[AL Bassninja]

Like many people in the UK/across the planet, I am struggling with certain bills every month.  The main one is that wonderful Council Tax.  You know the one that is there to fund and financially support, the Police, your local Council Services, the Fire and Rescue Services etc. In my opinion this tax allegedly does this. 

Now if like me you live in a large city or town, I live in Liverpool NW England/UK. Can you honestly say that the £1000's you've given/been forced to pay, has been worth the standard of services you receive? OK yes the bins are collected weekly, and the road gritters have been out in force since the 'beast of the east' bit the UK.  Some could argue this.

But when the Tory central government headed by PM Theresa 'I can't hold onto VIP Pedophile investigation files' May, decides to reduce funding for councils.  Then where is this money we have to give annually been going?  It increases every year and the illegal wars the UK likes to involve itself in seem to escalate.  Maybe this is one area our hard earned wonga is going too, well not maybe more for sure! And yet its going up again by 6%, WTF?

So what happens if you are struggling to pay? I am as I've said. I consider myself lucky, as I am in full time employment, with a semi decent wage. Nope not in the £30K plus bracket, but a reasonable one if there is such a thing! I don't own a house we rent. My partner has struggled to find work and cannot receive any form of help from the system, due to the not so big wage I earn.  So on one wage we have to pay all our living costs.  This no doubt is the same situation for many. So what do you do?

I contacted the council, explained our situation asked for help. Filled in forms on line, went to the one stop shops, emailed those in the Revenues and Benefits departments.  Basically did everything I was advised to do.  Where did it get me? Nowhere is the answer.  I was advised by my local council to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB).  No offence to CAB volunteers BUT regarding Council Tax issues they're not much help, other than sharing a problem with a sympathetic ear. 

I am like many who listen to Richie Allen in that, I agree voting isn't going to change a thing.  It hasn't since I started voting and I'm now 44, not that I've used that 'right' every time there's an election. So in my opinion that's enough evidence to support that. Even with that in mind I went to see my local MP. Well allegedly they're to help right?  Yeah I know, but it is worthwhile meeting these politicians face to face.  It's not the first time I've met my MP, the first time I went with a Tax Fraud Issue. The MP contacted HMRC (Her Majesty's Ripoff C###s), on my behalf.  The MP was basically told to go away. I think the main thing you learn from that is, it's clearly Her Majesty's.

So I explained to the MP my situation, the MP and her aide listened but yet dismissed my claims that the system is corrupt and broken. Well they're going too aren't they?  So what help have they offered? They're going to contact the council for me.  I got to be honest I doubt it will make a blind bit of difference. The council will still waste money on magistrates, who agree that the council can sell the debt to Fascist Organisations known as Bailiffs/debt collector agencies. Who will hound me for money unlike the central bank I cannot just make from thin air. Well I could but that would be fraud right? Now ain't that a peculiar situation?

I'm interested to know how others are trying to work with this tax and how a similar tax is used in other countries across Europe, Canada, the US, across our planet. What are your opinions alternatives, in fact what are the alternatives?

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I look forward to any comments.

Peace

Al Bassninja

[The Apprentice]

Like many people in the UK/across the planet, I am struggling with certain bills every month.  The main one is that wonderful Council Tax.  You know the one that is there to fund and financially support, the Police, your local Council Services, the Fire and Rescue Services etc. In my opinion this tax allegedly does this. 

Now if like me you live in a large city or town, I live in Liverpool NW England/UK. Can you honestly say that the £1000's you've given/been forced to pay, has been worth the standard of services you receive? OK yes the bins are collected weekly, and the road gritters have been out in force since the 'beast of the east' bit the UK.  Some could argue this.

But when the Tory central government headed by PM Theresa 'I can't hold onto VIP Pedophile investigation files' May, decides to reduce funding for councils.  Then where is this money we have to give annually been going?  It increases every year and the illegal wars the UK likes to involve itself in seem to escalate.  Maybe this is one area our hard earned wonga is going too, well not maybe more for sure! And yet its going up again by 6%, WTF?

So what happens if you are struggling to pay? I am as I've said. I consider myself lucky, as I am in full time employment, with a semi decent wage. Nope not in the £30K plus bracket, but a reasonable one if there is such a thing! I don't own a house we rent. My partner has struggled to find work and cannot receive any form of help from the system, due to the not so big wage I earn.  So on one wage we have to pay all our living costs.  This no doubt is the same situation for many. So what do you do?

I contacted the council, explained our situation asked for help. Filled in forms on line, went to the one stop shops, emailed those in the Revenues and Benefits departments.  Basically did everything I was advised to do.  Where did it get me? Nowhere is the answer.  I was advised by my local council to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB).  No offence to CAB volunteers BUT regarding Council Tax issues they're not much help, other than sharing a problem with a sympathetic ear. 

I am like many who listen to Richie Allen in that, I agree voting isn't going to change a thing.  It hasn't since I started voting and I'm now 44, not that I've used that 'right' every time there's an election. So in my opinion that's enough evidence to support that. Even with that in mind I went to see my local MP. Well allegedly they're to help right?  Yeah I know, but it is worthwhile meeting these politicians face to face.  It's not the first time I've met my MP, the first time I went with a Tax Fraud Issue. The MP contacted HMRC (Her Majesty's Ripoff C###s), on my behalf.  The MP was basically told to go away. I think the main thing you learn from that is, it's clearly Her Majesty's.

So I explained to the MP my situation, the MP and her aide listened but yet dismissed my claims that the system is corrupt and broken. Well they're going too aren't they?  So what help have they offered? They're going to contact the council for me.  I got to be honest I doubt it will make a blind bit of difference. The council will still waste money on magistrates, who agree that the council can sell the debt to Fascist Organisations known as Bailiffs/debt collector agencies. Who will hound me for money unlike the central bank I cannot just make from thin air. Well I could but that would be fraud right? Now ain't that a peculiar situation?

I'm interested to know how others are trying to work with this tax and how a similar tax is used in other countries across Europe, Canada, the US, across our planet. What are your opinions alternatives, in fact what are the alternatives?

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I look forward to any comments.

Peace

Al Bassninja

This was a heart felf life story which many have been going through over the last ten years or so, here we were also in the thick of it, as the downturn began to rear its ugly head, so we decided to do something about it.
The first thing we did was get rid of our TV mobile phone and all uneccesary costs like a car and every insurance policy we were paying into and then chewed on the ex-commercial bullet, lets call it withdrawal symptoms if you like.

We are now approaching the semi-retirement age, nearly there as they say, but before we began down sizing when we were still working, we started gaining as many real life skills as well as the ones we already had, and here in is the key to survival, skills is the basis of our lives and we have by and large been robbed of them and the alternative opportunities to get them freely, and we now share them freely also with those who want to help themselves.

The secret is to bring down the monetary figurers that the authorities are crunching and begin replacing them with your own in house management systems, we ditched the two car two job scenario many years ago because we knew exactly what was coming since observing what was happening in the early seventies when we were just beginning our apprenteships, this was before the internet really began encroaching into everyones lives. We witnessed as each hurdle is knocked over their system is adapt at putting up new ones that you can steer around rather than knock over, again, if you retain enough skills to replace them with they eventually lose, by then using their own numbers crunching game and rules against them.

It also depends upon what and how much you want from their system, the less money or income you have the less they can steal back from you, its simply a numbers game and everything is negotiable, so far that is, but they simply will not cease changing the size of their goal posts, until people really begin noticing the goal from the next county boundry, then it is open season for the hunters and number crunchers themselves, like our local council who now employ as many part time staff as full time, and the whole system continues grinding to a halt as they sell off the infrastructure and what is not rightfully theirs to do so, I know of large brown paper envelopes changing hands today, corrupt to their core, but it won't last forever, as the next level of corruption begins to fall away bit by bit, so will their own system that collects but produces nothing whatsoever.

Yes we eventually got all the labels thrown and attached to us like, someone has to pay your rent or take your rubbish away, but what most don't realise is, the public housing that was built in the early years after the wars has already been paid for by our fathers and grandfathers many times over, yet they fall into diss-repair with very little spent on them until the new EU laws of dwelling conditions forces their hand to repair them, but not all authorities that is, they will try to get away with as much, as those they are name calling, who are just wanting a roof over their head and some food to eat.

With the lead swinging out of the way, what we did is find the skills and the opportunities to begin doing more for ourselves which is actually as hard as working for someone for nothing, but we at least govern ourselves in the mean time, this is far better than working on a minumum wage and still have to apply for rebates from the local govenment, much better and it get better the more you do for yourself outside the reach of their stealing octopus.

If you know what to do and how to work yourself away from the octopus you can live almost tax free, but it takes a lot of effort and knowledge and skill gathering to get there.

[Steve]

This is not an easy one to answer but I was wondering if your Council might offer Discretionary payments for certain groups / situations?

[The Apprentice]

This is not an easy one to answer but I was wondering if your Council might offer Discretionary payments for certain groups / situations?

They might, but discressional is simply another name for rent.

[Charlotte4711]

I feel your pain bassninja, I just don’t know the answer my dear! It’s daylight robbery just like the IRS in the US!
But unless everyone stands up and refuses to pay it... they won’t reign it in! We live in a friggin fascist state already!
All I can do is sympathise I’m afraid ... I have an equally horrendous council tax bill each month but we soldier on like the good little slaves we are...

[The Apprentice]

I feel your pain bassninja, I just don’t know the answer my dear! It’s daylight robbery just like the IRS in the US!
But unless everyone stands up and refuses to pay it... they won’t reign it in! We live in a friggin fascist state already!
All I can do is sympathise I’m afraid ... I have an equally horrendous council tax bill each month but we soldier on like the good little slaves we are...

I have studdied this phenomenon for several years now, and the discressional route is not appealable if they suddenly decide you have enough funds in your kitty, this is now being ramped up even further.

The message on their grape vine is, that local councils are now in fear of their own funds being cut even further, so they must now try to get more back from the general public, many workers are themselves on part time hours, thus do not have a good hold on what is actually going on, a trick is also not to sign letters which they seem to think will make them immune to suit.

What they are also doing is trying to get older folks out of their family homes and to move into rabbit cages and let the houses out to housing associations and now in many areas in the sticks to immigrants for even higher rents, which they claim back from central government, it is a huge racket and number crunching game which they cannot win and will also be decimated in the intrim.

All by design.

[Styleezy]

'Give me money or i'll hurt you in some horrible way' - otherwise known as extortion. Sickening.
AL Bassninja, i know this isn't a solution but has your partner tried to go self employed? Most people have a transferable skill, and sole traders can set up for a small cost (dependent on business). My partner and i are both self employed, have previously been on PAYE but wouldn't want to again. We have greater freedom over our time and no boss as such (although i find time my boss now!).
Things can still be challenging though as work can dry up at the drop of a hat (eg. the beast from the east cost our household 6 workings days lost).
Good Luck