> Nearly all councils plan to raise their taxes by the biggest amount they are allowed to without having to hold a local referendum.
> Of the 136 authorities which have declared their proposals, 128 (94%) are looking to increase bills in April by 4.99%.
Of course they are, what are they supposed to do when the government aren’t even giving them enough to cover statutory services anymore?
Frankly it’s a surprise they lasted this long. They started cutting things back and selling stuff off 10 years ago.
This is about central government, they (the conversations) fucked all of them, but particularly the non-conservative local governments.
So if I cancelled my direct debit and manually paid them the amount not including the rise would they send me to jail?
I don’t see why we should have to pay more for less…it’s always the same, the public will pick up the bill for the governments criminal wasting of money.
I want that PPE money returned and the culprits jailed before I would consider paying any more.
Don’t forget that is just the bit council gets.
The crime commissioner funding will be on top of that.
As will police/fire
And we’ll be also paying the social care charge.
It is disingenuous to talk about council tax and not also cover the other charges that go on the bill
Oh good, my income will rise to match that right? Right?
Sooner or later we’re all going to have to come to the conclusion that too much wealth has been funnelled to the richest and this is why we’re seeing general issues with lack of funding for every service, and why councils are trying to badly play capitalist games of investment badly and wasting even more money trying to make some.
Its obviously necessary to raise it, but it’s incredibly frustrating to be on a relatively low paid job already paying income tax, NI, road tax, VAT on goods, increased prices on food , electric and fuel just to be told we need to pay EVEN MORE money to the government.
Ao, basically screw the payers and let off the free loaders !!
Fuck off – Get the wasted money back from all of your backhanders and ‘Investments’.
The Local Council system doesn’t work. Money doesn’t go where it’s supposed to and they are consistently shit.
Well, the potholes in the roads aren’t going to mend themselves I suppose.
Worth noting that the position in Scotland is very different. Holyrood announced a council tax freeze but forgot to consult Scottish local authorities about whether the proposal was feasible. The result is only some Scottish local authorities are complying with Holyrood. For others, the picture is currently pretty chaotic.
Amazing how quick the comments came in with people falling for the obvious conflict politics this article was going to play on.
It was inevitable bills were going to go up, but thinking we should slash the pensions of council workers and benefits plays straight into the Conservative/culture wars narrative.
*How dare people have a pension! How dare people struggle day in and day out, the scroungers! I’ve got mine and only want mine – sod the rest!*
It’s this them vs. us attitude which has led to a rather nasty society in this country, and people fall for it time and time again.
Let the chickens fight amongst themselves while the wolves take and destroy what they want in the distraction. Modern Day British Politics 101.
On a separate point: Does anyone else remember the HS2 money was meant to be going towards local council spending (e.g. pot holes and roads)? Guess that’s not trickling down from central government. Probably should question who has pocketed that cash.
Tax rates in this country are horrendous. We’re paying for an older generation who have all the assets and wealth and government failure and corruption.
If you’re under 35, your whole life in this country is going to working in a poorly paid job to pay of someone else’s mortgage and for other peoples retirement before you die at your desk unretired at 75. It’s shameful.
Can people please start blaming the f-ing Tories.
Year after year of budget cuts has an knock on effect. Every year you cut back, the more damage is done.
Imagine buying a house in 2010. You cut back all maintenance to just DIY (sure you save money), but youre left just patching up issues in the house. Year after year, refusing to actually fix issues or get professionals in, just “sticking plasters” for any problems. Ignoring little bits of damp, seals on windows going, plaster cracking then falling off the wall. After 14 years of that, what condition is the house in? Its dilapidated.
Those ignored or not fixed small issues turned into bigger ones, to the point where you can’t fix the roof with a few new tiles, because the roof is rotten underneath, you need a whole new roof. You end up with bigger fixes and more expensive ones, the house is falling down around you because you ignored its issue for so long.
That is the UK right now. 14 years of complete and utter neglect.
Go speak to ANYONE who works in public sector, who worked before the 2010 Austerity cuts, they will tell you its falling apart around them.
A good proportion of the general public have no idea how taxes are spent, no idea how councils are funded, no idea how local projects are financed.
The government’s policy of cutting the council grants and leaving them to starve is quite deliberate. People see “council tax” on that letter and presume everything the council does is funded by that tax. They don’t know that it’s only a part of a council’s funding.
Right now near me there’s a big public improvement project going on, completely redesigning a road and the area around it to make a massive improvement for people walking and cycling to the local shops (which are also getting a huge improvement). It’s all grant-funded by government, but all the complaints on social media are “wasting my council tax”. “Why are they spending money on this instead of fixing the potholes” not realising that public sphere improvements are ring-fenced.
How come the tories claim to be the party of tax cuts and yet taxes are rising and nothing is improving?
This I believe is one area in which Sunak delaying the election for as long as possible might backfire at least moreso than the various other reasons. Right now the plan is to let Labour councils go bankrupt and use that as shit to throw at Labour, but soon enough Conservative councils wil start to declare bankrupty too.
This country is broken beyond belief. I have been watching this, shaking my head for a while. First alarm bells started going off with Brexit, and now it’s just crazy.
My wife and I are making arrangements to go abroad this year, and stay there.
Every council has a huge number of unpaid taxes because people don’t earn enough to pay it so they believe making it even more difficult to pay is the answer? Genius
We cannot put up with this any longer. We need mass non-compliance.
I know councils are absolutely strapped for cash and this is largely the fault of central government, surely there comes a point where raising council tax ends up being counter productive? As wages aren’t rising people will just be pushed into poverty which will increase how much councils need to spend, no?
It’s time to stand up and fight against the sorry state of things. Regular people have been shafted for too long. We need to fight. This tax increase should be the trigger for protests and union between the people against those constantly making our lives worse. It continues because we don’t respect ourselves. Something has to change.
What percentage of the rise actually goes to local councils though? My understanding is that the most of our council tax doesn’t actually go to the council.
Thanks Tories.
Meanwhile access to services is poor.
Council tax is very regressive.
The impact on lowest income households (which don’t qualify for any rebate) is going to be tremendous.
The government will do anything other than reduce state pension increases.
Shocking! My wages havent increased by the same amount
A lot of people are defending councils here. What I will say is my council tax already seems high and in my area the roads are shit, glass has been on the pavement for weeks, bins always miss collection, street lights barely light shit.
But I have an even bigger question…..if the council ‘provide’ the communal resources etc from just council tax alone, where the fuck does the income tax and NI I pay go?
My council has made so many stupid and bonkers businesses decisions that have cost money, yet no one holds them to account. It’s maddening.
Beyond that in many labour cities that received poor settlements from central government.
I’m not sure my Tory council will stomach that. The number of their Tory buddies living in E-H band properties will lose their shit over this.
mines been going up by the max for years – and the Police component of it had a double figure increase last year – nice new headquarters needed paying for I guess.
The beatings will continue until somebody does something about it
33 comments
> Nearly all councils plan to raise their taxes by the biggest amount they are allowed to without having to hold a local referendum.
> Of the 136 authorities which have declared their proposals, 128 (94%) are looking to increase bills in April by 4.99%.
Of course they are, what are they supposed to do when the government aren’t even giving them enough to cover statutory services anymore?
Frankly it’s a surprise they lasted this long. They started cutting things back and selling stuff off 10 years ago.
This is about central government, they (the conversations) fucked all of them, but particularly the non-conservative local governments.
So if I cancelled my direct debit and manually paid them the amount not including the rise would they send me to jail?
I don’t see why we should have to pay more for less…it’s always the same, the public will pick up the bill for the governments criminal wasting of money.
I want that PPE money returned and the culprits jailed before I would consider paying any more.
Don’t forget that is just the bit council gets.
The crime commissioner funding will be on top of that.
As will police/fire
And we’ll be also paying the social care charge.
It is disingenuous to talk about council tax and not also cover the other charges that go on the bill
Oh good, my income will rise to match that right? Right?
Sooner or later we’re all going to have to come to the conclusion that too much wealth has been funnelled to the richest and this is why we’re seeing general issues with lack of funding for every service, and why councils are trying to badly play capitalist games of investment badly and wasting even more money trying to make some.
Its obviously necessary to raise it, but it’s incredibly frustrating to be on a relatively low paid job already paying income tax, NI, road tax, VAT on goods, increased prices on food , electric and fuel just to be told we need to pay EVEN MORE money to the government.
Ao, basically screw the payers and let off the free loaders !!
Fuck off – Get the wasted money back from all of your backhanders and ‘Investments’.
The Local Council system doesn’t work. Money doesn’t go where it’s supposed to and they are consistently shit.
Well, the potholes in the roads aren’t going to mend themselves I suppose.
Worth noting that the position in Scotland is very different. Holyrood announced a council tax freeze but forgot to consult Scottish local authorities about whether the proposal was feasible. The result is only some Scottish local authorities are complying with Holyrood. For others, the picture is currently pretty chaotic.
https://www.cosla.gov.uk/news/2023/cosla-issues-council-tax-and-workforce-warning-to-scottish-government-ahead-of-budget
Amazing how quick the comments came in with people falling for the obvious conflict politics this article was going to play on.
It was inevitable bills were going to go up, but thinking we should slash the pensions of council workers and benefits plays straight into the Conservative/culture wars narrative.
*How dare people have a pension! How dare people struggle day in and day out, the scroungers! I’ve got mine and only want mine – sod the rest!*
It’s this them vs. us attitude which has led to a rather nasty society in this country, and people fall for it time and time again.
Let the chickens fight amongst themselves while the wolves take and destroy what they want in the distraction. Modern Day British Politics 101.
On a separate point: Does anyone else remember the HS2 money was meant to be going towards local council spending (e.g. pot holes and roads)? Guess that’s not trickling down from central government. Probably should question who has pocketed that cash.
Tax rates in this country are horrendous. We’re paying for an older generation who have all the assets and wealth and government failure and corruption.
If you’re under 35, your whole life in this country is going to working in a poorly paid job to pay of someone else’s mortgage and for other peoples retirement before you die at your desk unretired at 75. It’s shameful.
Can people please start blaming the f-ing Tories.
Year after year of budget cuts has an knock on effect. Every year you cut back, the more damage is done.
Imagine buying a house in 2010. You cut back all maintenance to just DIY (sure you save money), but youre left just patching up issues in the house. Year after year, refusing to actually fix issues or get professionals in, just “sticking plasters” for any problems. Ignoring little bits of damp, seals on windows going, plaster cracking then falling off the wall. After 14 years of that, what condition is the house in? Its dilapidated.
Those ignored or not fixed small issues turned into bigger ones, to the point where you can’t fix the roof with a few new tiles, because the roof is rotten underneath, you need a whole new roof. You end up with bigger fixes and more expensive ones, the house is falling down around you because you ignored its issue for so long.
That is the UK right now. 14 years of complete and utter neglect.
Go speak to ANYONE who works in public sector, who worked before the 2010 Austerity cuts, they will tell you its falling apart around them.
A good proportion of the general public have no idea how taxes are spent, no idea how councils are funded, no idea how local projects are financed.
The government’s policy of cutting the council grants and leaving them to starve is quite deliberate. People see “council tax” on that letter and presume everything the council does is funded by that tax. They don’t know that it’s only a part of a council’s funding.
Right now near me there’s a big public improvement project going on, completely redesigning a road and the area around it to make a massive improvement for people walking and cycling to the local shops (which are also getting a huge improvement). It’s all grant-funded by government, but all the complaints on social media are “wasting my council tax”. “Why are they spending money on this instead of fixing the potholes” not realising that public sphere improvements are ring-fenced.
How come the tories claim to be the party of tax cuts and yet taxes are rising and nothing is improving?
This I believe is one area in which Sunak delaying the election for as long as possible might backfire at least moreso than the various other reasons. Right now the plan is to let Labour councils go bankrupt and use that as shit to throw at Labour, but soon enough Conservative councils wil start to declare bankrupty too.
This country is broken beyond belief. I have been watching this, shaking my head for a while. First alarm bells started going off with Brexit, and now it’s just crazy.
My wife and I are making arrangements to go abroad this year, and stay there.
Every council has a huge number of unpaid taxes because people don’t earn enough to pay it so they believe making it even more difficult to pay is the answer? Genius
We cannot put up with this any longer. We need mass non-compliance.
I know councils are absolutely strapped for cash and this is largely the fault of central government, surely there comes a point where raising council tax ends up being counter productive? As wages aren’t rising people will just be pushed into poverty which will increase how much councils need to spend, no?
It’s time to stand up and fight against the sorry state of things. Regular people have been shafted for too long. We need to fight. This tax increase should be the trigger for protests and union between the people against those constantly making our lives worse. It continues because we don’t respect ourselves. Something has to change.
What percentage of the rise actually goes to local councils though? My understanding is that the most of our council tax doesn’t actually go to the council.
Thanks Tories.
Meanwhile access to services is poor.
Council tax is very regressive.
The impact on lowest income households (which don’t qualify for any rebate) is going to be tremendous.
The government will do anything other than reduce state pension increases.
Shocking! My wages havent increased by the same amount
A lot of people are defending councils here. What I will say is my council tax already seems high and in my area the roads are shit, glass has been on the pavement for weeks, bins always miss collection, street lights barely light shit.
But I have an even bigger question…..if the council ‘provide’ the communal resources etc from just council tax alone, where the fuck does the income tax and NI I pay go?
My council has made so many stupid and bonkers businesses decisions that have cost money, yet no one holds them to account. It’s maddening.
Beyond that in many labour cities that received poor settlements from central government.
Remember that [disabled man on £11k / month benefits](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13091353/Disabled-man-saved-care-fund-holiday-Florida-left-stunned-council-clawed-cash.html) who saved £50k from his benefits to go to Florida? It would take 70 households for one year of council tax to pay for his benefits. You thought council tax goes to fix potholes and collect bins? Think again! This is welfare system for you, don’t complain!
I’m not sure my Tory council will stomach that. The number of their Tory buddies living in E-H band properties will lose their shit over this.
mines been going up by the max for years – and the Police component of it had a double figure increase last year – nice new headquarters needed paying for I guess.
The beatings will continue until somebody does something about it