Everything is going up except our income.

We do own and run a business Norah so your apologies are not necessary. We are not self employed though as I pointed out earlier. We pay NI and PAYE just the same (and at the same rate) as everyone else.

My "free" choice would be to work for someone else Norah believe you me this is no fun. DH working 15 hours a day for less than our lowest paid employee. However our only REAL alternative would be to go onto permanent sickness benefits.

gillybob I'm sorry, I thought you owned and ran a business, thus self employed by definition.

Elegran point being IF small enterprises can't make ends meet, one need to earn a living somewhere else OR not complain. It's a choice freely made.

FYI I am not self employed Norah. My DH and I run a small business and we are both on the payroll and pay PAYE just like anyone else. It's fine changing employment when you are young and healthy but both DH and I have serious ongoing health problems which is the ONLY reason we started the business in the first place. The alternative could/would probably be sickness benefits.

For the record the band A council tax in our borough is £1025.44 and the band D is £1538.16. In Kensington & Chelsea it's £708.01 (A) and £1062.02 (D).

That was for Norah

That doesn't do anything to increase the number of healthy small businesses in the country though, the little acorns from which grow the big oak trees of manufacturing and commerce. It just increases the gap between employed and employer. all those global enterprises which we so deplore as monopolies are there because people like gilly and her husband have been squeezed out of being independent manufacturers.

We can't have it all ways, either we want giant monopolies or we want independent enterprises. If the independent enterprises can't make ends meet, we will get nothing but the Exxons and Trumps of the world.

Rigby
Council tax is not an income tax, it's a tax on the value of property.
There's no need to feel guilty about your less-well off neighbours as they won't be paying as much income tax as you, will they? It's also quite possible they make greater use of council services than you do.

What about VAT? Is that unfair too? Poor people pay the same as rich people, when they buy goods and services.
There are going to be winners and losers in any form of taxation.

£3.25 for butter? It's £1.09 in Tesco.

I have a limited choice of supermarkets unless I travel 20+ miles but I haven't noticed prices going up much.

gillybob if wages are a problem, get a different job. There must be something that keeps you self employed rather than seeking outside employment. Make the jump IF you truly are unhappy. My husband moved up in employment quite often, worked for him instead of complaining.

the Scottish government raised council tax on band e and above that puts about £30 a month on my bill .I'm happy to pay as we earn a reasonable living...we dont have to worry about heating or eating ...like some.But the amount of abuse on the SNP website about it amazing,people I know who are earning a very good living complaining that after a 10 year FREEZE of council tax they'll need to pay a wee bit more than folk who can barely make ends meet.I wonder how they think services should be paid for ,I know SNP said they abolish council tax and they haven't and thats mainly because people dont want a local income tax...well not the people who would have to pay it.

Gov statements on changes in cost of living reflect what goes into the 'basket of goods':

" Both RPI and CPI measure inflation. Both of them do it by taking a basket of goods – food, clothes, petrol - looking at what they cost last year, looking at what they cost now, and finding the proportional difference.

But the CPI leaves the costs of your home out of the basket – so rises in mortgage payments, rents, and council tax, which in real life you pay, don’t get reflected in it. The RPI does take account of those costs."

from www.statslife.org.uk/economics-and-business/33-rpi-versus-cpi-what-s-the-difference-why-does-it-matter-will-it-make-you-poorer-or-richer

So if you still have mortgage/rent, the CPI is misrepresentative, especially somewhere like Oxford.

chelseababy, spot on! Lovely for us, not so much for those a wee bit younger with children to raise.

I really pity the young ones.

Our council tax has gone up almost 6% ! Plus the £30 green bin charge.

Neither mine or my DH's wages have not gone up in over 5 years Norah !

The things that have gone up though are;

Gas, electric,fuel,bus fares,council tax, food,insurances, presciptions etc.

I (and many like me) are not in the position to be-able to "stock up". I tend to have to buy what I need weekly, as I am paid.

My dads local authority rent has also gone up quite considerably. Not sure how much his pension will have risen in order to pay the extra though.

Pensions will go up 2.5% in April won't they? The CPI was 2.3% so at least something is covered - for some.

Your Asda is certainly different than my shops, no discernible price increases. But I do stock up on offers. I find worrying about small bit of inflation tedious, food prices have been relatively stable for a few years and wages have gone up. So?

Our council services are being cut to the bone and we are now having to pay for green bin collections (they haven't cut the free pilates sessions for council staff though). We have been hit with huge council tax increases. Our senior council officials are some of the highest paid in the country and they have just spent millions on modernising our town hall. The councillors have voted themselves a nice rise in their expenses too.

That aside, take just the price of butter in Asda. 2 for £5 last week. £3.25 each this week. DH's favourite cereal 3 boxes for £5 a month ago £2.67 a box this week. There are plenty other examples.

We are perhaps very lucky to live so near to most of the main supermarkets and so far I can honestly say I have not noticed an increase in prices.

As for Council Tax I think it's inevitable if wages are to be paid and services maintained then Council Tax will go up .

My problem isn't the raise in Council Tax so much as it is the 'waste' by Councils that I deplore. Why put in speed humps at the expense of social care scenario.

Switching to income tax would be patently unfair. We pay much more now than we would on income, and we should pay as much as we do or higher to support services for everyone.

I don't think we have any band G properties in our borough M0nica! Have checked and we pay over £600 per year more than the same band in Kensington & Chelsea.

In leafy wealthy Oxfordshire we pay over £3,000 on a Band G property.

I just checked ours and had assumed that council tax rates would be the same across the whole County but was surprised to find that they are not, they fluctuate quite a bit.

Our council tax goes up to Band I here where the charges would be well over £3,000 per annum.

Highest council tax in the country is in Dorset:
www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/tax/11962411/The-highest-and-lowest-council-tax-bills.html