What are council taxes all about?

[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?

[Memphis]

Suppose we should also make note of the 13billion quid we've just wasted on an NHS central database thats now been scrapped

Although to be fair the consultants and engineers employed to put this shower of shite together will be paying massive amounts of tax back to the government so lets say we get a few billion back anyway, we get to waste that all over again on something else shit.

[Gandalf]

Thanks for the additions to the thread, Memphis. It is something that I have truly been trying to get my head around. If you are already paying considerable income tax, are paying VAT on everything you buy and then having to shunt 200quid a month on some local black hole, then that really is a lot in direct and indirect taxes. I have spent so long away from home that these things really do befuddle me when I hear about direct experiences of the system. It truly is a different world.

Then you factor in utility costs, outrageous rents and fuel costs and then you have a situation where it's no wonder many are living from paycheck to paycheck. If I was in the UK I don't see how I would be any different. It would be a struggle.

Things like nutty council tax are just another kick in the teeth IMO. Korea has nice parks, I have a lovely lake outside my window with radio played for you whilst you walk and a big fountain. There are well preserved mountain trails just a stones throw away and they can keep these things ideal for a tenner. If Korea can do it so easily and on a budget I just don't know why it all has to cost so much in the UK. It has to be a massive con. There is no other way to explain it.