What are council taxes all about?

[Gandalf]

I ask this question following a conversation with my sister talking about rents and council taxes. Now council tax is something that I really don't understand. I live in a place where I pay a local council tax of about 10 pounds twice yearly and that is the same for everyone. Most taxation is essentially in the form of income tax and that is what is used to fund education, infrastructure, cheap public transportation etc. Garbage disposal is funded by the purchase of cheap rubbish bags which is essentially nothing. So it horrified me to hear that my sister pays 200 pounds a month in council taxes.

So what the heck is council tax and what is it for? Where is the money going? It's not like Korea doesn't have the same things that the UK has. It has parks, roads and all the usual developed stuff. Though it clearly has a far lower single mother burden, but surely council taxes don't pay for that nonsense.

What's the deal with council tax and what are your experiences? I am truly curious about this.

[Gandalf]

Haha, Essex council spent 18 million pounds on this botched attempt at moving on gypsies? Is that the kind of thing that most money is being wasted on? Where is the money going? If everyone is chipping in at least 200 quid, where is it all going?

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

As far as I know it pays for the Local police, waste collection and.... well, the council's staff wages

[Gandalf]

The single response proves that most council tax payers have no idea where their money is going. It is a significant con process.

[Memphis]

The single response proves that most council tax payers have no idea where their money is going. It is a significant con process.

I think thats a pretty fair assessment.

Going back a few years my local council spent 100k planting a tree in a local health park garden. That might seem like a lot of money, but it was a special tree, it was upside down, y'now......art. Obviously there was no need to spend it on more medicine/equipment.

Within days some numpties had ripped it out of the ground. Poor uneducated fools couldnt see how an upside down tree could enrich their lives.

[Memphis]

Just heard a story on the news about a council installing gum boards in its town (dont know where it was)

The thinking is that if people have a special place to discard their gum they wont throw it on the floor. No doubt they spent thousands having them designed, thousands advertising them, thousands installing them.

If only they had already installed such a facility for all sorts of rubbish, not just gum, they could call them bins?