Council Tax 2008/2009

[Neil]

Originally Posted by garinda

When I lived in Wandsworth, low council tax, high level of services.

But you explained yourself why that was. The Government pumped in money to make it look good.

Originally Posted by garinda

My stance isn't political, as I've said many times before on here the best borough I ever lived in for services, and paid council tax in, was Tory run Wandsworth. It was also the cheapest borough in the country, though being the flagship council for the then Conservative government probably helped a bit with keeping the the costs down, as they literally threw money at us.

[Mancie]

Originally Posted by garinda View Post
When I lived in Wandsworth, low council tax, high level of services.
I recall those times ... in the 80's my dear..low tax Wandsworth.. but you could not get a bus for love nor money.

[claytonender]

Originally Posted by andrewb

Still people will not give credit to HBC for a 45% increase beating the national average by 55%. I am happy to admit where HBC have gone wrong, waiting on information about Hyndburn Life, and spying powers. Garinda, if you didn't know, houses pay council tax unless all residents are full time students.

I am sure that we are all aware that houses pay council tax unless all residents are students. But are you personally responsible for paying any part of the Council Tax in the house you have quoted?

[claytonender]

Originally Posted by Royboy39

Is that a sin in your book?..............He's a big boy and can look after himself............Ridicule is probably something you can't see through.
Look at the thread from the very first page and see where it starts to deteriate......In your eyes it may be an attempt to ridicule Garinda but if everyone thought in a nieve way that you do, you would have us all believing that what Garinda say's should be taken on board as gospel.
We can laugh, we can cry, but most of all we despair.
A campaign for good or bad is relient on what can be done to resolve a situation and all the screaming or shouting on Accyweb will not resolve anything....I'ts alright being a 'Big Man' on here but really, is anyone taking any notice?

Can you please inform us all, are you are naturally rude or do you practice?

Most of your posts on here seem to ridicule the views of other people.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Neil

But you explained yourself why that was. The Government pumped in money to make it look good.

It was still low after 1997, when we had a Labour government, and when we weren't getting money from Westminster. The services were still excellent. That Tory council knew how to run a tight, well maintained, ship.

Mancie the council aren't responsible for the buses. Though the Conservative government privatising them did lead to a fall in service on some routes, but that happened country wide.

Personally I never had a problem catching a bus anywhere. Perhaps it was just you. The driver took one look at you and decided to drive on by.

[andrewb]

Originally Posted by garinda

I do know. I've been paying it, and it's predecessor the Poll Tax, since before you were born.

When I lived in Wandsworth, low council tax, high level of services.

Hyndburn not so, I'm afraid.

In which case you will be delighted to give credit to HBC for giving you a 45% increase since 1999, whilst Wandsworth has increased 50% since 2000.

Whilst I accept we do not have the cheapest council tax (you can see this in my first post), I find it rather bemusing that certain individuals will not credit HBC for having an increase 55% better than the national AVERAGE, never mind the fact that loads of councils must be above this average.

[g jones]

Originally Posted by andrewb

In which case you will be delighted to give credit to HBC for giving you a 45% increase since 1999, whilst Wandsworth has increased 50% since 2000.

Whilst I accept we do not have the cheapest council tax (you can see this in my first post), I find it rather bemusing that certain individuals will not credit HBC for having an increase 55% better than the national AVERAGE, never mind the fact that loads of councils must be above this average.

I think it has been said previously, so sorry repeating why people are dissatisfied.

A 35% cut in services. A 22% CT increase double that of wage rises (UNITE UNION) and subsidised services in excess of £100million. A council worker told me on Friday to "keep going. An honest politician. People need to know the truth about the waste."

[andrewb]

Originally Posted by g jones

I think it has been said previously, so sorry repeating why people are dissatisfied.

A 35% cut in services. A 22% CT increase double that of wage rises (UNITE UNION) and subsidised services in excess of £100million. A council worker told me on Friday to "keep going. An honest politician. People need to know the truth about the waste."

Where is your 35% figure from?

Can I just ask you straight off: Is it not a good thing that our council has kept tax to 45% increase, which in comparison, is a huge saving compared to the national average of 100%?

I don't know how you can come here and post that council tax has gone up more than wage rises, when up until the last year (or two?) the opposition have proposed HIGHER council tax increases every single year than the Conservatives. This means that if we'd have had a Labour council over the last 10 years council tax would have gone up much more than 45%, how can you justify this and yet not give credit to 45%?

[claytonender]

Andrew why do you give the distinct impression in your posts that yours is the only valid view.

Several other people (who do not have any political bias) have expressed opinions, in this thread that differ from yours, but you are not prepared to concede that any of their points are valid. Most of these people are several years older than you are, they may not be studying politics are even have been to university, but they do have experience of the 'real world', which is something that is sadly lacking in your posts.

By the way (before you accuse me of lying) I do have a poltical bias. This has been forged over my lifetime nad has been reinforced by the actions of the Conservative Party (both locally and nationally) many times.

[polly]

Andrew

Please could you tell us what the purpose was of your original reasearch/ What theory did you set out to prove or disprove?


Thank you

[blazey]

His name is andrewb, it rhymes with lube, tube, newb, cube, pube, zoob... indeed.

[andrewb]

Originally Posted by claytonender

Andrew why do you give the distinct impression in your posts that yours is the only valid view.

Several other people (who do not have any political bias) have expressed opinions, in this thread that differ from yours, but you are not prepared to concede that any of their points are valid. Most of these people are several years older than you are, they may not be studying politics are even have been to university, but they do have experience of the 'real world', which is something that is sadly lacking in your posts.

By the way (before you accuse me of lying) I do have a poltical bias. This has been forged over my lifetime nad has been reinforced by the actions of the Conservative Party (both locally and nationally) many times.

Please don't try and levy the 'you're ignoring everyone else' argument. I have agreed that points are valid, I have agreed with most of your points, you can't argue with bare figures, it is obvious our town has a lower income than others. Points would appear much more legitimate, and appear less subject to bias, if people could give credit where it is due.

Are you going to give credit to a council that has kept council tax increase well below national average, or will you just continue to criticise EVERYTHING they do, rather than just the bad things? I know for one I'd be agreeing with you on the bad things.

Obviously I'm aware of your potential bias, being a Labour councillor, but I honestly believe Labour would fair much better if they could just give credit where its due.

[andrewb]

Originally Posted by polly

Andrew

Please could you tell us what the purpose was of your original reasearch/ What theory did you set out to prove or disprove?


Thank you

The charge is constantly levied by various people that we have the most expensive council tax in the country so I had a look to compare simply the tax in the local area and posted what I found.

[Gayle]

Originally Posted by andrewb

The charge is constantly levied by various people that we have the most expensive council tax in the country so I had a look to compare simply the tax in the local area and posted what I found.

I understand what point you're trying to make but just wonder why you continue to refuse the standard bench mark that every other financial analyst in the country uses which is the Band D properties.

Whilst I appreciate that we do have a lot of Band A properties in the area, so do many other areas.

[andrewb]

Originally Posted by Gayle

I understand what point you're trying to make but just wonder why you continue to refuse the standard bench mark that every other financial analyst in the country uses which is the Band D properties.

Whilst I appreciate that we do have a lot of Band A properties in the area, so do many other areas.

I use band A here because its most relevant to the people of the borough since some 60% of people are in band A, as opposed to 8% in band D. Using band D figures in my posts would still provide the same results in terms of the order councils appear on the first post, and the 45% increase figure. Using band D only becomes a problem when you combine it with income, due to band A housing normally having people of a lower income to say band D, thus massively misrepresenting them.