Council Tax rant, anyone?
Discussion
Having had enough of the local council and its double standards (planning regulations, traffic management, policing, licensing, neighbourhood 'refugees' in my garage), I decided to do what all good citizens should – I refused to pay my Council Tax. This was way back in May. After writing to the council on three separate occasions to politely tell them why I'd cancelled my direct debit, I'm still waiting for a reply.
Well I was – until this morning. This morning I received a summons to appear at magistrates' court. And maybe my principles aren't as tough as I thought they were.
So what would you guys do? Stick to your guns and spend a day hanging round outside court with a large supply of bog roll?
Or give in to their arrogant ignorance and keep moaning instead? Your well-reasoned thoughts may help me decide. (Out of interest, I'm so sick of this town, I'm selling the house and moving to the countryside).
Dont take any risks with their inefficiencies.
I fell behind with the old poll tax payments. Just was too lazy to pay it. They sent me a warning that if I didnt pay then they would summons me, I called them to say oops sorry can I pay it in instalments. They said yes. They sent me a revised payment schedule. I started paying per the new schedule. Next thing the court sent me a letter telling me I was found guilty of non-payment. I rang the council, told them that they had ok'd a revised payment schedule (and I had a copy of it) etc... They said did I have it in writing that I didnt have to pay in full. I said 'sort of' ie the revised payment schedule. They said that theat wasnt the same thing!
I only wish I had had a silo spreader avail to me that day.
I fell behind with the old poll tax payments. Just was too lazy to pay it. They sent me a warning that if I didnt pay then they would summons me, I called them to say oops sorry can I pay it in instalments. They said yes. They sent me a revised payment schedule. I started paying per the new schedule. Next thing the court sent me a letter telling me I was found guilty of non-payment. I rang the council, told them that they had ok'd a revised payment schedule (and I had a copy of it) etc... They said did I have it in writing that I didnt have to pay in full. I said 'sort of' ie the revised payment schedule. They said that theat wasnt the same thing!
I only wish I had had a silo spreader avail to me that day.
Spoon man ,
whilst i admire your princples and believe what you are doing is right , no way will the beak think the same , you will be viewed as a anachrist .
What may be simpler is have a letter drafted to the council be a legal type person stating that you are willing to pay a reduced amount due to the poor provivsion of services hence you dont believe that the current cost is reflective of the type of service you should have for the price paid .
Don't know if it will work , but a day in court could end up very costly and even have a ccj against you which will prevent a lot of things .
whilst i admire your princples and believe what you are doing is right , no way will the beak think the same , you will be viewed as a anachrist .
What may be simpler is have a letter drafted to the council be a legal type person stating that you are willing to pay a reduced amount due to the poor provivsion of services hence you dont believe that the current cost is reflective of the type of service you should have for the price paid .
Don't know if it will work , but a day in court could end up very costly and even have a ccj against you which will prevent a lot of things .
Just remember that the local authority have vastly more funds than you and will hang you out to dry as an example to anyone else who is a tad disatisfied. (If you get into the court and are questioned as to your reasons for non payment, the press will publish why you were there and everyone else will think twice about martyrdom )
You have no grounds, in the eyes of the law, for refusing to pay your council tax or for getting away with paying a reduced rate (unless you are in a single occupant dwelling, student, etc)
There are controls on the council as to what level they set the council tax at and what they do with it. I fyou think they aren't meeting those criteria then complain (once you find out what they are of course
). You can't stop paying your income tax just because you think the government of the day is cr@p, and council tax is no different.
There are two things you could do though:
1) Ask for a reassessment of the value of your property. This coudl reduce yoru council tax, but it coudl increase it significantly as well.
2)Get together with other equally disgruntled local residents and start to make your feelings very well heard with a view to either getting something done or getting the uselss gits out of office at the next election.
If you fail to pay your council tax the magistrate will force you to pay it and wreck your credit rating. Don't do it.
There are controls on the council as to what level they set the council tax at and what they do with it. I fyou think they aren't meeting those criteria then complain (once you find out what they are of course
). You can't stop paying your income tax just because you think the government of the day is cr@p, and council tax is no different. There are two things you could do though:
1) Ask for a reassessment of the value of your property. This coudl reduce yoru council tax, but it coudl increase it significantly as well.
2)Get together with other equally disgruntled local residents and start to make your feelings very well heard with a view to either getting something done or getting the uselss gits out of office at the next election.
If you fail to pay your council tax the magistrate will force you to pay it and wreck your credit rating. Don't do it.
pay quick - say the bank screwed up the DD and save yourself alot of hassle.
My neighbour has been screwed by the council tax, and it is causing him no end of hassle. He recieved a summons for nonpayment having had no previous communication from the council. He rang and after 6 months entering numbers into an IVR was a pains to point out he had had no bill yet. thet said we have sent 3 bills and 3 warnings. SO he rang royal mail..
..royal mail had no record of the address and said it was not registered. He asked to have it registered. Royal mail explained that he'd have to register it with THE COUNCIL !!!
...so he rang the council tax again and said you have not registered the address, it was not up to them they explained it was the names and numbering department (of the same council, in the same building) however they said they said they got their addresses from the inland revenue and not from the council
...they said they'd send a bill again, it was explained that it might not help as there was no record of the address, but they insisted, it did not turn up.
...meanwhile the address was registered with the names and numbering department, they did not agree with the address of 'the cottage' explaining that it was not consistent with their naming policy, they called it '3a' it took a month for the name change to go through the post office and then the address was still different to that on the letters from the council tax which were still routinely failing to arrive.
...the council tax department then refused to alter their address record for the property. My neighbour was fairly mental by now. Then the baliff arrived.
...baliff was sent away but only by the clever device of proving to him that he had the wrong address - it was setteld in the end, but in the meantime he had failed to respond to a couple of summonses and not paid the tax for 14 months - although to be fair it is now cleared up because he was in the right, it made life sticky until it was fixed...
My neighbour has been screwed by the council tax, and it is causing him no end of hassle. He recieved a summons for nonpayment having had no previous communication from the council. He rang and after 6 months entering numbers into an IVR was a pains to point out he had had no bill yet. thet said we have sent 3 bills and 3 warnings. SO he rang royal mail..
..royal mail had no record of the address and said it was not registered. He asked to have it registered. Royal mail explained that he'd have to register it with THE COUNCIL !!!
...so he rang the council tax again and said you have not registered the address, it was not up to them they explained it was the names and numbering department (of the same council, in the same building) however they said they said they got their addresses from the inland revenue and not from the council
...they said they'd send a bill again, it was explained that it might not help as there was no record of the address, but they insisted, it did not turn up.
...meanwhile the address was registered with the names and numbering department, they did not agree with the address of 'the cottage' explaining that it was not consistent with their naming policy, they called it '3a' it took a month for the name change to go through the post office and then the address was still different to that on the letters from the council tax which were still routinely failing to arrive.
...the council tax department then refused to alter their address record for the property. My neighbour was fairly mental by now. Then the baliff arrived.
...baliff was sent away but only by the clever device of proving to him that he had the wrong address - it was setteld in the end, but in the meantime he had failed to respond to a couple of summonses and not paid the tax for 14 months - although to be fair it is now cleared up because he was in the right, it made life sticky until it was fixed...
f@cking Councils
f@cking bailiffs
F@CKING WASTERS!!!!!!!
Pay up and find another way to get back at em.
The only ones who can afford to not pay n get away with it are the lazy f@ckin council house scum who don't give a shit about their career, credit rating, mortgage etc ...... another fine example of Middle England being rolled over and royally shafted by mindless zealots and communist robbers! Makes me blood boil.
Where does all the f@ckin money go anyway - increases in homeowners tax at 3,4 or 5xinflation yet services get worse year on year. Can ANYONE explain it??
f@cking bailiffs
F@CKING WASTERS!!!!!!!
Pay up and find another way to get back at em.
The only ones who can afford to not pay n get away with it are the lazy f@ckin council house scum who don't give a shit about their career, credit rating, mortgage etc ...... another fine example of Middle England being rolled over and royally shafted by mindless zealots and communist robbers! Makes me
blood boil. Where does all the f@ckin money go anyway - increases in homeowners tax at 3,4 or 5xinflation yet services get worse year on year. Can ANYONE explain it??
. I think you will find though that most local authorities are about the same (except lambeth who have lost it completely).I believe that most councils are running large pension plan defecits - particularly given the falling stock market.
Since all publis sector workers are GUARANTEED a large pension which is indexed linked with inflation proof nobs on (Madcop knows what I mean
) The council has no choice but to fund them.
This by the way will get worse and worse. Hence Round my way - council tax has risen an average of 11% per annum for the last four years - so if you paid £600 in 1998 you now pay a massive £910 per annum. Which is good in a low inflation environment
So thats where the money goes....
Since all publis sector workers are GUARANTEED a large pension which is indexed linked with inflation proof nobs on (Madcop knows what I mean
) The council has no choice but to fund them. This by the way will get worse and worse. Hence Round my way - council tax has risen an average of 11% per annum for the last four years - so if you paid £600 in 1998 you now pay a massive £910 per annum. Which is good in a low inflation environment
So thats where the money goes....
madcop said: If you are that disatisfied, you could always look at moving somewhere else and pay into a different council coffers .
Yup, I really am that dissatisfied. I'm due to complete on another house by the end of this month, which is in a different county. And it's going to be in the girlfriend's name, so the thought even crossed my mind to do a runner from the bill entirely. Not seriously, though – that would defeat the object of complaining.
My intention was to keep this house to rent out, but now I want to cut my ties entirely. Won't be much of an investment: the way the council's going, it'll end up as a hostel before the end of next year.
Means a Griffith for me though...
The thing is, I don't particularly object to the high cost of Council Tax. I don't especially object to council workers going on overseas jollies and having their hands a bit too firmly embedded in their pockets. I don't even object to all the dole-claiming scroungers having their rent and their Reeboks paid for. I just really resent not being treated the same as everyone else, just 'cos I can afford stuff and happen to have a few more cars than my neighbours.
mondeoman said:
The only ones who can afford to not pay n get away with it are the lazy f@ckin council house scum who don't give a shit about their career, credit rating, mortgage etc ......
You seem to have a problem with Council Housing!
The strange world of Local Government finance means that Council tennants actually subsidise the rest of us. Do away with Council Housing and you will have to pay the council more each month, would that make you feel better?
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