3 ms·

It's council tax.

esotericn 8y ago
Council tax isn't property tax because it's not percentage based. It's also not levied on the owner of the property but the occupier. The valuation of your flat could quadruple and the council tax would stay the same. I think it makes sense. Council tax pays for amenities. The rent in London might be five times higher than $insert_northern_town but it doesn't cost five times as much for the bins to be taken out.
- scarejunba 8y ago
  It's percentage-based but against a fixed basis in the year 1991. Sort of like if everyone in California had access to a variant of Prop 13. US states usually have percentage based against a variable basis. I prefer the UK method, personally, but the US method that California uses is quite something to behold. It freezes your property tax to the date you bought your property except for a 1% change per year.
  - esotericn 8y ago
    It's not percentage based at all. There's an upper band beyond which the tax rate is fixed regardless of how much the property cost in '91. Also, see the above poster's comment for an example table: https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/council-tax-bands-and-charges https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/council-tax-bands-and-charges A 200K (assessed in '91) property pays about 2.5x what a 40K (assessed in '91) property does. Not 5x.
    - scarejunba 8y ago
      Hmm, fair enough.
HarryHirsch 8y ago
And it's pretty damn high: https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/council-tax-bands-and-charges https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/council-tax-bands-and-charges Someone working at the Cambridge Science Park across Kings Hedges Road might be living in Kings Hedges area and pay GBP 1500/year to the local government. It's a substantial amount.
- djmobley 8y ago
  Compared to property prices it is a relatively small amount, and regressive in the extreme. You could own a multi-million pound property in Kensington, and the sum of taxes you pay each year would be £2,246.14 [1] [1] https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/council-tax/band-values-and-charges https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/council-tax/band-values-and-charges
  - esotericn 8y ago
    "Regressive" is a loaded term in this context. Council tax pays for services like the roads and the bins being taken out. Having an expensive house doesn't mean you use more of those. (It increases a bit up to a cap, because you probably do use them more if you have more money, but it obviously doesn't linearly scale). A flat in London might cost 5-10x a flat in the North, but both individuals use the bins and roads roughly the same amount so their council taxes are about the same.

It's council tax.

Council tax isn't property tax because it's not percentage based. It's also not levied on the owner of the property but the occupier. The valuation of your flat could quadruple and the council tax would stay the same. I think it makes sense. Council tax pays for amenities. The rent in London might be five times higher than $insert_northern_town but it doesn't cost five times as much for the bins to be taken out.

scarejunba 8y ago
It's percentage-based but against a fixed basis in the year 1991. Sort of like if everyone in California had access to a variant of Prop 13. US states usually have percentage based against a variable basis. I prefer the UK method, personally, but the US method that California uses is quite something to behold. It freezes your property tax to the date you bought your property except for a 1% change per year.
- esotericn 8y ago
  It's not percentage based at all. There's an upper band beyond which the tax rate is fixed regardless of how much the property cost in '91. Also, see the above poster's comment for an example table: https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/council-tax-bands-and-charges https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/council-tax-bands-and-charges A 200K (assessed in '91) property pays about 2.5x what a 40K (assessed in '91) property does. Not 5x.
  - scarejunba 8y ago
    Hmm, fair enough.

HarryHirsch 8y ago

And it's pretty damn high: https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/council-tax-bands-and-charges https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/council-tax-bands-and-charges Someone working at the Cambridge Science Park across Kings Hedges Road might be living in Kings Hedges area and pay GBP 1500/year to the local government. It's a substantial amount.

djmobley 8y ago
Compared to property prices it is a relatively small amount, and regressive in the extreme. You could own a multi-million pound property in Kensington, and the sum of taxes you pay each year would be £2,246.14 [1] [1] https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/council-tax/band-values-and-charges https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/council-tax/band-values-and-charges
- esotericn 8y ago
  "Regressive" is a loaded term in this context. Council tax pays for services like the roads and the bins being taken out. Having an expensive house doesn't mean you use more of those. (It increases a bit up to a cap, because you probably do use them more if you have more money, but it obviously doesn't linearly scale). A flat in London might cost 5-10x a flat in the North, but both individuals use the bins and roads roughly the same amount so their council taxes are about the same.