An interesting story tonight, on Newsnight, about some British pensioners refusing to pay ever-rising council taxes. There was one old soldier on £80 pounds a week, of which a quarter goes on council taxes. He was adamant that he would go to jail before he paid it, this year. Now this is perhaps a debate for more educated and informed fellows than I, but if once formerly restrained British senior citizens are now actively contemplating the tactics of Gandhi, in non-violent protest, is British society really being pushed to the absolute limit by these ruling class socialist thieves also known as the New Labour Party? The state of modern Britain grows ever more curiouser by the day.
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For the benefit of us Uninformed Americans…
What’s a “Council Tax”?
It’s a property tax, the level of which depends on the value of your house. It and is the main source of revenue for city and county governments. (City and county governments are far less powerful than in the US. For instance, the level of Council tax is set by the central government, not by the local governments themselves).
A *Federal* property tax? How nice.
And here I thought New York State was bad…
Michael,
I believe Council Tax rates are decided upon at local level but the decision is to some extent dependent on the amount of central funding that authority gets from HMG.
Also, AFAIK the local government is forced by central government to provide certain services (street lights, police, etc) and has to fund these via council tax. So the rate is more dependent upon what the council has to do and how skilled it is at cost cutting, than on any *choice* of what to do. Unlike in the USA you could not simply vote a tax cut with commensurate spending rollbacks.
In effect, the function of council tax is to divert the populace’s grumbles onto (powerless, expendable) local fall-guys, and away from parliament.
Here in New Zealand there has been a similar recent storm
over local council rates rises.
I don’t too excited about these things any more. People get very agitated about taxes they can see, but remain totally indifferent to the 33%-39% the government pilfers from their wage packet every week. And I’m sure those pensioners wouldn’t be feeling such an attack of principle if the tax increases were falling on others, such as businesses or any other ingrates.
Well, if one cut, say, the BBC tax, he’d be able to afford it, wouldn’t he?
My grandmother’s property tax is more than she ever paid for the entire mortgage way back when. It also keeps going up arbitrarily in leaps and bounds, because the same people who are dying for her to sell the property so houses can be built on it are also the ones, or associated with the ones, who run the town. It’s quite annoying.
I wouldn’t mind so much but I only get two bin bags a week for my £190 per month. Mind you, they do deliver them to my door.
Unlike in the USA you could not simply vote a tax cut with commensurate spending rollbacks.
Ah, I wish tax cuts in the USA did mean commensurate spending rollbacks. These days, tax cuts are accompanied by business-as-usual, followed by worsening debt and a lot of finger-wagging about the obvious evils of tax cuts.
well, remember if your old soldier is post 75, he doesn’t have to pay his “bbc tax” anyway…
and these pensioners hardly seem a cause celebre for libertarians – from what i gathered from my brief watching of the report last night, they’re actually saying “we don’t mind paying our council tax, we just don’t get enough of a state pension”.
There is a rebellion here, but in favour of greater public spending.
Jay Solo – that’s why Californians, back when this was a Republican state, passed Proposition 13.
The spelling is G a n d h i.
My apologies, Yazad. Correction made.