Council tax set to rise by 4%

[Michael Z]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4732170.stm

Argh.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

O/c that's not 4% across the board; it'll be different from authority to authority. And with local elections coming up it'll be interesting to see which authorities jack up their rates the most... and seeing as you live in Southwark, all I can say is "bad luck" (probably).

Thinking about this, *more* money should be raised by local governments; the problem at the moment is that a majority of their funds come from central government (and out of ordinary taxes).
And I do find the bitching from the Tories over this darkly comical; the current governments record on local government isn't perfect (I'm thinking of the patchy pattern of reform mostly) but at least the council tax system isn't *really* abused as it was when they were in charge (ever wondered why a rich borough like Wandsworth had such low rates in the '90's? ).

[David S]

Argh.

Spoken like a true libertarian. 

[Democratic Hawk]

It happens

Dave

[Michael Z]

If you lived in London you'd understand. This is already one of the most expensive cities to live in.

[Richard]

I fully support this tax.  I wish it was more.  I hope they give you better education and better health care.  Have fun.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Do you actually know what council tax funds? Or are you just trying to wind people up?

[David S]

If you lived in London you'd understand. This is already one of the most expensive cities to live in.

I understand. Trust me I understand.

Maybe one day you will understand why I'm a Libertarian.   

[Michael Z]

I fully support this tax.  I wish it was more.  I hope they give you better education and better health care.  Have fun.

Council tax doesn't fund health care or education, you dolt.

If you lived in London you'd understand. This is already one of the most expensive cities to live in.

I understand. Trust me I understand.

Maybe one day you will understand why I'm a Libertarian.   

I think I do already.

I'm all for publically funded services, but council tax (the heir to Thatcher's poll tax) is the most irrelevant and useless tax ever created, since it doesn't actually go into any useful public services (if it did there would be far more transparency about it), but into hugely mismanaged councils which are drowning in bureaucracy.

[Bono]

Enjoying New Fascism?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Enjoying New Fascism?

I think Southwark has a LibDem minority administration (or a LibDem/Con coalition. Or is that Lambeth? I get the two mixed up...)

Anyways, as far as the usefulness of council tax (for those who don't know it's more-or-less a sort of property tax) goes, the alternative to some form of local tax that is possible for a local authority to actually run themselves, is increased normal taxes (which would then be pumped into local government) or something totally unethical (like a poll tax). Council tax does have a lot of problems though; I wouldn't really mind going back to the old rates system.

[Michael Z]

I think Southwark has a LibDem minority administration (or a LibDem/Con coalition. Or is that Lambeth? I get the two mixed up...)

It does. Actually, Southwark has the lowest council tax rates in the London area (IIRC), though it's also bearing in mind that it's Lib Dem policy to abolish the council tax (a claim I would find far more credible if the alternatives presented weren't so harebrained).

In any case, as I said before, council tax is basically a more slightly more "acceptable" version of Thatcher's poll tax and another remnant from the godawful Major era. It's been rising steadily since its implementation.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Actually, Southwark has the lowest council tax rates in the London area (IIRC),

That's only because it's also one of the most deprived boroughs in the country though (o/c back in the '80's and '90's this meant that such places tended to have very high rates as rich boroughs were subsidised), not that that's a bad thing o/c.

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Yeah, it is a bit of a fudge. I think it'll probably go at some point in the next few years; it's not exactly a great fundraiser for local authorities either.

[Bono]

This increase would be a good thing, since I support local authorities to fund themselves, if it would be coupled with a correspondent reduction in national tax rates.