Just now, impulse said:

From the linked article:

The filename indicates he's a "bailiff" Looks rather Orwellian to me.

That's just a file photo, there's nothing in the article about police, bailiffs or forced entry. This is GB News for pity's sake they do tend to over egg things a tad.

Cool if they make notorious house fraudster Angela Rayner in charge of this scam. Classic labor!

4 minutes ago, Stocky said:

If it were at all communist the property simply wouldn't be yours.

What's the diff between "paying council tax" and "paying rent"?

Semantics.

You don't really own the property. You own the right to rent it from the collective by paying taxes. See what happens if you quit paying.

Sounds pretty commie to me.

5 minutes ago, Stocky said:

That's just a file photo, there's nothing in the article about police, bailiffs or forced entry. This is GB News for pity's sake they do tend to over egg things a tad.

I come here for entertainment. Not deep dives into philosophy.

2 minutes ago, impulse said:

What's the diff between "paying council tax" and "paying rent"?

Semantics.

You don't really own the property. You own the right to rent it from the collective by paying taxes. See what happens if you quit paying.

Sounds pretty commie to me.

If you're renting a house in the UK you still be pay the council tax on top!

If the house is yours you pay the council tax and you can sell the property as it's yours.

1 minute ago, Stocky said:

If you're renting a house in the UK you still be pay the council tax on top!

If the house is yours you pay the council tax and you can sell the property as it's yours.

But you're not selling the house. You're selling the right to rent the house from the collective by paying the tax.

Granted, it's insidious. Mostly because it's gone on forever, so people accept it. But it is communism. The collective owns the property.

Contrast that with, for example, Thailand.

And don't even get me started on further proof that the collective owns it... Eminent Domain. They can even take it back.

Edited August 25Aug 25 by impulse

1 hour ago, impulse said:

Contrast that with, for example, Thailand.

We pay a property tax here in Thailand, it's not much, about Bht1,500 per year, but the principle is the same. Most countries have a property tax of some sort including the USA.

2 hours ago, Stocky said:

We pay a property tax here in Thailand, it's not much, about Bht1,500 per year, but the principle is the same. Most countries have a property tax of some sort including the USA.

If a bunch of commies got in there (not a massive stretch)

and they put property tax up to level you couldn't afford,

would you still 'own' your home?

and, if so how much would it be worth?

Maybe you'd just "Own nothing & be happy"

I think some people here need to read up about communism; it seems to be a word some here use very loosely, and rather inaccurately.

12 hours ago, Stocky said:

I think some people here need to read up about communism; it seems to be a word some here use very loosely, and rather inaccurately.

Arriving at communism is often a process. Read up on it.

Again:
If a bunch of hard left (commie types) got voted in in Thailand (NOT a massive stretch as the vast majority are piss poor)

and they put property taxes up to level you couldn't afford (to eg. 'help the poor' / 'reduce inequality',

would you still 'own' your home?

and, if so how much would it be worth?

Maybe you'd just "Own nothing & be happy"

*To be clear - I don't think the Labour Party et al are working towards communism - imho the plan is to flush home ownership into the hands of the likes of BlackRock.
So I guess that's technically fascism. Same result to the majority though: "Own nothing & be happy"

Edited August 25Aug 25 by Tourist2

Council tax is already way too high, paying for too many rubbish public sector workers

Can someone please explain to me how Thailand can build better roads, better railways than the UK, operate a rubbish collection service blah blah blah, when the population only pays a pittance in 'utility' tax for these benefits?

48 minutes ago, simon43 said:

Can someone please explain to me how Thailand can build better roads, better railways than the UK, operate a rubbish collection service blah blah blah, when the population only pays a pittance in 'utility' tax for these benefits?

That's because the rubbish is worth money.

The collectors want the rubbish, so they can sort and sell it.

Thai railways barely work, bus is faster.

Edited August 25Aug 25 by BritManToo

45 minutes ago, simon43 said:

Can someone please explain to me how Thailand can build better roads, better railways than the UK, operate a rubbish collection service blah blah blah, when the population only pays a pittance in 'utility' tax for these benefits?

Because £10 a day is considered a good living in Thailand. Welfare costs are much lower in Thailand. The Thai old age allowance starts at 600 baht. A month. If you are lucky enough to live to 90, you'll get a whopping 1000 baht a month. Additionally, for the working population, about 1 in 7 are so poor they qualify for a State Welfare Card, which gets them 300 baht a month to spend in Thong Fah shops on essentials.

How many days would you last in Thailand with 600 baht? I doubt you'd make the week.

I'm not sure the mountain roads on Koh Samui are better than the UK.

59 minutes ago, simon43 said:

Can someone please explain to me how Thailand can build better roads, better railways than the UK, operate a rubbish collection service blah blah blah, when the population only pays a pittance in 'utility' tax for these benefits?

UK paying people too much to the point they offshore jobs or just don't hire them.

Couple of years ago all you heard was " we need to make UK a high wage economy" China and India were laughing at the suicide, you don't hear it anymore

HMG employs about 1000 valuation officers. There are about 30 million private homes. It would take 16 years to revalue them through an officer visiting every home. Given the average rise in house value is about 7% a year over the last 30 years or so, its an utterly futile effort if you seriously believe the alarmist GB News headline spread by the OP without comment (he's gullible).

In reality, to revalue the vast majority of houses needs none of that. Mostly based off land registry records, talk of using aerial photos, but the updatedness of that will vary geographically.

The average annual council tax bill is about £1700 a year or $2300, to pay for local services. The average US annual property taxes are $4400 a year. The vast majority of US homes are revalued by local government annually. They're not directly comparable though, because of the different statutory responsibilities of local government in each country. For instance, the budgets for the police, fire services, schools in the UK come from central government, but in the US, they tend to be locally funded. Additionally, the US has other layers of local funding through state income taxes, state sales taxes, sometime city or county sales taxes. VAT in the UK is collected by central government.

Average UK total tax burden (all taxes) is 34% (OECD). In the US, when you factor in health costs, the burden is about 42% of income, of which around 14-15% is on health insurance (including employer contribution, which is effectively a charge on your salary). When you consider total disposable income after taxes, healthcare costs, housing costs, Britons are left with, on average, 56-58% of their salary, and in the US, its more like 41-49%, largely due to increased healthcare and housing costs.

On 8/24/2026 at 11:08 AM, Stocky said:

The Council Tax Bands haven't been updated since 1991 when the valuations were as follows.

A Up to £40,000

B £40,001 to £52,000

C £52,001 to £68,000

D £68,001 to £88,000

E £88,001 to £120,000

F £120,001 to £160,000

G £160,001 to £320,000

H More than £320,000

I (Wales only) More than £320,000

I think most sane people would agree things have moved on since then so overdue for a revision.

On 8/24/2026 at 2:06 PM, Stocky said:

Note:
The average UK house price in 1991 when the council tax bands were established was 60k, the average UK house price in 2026 is 271k. The tax bands need adjusting, and some houses need resurveying since they've had extensions, loft conversions and even basements added.

The price bands may not have changed since 1991, but council tax has still increased during that time. Re-valuing properties is just a way to increase council tax. Why should council tax be based on property values anyway?

A fairer way would be if it were based on the number of people (adults) living at the property. Maybe they could call it the poll tax or something like that.

On 8/24/2026 at 8:10 PM, MIke B Bad said:

And?

And now she's the secretary of state for housing (after cheating on her stamp duty).

Still, it's all relative. When you've got a convicted fraudster as de-facto Deputy and you installed the Prime Minister via bloodless coup, I guess a bit of tax evasion doesn't seem so bad.

On 8/25/2026 at 8:46 AM, scubascuba3 said:

Problem was the tea leafs didn't want to pay tax, they want someone else to pay, they were probably lefties too

The problem with the poll tax was, a single occupant homeowner in Edinburgh’s New Town would be charged the same tax as a single occupant tenant in Muirhouse.

As the occupant in The New Town I still regarded that was as obviously an unjustifiable tax regime.

Millions agreed, trialing the poll tax experiment in Scotland was simply another nail in the regressive poll tax plan.

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The problem with the poll tax was, a single occupant homeowner in Edinburgh’s New Town would be charged the same tax as a single occupant tenant in Muirhouse.

As the occupant in The New Town I still regarded that was as obviously an unjustifiable tax regime.

Millions agreed, trialing the poll tax experiment in Scotland was simply another nail in the regressive poll tax plan.

or one old lady in a house would pay the same council tax as 7 people sharing a house vs poll tax those 8 people pay the same amount, much fairer

5 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The problem with the poll tax was

I can hear Thatcher bleating 'the community charge' over and over while being heckled at the dispatch box 🤮

4 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

or one old lady in a house would pay the same council tax as 7 people sharing a house vs poll tax those 8 people pay the same amount, much fairer

One old lady gets a 25% discount as a single occupier, and if on pension credit she may well qualify for council tax benefit, so she'd pay nothing.

The problem is there is no perfect system, but the council tax, or rates as was, is certainly less controversial than the community charge (Poll Tax).

On 8/25/2026 at 10:27 AM, sungod said:

In all fairness the first time was in the 14th century, she tried it again nearly 600 years later. Times do change occasionally you know :)

Yes, I know the first time was in the 14th century.

The reaction was much the same.

21 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

or one old lady in a house would pay the same council tax as 7 people sharing a house vs poll tax those 8 people pay the same amount, much fairer

Why’s it always an old lady?

Never some multimillionaire living in a mansion?

The poll tax was designed to cut taxes to the wealthy at cost to the poor - Classic Tory hand out to the rich.

On 8/24/2026 at 3:46 PM, Tourist2 said:

All tax is theft.

Until you need to call the Fire Dept.?

26 minutes ago, johng said:

I can hear Thatcher bleating 'the community charge' over and over while being heckled at the dispatch box 🤮

I recall the peaceful anti poll tax marches on Edinburgh.

I understand Londoners were a wee bit more forceful in their opposition to the regressive tax.

Not dissimilar to the TV License people knocking on your door - usually in pairs like Jehovah's Witnesses. Do they still do that?

On 8/25/2026 at 10:47 AM, impulse said:

What's the diff between "paying council tax" and "paying rent"?

Semantics.

You don't really own the property. You own the right to rent it from the collective by paying taxes. See what happens if you quit paying.

Sounds pretty commie to me.

Tell that to the millions of people buying under leasehold.

Often leasing from the decedents of the Normans who invaded in 1066. (By example Grosvenor, Seymour, Howard, Sinclair, Percy).. Definitely doesn’t sound ‘commie’.

On 8/24/2026 at 2:44 PM, Stocky said:

It's re-banding that doesn't set the amount, the local council does that. But houses get upgraded, and they could no doubt add another couple of bands at the top for mansions and palaces.

Yeah, like that Tory git did with a floating duck island, that he also claimed as an expense. He should be in the very top band of council tax, even if he lives in a tent at the edge of a rubbish tip. Sir Peter Viggers, scamming barsteward. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-52219896

Ditto Angela Rayner, yet another disgusting cheat who should be paying top rate no matter what.

5 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Tell that to the millions of people buying under leasehold.

Often leasing from the decedents of the Normans who invaded in 1066. (By example Grosvenor, Seymour, Howard, Sinclair, Percy).. Definitely doesn’t sound ‘commie’.

If you: A) cannot keep your home unless you make payments to the government (council tax) and B) The government can dictate what you can and can't build (under zoning laws) and C) The government can take your home back if they declare a higher and better purpose (under eminent domain), do you really own it?

Or are you renting it from the collective?

Inquiring minds want to know...