Originally Posted by Neil (Post 590104)

Thats politics for you. The Labour supporters cant admit that the Torys may have done something good. All they will do is point out what they have done wrong.

The same works the other way around of course.

Originally Posted by andrewb (Post 590099)

Garinda, if you didn't know, houses pay council tax unless all residents are full time students.

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 590111)

I can honestly say that having lived and paid council tax to four different local authorities, Lambeth, Wandsworth, Glasgow, and Hyndburn, Hyndburn is the most expensive, weighed against the level of services which are provided, and the one which seems to fritter away their revenue most freely.

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 590110)

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

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 590086)

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.

Originally Posted by andrewb (Post 590099)

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.

Originally Posted by Royboy39 (Post 590039)

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?

Originally Posted by Neil (Post 590135)

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

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 590110)

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.

Originally Posted by andrewb (Post 590247)

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.

Originally Posted by g jones (Post 590371)

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."

Originally Posted by claytonender (Post 590396)

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.

Originally Posted by polly (Post 590474)

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

Originally Posted by andrewb (Post 590525)

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. :)

Originally Posted by Gayle (Post 590530)

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.

Originally Posted by andrewb (Post 590525)

The charge is constantly levied by various people that we have the most expensive council tax in the country

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 590648)

Who?

As far as I recall people have just discussed the facts, the facts as printed in both the national and local press.

Originally Posted by andrewb (Post 590651)

I know this is fun and games to you Gary. ;) We've already discussed this and you agreed with me. :p

Originally Posted by andrewb (Post 590651)

We've already discussed this and you agreed with me. :p

Originally Posted by cashman (Post 590656)

that obviously means ya can't answer his question Why?:D

Originally Posted by andrewb (Post 590659)

I have no problems with answering, he's only doing it because he knows how silly I thought it was to quote the newspapers figures whilst trying to misrepresent what they showed. :D

What the newspaper wrote about council tax was fact, in terms of the figures were not inaccurate. Just the way they calculated the figures didn't represent Hyndburn. They had used band D figures to compare with income, which was obviously much lower than band D 'normals' in Hyndburn since only 8% of people actually live in band D housing.

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 590662)

Instead of beavering away on here why don't you take the Daily Telegraph to court?

That'd be much more of a coup.

Surely you'd win, if as you say, they've printed untruthful information?

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 590678)

Right, so when the Daily Telegraph printed that Hyndburn has one of the most expensive Council Taxes in the country, they were right...it's just you don't like the fact.

Originally Posted by Neil (Post 590821)

As a side issue why do we have council tax banding anyway? Just because someone lives in a less expensive house does not mean they use less council services.

Originally Posted by Neil (Post 590821)

As a side issue why do we have council tax banding anyway? Just because someone lives in a less expensive house does not mean they use less council services. It would be interesting to see a breakdown of public spending by council tax banded area. I know it might be hard to get accurate figures but I would suspect less money is spent on services in band D area's than band A areas.

Maybe council tax banding should be more like car insurance, as in your insurance will vary depending on what your area is costing the insurance company.

Originally Posted by polly (Post 590851)

Those are figures I would like to see too.
We live in a band D area

Originally Posted by lancsdave (Post 590879)

I wonder if the council wasted more money than the government on celebrating our national day. I hope not, anymore rises in CT to pay for being English would be unthinkable :rolleyes:

http://row.bc.yahoo.com/b?P=sgsdHVf4...796478%2fV%3d1
Culture Minister Margaret Hodge confessed that her department spent 116 pounds on promoting England's national day this year, two pounds more than in 2007 -- and absolutely nothing in the previous three years.

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 590875)

Just be grateful you don't live in Hyndburn.

Did you know that according to the Daily Telegraph that we live in one of the most expensive boroughs in the country, on figures worked out using band D property?:D

By the way, it's properties that are banded together, not areas. You might for instance have a one bedroomed cottage next door to a large Vicarage, which would of course be in totally different bands.

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 590875)

Did you know that according to the Daily Telegraph that we live in one of the most expensive boroughs in the country, on figures worked out using band D property and band A wages?:D

Originally Posted by andrewb (Post 590899)

Corrected it for you Rindi dear. ;) :D

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 590875)

By the way, it's properties that are banded together, not areas.

Originally Posted by Gayle (Post 591029)

If you don't use the value of the house for council tax i.e. on the assumption that you live in an expensive area therefore earn a good wage and can afford to pay more (which in a nutshell is the principle of the banding) - then you have to discuss other ways for councils to get their funding and the other way is per person! Which, if you recall was the principle of Poll Tax and think of the disruption and outrage that that caused. There are probably people still languishing in our overcrowded jails because they refused to pay Poll Tax. :D

Originally Posted by Gayle (Post 591029)

If you don't use the value of the house for council tax i.e. on the assumption that you live in an expensive area therefore earn a good wage and can afford to pay more (which in a nutshell is the principle of the banding) - then you have to discuss other ways for councils to get their funding and the other way is per person! Which, if you recall was the principle of Poll Tax and think of the disruption and outrage that that caused. There are probably people still languishing in our overcrowded jails because they refused to pay Poll Tax. :D

Originally Posted by jaysay (Post 591125)

The concept of te Community Charge (to give it its Sunday name) was good, it was the implimentation that was crap, there is nothing wrong with people paying for he services they receive, its not a house that uses services, its people, but didn't agree with the amount that people were being asked to pay, if it had been set at around £75 per person with the same benefits for the poorest in society I don't think there would have been a lot of decenters, but at the time the amount being asked was stupid. But whichever way local services are payed for not everybody will be happy, people don't like paying out money and thats a fact

Originally Posted by polly (Post 591154)

The value of ones house does not necessarily denote the level of houshold income. what about pensioners who live almost entirely off their state pension but spent their working lives paying a mortgage? Many OAP's in our area are in the situation that they are now scrimping and scraping to keep the homes they love going.

What about instances such as ours were we are now down to one moderate not fantastic income due to illness. Are we suppose to move some downbeat area just because of the said illness?

Actually Poll tax sounds pretty good to me at the moment, the big problem would be setting it at a reasonable level.

Another question, why the hell am I paying for a ll these youth groups, community centres, business grants blah blah balh when they are nowhere near to me and I can not access them, is that suppose to be fair because I'm working 7 days a week to keep my own family instead of claiming benefits? Rant over

Originally Posted by Gayle (Post 591209)

my parents went up from something daft like £80 rates per year to something like £250 each for Community Charge.

Originally Posted by Neil (Post 591211)

I wonder why they suddenly needed all that extra money and what they did with it? How did they run the Council before with the small amount?

Originally Posted by Neil (Post 591292)

Can I get a reduction because the Council have neglected the grass verges outside my house and have just sprayed them with kill everything weed killer?

Originally Posted by harwood red (Post 591283)

message for polly, I noticed you said your husband is disabled, check out your local council rules regarding council tax and the disabled as regardless of income you can get some discounts if you meet certain criteria..eg adaptations to the property for disabled people, them using one room specifically due to disabilities.... you might be surprised!!

Originally Posted by polly (Post 591335)

Thanks but I have tried that and he does not qualify for reasons I do not wish to go into here.