COUNCIL tax can be a frustrating expense particularly when the bill has continued to rise in recent years.
To fund vital services, council tax has risen year-on-year recently, with a 4.99 percent increase in 2021-22, a 2.99 percent increase for 2022-23, and a 4.99 percent increase in 2023-24.
Council tax is used to fund a range of services such as youth and leisure facilities, social care, economic developments, waste services, as well as the police and fire service, but there is growing frustration at how the system is funded.
From the lowest band of A to the highest of H, council tax banding is worked out by using the market value of your property from 1991, and it has recently been reported by the Telegraph that more than 11 million UK households paid more council tax than Buckingham Palace last year.
Although the King's Westminster residence is in the highest H banding, the royal family only paid £1,828 in council tax on the property in 2023.
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Thousands paying more council tax than Buckingham Palace in St Helens
Looking at the council tax figures in St Helens for 2023-24, all residents in band C and above (without any reductions) will have paid more council tax than the Royal Family on their Westminster residence.
Using rates from 1991, those in band C have an estimated house value of up to £68,000 and have a yearly council tax fee of £1,837.07. Those in areas with a parish council such as Rainford and Rainhill have slightly higher tax bills.
This rises to a yearly fee of £4,133.42 for those in band H, which means that around 25,000 households pay more council tax in St Helens than the royal family do at Buckingham Palace.
The main body of Buckingham Palace does not attract council tax, but rather pays business rates. However, several properties within the palace pay band H council tax although a recent valuation placed the royal residence at £3.7 billion.
Repeated calls to address council tax bands
As council tax has been effectively capped at a rate three decades ago, people in more affluent areas end up paying proportionally less council tax than those living in places where house prices have not risen as fast.
The other end of this argument is that local authorities in more deprived areas have to set the highest council tax rates to fund its services, as they earn proportionally less from their households.
This is even more relevant if there are higher numbers of residents eligible for council tax reductions.
As house prices have skyrocketed in recent decades, there have been repeated calls to revalue properties for council tax purposes, but this has been rejected by successive governments.
In a recent comment on the matter, Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said: “Any sort of fundamental reform at this stage would probably risk a level of instability in the system that would not justify any of the potential benefits.”
Council tax 'fundamentally unfair' way to fund services
Speaking about council tax and the way local authorities are funded, leader of St Helens Council, Cllr David Baines said:
"Council Tax is a fundamentally unfair and unfit way to fund the essential services that councils provide. The fact that nearly half of all homeowners in the country pay more than Buckingham Palace shows just how ridiculous the system is.
"Sadly the government show no sign of addressing the problem.
"In this year's financial settlement for councils, instead of restoring national funding levels the government have yet again announced that they expect councils to implement the full 4.99% increase in council tax in order to make up some of the shortfall.
"In boroughs like ours, even the maximum increase will not raise enough to cover the demand we face for services, and so we face yet more cuts to services.
"The essential services councils provide - including social care, children's services and more - need to be properly funded by central government based on need rather than through an arbitrary and out of date system which leaves poorer areas even further behind every single year."
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