General Chat

This person still owes,

£554 from last years C/T paying off £25 week,the years before was paid by ?becasue she refused to pay.

This years C/T is-----£998,,,,,so from this she cant be getting any benifit reductions because she is above the threshold on income.?

My word with £16k ! I'd rather pay up than make a show of myself all over the national rags,,,,,bet no one comes forward to pay it this time.

Same here Kay, I would call her a tax dodger , not a rebel :-|

Cupcakes is quite right when she says this is disgraceful and "This kind of thing is so upsetting." I so agree that it is terrible that everyone else has to pay what they owe and people like this woman in Norfolk basically get away scot free. I note it says her savings are OVER £16,000 (which is the assistance level cut off) so it could indeed be quite a bit more.

It is indeed upsetting that the rest of us have to pay more to cover those that don't.

The Daily Mail doesn't now seem to have the article on the earlier link so here's another item about it for those who weren't able to read it:
http://money.aol.co.uk/2013/07/18/council-tax-refusenik-must-pay-up-when-shes-dead/

Just wondering if Cupcakes has the same point of view...... :-S

Me too Cynthia - very puzzled

I'm always puzzled :-S

Did you say 'puddled' or 'puzzled' Ann ? :-D

Isn't it lovely to have a thread where everyone agrees with each other :-D :-D

SHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhh Kitty
i dont think they have noticed :-D :-D

Oh, have I misunderstood (again!) :-0

both Cynthia!!!! :-D

Of course not Marie...............the opening post can be interpreted as a for or against the lady in question.

We are all posting pleasantly and so it is a good thread :-D <3

I think just maybe some folk are probably missing the point of this ladies grievance.
Could well be she`s having a dig at having to pay the same amount of CT as a household that have more than one family or several adults living there in.

Think about it... how would you feel if you were this lady and the family next door to you had 2 families living there,adult sons and/or daughters plus children under the same roof say 5 plus or more wage earners in the one house. and paying the same CT as you.
Seems a tad unfair to me, I don't know about you.
Maybe the government should have stuck to the Poll Tax.

Anyway, thats just a different slant on the story, being as the author of this thread never returned to give her view, apart from saying "Disgraceful" and its so upsetting.... but not actually defining what these comments were appertaining to.

I do agree that there are different perspectives to the issue and it can depend on circumstances.

Looking at my own street, there's just me and Mr C in our house, next door is a single lady in her early seventies and on the other side is a couple who have 2 adult children, all earning. We all pay the same council tax - pretty much the scenario that BudgieRustler describes. But I guess we've just accepted that the council tax is based on the value of the property and that there's the option to downsize if we needed to cut outgoings.

I'm not saying that the council tax is necessarily fair but if one has a choice where they live they can exercise it.

Does'nt your single lady get a 25% discount MC for living on her own?

Edit - Only saying that because I am sure my sister does

I get a discount for living on my own [haven't told them about my cat - shhhhhhh!!]

My sister has nine cats think a few have died she maybe down to six now :-D

Luckerly her horse lives at the stables

Yes, she does jax - I should have clarified that I meant the council tax valuation is the same as opposed to the poll tax system.

For example, we're in band E, if we couldn't afford the outgoings on our property we could move house to perhaps a band B property.

I guess no-one likes paying taxes but it is all for a reason and life isn't about having everything for nothing.

This paying of taxes is an age old issue - right back to biblical times - when people were advised.......

Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour. - Romans.



It would be interesting if the OP could please return and discuss this issue with us in case there is something more to add to this interesting topic.


Cx

Yes, Hayley, you were right :-) Couldn't resist sticking my four pennyworth in. I did intend not to contribute to any threads apart from Christian thread occasionally.

But have been watching this "debate" develop with some consternation. CupCakes has not even given her opinion yet, and I don't blame her. I have some sympathy for this lady in Norfolk, and know I will be attacked for being sympathetic.

Of course, this lady is a rebel and seems to be on a loser. But in the past, pensioners who have tried to avoid council tax have been dealt with and sent to prison as martyrs. Our local Vicar in Northants (Rev Arnold Ridley) went to prison eventually for a week and felt he had beaten the authorities (that was in 2005 and was a protest about not paying any increase in council tax that bust through inflation).

Yes, they are pyrrhic victories and Cynthia is right - "we render unto Caesar what is Caesar's". I pay my Council Tax dutifully, but it doesn't stop me wondering where on earth I benefit. If we had a mutual society deciding what we needed as local benefits and what we had to collect from our neighbourhood, the sum total would be very considerably less than these ridiculous bills we have been faced with for last 50 years.

Personally, I think the system is all wrong for older people on fairly fixed incomes. If you live in a large private house you pay £200, if you live in a small flat you pay £100. If you live alone instead you get a 25% discount.

If the policy was changed to:
1. Once you are over OAP age for a man or woman (whichever is highest age), you pay the lowest band - whatever size your house is.
2. If in single occupancy over OAP age, you pay half of lowest band.
3. Once you are 10 years over OAP age, you pay no council tax at all.

Applying that logic to this lady in Bamburgh, if lowest council band is £1000 per year and she is now 73, she would now pay £500 per year for single occupancy. In 2 years time (aged 75) she would not have to pay any council tax at all.