Why, exactly, am I paying council tax?

[Texas 10]

So, as I understand it (feel free to correct me), I pay council tax for the Police, Ambulances/NHS, Postal Delivery, Keeping roads clear (or is this under Road Tax?), etc etc etc.

 

In the last six months (and longer), I have phoned the Police 0 times, needed an Ambulance / hospitalisation 0 times, had nothing but junk and circular mail. The only thing I use (if it's included in this) is the roads - for the terrible bus service - and the council have abandoned them to the elements (despite many assurances heard on radio / tv stating it was all in hand and controlled). So because of this, I don't get paid today. But the council still get to tax me on my earnings.

 

That accurate?

So, you're a sucker like the rest, right?

[econibu 10]

please go through the public finance..you will better understand the reasons behind CT.

[Longcol 600]

So, as I understand it (feel free to correct me), I pay council tax for the Police, Ambulances/NHS, Postal Delivery, Keeping roads clear (or is this under Road Tax?), etc etc etc.

 

In the last six months (and longer), I have phoned the Police 0 times, needed an Ambulance / hospitalisation 0 times, had nothing but junk and circular mail. The only thing I use (if it's included in this) is the roads - for the terrible bus service - and the council have abandoned them to the elements (despite many assurances heard on radio / tv stating it was all in hand and controlled). So because of this, I don't get paid today. But the council still get to tax me on my earnings.

 

That accurate?

 

No it is wildly inaccurate - are you sure you're in work with such a poor knowledge?

[taxman 12]

To get back to the title of this thread, we pay Council Tax for the council to keep the roads clear of snow, which it is not doing.

If the roads were cleared of snow, then traffic would flow as normal.For the benefit of O.P.s who did not understand my earlier post, this would include First buses , which pulled their buses off the roads at 11 am today, and Royal Mail, last seen in my area on Monday.

It is well known that Sheffield becomes a shambles when there is any snow. That is why there are several tv crews in Sheffield providing the people of L..ds with a good laff.

There are gritters around in mid October or May. Not so many when there is snow on the roads apparently, from others' posts.

 

The roads were gritted last week. It's not the council or the gritter's fault if morons drive around in blizzard conditions after being told not to by the police and then abandon their cars thereby preventing gritters and plows from doing their work.

 

The council did their best to keep the roads gritted and clear...why don't some people take responsibility for their own actions? Or do you want the council to wipe your bum as well?

[mrplodge 10]

People who moan expect the roads to be cleared in these extreme conditions but wont pay the money. Then you get comparisons with countries where this is the norm and say how well they cope. The fact is specialist vehicles can be bought for 100s of thousands of pounds and the roads would be cleared. The down side is your council tax will go up 50 quid and these vehicles would rot from lack of use.

[grumpy2 10]

So you don't have your bin emptied, or take rubbish to the tip?

 

The council haven't abandoned the roads. What exactly do you expect them to do today?

 

Well with the amount of tax collected both in income tax and council tax one wold expect to get more than the weeley bin emptied when they consent to do so. Given that they already have snowploughs and they cost nothing extra,the benefit of these being used would be a massive to those wanting to get out to work in order to earn enough to pay these taxes.

[grumpy2 10]

People who moan expect the roads to be cleared in these extreme conditions but wont pay the money. Then you get comparisons with countries where this is the norm and say how well they cope. The fact is specialist vehicles can be bought for 100s of thousands of pounds and the roads would be cleared. The down side is your council tax will go up 50 quid and these vehicles would rot from lack of use.

 

But we have already paid for these expensive snowploughs and they don't appear to be getting used so they have been paid for so they can sit and rot.

as with the expensive new dust cart fleet that they are so fussy about exactly what and how much we can put in them.

[Vulcan B2 10]

But we have already paid for these expensive snowploughs and they don't appear to be getting used so they have been paid for so they can sit and rot.

as with the expensive new dust cart fleet that they are so fussy about exactly what and how much we can put in them.

 

Yes, we have snowploughs which were bought during a time of typically mild winters. Now we seem to be suffering heavy snow, more frequently, and there are just not enough snowploughs or staff to operate them. If you want to pay even more taxes, I'm sure we could have a fleet of shiny new vehicles, but if the winters return to being mild, they will sit and rust away. The gritters and ploughs are out, and have been working hard in very difficult conditions. Sadly, as was illustrated on the local news, a snowplough got stuck in Greystones, because some pillock had (despite advice to the contrary) took his car out and blocked up the whole road. Who is to blame - the gritter who couldn't get to grit the road, or the complete wassock who blocked the road?

[Jon26 10]

Does anyone know if the council will eventually get around to running the snow plough down side roads which aren't blocked?

[steveh 10]

Not all roads no. Well they've certainly never been down mine in a plough. Street force staff were working their way around some streets in crookes today with grit etc from their vans.

[top4718 838]

I have just taken the time to read through this entire thread (and similar Council Tax ones in the past) and you always get the same idiots spouting the "if you want this and that prepare to pay more" garbage.

 

We already pay more than enough to provide these essential services but the ridiculous PC obsessed councillors would rather waste the money on inflated salaries, non-jobs and investments in (failing) Icelandic banks.

 

Clear out the deadwood, cut the wastage and get the councils back to providing the services that they were set up to provide.

Edited December 2, 2010 by top4718
Errors

[Deerobe 10]

I think a lot of this criticism is unfair. Yes the council could cope if this were average snowfall but what we are experiencing is on a par with countries like Finland, Sweden and Norway who all spend double what the UK does on snow clearance. In many cases gritters and snowploughs could not move because of vehicles abandoned or because the snow was too deep. This is a totally freak weather condition so we just have to do the best we can. I have not experienced anything like it since January 1963 when I was a child in London. Just think how demoralising it is for the people who are trying to keep the roads open to meet a continual barrage of criticism.

 

Perhaps you could help by getting a shovel and clearing you own road or making sure a local pensioner has milk and bread. The council tax in Sheffield is reasonable compared with the local taxes in other uk cities be thankful you are not paying at London rates because they are getting less services than Sheffielders while paying double the tax.

 

Let us stop blaming everyone else and try and do something for ourselves for a change.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Deerobe