Council tax rises yet again .. 5% this year !!!

[Strokes]

46 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

Not to mention how much food prices have increased since the pound has plummeted in value.

 

Thanks, Brexit.

Shop at Aldi, I've not noticed any difference.

[Facecloth]

20 minutes ago, Webbo said:

I'm not in favour of tax rises, far from it, but people can't complain about austerity one minute and  tax rises the next.

Well they can if they feel the money is wasted. I'd like to see every department have a spending review, and even looking at ways of distributing the money differently. Are we really getting value for that money, is it really being spent on the right things, are the right things being cut when cuts in budgets are made e.g. are we closing things or stopping services that could be kept if we cut something the council leaders would be less keen on cutting like their salaries, is it distributed in a sensible way, e.g. is giving local Primary Health Trusts a yearly budget wise when it might be more sensible to pay them the money needed to give the threatments they require thus removing this postcode lottery.

 

Increase my tax by all means, once they stop wasting it.

[davieG]

7 minutes ago, Strokes said:

Shop at Aldi, I've not noticed any difference.

Aldi' s crap now gone all fancy and cut out some of the basics plus since everyone in their BMWs and Lexus it's  over crowded and struggling to cope. I've  been going back to the big ones.

[davieG]

There's too many layers at local government and too many MPs.

If they devolved more to a streamlined local government we could save the money they're now cutting from local services.

[Thracian]

51 minutes ago, Webbo said:

If you want more govt spending you've got to pay more tax. That isn't controversial surely?

 

But it's not the way Labour would do things. They'd sell the gold then spend the money and to hell with the consequences! 

 

 

[Strokes]

14 minutes ago, davieG said:

Aldi' s crap now gone all fancy and cut out some of the basics plus since everyone in their BMWs and Lexus it's  over crowded and struggling to cope. I've  been going back to the big ones.

It's alright in syston, I've never spent more than £80 for a weeks shop. 

[Buce]

58 minutes ago, Webbo said:

If you want more govt spending you've got to pay more tax. That isn't controversial surely?

 

That depends.

 

They never seem to have any difficulty funding wars that are none of our business.

[Strokes]

1 minute ago, Buce said:

 

That depends.

 

They never seem to have any difficulty funding wars that are none of our business.

Yeah I agree with that but it goes across the board.

[Buce]

1 minute ago, Strokes said:

Yeah I agree with that but it goes across the board.

 

What do you mean?

[Webbo]

2 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

That depends.

 

They never seem to have any difficulty funding wars that are none of our business.

That's a fair argument, but what's done is done. This money, from what I understand, is to pay for more social care, which will be an ongoing cost forever. If people want the govt to spend more they have to contribute more.

[Strokes]

3 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

What do you mean?

Sorry that was really badly worded.

All government seem to pursue wars that have sod all to do with us, and I agree that always seem to have the funds for it.

[Buce]

Just now, Webbo said:

That's a fair argument, but what's done is done. This money, from what I understand, is to pay for more social care, which will be an ongoing cost forever. If people want the govt to spend more they have to contribute more.

 

Not true, Webbo.

 

There is no end in sight in the Middle East conflicts, and when one ends another will start. Recent history tells us that. I was looking at the costs involved the other day - every one of those 'smart bombs' costs in excess of a hundred grand - cruise missiles a cool half a million - that's just munitions. How many nurses would that fund? How many care homes for the elderly?

[Buce]

6 minutes ago, Strokes said:

Sorry that was really badly worded.

All government seem to pursue wars that have sod all to do with us, and I agree that always seem to have the funds for it.

 

No worries, mate - I thought it was me being thick,,

 

So how can anyone take them seriously - and I mean governments of all persuasions - when they tell us they can't afford to care for our sick and aged without cutting living standards for the rest of us?

[Izzy]

42 minutes ago, Strokes said:

Well that's why they were voted in wasn't it, what they planned was more appealing than the others? 

 I suppose so...

But what they plan vs what actually happens often differs considerably in the end.

 

[Webbo]

7 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

Not true, Webbo.

 

There is no end in sight in the Middle East conflicts, and when one ends another will start. Recent history tells us that. I was looking at the costs involved the other day - every one of those 'smart bombs' costs in excess of a hundred grand - cruise missiles a cool half a million - that's just munitions. How many nurses would that fund? How many care homes for the elderly?

But we're not going to get back the money that's already been spent. Teresa May has said we're not going to intervene anymore, how true that is we'll have to see.

[Strokes]

Just now, Buce said:

 

No worries, mate - I thought it was me being thick,,

 

So how can anyone take them seriously - and I mean governments of all persuasions - when they tell us they can't afford to care for our sick and aged without cutting living standards?

It's a good point and I genuinely don't know the answer to it. I've expressed my disgust before on this as I'm currently experiencing it first hand and although the care is adequate the financial burden is crippling.

Its disgusting that people have to pay for care until they have nothing left before getting it for free, when they have been tax paying citizens for all their adult life. The options are limited and the solutions are hidden and families are left in the dark for months. So yeah I do agree with you

[Facecloth]

2 minutes ago, Izzy Muzzett said:

 I suppose so...

But what they plan vs what actually happens often differs considerably in the end.

 

They didn't plan though, that's been the problem. The cuts since 2010 have been handled as badly as a Trump travel ban. It's basically been a case of telling councils, government departments, Primary Care Trusts etc that they have less money and to deal with it. There's been no review of spending, no budgeting it's just been left to themselves to make these decisions and at times bad decisions are made and money is still wasted. Is basically like realising you're overspending on your monthly household budget, so you sell you car but keep insuring it and taxing it, you cancel your mortgage and insurance, but not Sky. It's nonsensical. I have no problem with cutting costs, but let's do it properly.

[Buce]

10 minutes ago, Webbo said:

But we're not going to get back the money that's already been spent. Teresa May has said we're not going to intervene anymore, how true that is we'll have to see.

 

No, we won't.

 

But we are locked into a conflict that seemingly has no end, so it's not as if the spending is over, is it? Here's a startling thought: in the time it's taken for us to have this conversation, we have probably dropped a few million quid's worth of bombs. When it comes to war we seem to have an  inexhaustible supply of money.

 

As for us 'not intervening any more', do you honestly believe that? Really? Politicians are inveterate liars.

[Buce]

16 minutes ago, Strokes said:

It's a good point and I genuinely don't know the answer to it. I've expressed my disgust before on this as I'm currently experiencing it first hand and although the care is adequate the financial burden is crippling.

Its disgusting that people have to pay for care until they have nothing left before getting it for free, when they have been tax paying citizens for all their adult life. The options are limited and the solutions are hidden and families are left in the dark for months. So yeah I do agree with you

 

Of course you do, Strokes.

 

You always do eventually..

[Webbo]

7 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

No, we won't.

 

But we are locked into a conflict that seemingly has no end, so it's not as if the spending is over, is it? Here's a startling thought: in the time it's taken for us to have this conversation, we have probably dropped a few million quid's worth of bombs. When it comes to war we seem to have an  inexhaustible supply of money.

 

As for us 'not intervening any more', do you honestly believe that? Really? Politicians are inveterate liars.

I don't know what you want me to say. The rise in council tax is to pay for social care. Whether we should have gone to war or not it's still got to be paid for.

[Buce]

8 minutes ago, Webbo said:

I don't know what you want me to say. The rise in council tax is to pay for social care. Whether we should have gone to war or not it's still got to be paid for.

 

The rise in Council Tax is to pay for social care  that the government claims it can't afford to fund. Are you suggesting that they are prioritising war over our elderly? Our disabled? Our Health service?

 

And I dispute that we still have to keep paying - why can't we say, enough is enough and end our involvement, as many nations have already done? What makes us the World's policeman?

[Parafox]

1 hour ago, Webbo said:

If you want more govt spending you've got to pay more tax. That isn't controversial surely?

It's not directly Gov spending though, is it? It's local authority spending that the "poll tax" is meant to be for. The local authority cut things like social care and bin collections because the gov reduce the amount of subsidy they give to LA's to provide services. The LA's then have to decide which areas to reduce funding for, such as highway maintenance, grass cutting, social care, child social services. We already pay the central gov for everything they (are supposed to) provide, including money given to LA's. The central gov are being duplicitous in denying our LA's funding and then blaming them for cuts which, actually, they have had forced on them.

 

Effectively, any increase in council tax is a double tax on people who've already paid via main taxation.

[Webbo]

11 minutes ago, Parafox said:

It's not directly Gov spending though, is it? It's local authority spending that the "poll tax" is meant to be for. The local authority cut things like social care and bin collections because the gov reduce the amount of subsidy they give to LA's to provide services. The LA's then have to decide which areas to reduce funding for, such as highway maintenance, grass cutting, social care, child social services. We already pay the central gov for everything they (are supposed to) provide, including money given to LA's. The central gov are being duplicitous in denying our LA's funding and then blaming them for cuts which, actually, they have had forced on them.

 

Effectively, any increase in council tax is a double tax on people who've already paid via main taxation.

It's local govt spending. If you don't pay it in council tax, you have to pay it in income tax. The govt has no money of their own. All govt spending comes from us.

[RODNEY FERNIO]

Not sure you can use the money spent on bombs argument could be better spent .... we need to protect our country.

We spend relatively little on defence anyway like most countries . If you add up the annual expenditure on defence

of the three European heavy weights , us France and Germany then add on the spend of China , Japan, India,

the Middle East and Russia it is still less than the annual spend of the USA  ... good job that we are allies with them.

[Webbo]

17 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

The rise in Council Tax is to pay for social care  that the government claims it can't afford to fund. Are you suggesting that they are prioritising war over our elderly? Our disabled? Our Health service?

 

And I dispute that we still have to keep paying - why can't we say, enough is enough and end our involvement, as many nations have already done? What makes us the World's policeman?

What would you cut to pay for it? We're not at war atm.