Council Tax, Daylight Robbery?

[theninja]

What do you think of this article ?

http://www.tpuc.org/News/news-rutharking-110507.html

[Cruise4]

Of course Council tax is robbery. It also represents a charge for living in your own country on your own land. I have virtually NO money coming in (<£160/month) and can't even get benefit without a fight of David v. Goliath proportions. I don't think I'm going to pay it. I've been taken to court once and the criteria is 'Here's Bill - Have you paid it? - No - Then Guilty - have an extra £50 added to your Bill'. It seems like these people can eventually take your house and posessions in the end.
IsItFair.com is the pensioners who refuse to pay.
Trouble is I don't see how we can get rid of this crookery until after we have dragged them through the streets of London by their testicles.

I get nothing from the Council I need... zilch. Rubbish I can deal with as I produce hardly any, Roads I use once a fortnight or week and quite prepared to help repair my own stretch outside the house. I don't want the Police. I'd rather we dealt with criminal issues via the local community.
I don't really know what a council actually does bar waste everyone's time and money. Get rid.

[jahschild]

[karlos]

[blackcat]

You forgot to say "Its all Labour's fault" Stelios. You are slipping!!

[karlos]

[Cruise4]

Culmination of the Brown Envelope Campaign

On Friday 15th June, Isitfair and the Taxpayers’ Alliance organisers delivered to Number 11 Downing Street an open letter to the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, followed by a march down Whitehall for a photocall outside HM Treasury where the thousands of brown envelopes were delivered.

The letter to Gordon Brown said:

15 June 2007

Dear Mr Brown,

Since coming to office the present Government has presided over a 91% increase in council tax. Taxpayers have had an inflation-busting increase every year since 1996 and, at the same time, local services such as care for the elderly and weekly rubbish collection have been cut. We now face the prospect of additional taxes for services that are already paid for by our council tax – in the form of new charges for rubbish collection. We keep paying more tax but get fewer services in return. Surely you must realise that this trend cannot be allowed to continue?

The TaxPayers’ Alliance and Isitfair today calls on central Government to find a solution to this unfair system of taxation. We waited three years for the Lyons Inquiry report which had promised a lot but delivered nothing. The report cost taxpayers more than £2 million pounds and is now on a shelf in your department gathering dust, alongside the Layfield Report and The Balance of Funding report.

The Government dictates the lion’s share of local council spending but then attempts to distance itself from the relentless tax increases. The well-worn excuse is “don't blame us, blame your local council”. Local councils then blame the Government for grant settlements which force them to charge more council tax to support their spending commitments. Local government now has unsustainable payroll bills and pension deficits because you did not insist on fiscal discipline and pension reform. And so, year after year local and central government pass the buck and council taxpayers are forced to foot the rising bill.

The Treasury must get their heads out of the sand and listen to the electorate. They know that the present system of council tax is unfair and hugely unpopular. Yet government persists with patching up the system instead of formulating a long-term solution. You know it doesn't work. It will not have escaped your attention that council tax was a key issue at the elections for the Scottish Parliament in May, where Labour were beaten by a party committed to serious reform of local taxation.

The big stick comes out whenever the people protest against the unfairness of this tax. Everyone is aware that our prisons are overcrowded but there always seems to be enough space to accommodate a council tax protester should they dare to take a stand. As charities like Help the Aged have found, old people on fixed-incomes are going hungry to pay the council tax that funds the pensions of council employees. Public sector pensions are far more generous than those in the private sector.

You must take the responsibility for the massive rises in council tax and for demanding that councils spend and grow as much as they have done. We expect you to recognise the extent to which this unfair tax is harming ordinary people and we would like to see you make real progress towards finding a solution to the problem of council tax when you become Prime Minister in two weeks time.

The people listed below have felt strongly enough about this issue to write to you personally, c/o HM Treasury, expressing their concerns and frustrations. We have delivered thousands of letters from the following people to the Treasury this morning. Everyone wants to see reductions in this regressive, unfair and harmful tax. All will be expecting a sincere reply.

Yours,

Andrew Allum, Chairman, The TaxPayers' Alliance
Christine Melsom, Founder, Isitfair
Mike Schofield, South Hants Opposes Unfair Taxation (Shout)

[karlos]

Just make sure nobody votes Labour ever again.
Higher council tax doubled since they came to power and more increases on the way
Rubbish collections cut
health service collapsing
schools privatised
no new roads built in 10 years
no new prisons
that is before we start talkin about the total sell out in europe
and the 1,000,000 dead iraqis
and the 75 billion on trident
will the last labour voter please put your hand up
so i can come over and give you a slap

[Long Tooth]

[Cruise4]

And don't forget the 2 million internally displaced Iraqis and the 3 million externally displaced Iraqis, no water, no electricity, no Oil, dead soldiers from the UK and the US as well as the over 1 million dead Iraqis.

And thats just what we know about, without Afghanistan figures.

Still... at least they got rid of that murderous dictator Saddam.

[karlos]

[Dogsmilk]

Just of the top of my head, in the short time he was around, Major did help kill half a million Iraqi kiddies by sticking with sanctions. And carried on selling arms to Indonesia so they could carry on their genocide in East Timor. And all the other crackpot regimes we arm. I'm sure there's more if I sat down to think. Major was in power for about five minutes - do you really think he wouldn't have invaded Iraq? Did the tories take a principled stand during the first pop at the regime they armed? The tories made a killing flogging all our national assets at bargain basement prices (and don't forget their North Sea oil windfall), yet still managed to raise taxes, usually by stealth, but don't forget they added 2.5% to VAT. The blunt fact is that poisonous bitch Thatcher dragged this country down a hard right wing path Labour have just aped to get into power. What do you think? David Cameron is going to save us all?
I don't take Class War at all seriously, but I think their plan to have a party in Trafalgar Square the day Thatcher dies is a jolly good idea.

That nice Mr Major went on to join the Carlyle group. He has a vested interest in endless wars.

[rodin]

For goodness sake. Surely we have moved beyond which is the best political party??? All are indefensible. But especially the Tories and Labour.

[Dogsmilk]

For once, I agree with you Rodin - they are all b&astards.
I nevertheless have a little well of hatred just for what the Tory reign did to this country.

[rodin]

S&hit. What did I do wrong...

[Dogsmilk]

[karlos]

[Dogsmilk]

Stelios - I believe Denis Halliday (and Hans Von Sponeck(sp?)) described the sanctions in themselves as genocidal. The fact it wasn't 'time' to invade doesn't mean Mr Major is a fluffy bunny. He'd have stood to attention on demand if required to do so. I'm aghast you'd trivialise a program that e.g. left hospitals devoid of the most elementary necessities. I'm sure all those people who died went to their graves happy it wasn't as bad as it is now, as they writhed on their sick bed without analgesics, and all the mothers that lost their babies to common ailments would gladly agree the situation was trivial in comparison. It was part of the overall, long term program. You do get that, right?

I don't recall you 'educating' me on East Timor. You may have to impart your glowing wisdom all over again.

I have never voted labour. Ever. I always vote for any non far right fringe party or independent candidate. I hate labour. But I agree with BC that old style labour was preferable. And even if not, at least there used to be some difference between the parties that gave some tiny balance. It is you who are deluded if you think the tories are anything other than a bunch of lying, self serving scumf*cks. Just like Blair.

But to say that people who did vote Labour are guilty is simply booby babble. For one, I don't recall anything about wanton slaughter in Iraq being in their manifesto. And your beloved Tories were with them 100%. If they hadn't slavishly backed Blair every step of the way, if they had bothered to fulfill the function of an opposition party and actually questioned this WMD tripe, it could have been harder for Blair. So...did all these lovely Tories vote against the war, then? Anyone who voted Tory is equally guilty. Shall we put all the voters in prison?
In a sense, we are all guilty as we allow it to happen and I don't see the revolution about to kick off any time soon. Or do you think voting Tory absolves you of any tacit consent? And I notice you fail to respond on how your darling Mr Major will benefit directly from the current munitions fest. Think on that as you masticate your corpse.

At the end of the day, Rodin is right. They are all scumbags. It is a distraction to play favourites. Non of them 'serve' us as per their ostensive function. I may think certain governments are a bit better than others, but that is not 'the solution'. All governments are rubbish. Put not your faith in leaders.

[Christine, Isitfair]

The Isitfair Campaign began as a local action group in East Hampshire, protesting against the relentless inflation-busting hikes in Council Tax. We held our first public meeting in March 2003. After launching the Isitfair website we rapidly gained support throughout the U.K. and it was soon apparent that the demand for action on Council Tax was a national rather than a local issue. Our local action group became the hub of a nationwide campaign and three years on we have an estimated 50,000 supporters across the U.K. The Isitfair Campaign is non-party political and we send newsletters by e-mail or by post to our ever-growing membership.

Let me begin with a story of adjacent houses both in the same Council Tax band. A professional couple with a joint income of £50,000 occupies the first house; in the second house is a pensioner couple with an income of £10,000 who are ineligible for the means-tested Council Tax benefit. Both households receive a Council Tax bill for £1,200 - for the couple in the first house this represents 2.4 percent of their income, for the pensioner couple it's 12 percent. Why must the weakest carry the heaviest burden? The assumption that a house of today's value somehow equates to the residents' ability to pay is completely false. Some Isitfair members are paying in excess of 20 percent of their income in Council Tax.

Our campaign is for people of all age groups who are unfairly affected by Council Tax, although the media spotlight tends to fall on our pensioner members. Our main aim is to abolish the tax based on property values and replace it with one that is related to people's ability to pay from income. We are not against tax, but it must be fair for all.

In 1993 when the present system of Council Tax was introduced the level of tax was not a big issue. In 2006 it is now a sizeable and unbearable percentage of many people's income. Council Tax is based on the value of our property which, of course, does not provide any income to pay this ever increasing tax. Council Tax has doubled since 1997 and has been used as a stealth tax. The Government are scared stiff of the political fallout that would come from a small increase in Income Tax but are happy to sit back and watch Council Tax bills going through the roof.

So why do we believe Council Tax is a bad tax?

1) It takes no account of the income from which the tax has to be paid. Those with the smallest income (unless they're eligible for means-tested benefit) pay the highest percentages of it in tax. How can it be a good tax when it's so patently unfair on pensioners and the low paid?

2) Despite official claims that it's easy to collect there are hundreds of millions of pounds of arrears. Notably, much of that is owed by council employees. If they cannot pay it, what chance anyone else? So much for "easy to collect".

3) Council Tax benefit. There are around five million people receiving Council Tax benefit, and according the Government there are nearly two million more who should be eligible but are not claiming. The means-tested Council Tax Benefit system has been a failure but they are determined to keep flogging this dead horse. If the tax was related to income instead of property value the whole Council Tax benefits system would be redundant, saving tens of millions of pounds every year in administration costs alone. How can it be a good tax when these millions of people are obliged to claim means-tested benefits?

I completely fail to understand how our two major political parties can decide to continue with a property tax which is so patently unfair. They want to retain a tax where those with the smallest income pay the highest percentage of it in tax, while those with the highest incomes pay the least. So much for the caring and sharing society.

In 2003 the Audit Commission's report confirmed that the current Council Tax system is fundamentally flawed and open to manipulation by Government.

People who dare to register their protest against this present system of Council Tax by withholding a small amount now face the prospect of 28 days in a Category A prison, as evidenced last year by Rev. Alfred Ridley. Such draconian measures have strengthened the resolve of many campaigners who will not be browbeaten into submission by such bully-boy antics. We are law-abiding people and do not advocate non-payment of tax, but if an Isitfair member decides to take that route we will vigorously support and advise in every way we can.

We believe that the only fair way to fund our core public services is from general taxation to which we all contribute. *The Isitfair proposal requires small increases in income tax and VAT in order to completely replace Council Tax. Our proposal provides for an open and honest system, respecting ability to pay from income. There would be no geographic discrimination and the base for collection would be broader. The cost of collection would be significantly less, Council Tax arrears would disappear and the Council Tax benefits system would be redundant.

The present Council Tax system is in crisis and action is required now!

There is no charge for membership of the Isitfair campaign and all new members are welcome. Information about the campaign can be found on the campaign's website at www.isitfair.co.uk

If you don't have access to the internet and you would like to receive the Isitfair campaign newsletter you can contact Christine Melsom by post at Isitfair Council Tax Campaign, Willow Cottage, Church Lane, Headley, Hampshire GU35 8PJ

• We have prepared comprehensive documents explaining alternative suggestions to the present system.
These document are available on the Website or receipt of an SAE with postage for 150 grams. A small donation towards printing would be appreciated as we survive on donations and gifts of stamps and stationary.

• Vinyl Car Stickers, envelope stickers and Tee Shirts are available.

[karlos]

When John Major was Prime Minister i voted UKIP
So i have never liked John major.
However, he was a fluffy bunny compared to Blair.
The world was much safer in his hands as he was only concerned with things like CITIZENS CHARTER and the CONES HOTLINE.
He also brought peace to Ulster.

It is the current gang who are the ultimate worst ever. The waters should never be muddied by comparing them to anything that has gone before.
John Major who grew up in a council house in Brixton making a few bob after he has left office is a far cry from Blair and his gang who are robbing the till while they are still in charge.
Every contract that Labour has awarded has been against the best interests of the country and in the best interests of their back pockets.
Thatcher privatised industry like coal/steel/gas/oil/manufacturing
Blair has privatised schools/prisons/NHS hospitals/government
everything is up for sale today
Tatcher never dreamed of privatising the schools or the nhs or the army or even a fraction of things now in FOREIGN hands.
American and swiss and israeli companies now control most of the UK public infrastructure. When did any of this get discussed in public?

[Dogsmilk]

So 'honest John' is just making a few bob to pay the bills, eh? He's not working down Morrisons just to make ends meet you know. You do know who the Carlyle group are don't you?

Thatcher would have privatised exactly the same things given enough time. You just can't go selling the whole country in one go and expect the public to accept it. These things happen incrementally. You obviously know little of that bitch's politics. The day she dies, I will do a little dance. Same with Blair, if I outlive him.

It doesn't matter where companies are based. Globalist capitalism is trans-national. Corporations exist solely to make money for shareholders. National identity is irrelevant to their purpose. It goes where the business is good. Where the labour is cheap. Where the corporate taxes are low. Your w@nk fantasy Thatcher was into this stuff. She played the patriotic nationalist card for people dumb enough to think waving flags means a damn thing. The only good thing about the Union Jack is it's soft, strong and very long, but some people find this primitive primate pack instinct towards 'national pride' makes them feel special. Thatcher knew how to play to the crowd there and I've even a suspicion she was barmy enough to believe in it too.

Maybe Blair wants to be a Catholic so he can just go to confessional, spill the beans, and feel all forgiven. Though since apparently he was 'guided by God' over Iraq, I suppose he needn't bother.

However, I see little point to this discussion. The fact you voted UKIP demonstrates you live in a totally different reality. Well - more the fact you happily admit you put your cross in the box for the BNP in blazers. Still - someone's gotta vote for 'em, eh? So- you voted for them before the day of the orange goblin. Would you vote for Veritas?

By the way - just quoting back something I've said without further commentary doesn't constitute a reply - just so you know.

Nice post by Isitfair - thanks for that. Council tax rates are appalling. I'm personally disgusted my old dears skimped and saved to get a halfway decent house on their nonsense wages only to be on the verge of being driven out in their old age by some whopping great bill.

[conspiracy analyst]

to council taxes.

They aren't proportional to the house size or its price. A two bed rat infested flat in North London may pay the same as 6 bedroom detached with two garages house in Bournemouth. Services in one part of the country aren't identical to another part.

Certain London boroughs, Brent, Tower Hamlets, Haringey have been overrun by mass immigration through the various wars our rulers have been involved in. The percentage of people actually employed and able to pay council tax has dropped in many areas to below 30% of the local population. Recent figures have shown council tax has gone up 100% in 10 years. Those on fixed incomes who are liable for the full tax are being penalised disproportionately. Endless house building has increased the revenue base of councils without an increase in council run services.

In the early 1970's there were 14 libraries in Haringey. Now with almost a third more citizens there are only 7. Swimming pools have closed and private gyms have taken their place. Roads have been privatized with parking controls and restrictions everywhere. They now want to collect rubbish twice a month. By mathematical precision the increase of council taxes is rent to the government for what is technically your property.

No European country levies such high taxes on property for shoddy services. I have friends who tell me it takes two weeks to see a GP now. Too many people chasing too few doctors. Go private is the new mantra.

People in another ten years will end up paying £10k a year to live in a house in council taxes and with Brown now in charge pay cuts are being imposed across the whole public sector. If property prices continue to increase indefinitely those who cannot afford council taxes will constantly remortgage to make ends meet. If the opposite occurs the houses will be taken over by the government and all services withdrawn. But how does one justify price increases with no services...

In one area of the UK local people are organising their own rubbish collections and are asking to pay less council tax...

[karlos]

website froze earlier

The fact that Blair wants to start calling himself a catholic is very interesting. I understood that to be called a catholic one must engage in a certain degree of study and must complete a number of sacrements.
It is forbidden for someone to recieve a catholic communion who has not done this.
As we know blair has indeed recieved catholic communion
has he in fact already converted and he is now lying to the media and his electorate
or
has he not converted yet and he was in fact impersonating a catholic when he recieved communion
my point is this
WHY LIE?
i dont have a problem what religion tony blair PRETENDS to follow
as far as all the evidence points - he is a murderer, a war criminal a thoroughly evil man and the fact that he lies so easily about his aparant faith demostrates his GODLESS views.
No person who believes in GOD would ever lie about his religion.
The Jews didnt lie and pretend to be catholics whe they were being killed by Hitler and his zionist backers.
The Muslims didnt pretend to be catholics when they were being slaughtered by the serbs.
And i never heard of catholics and anglicans pretending despite sectarian violence and killings.
So why should one of the most powerful fools in the world be pretending?

To lie about one's religion is probably the biggest sin a person can commit.
To deny one's faith.
But actually i believe Blair worships the devil and part of his religion is probably to lie and cheat and murder.

[Cruise4]

"Put not your faith in leaders"

Well not in the current leaders, I'll agree with that.

I read somewhere we should elect 'The Gardeners' to run the country. I agree with this. They demonstrate their 'Care'. In similar vein many people have an aptitude for certain areas... eg. Christine has shown herself to be a worthy leader on Council tax issues. I know of nurses who had nervous breakdowns trying to fight against the enforced health policies. Same with Teachers.

Its not "leaders" that are the problem. Its the wrong type of people as leaders thats the issue.

In another world our presently elected leaders would be under medical supervision as Psychopaths. Really they are weak minded fools who cannot control themselves.

[mark_e]

Despite my local council not having announced anything about a weigh and pay scheme wrt rubbish collection, both my recycling and refuse bin were chipped two weeks ago. no letter, no press release as far as i'm aware, just snuck them in whilst doing a collection. they're under the from left corner, about the size of a new 10p with worldtag written on them. I'm sure it'll be to stop bin theft which of course is a major problem in rural suffolk!