Council Tax

Organisation

Council Tax is collected by the local authority (known as the collecting authority). However, it may consist of components (precepts) levied and redistributed to other agencies or authorities (each known as a precepting authority).

The nature of the Council Tax

The Council tax combines both a property element (50%) and a personal element (50%). Most councils allow reductions for single occupancy which is levied at 75% of the total bill; in which case 50% is the property element and 25% the personal element.

The Valuation Tribunal Service has cleared up many previous doubts regarding the exact nature of the Council Tax and states that:

"The tax is a mix of a property tax and a personal tax. Generally, where two or more persons reside in a dwelling the full tax is payable. If one person resides in the dwelling then 75% is payable. An empty dwelling attracts only a 50% charge unless the billing authority has made a determination otherwise."

Some councils are starting to charge 150% to 200% on empty properties (2015), in order to force owners to rent out their property as a measure to combat the housing crisis in the UK.

At the bottom and middle end of the market, Council Tax is a progressive tax based on the value of the property; the higher the value of the property, the higher the amount of tax levied irrespective of the amount of inhabitants at the property (except the reduction allowed for single tenancy). However, there is only one band for properties valued (in 1991) above £320,000 and so the tax stops increasing after this point. Therefore, the tax has been criticised for being disproportionate, with those in more expensive houses not paying as much as those in smaller houses as a proportion of the value of the house and has therefore been called a "new poll tax for the poor".

The valuation of the property is carried out by the Valuation Office Agency under the auspices of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Council Tax Arrears

An area that is facing growing attention is the number of households that are falling into arrears with their council tax payments. The ordinary route for councils to chase unpaid debts is to apply to a magistrates' court for a liability order. If a liability order is granted, the council can undertake enforcement action. In 2014–15, the court and administration costs in relation to council tax debt increased by 17%. In 2014, a debtor was wrongfully arrested whilst a bailiff visited a property on behalf of Wandsworth Council. The Local Government Ombudsman has since carried out an investigation into the actions of the bailiff during the visit and will publish the decision on its website.

Collecting authorities

The collecting authorities are the councils of the districts of England, principal areas of Wales and council areas of Scotland, i.e. the lowest tier of local government aside from parishes and communities.

Precepting authorities

The precepting authorities are councils from other levels of local government such as a county or parish councils and other agencies. In metropolitan counties where there is no county council, the joint boards are precepting authorities. There may be precepting authorities for special purposes which cover an area as small as a few streets or as large as an entire county.

These all set their precepts independently. Each of the levying authorities sets a precept (total amount) to be collected for households in their area. This is then divided by the number of nominal Band D properties in the authority's area (county, district, national park, etc.) to reach the Band D amount.

Liability for the Council Tax

In general terms: If the owners live in the property or if the property is unoccupied, it is the owners who are responsible to pay the council tax. If tenants live in the property, it is the tenants who pay the council tax, except if the property is a 'house in multiple occupation', in which case the landlord pays the council tax. Most councils have ways to reduce the amount of council tax owed on a property depending on the occupants' income, age, employment status, health, being a full-time student, or if the property is unoccupied.

How Council Tax is spent

Although it is the only tax which is set by local government in Great Britain, the Council Tax ostensibly contributes only a small proportion (25%, on average) of local government revenue. The majority ostensibly comes from central government funding, either as grants, or in the form of business rates which are collected centrally and redistributed to local authorities.

Councils often have to raise Council Tax because cuts in central government funding have left them with shortfalls, and they argue that Council Tax must be raised to compensate for this because it makes up such a small portion of their income in the first place.

Some councils report social housing rents as income, though these are ringfenced by law, into a Housing Revenue Account, and can only be used for maintaining the social housing stock. Similarly, many councils treat traffic fines, and parking charges, as if they were general income, despite their being dedicated by law to funding parking services and road maintenance. Councils also receive grants to fund housing benefit payments, but a number portray this, in their council tax marketing, as if it was part of their general income.

The remaining income, which is often almost entirely derived from business rates, and council tax, typically on a close to 50:50 basis, funds all other local government functions: the police, fire service, recycling, refuse collection / removal, council leisure centres, park and ride schemes, maintenance of parks and open spaces, street cleaning, subsidising of public transport, tourism, museums, environmental health and food safety (for example, in pubs, restaurants, and shops), planning services, support for voluntary groups, meals on wheels, facilities for young people, social care, adapting homes for disabled people, play centres for children, cctv installation, sports facilities, issuing taxi licences, flood defences, and many others.

The provision of a significant proportion of these services is stipulated by central government via statute: Local councils are obliged by law to provide these services. The remainder, however, are fairly discretionary, and are determined by the local council's whims.

Since 2013, a portion of business rates has been retained locally, the remainder continues to be pooled centrally and redistributed; however, the amount redistributed to each council, and retained locally, is now relatively fixed (though it differs between councils), and is initially based on the historic redistribution levels. The claim, therefore, is that if a council fails to manage the local business environment well, council tax will need to rise to make up a shortfall in council income; conversely if they are successful managers of the local economy, providing the same expenditure on services can be achieved with lower council tax.

Calculation

Each dwelling is allocated to one of eight bands coded by letters A to H (A to I in Wales) on the basis of its assumed capital value (as of 1 April 1991 in England and Scotland, 1 April 2003 in Wales). Newly constructed properties are also assigned a nominal 1991 (2003 for Wales) value. Each local authority sets a tax rate expressed as the annual levy on a Band D property inhabited by two liable adults. This decision automatically sets the amounts levied on all types of households and dwellings. The nominal Band D property total is calculated by adding together the number of properties in each band and multiplying by the band ratio. So 100 Band D properties will count as 100 nominal Band D properties, whereas 100 Band C properties will count as 89 nominal Band D properties. Each collecting authority then adds together the Band D amounts for their area (or subdivisions of their area in the case, for example, of civil parish council precepts) to reach a total Band D council tax bill. To calculate the council tax for a particular property a ratio is then applied. A Band D property will pay the full amount, whereas a Band H property will pay twice that. Note there is no upper limit for band H. This means that in reality, someone who lives in a multimillion mansion, will only pay 3 times more than someone in a bedsit which falls into Band A.

Revaluation

The government had planned to revalue all properties in England in 2007 (the first revaluations since 1993) but, in September 2005, it was announced that the revaluation in England would be postponed until "after the next election". At the same time, the terms of reference of the Lyons Inquiry were extended and the report date pushed out to December 2006 (subsequently extended to 2007). In Wales, tax bills based on the property revaluations done using 2003 prices were issued in 2005. Because of the surge in house prices over the late 1990s and early 2000s, more than a third of properties in Wales found themselves in a band higher than under the 1991 valuation. Some properties were moved up three or even four bands with consequent large increases in the amount of council tax demanded. Some properties were moved into new Band I at the top of the price range. Only 8% of properties were moved down in bands.

However, a large shift of properties between bands will cause a shift in the allocation of the charge between bands, and the tax levied for each particular band will then drop, as the total amount collected will remain the same for each authority (see 'calculation of amount' above). Between the wholesale revaluations, a major change to a property (such as an extension, or some major blight causing loss of value) can trigger a revaluation to a new estimate of the value the property would have reached if sold in 1991. If such a change would result in an increase in value, then re-banding will only take effect when the property is sold or otherwise transferred.

Current bands

In England, the council tax bands are as follows :

In Wales, the bands were re-set on 1 April 2005 by the National Assembly for Wales, based on 2003 valuations. In addition to revising the band boundaries upwards, an extra band was added.

In Scotland, the current bands are

Geographic variation

Due to the different make-up of each council area, council tax rates can vary quite a bit between different local authorities. Though this isn't so noticeable in parts of the country like Scotland, where band D rates in 2011 varied from a low of £1,024 (in the Western Isles) to a high of £1,230 (in Aberdeen), the effect can be more pronounced in parts of England. For example, the 2008 rates in London had this sort of distribution (note that this table compares the rates with the average in 2006, not 2008):

Variation over time

Under the Labour government of Tony Blair, average Council Tax rates rose dramatically above inflation, creating a degree of resentment by residents.

The subsequent Coalition government have made an effort to get councils to freeze council tax rates, gradually eroding the above inflation increases via ordinary inflation. This has been achieved by offering councils large grants in return for freezing their council tax rate; for example, in some years these grants were equal to the amount that would have been gained by a 1% council tax rise.

In addition, the law has been changed, so that councils cannot increase council tax by an amount higher than a cap specified by the government (currently 2%), without holding a local referendum to approve the change; so far no council has invoked such a referendum, but many have raised council tax as close to the cap as they can get without passing it (for example, by 1.99%). However Surrey County Council is due to hold a referendum to approve a 15% increase in May 2017.

Although elements of local government policy is a devolved matter, the Barnet Formula leads the Scottish Government to acquire funding somewhat in accordance with central government priorities. Subsequently, by 2013, the Scottish Government froze council tax rates for the fourth time.

Exemptions

Some dwellings are automatically exempt from paying Council Tax; these are officially organised into a number of distinct classes. Most of these exemption classes only apply when the property is completely unoccupied; these are as follows:

The remaining exemption classes apply not only when the property is unoccupied, but also when certain categories of people are living there:

Other classes existed historically and are no longer mandatory. Councils may still offer 100% discount; some discount or no discount at all at their discretion. Once a property has been vacant for over 2 years, they have the right to levy a surcharge of up to an additional 50% on the standard council tax rate for the property

All persons normally resident in a property are counted for Council Tax liability. However, certain classes of person are treated as 'disregarded persons'. Such persons do not count towards occupancy. If a property is occupied entirely by disregarded persons then it is taxed as an empty property (50% discount) unless it otherwise qualifies for total exemption.

A person is disregarded if they are

Low occupancy

A fixed discount, currently set at 25%, is available when there are fewer than two residents; this is known as the Single Person Discount. Though it is often concluded that the full Council Tax charge must therefore be based on two or more adults being resident at a property, this is not strictly true.

Some people are automatically disregarded when counting the number of residents for this purpose, such as full-time students. The legislation also provides that, to count as a resident of a property, an individual should have the property as their sole or main residence; case law has established that no single test may be used to determine whether this condition is met.

As part of the National Fraud Initiative, every other year, the Audit Commission analyses meta data deriving from council tax accounts together with the full electoral register to produce lists of people it believes should be subjected to an investigation on the basis that there is a risk that a discount is being received when an adult who does not fail to be disregarded is actually resident in the dwelling.

Disabled occupancy

If a property has been adapted to meet the needs of a disabled occupant, then, after applying in writing, and provided the adaptations are of a certain extent, the property will be rebanded to the band immediately below the property's normal council tax band. In effect, the dwelling is treated as if its market value has been lowered by the adaptations.

Residents of properties in the lowest council tax band can receive this reduction. They will be placed into a Band Z (The band below A)

Discretionary Reductions

Under the Welfare Reform Act 2012, Local Councils were given powers to create new deduction rules for their council tax. These rules are now officially known as Council Tax Reduction schemes, though many Councils market them to residents as Council Tax Support; the choice to market the rules as a benefit, rather than a tax cut, may be an ideological one.

These powers are restricted by the Act; the rules cannot be arbitrary, ad-hoc, or targeted at specific individuals. Since these powers replace the former statutory rebate schemes, the government has also restricted the councils from increasing, by more than a certain amount, the net Council Tax bill for any individual who previously received a rebate. In particular people in receipt of the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit must continue to receive a 100% discount (that is, a council tax bill of £0).

These powers took effect in April 2013. The consequent reduction rules vary from one local authority to another, with some councils keeping the same rules as the rebate schemes they replace, while others took the opportunity to inflict a small level of tax on people with low incomes.

Former statutory rebates

Historically, a number of statutory Council Tax rebates existed. These were applied to the Council Tax bill in advance of the bill being delivered to the claimant, effectively creating a discount. However, this was not merely an overly-bureaucratic discount; the rebate money was provided by central government, but the Council Tax bill it rebated was paid to the local authority.

Though the funding was provided by central government, the schemes were administered by the local authority responsible for producing the relevant Council Tax bill. Originally using paper application forms, local authorities began to use a telephone-based application process, in the last few years of the rebate schemes. Under these latter application schemes, claimants would often contact the responsible central government department, who would then forward the details to the local authority.

Since 2013, explicit Council Tax discounts have been provided instead. The local authorities have been given the right to choose their own rules for the discounts, within certain bounds, but many local authorities choose to use similar or identical rules to the former statutory rebate schemes.

Second Adult Rebate

Many individuals share their dwelling with members of separate households, who would ordinarily be expected to pay a share of the council tax bill. However, in some cases, it would not be reasonable to expect those other residents to be able to pay a full share; to assist individuals sharing with those residents, a rebate (Second Adult Rebate) was available, as follows:

Council Tax Benefit

Council Tax Benefit was a means-tested rebate that potentially rebated 100% of a claimant's council tax bill. The rebate would be reduced by a fifth of any qualifying income above a certain level; benefits did not qualify for this calculation, but most other income did. In effect, Council Tax Benefit was a rebate for people with low incomes.

The claimant could not be awarded both Council Tax Benefit and Second Adult Rebate; only the higher of the two, in relation to the claimant's circumstances, would be awarded.

Non-dependant deductions

A non-dependant is a person that the claimant is sharing accommodation with but is not a member of their own household (that is, not a partner, dependant, etc.), such as lodgers or joint tenants. Since it would be reasonable to expect non-dependants to contribute towards the Council Tax bill, Council Tax Benefit was reduced so that it only covered the claimant's hypothetical portion of the Council Tax bill.

However, no reduction was imposed if the claimant or their partner needed substantial care; this qualification was met if, and only if, the claimant was:

No contribution was expected from non-dependant who would themselves qualify for Council Tax benefit, were not counted towards the number of residents liable for council tax (for example, due to being a student), were normally resident elsewhere, or were not adults. But the remaining non-dependants were each hypothetically expected to contribute the following amounts:

Council Tax Benefit was therefore reduced by an amount equal to these hypothetically expected contributions.

Housing Benefit (Northern Ireland)

In Northern Ireland, where the old Rates system is still in place instead of Council Tax, a rebate scheme existed for Rates, that was similar in design to Council Tax Benefit. Confusingly, this was named Housing Benefit, despite another Housing Benefit also existing there to assist with rent payments.

Administration of Housing Benefit for Rates was split between two organisations depending on whether the claimant was renting or was an owner-occupier; Tenants could claim both kinds of Housing Benefit, while owner-occupiers could only get Housing Benefit for rates

Scotland

In Scotland, criticism has been levied not so much at the principle of the tax, but at its debt collection arrangements: Community Charge and Council Tax debts can be pursued up to 40 years later – few people will have conserved their payment receipts for such a long time and as such are unable to prove that they paid. Under Scottish Law, it is the responsibility of the tax payer to prove that the tax has been paid, not for the council to prove that it has not. John Wilson MSP presented an Enforcement of Local Tax Arrears (Scotland) Bill on 19 March 2010 in order to try to reduce this collection time from 20 to 5 years. Although Wilson's bill has not made any progress (as of October 2016), the Scottish parliament has passed the Community Charge Debt (Scotland) Bill to stop Councils pursuing debts from the older Community Charge, though there are some scrutiny stages to go through before it can become law.

England and Wales

The ability to collect Council Tax debt, in line with other debts, expires after six years.

Allocation to wrong tax band

An edition of the current affairs programme Tonight with Trevor McDonald on 26 January 2007 investigated whether millions of homes had been placed in the wrong band in the original 1991 valuation. It was shown that the banding valuations were often done by 'second gear valuations', in other words valuations were often done by driving past homes and allocating bands via a cursory external valuation. The programme followed case studies of a system devised by the presenter Martin Lewis, published on his website in October 2006, who had received thousands back in back payments after appealing their band allocations. This Council Tax Cashback system was said to have the potential to reach millions and received widespread publicity, likely to encourage people to challenge the system. There had been no information published on how many have been successful in obtaining a reduced banding until 22 November 2008 when the Daily Telegraph, in a news article about the campaign by Martin Lewis, stated that in the past year 97,563 properties in England and Wales have been rebanded, with 69,695 of those down-graded.