an extortionate rise..

It's also not true that if you can't afford it, you get help...my partner was made redundant and we have struggled to pay our council tax(�100) and have asked for help, but have been told we are not eligible (my partner didn't get a payout, as he hadn't been there long enough) so we have been paying it with handouts from my parents.  We also have 2 kids, and can't get any help financially.  No-one cares....all the councils are bothered about is getting their money....at the slightest delay, they are quite happy to threaten bailiff action....they are not interested in individual circumstances.

[diana.m]

January_bug are you sure your real job isnt a professional answerbank answerer?