Should Council Tax revaluations to tax every feature of people's homes by taxman Brown be stopped ?

Question

Under a 'Big Brother' databases tax scheme covering home improvements, 'site positive' features like gardens, patios, conservatories, double glazing, scenic views, the number of bedrooms and parking spaces, will all qualify for higher tax bills. The information will be fed into a 'Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal' database - the same 'Big Brother' technology that has been bought for both England and Northern Ireland.

Labour is quietly pushing new laws through Parliament to give council tax inspectors in Northern Ireland the right to enter homes and fine householders up to £1,000 a time, plus up to £200 every day after that, if they do not allow the inspectors into their homes, or fail to 'assist' the tax snoopers when inside their properties.

What about subjective things ? Like a nice view - its not just the square footage they are based on. If you get say a nice kitchen put in - should you pay tax on top of all the other taxes for having it ?

Answer 1

This is typical of this Government, they are "bloodsuckers" to a man [and woman]

I know there was an outcry when Thatcher introduced the "Poll Tax", but I still think this is a much fairer way of raising money for local services.

Why should an elderly couple pay the same amount of community charge as a family living in an identical property, with maybe 3 or 4 wage earners. I think they set the figure too high initially, and households with several wage earners suddenly saw the "total" amount to pay increase dramatically.

If this new scheme is introduced, Labour can say goodbye to power for decades.

People will "not" accept it lying down.

It is the most ridiculous idea they have come up with, and thats saying something.

I hope in the run up to the next election we get some tough questioning on this subject. Get Jeremy Paxman on the case.

Gordon Brown wants every penny he can steal from us, and when he becomes PM, God help us all.

Send him back north of the boarder where he came from instead of ******* up our Country.

This Government is pushing and pushing the indigenous population and we are getting very close to the edge. We"ve had enough.

Answer 2

if two houses are "identical" in every way then the tax should be the same. Any variant should result in a larger tax bill for the "upgraded" home. As the previous respondant stated, they are going to fine N Ireland residents for not allowing the inspectors over the front door. We do not have "council tax" as in GB (England , Scotland Wales),

It is amazing the number of companies you see advertising their wares for "uk mainland only". When I went to school, we were taught UK refers to England,Scotland,Wales and N. Ireland. Leaving N. Ireland out then it is described as Great Britain.

Back to the question on hand. The N. I. rating system was 30yr old and inadequent. It was based on a "rental" value of the property 30yrs ago. All houses were tarred with the same feather, no matter what age the house was. Now our new system due to come in from 2007 is based on the outside dimensions of your house. There is a website where you can look up your house valuation and that of your neighbours. This shows the "sq" area of your house and its valuation. We are all to get a standard seperate "water charge " from 2007 also and there is also talk of a seperate rubbish collection charge. The problem we now face, which the Blair government will not come clean on is why a single person should pay the same water charges as a married couple or those with a family. Surely it makes common sense that a single person should be using less water than anyone else. The only way for a proper water costing would have ben to intorduce water meters into NI but the government declined. One feels they saw this would have meant a loss of earnings for them.

Answer 3

This government is a control freak government. They want to stick their beaks into every aspect of our lives, empty our pockets with stealth taxes on anything that moves, stop us doing things that we've been doing for generations because it contravenes "health and safety" rules. Damn right they should be stopped, if everyone refused to co operate, then there would be too many people for the courts to cope with and the system would breaak down. But, will people do this? Not likely, they'll moan about it for a while, and when the goons come knocking at their door demanding that they snoop around in your home, they'll roll over and let them in. Not me though, they can fine me £1000 plus £200 a day from now til hell freezes over. No one comes into my home uninvited, warrant or no warrant. I'm a registered shotgun owner, try breaking my door down, you get both barrels in the face. An Englishman's home is his castle.

Answer 4

i do agree that properties need to be re-valued as there have been so many changes, eg: the building i live in has been converted into flats so they're probably now getting 5 times the council tax out of the five flats than they would if it had stayed as a single houshold, so they should look into that as they get more money for me living in a smaller house!
I do think the high charges if you refuse are a bit much i mean £1000 is more than my tax bill for a year and is tantamount to daylight robbery.
in total though i don't think they're looking at it the right way...isn't there an election coming up soon? though really are the tories much better?

Answer 5

Man this mothe_ f_cking government really fu_ks me off!! To the point were i want to leave & live in the South of France ASAP.
I have a beauiful MUCH improved bungalow, which all of the above mentioned.
I dont see why my home improvements should cost me a fu_king penny!!
Its about time WE stood up to these cu_ts & said enough is e fuc_ing nough!!
Weather it be the rising tax bills, petrol prices, the price of beer & wine or the amount of fu_king immagrants
We need A Revolution in this country. NOW

Answer 6

Yes. And not only that, the Council tax has long needed scrapping in favour of a fairer system, based on income and not the house you live in. It's crazy that we have to be demanded money that some people can barely afford every year when there is a far easier and fairer way of funding councils.

Answer 7

God help us all if (when) he becomes PM. It's just another example of 'rip-off' Britain.

I really think that we should have a revolution and topple these greedy, grasping, self-centred, self-righteous, self-obsessed bastards from power.

We might as well hand over our entire pay-packet to the chancellor. I read recently that, when you take ALL taxes into account - (VAT, Council Tax, Car Tax, Insurance tax, duty on beer and spirits, Fuel duty, Airport Tax etc.), your first six months pay goes in tax - so you can work from January to July without earning a single penny. From July onwards it's yours. On £30k a year that's an awful lot in tax. The greedy bastards.

Answer 8

That's why you should have kept your guns. You are a slave now, shut up and take it. There shouldn't be any property tax, it discourages people from spending to improve property. Spending on improvements helps the economy and increases tax revenue. You are basically killing your cash cow. Soon you will have to go to the job that the government gives you, eat what the government gives you, live where the government tells you, etc.... Welcome to communism! You should have overthrown your government when they tried to disarm you, but you didn't, you are politically correct little sheep.

Answer 9

It's a disgrace that people who spend money improving their living space standards are taxed again for doing so, they are already paying vat at 17.5 at B & Q etc when buying products. What is the point in working!!. Fair taxes yes, But not just to give to lazy social scum and immigrants to keep them in fags and cider.

Answer 10

In short, YES. How much more Tax do they want. As for fining people for non assistance, they can fine all they want but try getting people to pay. I for one would do time instead of giving them my well earned money.