Interesting subject Buddha.
If we accept that someone somewhere has to pay for local services like waste collection and disposal then how would you like to see it collected ?
We could do it through central taxation e.g. PAYE or we could do it via local council collection
IIRC Poll tax meant each adult paid the same price irrespective of whether they used services or not.
Council tax is based on an arbitrary band that your house sits in based on its value from years ago and again you pay whether you use the services or not
My house has 5 adults, my neighbours house has 2 adults but for some bizarre reason they are a band higher. My other neighbour has 2 adults and 2 kids and is a band lower than mine and two bands lower than the other neighbour.
We all pay a different fee but get access to the same council services. How is that fairer than the poll tax ?
We could change to a service where you opt in to council services and pay accordingly for things like waste collection. I'm worried that would lead to even more fly tipping that costs more to clean up
My bill this year is £2254 of which :
£210 is adult social care
£100 is for fire brigade
£266 is for the PCC (that boils my piss)
Presumably everyone would have to pay those before selecting what other "optional" services to opt into. Probably more mandatory ones as well so always going to have to pay something.
In that scenario the poorest in society suffer more as services like leisure centres, festivals and libraries are cut if people opt out.
The richest can afford their private gym memberships and festivals and don't rely on council subsidised events or facilities
In all honesty the poll tax seems the fairest of them all to me
Please don't say the community could come together to manage all services Free of charge. That's great in small groups and I envy the community spirit you are part off. That wouldn't realistically work in Medway with 300K inhabitants though.
i am interested though how would you do it?