Council Tax to Rise 5% - Adding £100s to Bills for Millions of People from April
In the News
More than half of local authorities are planning a 5% council tax rise in April - seven times the rate of inflation. It comes as millions of people remain out of work as the pandemic continues to hammer the economy
More than half of local authorities are planning to increase the levy by the maximum 5% - seven times the rate of inflation.
It comes despite rising unemployment with the Chancellor under pressure to extend furlough to support those who have lost work since the start of the pandemic.
According to the Local Government Chronicle, 53% of councils have so far proposed putting up their bills by the maximum amount.
These include Band D increases of £84.60 in Dorset, £75.05 in Cheshire East and, £75.60 in Wiltshire.
The day the pandemic was announced was when most knew this was gonna come. The local authorities are gonna get hammered by the public when its the central government pulling the strings.
What else can the councils do?
Where else are they going to get the money from?
After all, the councilors all need their outrageous wages and expenses paid.
This increase could put families in debt especially those furloughed and not knowing if they’ll have a job to return to.
Did anyone ever think that taxes of any sort were not going to rise this and ongoing years ?
It was bound to happen, and plans for this was already in the pipeline even before the pandemic
All taxes will be going up now and in the years to come, we all have to pay for the pandemic in one way or another
Yes, it was bound to happen, the same goes for VAT (soon) but it doesn't make it right. How are people supposed to pay for it, especially those who have just lost a job or are waiting to see if the company they work for survives and they even have a job to go back to. Council tax has been out of control for years now and it needs to be brought back into line. It is the largest bill most people have.
Surely VAT is the best option. We have a large trading deficit and many people haemorrhage a huge amount of money out the country on imports which is hugely damaging to our economy and therefore more important to try to reduce that activity. The poorest people often do little more than pay out on everyday expenses plus food and often have to resort to s/hand purchases for many products.
I just feel VAT is the best option as it makes the people causing the damage and debt in the economy pay more in taxation. You can also tailor it to products which are mainly imported. The more money that is exported the more the government borrows.
Every single working person in the UK has about £75k of public sector debt on their head and that is before you even add in public sector pension deficit and many other debts. Even with increases in council tax we will probably continue to borrow. It's likely to take 40-50 years at best to pay off those huge debts and we haven't even started paying them off yet and probably won't be able to for a few years.
Lastly though people on very low wages or unemployed get massive reductions in council tax anyway.
People need to remember even before the pandemic we had close to £2 trillion in debt which we have built up while being in the EU. It doesn't matter who you blame it still has to be paid back with interest.
I will be happy to pay an extra £5 council tax per month just in return for the free covid jab I will be getting. £5 per month for the rest of my life is worth it especially considering the immense amount of money paid out by the government in grants, benefits, furlough etc.
I feel privileged to live in a country where we are amongst the best looked after in the world.
It never ceases to amaze me that we expect the state to nanny us through every mishap in life while most of us just sit on our backsides with our hands held out. Goodness knows what we would have done had we been born prior to the welfare system and NHS!
And btw I have not benefited at all from any handouts but will certainly be holding my arm out when it is my turn for the jab.
It was bound to happen, unfortunately it’s something we just have to get on with 
just some bad timing for a lot of people
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