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Originally Posted by kurtz
As for crime not paying your council tax is one of the few things which will get you a shared room in one of HM's prisons.
Hope this helps.
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Yup, even if you're an old biddy in her 70's. Can't find bbc link
Despite 'Council Tax' being used to pay for local amenities like the police, fire brigade, refuse collection and so on, which on the face of it seems like a fair idea, you have to look at it in the long term - they can screw you for money and annually increase your payment (ours is currently the thick end of £1000.00 per year) more or less at will (ok, inflation).
In the 6 years at my current address there's been a steady rise in tax with no appreciable return, and with plans for councils to charge you for the refuse you generate, a sort of 'pay as you tip' amongst other ideas, I am more convinced this is all to do with council overspending. But hang on a minute, don't I already pay for my rubbish to be collected as part of my yearly council tax? Ah, but it's a
green issue. Oh well I suppose you can fleece me for more cash then
I think the average Brit holds local authority with a good deal of contempt and scorn.
It wouldn't be so bad if when a miscalculation is made and you overpay your tax, that you get it paid back to you. No, it sits in the local authority coffers gaining interest whilst they magnanimously inform you that it will be deducted from your next years council tax bill.
The incompetence and intractability of my council is probably the norm accrues the country. That and the actions of certain authorities using anti terror laws to spy on parents to determine if they are illegible for the appropriate school catchment area, merely reinforces my low opinion of local government.
Sadly it's not just a money and excessive bureaucracy thing either; my city has suffered from endless roadworks in the inner city ring road. Not forgetting the fiasco with pedestrianising the areas of the city centre. Last year the contractors moved in and dug up the roads to lay down brick cobbles and paving slabs and marble from china (apparently). This year they are digging it all up again because firstly the job was bodged and all the new pedestrian areas are subsiding, and secondly the expensive marble was the wrong kind and so had to be sent back to china and more procured and polished at further expense.
The closing of local authority run community centres and lack of local support for various associations (for the elderly etc), the list goes on.
I will concede that certain of the inner city redevelopments are an improvement. For example, the canal that runs close to the town centre has been redeveloped, with property and shops/bars pedestrian areas. Sounds nice, you say. Well in part it is. However, if you go a couple of hundred metres down the way you'll find all sorts of junk and foulness around one of the largest weirs in the city. It could be really nice. Instead, filth clogs the canal and river without any sign of improvement. Which just goes to show it's all about appearances and nothing whatsoever to do with the benefit of the people who actually live here. More a façade for the gravitas of 'the city' and it's councillors. I've lived here over ten years and in all that time one of the city's historic landmarks has never been far from the appearance of an open sewer.