Council Tax reassessment
 

Details to be announced in Sept. with new charges from 2007.

Houses that have risen by more than the 'National average' will be moved into higher groups.

Now considering that Accrington was one of teh top 10 risers last year this could mean that a lot of accringtons houses are moved up a band.

Thoughts anyone?

Re: Council Tax reassessment
 

Plenty but none I could print without being banned.

Re: Council Tax reassessment
 

I here loads of rubbish about this nationally and all I think is any bandwagon jumping fool who tries to gain votes of this won't ever get any sympathy from me.

HBC has £12m budget approx. £8m given by the govt, £4m raised by council tax. After rebanding it will still be £4m+[lets say] 3% rise per year.

So when everyone gets rebanded, if thats how they do it, each BAND will have to pay less, otherwise the Council will be flushed with loads of money and residents left with empty pockets!!!

What they could do with the revaluation is move the thresholds up. So Band A is under £40,00 now. Band A might change to under £90,000 to keep things the same.

Interestingly the govt is seriously considering in the short term introducing a Band AA below band A to help those like in places such as Accy where house prices have been considerably less than the national average and thresholds dont work as well. EG In 1991 Band AA would have been under £20,000 which would have included most of Accy [and as a good old fashioned socialist could have been 4 ninths! - see below for how Council Tax is worked out]

If the revaluation goes the first way and everyone moves up a band the charges for Bands will have to fall, anything else would be absurd and a bigger death of any government than the original Poll Tax [see formual below]. Those suggesting this will happen are naive fools [mainly thick vote grabbing Tories and daft as a brush Lib Dems]. The outcome of a higher banding and subsequent repricing down of charges will mean people will end up paying roughly the same, though there will be some losers in the higher bands [DEF], but not the top bands [GH]

Of course thought I have suggested this, what may happen with this process is some skimming such as when we decimal and the marginal prices [half pence etc] were rounded up so as to say.

How the Council Tax works if you can follow this!!!!

Council Tax works on 9ths but doesnt start at the bottom, ie one 9th.

The full Council Tax is 9 ninths which is in fact BAND D.
8 ninths is obvioulsy a reduction of a ninth and is BAND C.
BAND A is 6 ninths. BAND B 7 ninths.
BANDS E & F are 10 ninths and 11 ninths respectively.

The problem will come with BANDS G, H which are not linear and do not go up by one ninth.
BAND G is not 12 ninths but 13 ninths and H is 16 ninths 3 more.

This was Thatchers way of accpeting the rich pay more but not the 8 times they used to pay. It meant as we all experienced the poor A B & C had to pay a lot more, especiallly if you ha da family and it was per person. Of course it was modified to per property from the Community Charge to the Council Tax.

Another issue is the South vs the North. Bands GH are not enough now [in the south/London] so whilst Accy may benefit from a BAND AA, it would significantly benefit from the pressure to introduce new BANDS I, J, K.... because if they carry on going up in non linear ninths ie I is 19 ninths, J is 22 ninths and K is 25 ninths, you can see how the rich will shoulder more of the burnden, and those is A, B C, D E, F less. Hence a cut. Remember County Council Tax budgets include the Preston and Ribble Valley areas and make up 85% of the Council Tax. So it will be interesting to see how this pans out.

So the main issue [against those blasting off] will be if the revalue and with it the according repricing reduction of BANDS is equal and everyone ends up paying the same roughtly, except of course those around E & F who will move up the BAND scale and will hit by the increasing ninths rule at the top end. 11 to 13 to 16. Supposedly these people are the better off, just a small point!

Just one seperate point. The four wards deemed poor. Barnfield, Church, Springhill & Central are exempt Stamp Duty. However the richest houses in the Borough are in Barnfield, Hollins Lane area and Wensley Drive and they sell for £200,000 plus with no stamp duty. So dont let the rich folk of Hyndburn tell you they ALWAYS have to cough up! 1% of £250,000 is a £2,500 exemtion everyone buying over £60,000 has to pay.

Re: Council Tax reassessment
 

Sorry to sound thick but I don't understand why they are exempt from stamp duty. I recall the stamp duty limit changing but can't remember the details.

Re: Council Tax reassessment
 

some poor buggers on the sick ( incapacity and disability)who are not entitled to council tax releif will be up crap kreek trying to pay higher band rates on 84 quid a week if not less

will the council reduce the council tax when the market crashes

i think not

edit:

some people on the sick may get council tax reief but a lot dont

Re: Council Tax reassessment
 

Designated a deprived ward by Govt using local statistocs on crime, health, education etc.. Deprived is the poorest 10% in the country. From 2006 that will now incude Peel. The figures are approx. Central [top] 1%; Church 5%? Springhilll 8%? Peel 9% and lastly Barnfield 9%. The between 10 and 20% is St Andrews, Clayton, Immanuel, Netherton then 20-30 Milnshaw. Baxenden is in the 50-60% bracket and is the wealthiset ward in Hyndburn followed by Overton and Rishton in teh 40-50% most derpived [or in the 50-60% bracket of least deprived in the country depending on how you look at it].

Wards designated deprived quailfy for special govt funding [like NRF] and special measures, like stamp duty exemption.

Our wardens are funded by NRF so they can only work the 4 deprived wards. So how
govt has cut funding to the other 12 wards is beyond me?? Basically that says the council has no intention and never had of rolling wardens out for Hyndburn.

Re: Council Tax reassessment
 

Re: Council Tax reassessment
 

QUOTE:
So if Central Ward is so deprived what special funding is available and what for?

A.

Ros Robson at Regeneration Services would be able to give a comprehensive answer. Basically their is a lot of strategic funding that come in from Europe, Central Govt. ERDF, SRB6, NRF the bulk of which. Then there's the perks such as no Stamp Duty. Thats perverse in Hyndburn cos the threshold is £60,000 so above that you would have thought they had the money and shouldnt be exempt. But once you think about a London slum, Tower Hamlets eg, where a slum house will fetch over £200,000 it scews the picture.









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Re: Council Tax reassessment
 

My guess would be Barnfield became a poor ward due to the ever changing boundary lines.

Re: Council Tax reassessment
 

The Boundary changes in 2002 actually brought in lower parts of Baxenden and lost parts of Springhill near the old band club towards Nuttall St. One of the reasons it dropped from 4th to 5th in Hyndburn and Peel went from 5th to 4th in the new ratings based on 2002-2004 [due to start 2006!]

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Re: Council Tax reassessment
 

The Stamp Duty limit was raised from £60,000 to £120,000 before you pay it.

No property selling at £200,000 would be exempt from Stamp Duty.

I know that a lot of people/developers sell properties with 'Stamp Duty Paid' but they would not be exempt

Re: Council Tax reassessment
 

As I understand it all houses in the 4 priority wards are exempt. I know 3 people who have bought in Barnfield, £250,000, £215,000 & £145,000 and none has paid Stamp Duty. I know the Chancellor has had a buget [maybe 2] since the last one so you might have more upto date infor than me but it was the case last year or thereabouts there was a full exemption just in the four wards.

Re: Council Tax reassessment
 

Now that you mention it, there are certain 'regeneration' areas that are exempt from Stamp Duty - Hastings is one of them.

Although I have to say, bearing in mind the difference in property prices between my area and yours, if someone was paying over £200,000 a couple of years ago, they would have a very nice property indeed.

But I guess regeneration areas don't take account of property prices!

Re: Council Tax reassessment
 

I don't care about council tax.