Is this the right exercise of law+justice?

[child of Thor]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/3491666.stm

I can understand the reasons for the rule of law, but i find it hard to accept this as being 'ok' when the same law system lets thugs run free and hard core criminals get off tough sentences. With the rumourd hike in council tax across various parts of the uk are we seeing the next poll tax scenario? it certainly seems wrong that this lady and others are facing jail time because they are struggling to pay?

As a note of interest she was jailed for 7days but got out 3 days early(for good behaviour? ). nice way to treat our most vunrable members of society while we send deliquents on holiday camps to learn from their crimes

[Sava]

what is going on here?

what is a council tax?

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by Sava
what is going on here?

what is a council tax?

(government oppression?)about £500 a year for me, but can be much higher depending on where you live.

I'm sure if this happend in the US you'd get your guns out? wish we could have them(legally) here sometimes

quote from article:
"Miss Hardy faced a £644 council tax charge on the Exeter flat where she lives alone, after last year's tax rose nearly 18%." so a pensioner pays more(edit-cheers blackcat) than i do as a working professional? seems very fair

[Sava]

you are not answering my question...


what is this a tax on?

property?

why is it going up so much in one year?

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by child of Thor


(government oppression?)about £500 a year for me, but can be much higher depending on where you live.

I'm sure if this happend in the US you'd get your guns out? wish we could have them(legally) here sometimes

quote from article:
"Miss Hardy faced a £644 council tax charge on the Exeter flat where she lives alone, after last year's tax rose nearly 18%." so a pensioner pays less than i do as a working professional? seems very fair

I'm not sure you mean this

[child of Thor]

sorry - just getting all blustery

Council Tax's rate is based on a combination of where you live(geographicaly rather than the material value of the property) and, it seems, how badly your particular council have balanced their books.
So its not a person tax like the poll tax, but its not a property tax like the old rate system used to be, although it is in part where expensive area's are meant to have higher council tax rates. Still its not that fair on many people and when Westminster has the lowest in the country you do have to wonder who our politicains are thinking of most

up the OAP council tax revolution

[Flubber]

Since it mentions that it is "on the Exeter flat" it seems that this is a municipal property tax.

The problem for many homeowners is that the rate can stay the same but if their property valuation increases a lot, so does the tax bill. Seniors with homes closer to the inner core of Calgary have seen regular jumps of 10-20% in property values.

I sympathyze somewhat with them since they can be unable to pay the high tax bill. Income is irrelevant. The flip side of course is that the reason the tax bill is so high is that their property has appreciated so much and could probably be sold for a million bucks or so.

[child of Thor]

@ Flubber, i read it that she has a one bedroom flat in Exeter and the rate sounds about right that a person(or persons) living in that one property has to pay, pensioner or not, as would all the other residents in her block of flats too. I think she is perfectly in her rights to agree to pay the increase that corrosponds to her state pension. That just seems fair in these circumstances.

[Kontiki]

I think the City of Vancouver (and many other surrounding municipalities, perhaps even most in BC) has a good system. You had three rates that you could pay, based on your eligibility. The highest was if you were an absentee landlord (basically, anyone that owned an investment property). The middle rate is if you are a resident homeowner. Finally, there was a third tier rate for people over 65 to help mitigate some of the problems of retired + rising home value. The differences between the three tiers is quite significant, too.

[child of Thor]

That sounds ok. The old rate system which was scrapped in place of the Poll tax(probably because the rich got fed up paying more money than the poor - thanks maggie ) was a much fairer system in that the value of your property had a real bearing on how much you paid. Still it wasn't always fair on the retired for example, so a balance should be looked into. In fact the liberals had a decent system for rates at this recent election, which took into account property value and income.
The last place i was living in london, in a shared two bedroomed flat with a work mate,i had a council tax rate of £1200 per year on the property. Now in a simular sized flat(2bedroom) my rate is £500. This is purely based on my council that(after Westminster) has the lowest council tax bracket in London. Its not a great system either.

[rah]

I assume this is instead of a property tax like we pay in the US>

[Sava]

I'm not exactly sure I understand what is going here, but I think I agree with the woman, that she should pay the relative increase in her pension.

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by rah
I assume this is instead of a property tax like we pay in the US>

Its a weird hybrid of a sorts - it is a property tax, but you may not pay more for having a better property, but sometimes you will depending on your councils efficency. I probably need some uk posters to help me on this, just in case i'm getting it all wrong
Anyway this is my understanding of how it (doesn't) work. I'm one of the lucky ones under this system, but i dont think its fair when stories like this come out(add to it the problems over spiralling water rates in the west country(down where this lady lives), and i think our OAP's and low wage earners have a just cause to fight for.

Edit: @ Sava - i agree with you on that, its not like she was refusing outright to pay her tax

[Sava]

so which poll option would I be voting?

[rah]

But do you pay an official property tax on top of it?

Heck mine is about 6k a year and my brothers is double that.