I've received this email which I share incase it's of interest. ..

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The Council have recently carried out a review of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme and as a result we have identified that we need to make a minor change to the way we process change of circumstance applications.

We are keen to hear the views of residents about this change and about how well the Council Tax Reduction Scheme is currently working. 

For more information about how you can have your say, please click on the link below.

http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/consultation

I realise I am probably going to be in a minority here, but if there was one thing M Thatcher did get right in her tenure, it was the introduction of the Poll Tax. How ironic that it led to some of the worst public disorder ever seen in this country, and a swift u-turn as a result.

From what I recall it was based on the number of inhabitants in a property, and more importantly, the number of potential wage earners in that property. The current system is flawed in that a single person living alone and who's only source of income is £71 a week ESA ( Ie: me ) pays just 25% less than the family of 5 next door who have two full time wage earners and an income I can only dream of in my old age. I now pay £88 a month in council tax. My neighbours pay approximately £12 a month more on a joint income in the region of £50k pa.

Totally agree.

I disagree that Mrs T got it right on Poll Tax as was wrong in that it did not include an 'ability to pay' part to it.

EG: A single man on a above average wage (say £60k nowadays) would pay less than the couple (with 2 x young kids) next door where only the husband worked. That's nonsense and unfair

Blanket one-size-fits-all type taxes are plainly wrong and only by considering income is it possible to ensure everyone pays a fair contribution to their LA

I agree with the part of your post that says 'one size fits all blanket taxes' are unfair, of course they are.
A single man on £60k a year though ? That's highly unlikely for the vast majority. Minimum wage and zero hours contracts are the norm nowadays.

Totally agree with you Moley, much fairer than Council Tax. Of course the Left-wing bully boys went onto the streets and the rest, unfortunately, is history.
Bring back the Community Charge, to give it its right name - it was called the Poll Tax by the Left-wing political dinosaurs.

Ah....but

The couple with the kids get child benefit and if on low or average earnings child tax credit. These are benefits not available to the single person. £60k per annum aint much these days anyway.
Under normal mortgage rules it would only allow the person to borrow £210,000 for a house purchase. What does that buy you in London these days.

The £60k per annum bloke will pay a higher rate of income tax on part of his earnings. Mr and Mrs average with 2 kids on average wage will not.

Swings and roundabouts. It might look unfair at first glance but it rarely was.

The left jumped on it as traditionally the head of the household was always the name on the council tax and was liable to be chased if it was not paid.

When the responsibility changed to everyone over the age of 18 all of a sudden some layabout kids, grannies and others who had lived under the one roof (without liability) became duty bound to make a contribution.....
Couldn't be having that could they!!

The Rates were unfair because a very large number of 'beneficiaries' of local taxation were paying nothing towards the 'services' they supposedly 'benefited' from; and the Rates didn't take into account the ability to pay. The Community Charge was fairer because it spread the liability to pay over a larger section of society, but it still failed to take into account the ability to pay. The Council Tax is really a return to the Rates, and still does not take into account the ability to pay, but with the name change that includes "Tax" comes the possibility of later being changed to a local Income Tax – and supposedly taking into account the ability to pay – but with the increasing political talk of property taxes I doubt there will ever be a fairer system. The lust for power, and the greed of the political class is insatiable – as if it is working with a Common Purpose to an agenda that doesn't include the well-being of the electorate.

A local income tax would also contain some serious anomalies; such as, which authority collects the tax – the authority where a person works, or the authority where the a person lives; in this age of commuting they are rarely the same.

Whether it be Rates, Community Charge, Council Tax, or local Income Tax – the same problem applies to all forms of local taxation – that is; we are all grossly and obscenely OVER TAXED by central government way before we even consider local taxation.

The primary problem is: WE ARE OVER GOVERNED! All taxes should be slashed, and that means ALL forms of government; local, central, and EU need to be drastically reduced -and the first step requires that the UK immediately leaves the EU; a second step requires the addition of a “None of the Above” option on all ballot papers, and the end to the party system.

Unfortunately, smaller government isn't going to happen because the decision makers are never going to behave like turkeys voting for Christmas – they have too much interest in expanding their power-base.

While we retain the political party system there will never be any improvement. Even the apparent choice at the polls between the current offerings is an illusion of choice because on all major issues there is nothing to choose between the political parties – even UKIP are not offering a full return to freedom from insanity. There also needs to be and end to the nepotistic practice of the 'professional' offspring of politicians following in daddy's footsteps.

The poll tax would have been fairer , if the total tax , on a house was dived by the number of working residents in the house
eg tax £1200 , two people pay £600 each four £300 each

At the time me and 2 of my bros were still living at home, all of us working. So there were five people in our 3 bed semi in Church Road, 4 of them working. Yet our rates were the same as next door's where an elderly widow lived alone. Even before the poll tax was invented we thought that was unfair.