>What's council tax? Is that similar to our property tax? You only pay if you own and then you pay based on the value of the property? Or is it closer to an income tax? You only pay if you earn income...

Yes, it's like local govt. tax, to pay for bin collection, st lighting, police, etc. Yes, you pay based on the value of your property. It replaced the poll tax (where all hands pay), which replaced "The Rates": like local govt. tax, to pay for bin collection, st lighting, police, etc, pay based on the (rateable)value of your property. ie Council Tax is the Rates by another name.

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>>>tax cuts for the rich and paying unemployment benefit to the millions thrown out of work by her cavalier economic policies.
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>>>To say nothing of the heinous Poll Tax that very nearly ended Civilization as we know it.
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>>>;-)
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>>Look, I'm not a Tory but all that fuss over the poll tax was mainly by people who would normally be able to dodge it, by, say, living in rented accomm., where the landlords had to pay it. One provision was supposed to be that the landlords would reduce the rent by the amount that they'd take as the tenants' Rates contribution (Rates was the precursor - cf local govt tax). Now I was paying c £350 a year in poll tax - now I have to pay £1,250 (at least) in Council Tax. Yet there's not a murmur about the annual hikes in this that every council makes.