Council Tax for State Pensioners

jane1956

Freya5 says we cannot live in a world where all is free, my neighbours do they do not work so get goodness knows what benefit, he goes to local uni so no doubt get a grant (he has been going for yrs think new subject every yr) they vape and order take aways delivered so in effect all free

Do they have the latest iPhone?

This tax has always been unfair. All along some, me included, said that there should be a local tax on the person instead of the house. I get a single persons discount but I live in Wandsworth which has a very low local tax level but I am a disabled pensioner and I get absolutely no help whatsoever. So one way or another I pay as I get my help privately as the council use agencies and some of the people they employ are slap-dash bullies and I wont have them near me.
Incidentally, in Wandsworth if you have any income over and above the basic state pension you have to pay at least part of the local tax and at least part of your care package and if you refuse to pay it they just take it from your state pension.

Blackcat3

Bring back the poll tax…much fairer…..

Just my point

Bring back the poll tax…much fairer…..

Maybe just a discount for pensioners living alone, 50% instead of 25% would be possible.

Freya5 says we cannot live in a world where all is free, my neighbours do they do not work so get goodness knows what benefit, he goes to local uni so no doubt get a grant (he has been going for yrs think new subject every yr) they vape and order take aways delivered so in effect all free

Some women , who were single parents in the 60's and 70's now get less than a full state pension because they were looking after their children and not working and paying a stamp.

It was not made clear to these women at the time that their pension would then be less. Very unfair.

So how is a person who gets a state pension of under £600 supposed to pay 25% of their income, for a single occupancy, on Council Tax and survive on the rest?

I do think that at least it should be a 50% and not just 25% reduction for a single person. Perhaps the amount a person pays should be related to their overall income in a year? A kind of means test.

Not all pensioners are as well off as most of the people here.

(biglouis - those children will soon be paying for your pension!) Yes, a lot is spent on education, healthcare and services - all of which I made good use of (for free) when young.

Shouldn't we all pay what we can? How does being a pensioner make anyone a special case? Mine is an awful lot -but I don't resent paying it. Those on low incomes can get a reduction, anyway, as my friend always does.

biglouis

I have signed because Council tax is very poorly targeted.

Only 25% discount for those like myself (least selfish group in society) who are single and childfree. Besed on average of two adults per household it should be 50%. With the current system it is possible for a single persioner to be directly subsidising the selfish family of four who live next door in an identical house.

I would like to return to the community charge where everyone paid something. However I would take it further and make people pay for their offspring. Children consume resources like sponges and generate huge amounts of waste - I only have to see the overflowing bins of the families around me to know that. Children add nothing into the community until they are old enough to work.

Blimey. Presumably you will exempt yourself from medical treatment, TV and film, train driving, everything that these ghastly offspring provide as a service to you when they grow up?

In a welfare society, there are always going to be those who use more of the resources, paid for by the community, than others, The alternative is for everyone to pay for just what they use. I can imagine what problems that would cause. We only have to look at countries with no national health service!

However,I do think that community services should be paid for according to means. My, probably very unpopular view, is that the so-called poll tax was a good idea, but we all know what happened there.

Let’s hope not.

The petition isn't doing very well, is it?

Callistemon21

Good post maddyone

I do think that many older people give more to charity if they find they are able to do so and volunteer more for charities because they have the time.

Ensuring children and young people have the care, education and opportunities they need is what we all should do as part of a caring society, whether or not we have children of our own. They are our future.

Indeed.

And of course state pensioners should pay council tax.

Why should wealthier pensioners like DH and I get out of paying council tax when so many families with children and earning less than us still have to pay?

Council Tax Benefit is there for those on lower incomes. Ir is means tested so excludes, rightly, people with incomes like mine.

Jaxjacky

I agrée with your general point MOnica but our council tax doesn’t fund Social Services, care homes or the other services you mention.
Ours funds roads, libraries, education services, environmental health, trading standards, rubbish collection and disposal.
I won’t be signing the proposal linked by the OP as I use all of those services.

Our Council tax funds social care, care homes, (that are not self-funded), children's social services, learning disability services etc.

I'm not sure where you live Jaxjacky, perhaps it's different there.

I agrée with your general point MOnica but our council tax doesn’t fund Social Services, care homes or the other services you mention.
Ours funds roads, libraries, education services, environmental health, trading standards, rubbish collection and disposal.
I won’t be signing the proposal linked by the OP as I use all of those services.

Hmm, maybe Biglouis has a point so I’m going to be taking my grandchildren down to the Job Centre tomorrow. It’s about time they started contributing to society. Lazy so and so’s, aged between 18 mths and 13yo and not one of them has ever been down a coal mine or in a cotton mill!

And no, I can’t see any argument for pensioners to not pay CT, beyond financial inability.

My personal experience is that you have to be pretty unselfish if you choose to have a child. Your life revolves around the child and it’s needs for many years. At some stage other people, perhaps childless and not necessarily by choice, funded biglouis’s education, the disposal of the rubbish she produced, the maintenance of the roads on which she travelled, the library she went to and numerous other things. Other people’s children (such as mine) are now paying for her state pension, any benefits she receives (she has mentioned being disabled), the shortfall in council tax due to her discount, any medication she is prescribed and, should the need arise, any care which she may need beyond what she is required to fund herself.

biglouis

*Perhaps she forgets she was a child herself many moons ago*

That sounds like the kind of trite crappy argument you find in a fortune cookie that you bought in the garage shop.

Ps I never go to the garage shop - the chauffeur fills the car for me. 🙂

Neighbour’s

That was really unnecessary biglouis - has it occurred to you that perhaps you are the selfish one ? Or are you just jealous of your neighbours family ?

Good post maddyone

I do think that many older people give more to charity if they find they are able to do so and volunteer more for charities because they have the time.

Ensuring children and young people have the care, education and opportunities they need is what we all should do as part of a caring society, whether or not we have children of our own. They are our future.

biglouis

*Perhaps she forgets she was a child herself many moons ago*

That sounds like the kind of trite crappy argument you find in a fortune cookie that you bought in the garage shop.

How did you guess?
😂😂😂

Were you a child once?

Good post maddyone.