Six thousand fail to pay council tax on time

8:00pm Sunday 3rd March 2013 in News

HEREFORDSHIRE Council issued more than 6,000 summonses for late payment of council tax during the last financial year.

The figures – obtained by the Hereford Times in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request – revealed a total 6,151 taxpayers did not pay their council tax on time and were issued a court summons.

As a result, 5,008 liability orders were granted at the magistrates’ court for those who had not paid all – but may have paid some – of their council tax.

In April 2011 there were 81,608 properties on the council tax banding list, this increased to 82,027 in March 2012.

The council stated that the number of people who have to pay council tax does not remain constant throughout the year because of the impact of benefits, discounts and reductions.

On average, around 2,000 properties are subject to an exemption at any time during the year.

In the current financial year, there are on average 10,000 taxpayers who receive full council tax benefit.

These figures come after the council last week voted unanimously for a 1.9 per cent council tax rise.

Comments(31)

WYSIATI says...
8:20pm Sun 3 Mar 13

I wonder how much it costs the council to pursue those people not paying council tax - I suspect there are better things to spend the money on - it's probably a lot of pot holes, services for vulnerable children or a bit of adult social care

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dippyhippy says...
8:49pm Sun 3 Mar 13

Quite agree Wysiati,and how they think a 1.9% increase is going to improve things,I just don't understand. The article underneath this one,covers the problem of homelessness - with more to pay out,this could be an escalating problem.

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silentbull says...
9:27pm Sun 3 Mar 13

Council tax is just one big RIP OFF!!!
end of comment

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megilleland says...
10:01pm Sun 3 Mar 13

The Great Council Tax Robbery
http://www.legalbeag
les.info/forums/show
thread.php?36444-Cou
ncil-Tax-Liability-O
rder-Applications-Co
urt-Costs-%96-Test-C
ase

For people with time to read this thread: Council Tax Liability Order Applicatons Court Costs they may be surprised that this appears to be a money spinner for most councils and reveals the efforts which councils courts and the government go to keep the system going regardless of council taxpayers circumstances.

Sign this e-petition:
http://epetitions.di
rect.gov.uk/petition
s/43663
Stop Local Authorities from treating hard working tax payers like criminals by issuing liability orders for late payment of instalments of Council Tax

The shocking story of how a council pursued Peter Williams
http://liberalconspi
racy.org/2012/07/20/
the-shocking-story-o
f-how-a-council-purs
ued-peter-williams/

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megilleland says...
6:35am Mon 4 Mar 13

These summons are for late payment. May be just one month or a few days over, but these people will be landed with a charge for up to £95 (depending on council) when liability orders are issued by the council incorrectly and not through the courts. If they went through the court the system would grind to a halt. Maybe someone should ask the council how much money is collected or paid to bailiffs in chasing these people who genuinely are unable to pay at that moment in time.

Notice that Herefordshire Council use two Bailiff services Jacobs and Bristow & Sutor. Read this post for information on B&S:
http://www.debt-line
.net/Bristow-and-Sut
or-Civil-Enforcement

and Jacobs:
http://www.debt-line
.net/Jacobs-Certifie
d-Bailiff

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Ubique5740 says...
7:38am Mon 4 Mar 13

If it helps , Council Tax payers can now spread the cost of the Tax over 12 months instead of 10 months .
It appears that HCC have omitted to mention this fact on their website at the moment.
I phoned up the Council Office, the nice lady took my details and said that when I receive my demand it will be for 12 monthly payments.
I

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silentbull says...
10:04am Mon 4 Mar 13

'IF' the (rip-off) council tax was spent wisely as in helping the community, going towards helping everyone in the area or even mostly being spent in the local area then maybe i wouldn't hate the unfair tax as much 'but' it isn't is it!!!!
And maybe it could be the same all around the country

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JohnBoym458 says...
10:40am Mon 4 Mar 13

As much as the tax annoy's me, it has to be paid....However, the HCC are an absolute disgrace, i paid my council tax for 2006 with a single payment for the year, stupidly thinking that the following year i would get 2007's bill and the options for paying, but oh no.....They automatically asumed i would be paying for the full year in one payment again, so when i didn't pay it i rang the council to set up my monthly payments....Answer??
?? Sorry sir but we have handed the bill over to the bailiffs to collect *^%$@#%*( was just a few words i used. In the end they came to my door and i had to pay in 2 instalments and an extra 300 pound to boot!!!!!! What a complete farce and rip-off by HCC....They have know flexibility what so ever........Burn in Hell HCC you (*&^^%$#&^^&&&*.....
.

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probono says...
4:37pm Mon 4 Mar 13

Why should I, a pensioner have to pay more in Council Tax to cover the arrears and refusal to pay of this 6000. Some may have died, but others just up and go never having intended to pay. Also leaving gas electricity and water bills too. We all have to pay for these defaulters, So well done for once Herefordshire Council. You are doing OK on this. Remember the millions owed to Stoke Council on the news recently.

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Biomech says...
9:53pm Mon 4 Mar 13

I would be interested to know the correlation between late payment and council tax banding.

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mizza21 says...
9:12am Tue 5 Mar 13

probono, I accept your sense of fairness is offended by people not playing fair.
I would say in reply though that can you honestly say the council tax is a fair system?
Or that electricity companies making huge profits for their shareholders and charging the less able to pay more for their electricity because they can fair?

The whole lot of em, councils, utilities, government are opressing the working class.
It's a conspiracy which we should rise up against. Magna Carta gave us freedom from this, we should excersize it.

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JohnBoym458 says...
10:24am Tue 5 Mar 13

Agree Probono, difficult to comment on how many refuse or are just not capable of paying as we are not privy to that info, But i am a big fan of the tax being a lot less so that more of us are able to afford it, in these times of hardship on us all surely the wrong thing to do is hike up the tax.......just doesn't make sense to demand more from us when the majority are struggling to make ends meet as it is.........

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littlewhitebull says...
11:36am Tue 5 Mar 13

Some very interesting comments. Megilleland provided some absorbing articles about council tax that are worth reading.
I don't like the council tax, but have to pay it. Some people don't pay for a variety of reasons - some because they can't afford it.
However, some choose not to pay because they don't like it - this causes a burden on others.
I don't like paying car insurance and car tax, but have to unless I want to be fined/banned from driving. Whilst others choose not to pay, these 'taxes' cost me even more in a 'surcharge'. It is suggested that car insurance costs about £40 more per policy, as this money is used to protect us all against uninsured drivers.
I realise there are no easy solutions, but does anybody out there have a brilliant idea to replace council tax?
I am sorry I don't have any answers, but would love to hear reasoned ideas as to how to replace the council tax.
Would a local income tax work?
Sorry to ask so many questions.

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Biomech says...
11:42am Tue 5 Mar 13

I can afford to pay the council tax - I'd rather not of course. But I wouldn't mind so much if the money was actually being used to better the community - it's not.

I certainly don't agree with per car tax, you can only drive one car at a time. That's like buying a TV licence for every TV you own, it's just ludicrous. And, to be perfectly honest, I really don't blame some people for not paying things like car insurance when you buy a car for £500 and the insurance is £2,000 upwards a year. If it got to that point, I wouldn't pay either.

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Biomech says...
11:42am Tue 5 Mar 13

Per car tax or insurance for that matter. Insure the driver, not the vehicle.

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littlewhitebull says...
1:01pm Tue 5 Mar 13

Good points, Biomech.
From your point of view, as someone who travels widely for business purposes, would extra tax on fuel be better/fairer?
My travelling is mainly within the county and the vehicle belongs to the company so I don't have a real clue as to what would be better. My boss would like all taxes abolished!

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Werintrouble says...
1:32pm Tue 5 Mar 13

The thing is, the Council know who these people are and they will always get their money.
They could generate a lot more rate payments by simply writing to each and every landlord, inform them of an amnesty on multi occupancy laws and then they would have a huge revenue stream from people who can't admit they are living here because the landlord would get done.
In many homes around the City there are as many as ten people to a room and that's because there is no housing for them.
If the Council could think smarter they could collect a lot of money. I don't know how many people are living in these conditions but from what I know and what I have seen, the actual figure would be startling.
By doing this the Council would have a clear picture of our population and services could then be provided for these needs.
The whole thing about these houses and homes of multi occupancy is they require more service and the council are not getting any revenue.
We need more houses. Obviously. But while this problem is there and it will not go away, the council have to think of ways to collect this money from those that perhaps want to pay their way but are disqualified from doing so because of local regulations.

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ad47uk says...
2:47pm Tue 5 Mar 13

Now that people on benefits will also have to pay some council tax, I wonder how many of them will fail to pay and how much it will cost to get money from them?

you can't get blood out of a stone and if people can't afford it then how are they going to pay?

Still, I suppose we must pay for this greedy council to pay their over inflated wages and to pay for new offices, also to pay for a road that goes nowhere.

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Biomech says...
3:02pm Tue 5 Mar 13

"would extra tax on fuel be better/fairer?"

No chance :P, think about it;

You buy a car and pay VAT plus any other sales fees / finance charges/

You pay road tax on every vehicle (you can only drive one),

You pay insurance on every vehicle (you can only drive one)

You then pay over 60% tax on the fuel you put in it.

That amounts to thousands already per year per person!

And while the government increases tax and the fuel companies complain they have to increase prices because it costs them more... they still manage to make more profit than ever before year on year.

We pay about £1.40/l for fuel now. In america it's about £0.52. They also don't have road tax - some states don't even require insurance!

Insurance companies claim that our insurance goes up to cover the cost of increasing minor/fake claims and to cover the costs of uninsured drivers. This is not true. For every criminal offence commited in the UK, an additional fine is paid that goes into the "pot" to cover such instances. For the love of God I can't remember the term - but on a speeding ticket, for example, it shows as £10.

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megilleland says...
6:01pm Tue 5 Mar 13

The system also enables the bizarre situation where Westminster council charges the most valuable properties (Band H) £1,375 in council tax, but Newark charges £1,311 for a terraced house (Band B).

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megilleland says...
7:01pm Tue 5 Mar 13

Council tax generates around 26 billion pounds in England, and on average contributes about 25% to local authority finances. It is used to pay for local services with the rest of the money coming from the revenue support grant and national non domestic rates. Council tax rates have increased by considerable amounts since the tax was first introduced. In the year 1993–1994 the average band D rate was £568. By 2010-2011 this had risen by £871 to £1439, an increase of 153 per cent.

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megilleland says...
7:06pm Tue 5 Mar 13

From the Daily Mail September 2006:

More than two million households are struggling to pay crippling council tax bills after years of inflation-busting rises, research reveals today.

In an alarming twist, it means that 10 per cent of all households in England find it difficult to cope with bills which now average more than £1,000.

It is the first time that a major research project has investigated how the deeply unpopular tax is hitting hard-pressed families. The research, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said hard-working families and pensioners are the biggest victims.

They said 'the struggle to make ends meet' is a serious crisis facing millions of families whose salary cannot keep up with their rapidly rising council tax bills.

Conservative shadow local government secretary Caroline Spelman slammed the tax as 'the ultimate stealth tax.'

She said: 'Hard-working families and pensioners are suffering from ever-increasing bills across the board - gas, electricity and water.

'But with council tax having shot up a whopping 84 per cent under Labour, it is meeting this monthly bill that is causing real worries to many people.'

One in four households in band A - the lowest of the eight council tax 'bands' which range from A to H - gets a summons for failing to pay the tax.


Funny how nothing changes, even with the coalition in power.

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megilleland says...
7:06pm Tue 5 Mar 13

From the Daily Mail September 2006:

More than two million households are struggling to pay crippling council tax bills after years of inflation-busting rises, research reveals today.

In an alarming twist, it means that 10 per cent of all households in England find it difficult to cope with bills which now average more than £1,000.

It is the first time that a major research project has investigated how the deeply unpopular tax is hitting hard-pressed families. The research, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said hard-working families and pensioners are the biggest victims.

They said 'the struggle to make ends meet' is a serious crisis facing millions of families whose salary cannot keep up with their rapidly rising council tax bills.

Conservative shadow local government secretary Caroline Spelman slammed the tax as 'the ultimate stealth tax.'

She said: 'Hard-working families and pensioners are suffering from ever-increasing bills across the board - gas, electricity and water.

'But with council tax having shot up a whopping 84 per cent under Labour, it is meeting this monthly bill that is causing real worries to many people.'

One in four households in band A - the lowest of the eight council tax 'bands' which range from A to H - gets a summons for failing to pay the tax.


Funny how nothing changes, even with the coalition in power.

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megilleland says...
7:08pm Tue 5 Mar 13

Sorry seem to have hit the post button twice.

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Biomech says...
7:32pm Tue 5 Mar 13

Theres one authority who have frozen council tax for the last 6 years and they are doing very well (featured on bbc news this week).

The biggest problem with CT is that it's not benefiting us. Like road tax, it keeps going up, yet services are cut, quality of living is reduced, police cut backs, refuse collections, etc etc

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probono says...
10:46am Wed 6 Mar 13

You cannot have minimum Council Tax and holes in the road mended. The money has to come from somewhere. If it is imposed and collected centrally, then we have no input or control and not everyone is a tax payer. Poll tax seemed a sensible solution but was rushed in and failed. If anyone can think of a better method, I am sure it would be welcomed. My Council Tax is over £2.5K a year but when I look at things that HC need to do, and request them, I can do so knowing that my small contribution has gone into it. It is interesting to note that many families who will have to contribute a small amount in future and are whinging, have Sky TV dishes, mobile phone contracts for them and all their young kids and regard these as basic items and rights in their lives.

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Herefordian07 says...
10:57am Wed 6 Mar 13

I would have thought that central government should use the Road
Tax and the bulk of petrol duty, revenue and VAT on petrol/diesel to maintain the road network considering the massive amount collected by this stealth taxation system, motorists are subject to appalling road conditions and contribute so much.

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Biomech says...
11:31am Wed 6 Mar 13

Probono, like I said, if these things were done then people wouldn't be upset. But we're not paying minimum council tax and the problems still aren't getting fixed.

I completely agree though, the people that complain most about benefits etc always seem to have enough for smokes, beer, sky and xbox's.

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B the B says...
1:59pm Wed 6 Mar 13

Biomech wrote:
I can afford to pay the council tax - I'd rather not of course. But I wouldn't mind so much if the money was actually being used to better the community - it's not. I certainly don't agree with per car tax, you can only drive one car at a time. That's like buying a TV licence for every TV you own, it's just ludicrous. And, to be perfectly honest, I really don't blame some people for not paying things like car insurance when you buy a car for £500 and the insurance is £2,000 upwards a year. If it got to that point, I wouldn't pay either.
If you cant afford the insurance then you dont buy a car, simple.too many idiots on the road with out insurance you would soon change your tune if you were hit by an uninsured driver.

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Biomech says...
2:11pm Wed 6 Mar 13

I agree with you to a point. Same with children, if you can't afford to support them, don't have them. I think the issue with cars is that the insurance is absurdly overpriced, it's not just expensive, it's... incomprehensible. My insurance is fine, about £300 now I think on a £5,000 car. But surely you can see the problem with £3,000 insurance on £500 cars? That plus the fuel costs is forcing people to not pay for insurance.

Sometimes you need a car to get around. As I've pointed out, my work is anywhere up to 400 miles away and others have mentioned that it's 3 hours on bus or 40 minutes driving.

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B the B says...
2:54pm Wed 6 Mar 13

I agree car and all other insurance is way too expensive, mine is about the same as yours. I do a round trip of 90 miles each day, just to get there, then i need to travel about the area. I have to show my insurance to my employer yearly. I expect the highest costs would fall on the less experience driver who is more likely to have a prang, then suppose they hit me, they are uninsured my car is knackered, cant do my job and then I'm out of work. That cant be fair.
ps, I agree about the kids too.

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