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Council Tax


Rhiannon

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I'm taking a year out of uni to get work experience. The company is employing me as an "industrial placement student", and do not expect me to pay council tax (this is reflected in the pay). However, as my course co-ordinator is pretty lazy and didn't organise any industrial placement courses for our class, I had to find this job and sort it out myself. As I have done this independently I will not be considered a student for this year, and therefore will need to pay council tax. There is another girl from the same uni who is going down, except as the uni helped her out with her placement, she is still considered as a student for the next year, all the people I shall be living with will be considered as students, infact as far as I know, I'm the only one out of the 80 students who need to pay council tax.

I've been told I will have a discounted price to pay as I will be living with 3 students, but I have also been told many other stories about what I need to pay and I don't need to pay, which all contradict themselves. I looked on the website, it wasn't very helpful.

Anyone wanna shed some light on whether I'll need to pay the whole price (and live off beans on toast for a year!) or I get discounted, or somehow convince someone that I have the same rights to being a student as everyone else :rolleyes:

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or not. I had flatmates who were having to pay on 2 flats at the same time due to trying that. They just picked them up again a few years later when they appeared on the council tax list again.

Indeed. I know of a few people who have some horror stories to tell of getting rather large bills from the council for unpaid council tax going back years. Sure, they might take months or years to track you down but if they do, then you'll get one hell of a bill and if you can't pay it then they will happily take you to court to get the money.

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I didnt pat CT for 2 years out of point of principle

Rent was £150

CT was £75

I mean if the bloody rent for the porperty is only a ton fifty how can they justify 75 for CT....What cracks me up even more is as neil states dont pay it and they will take you to court..

Yet if you contact them and tell them you cant afford to pay it they will not take lower payments than payments they declare fit....Pay it but not at the ammount they want every month because you cant afford it and they will still take you to court

To sum up They will take you to court to make you pay it even if you proove you cant afford to...... I mean where the hell is the justice these days.....

CT and polltax all the same bloody thing makes our rich richer and our poor poorer...

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head down to the council tax office in crown street' date=' even if your placement is not in Aberdeen, they should be able to clarify the situation.[/quote']

Good advice.

There's not really much else you can do.

At least it will be clarified for you and you know you are paying the correct amount for the correct situation.

Don't even think about trying to dodge it - you'll end up having to pay it all back in a "double tax" situation or have an appointment in court.

I know it sucks to hell and back, having to shell out all that dough, but at least make sure everything is 100% correct regarding your situation and what you are paying. If it's all in check, there's no other way out.

The Cooncil are ruthless as hell when it comes to this sort of thing. Take it from an employee!

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The Queen pays about the same council tax on Balmoral as a second house than a flat in Govan.

Was used as an SSP propaganda bit a few years back.

I remeber that (Wasnt this one of the reason it got abolished....Well renamed lol)

You've clearly never seen the council tax bill on an expensive house.

lol hardly my father was the laird of some perth estate ( not a housing estate)... I was brought up (Briefly) in one of the 10 biggest houses in the perth area (in its time)

You clearly dont know what your speaking about on THIS occasion ;)

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fuck em' date=' dont pay it for the year then move :)

Chances of you getting caught are slim to none.[/quote']

Don't fool yourself. I haven't paid since 2002 and I just had my bank account frozen.

I didn't even contest it as I knew the day would come when they'd eventually catch up with me . As it stands I don't have to pay until next year for 2007/08's bill as they've incorporated 2006/07 in to my arrears.

In answer to Rhiannon's query - go to the office on Crown Street and explain the situation. If you're not satisfied with the vague and vacuous response you'll likely get from them then go to the Citizen's Advice Bureau.

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...and if you can't pay it then they will happily take you to court to get the money.

Not under Scottish Law (or so I'm led to believe). What the city council does is forward your details on to Scott & Co who send round a bailiff. The bailiff then looks at your income & expenditure to work out an agrreable weekly/monthly instalment to pay your arrears. The Bailiff's are like vampires - they can only come in to your property only if you invite them in.

If you fail to maintain your side fo the bargain reagrding the arrears then they will contact your employer to arrest a proportion of your wages. If you move from one company to another and forget to inform them (Guilty as charged, your honour) that's when they'll take great pleasure in arresting your bank account, the dirty bastards.

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I remeber that (Wasnt this one of the reason it got abolished....Well renamed lol)

lol hardly my father was the laird of some perth estate ( not a housing estate)... I was brought up (Briefly) in one of the 10 biggest houses in the perth area (in its time)

You clearly dont know what your speaking about on THIS occasion ;)

Council Tax is based on earnings and your house size/value, blah blah blah. So poorer people aren't becoming poorer and richer people becoming richer. It just stays the same.

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Council Tax is based on earnings and your house size/value' date=' blah blah blah.[/quote']

Earnings doesn't come in to the Council Tax equation and neither was it included in the POLL TAX which wasn't just one bill per property address, it was for each household member over the age of 18 living at that address.

Coucil Tax is based on the city or shire's assumed value of the property in question and is loosely modelled on the old Rates System which preceded Poll Tax and was a much fairer system of local taxation.

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yip, nowt to do with earnings. (with the exception to how much discount you can get, due to unemplyment etc)...

the "band" your house is in determins how much you pay. how many bathrooms, is an important factor.

I think there should be discounts for recycling! (I've got my wheely bin down to one every 6 weeks)...no discunt for that! (and that's one of the parts your council tax pays for).

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