What are you all up to

I think Council Tax valuations were frozen in 1991. The Institute of Fiscal Studies has looked at the idea of a local income tax https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14006 But as they point out it would work in some places but not others. So in better off areas it would be a good alternative to CT but in less well off areas it could actually make matters worse in terms of services. You could argue that some of the money raised in well off areas could be redirected to less well off areas but that would take away the localness of the tax. There is obviously a debate to be had re whether property should be taxed by value. But that is similar to the debate on whether the better off should pay more to support the less well off which is the system we follow in this country. Whether we like it or not most of the wealth of the country is tied up in property, some of that wealth almost gathered accidentally by the general increases in house prices. Obviously a different world from the average house owner but would it be fair for some millionaire who owned a £10 million pound mansion in London not to pay a property tax because he has no income in the UK? A local income tax would be fine if everyone in the country was in the PAYE system but so many are not and so you immediately have an opportunity for tax avoidance. So some things that seem simple are often not. 

David

I absolutely agree with you about the situation in Syria ABM. Our youngest son and DIL worked in Syria for a while before the civil war (in fact he proposed to her while they were living there). They made a lot of friends - some they are in contact with and they know they have managed to leave and are safe. Unfortunately others they have lost contact with entirely and have no idea what has happened to them.

Best of the luck with the phone conversation with the diabetic nurse.

Same here K, if our neighbours knew what we got our house for, they would be astonished, a lot less than your plot! Old, and when we bought it, we knew it would be a long project to restore it. Interestingly, it’s in an old part of the town, just on the outskirts, near our Park and old museum, so houses around are mainly older type, with the odd new insertion as part of a garden grab. So the area is predominantly band B, unless like our neighbours, work has been done, extensions or additions have been carried out, in which case, they have been re rated, mainly D&E. But ours never has, it’s still B, which is a win for us. Never needed to get planning permission for anything we have had done luckily. Next door is a five bedroom detached, two up is a six bedroom detached, they are both E. Little anomalies. 🤫

Best of luck with the phone conversation with the diabetic nurse.

Millie,  The scamp tricked me   !  Arrangements were for the call to be next Tuesday but, just as I was getting the shopping tackle together she rang me this morning.   .

The net results were, weight good i.e. down 3 lbs over 18 months and that was the last of the good bits !!

Sugar levels variable but TOO HIGH so a change in shopping list demanded { Nursey says she wouldn't have Kellog's products in the house unless starting a fire   due to exceedingly high sugar content }

MORE finger-prick blood tests required then as and when ( if   ?) figures reduce the same can be done with the insulin requirements. Oh woe Is me, woe is me --I will be spending more time in the supermarkets / shops reading the content lists on cereal boxes than I spend eating the stuff . 

Do so hope you all are enjoying this slow journey to   F F Freedom  

I sometimes think about downsizing - not that we can, the house is part and parcel of the farm. It dates from 1500’s with numerous additions over the years. Now there’s only two of us, so we don’t use all the bedrooms (5), but it’s good to know we can have large family gatherings. Or I can hide away in a far off corner. It’s a bit higgledy piggedly - so much so that a friend got lost on her way to her bedroom - with big rooms and smaller useful rooms (box room, hall pantry, top landing etc).  So I can’t really begrudge the Band E tax.

Goldie,  I don't honestly think that people really begrudge the Council Tax that they are paying,  more likely to be objecting to what it is spent  on or not  !!.  That's just the view of this 'Pothole Dodger'  

I have just been to our local Co op and saw a neighbour had not seen for months ,They have decided to move to Lincs ,Daughter has got planning permission to have a self contained "granny annex" extention on their house 

They bought their house (3 bed 1 bathroom mid terrace) just after we bought ours ,(similar price) and have sold it back to the council at £10,000 under market value for £375,000

It has got us thinking again and ours being end terrace with room for an extention 

we have looked at Park Home sites in the past 

When we stayed at the club site in Looe a few years ago we went to the CODY Shack  it was excellent we really liked it also loved the little 3 wheeler Reliant they had outside 

ABM I feel your pain. Shopping is a nightmare. Sugar appears to be in everything especially the least likely products . so difficult. 

Don't forget that value at which a Council Tax band was decided was frozen at 1991 values in England. So providing you lived in the house after 1991 you could have doubled the size of the house, adding of course to it's value but you would still pay Council Tax based on the 1991 valuation. Personally I feel this is very unfair. We extended our house prior to 1991 and our tax band was increased accordingly. One of our neighbours extended his house by a much larger proportion than we did but after 1991 and still pays at his original tax band and over the years I reckon I have paid £3/4000 extra in Council Tax which I am a bit miffed about. Apparently I have no option to appeal because the tax was set correctly according to the rules at the time. It is only when the house is sold that the band is readjusted.

David