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omg when is it going to stop people have already been brought to there knees 3 more years of this, whats going to be next

Owners of empty properties & 2nd properties must be the 1st to pay up - get someone in the property or sell up if necessary. After that I would treat everyone equally - why should pensioners be exempt while unemployed & disabled pay more? All of these groups are equally able or unable to pay.

maybe if the council stopped spending on fountains and traveller site and expenses there would be enough money without increases,again the workers will have to pay

so im gonna be hit on my council tax cause there is a shortfall,i live in my own house and have to pay for any improvements off my own back ,(pvc windows, doors , new bathroom and kitchen) which cost me 20k,, but woe ,, a number of council houses along the road are having major work done for nothing , i should imagine what goes into 1 house would equal 10 years of my counsil tax contributions,, surely its only fair that the recipient of these upgrades should pay towards them , not me who will gain nothing from them

and so it begins now that low paid workers and benefit claimants have been split straight down the middle thanks to this government causing the poorest people to turn on each other its now the turn of the minimum paid workers, they are giving employers the right to sack you at the drop of a hat if they think your not suitable, even if you work your ass off .they are now going to take away some of the benefits you can claim maybe if the poorest people of this country had stood together when these animals first came into power we wouldnt be facing the destruction we are today. its such a shame because the majority of benefit claimants are genuine, and minimum wage workers are struggling surely we should be united against this government and not trying to fetch each other down

Maybe the country shud come t a stand still n demend the goverment out. Cos since they have been in its got more expensive, and will continue. Gov ban smoking in pubs, pubs are drying now. No drinkers. Quit smoking. No smokers. No tax so they put it on fuel. All the gov see is money. When gov came to power they said our country was 1trillion i think in red. Recently gov said 38billion to build a high speed rail link for the main line brum leeds sheff. But the gov has had to ask 4 more more from central bank. So yes when is it gunna stop. We have 3 more years, b4 general election.

I agree with all the posts BUT it was the people who voted them in . Surely after "MAGGIE" ALL should have known NOT to trust the tory's or Lib dems cos they always swing with the PARTY going at the time as they are no good either ,,,,
sorry if this displeases some .............

The council have millions of pounds in reserve and therefore nobody should be coughing up. Dont stand for it! We brought down the poll tax, we can do the same here. We are being shafted from behind from councils and central government on a daily basis. We have to stop it, together!!!!

What people seem to not understand is that an average families outgoing is 1500 per calender month in the uk up north. What average job pays this amount of money in Barnsley or in the region ???? certainly minimum wage would not cover this amount. Do we really want to be like a 3rd world country people?? seeing extreme poverty on the streets or do we want to see people living habitable i.e food on the table for our children. As we know economy is pretty poor here in the uk, so people lets promote more industry in this country. Bring back steel works, cotton mills etc. Forget buying it in china just because they produce it for next to nothing and our employers buy it in bulk and rake in all the money for themselves.

yes they are a labour council but they are governed by tory policies. i cant believe that people in minimum wage jobs didnt see this coming, did you really think that this government would look after you, the odds of this lot getting re ellected is not good so they are going to make sure they bring down the people who will vote against them.did you really think this government would do anything that would affect there own lifestyle think about it cameron&clegg are going to make sure they bring the poorest people of this country to there knees and make sure the wealthy are looked after .there are a lot more poor people in this country than wealthy why are we not standing together to stop these people instead of turning on each other

It does not matter who you voted for. The coalition are making a hash of it - agreed. Dont forget that it was a labour government that brought in Uni fees and brought in so many immigrants and started Academy schools (more debt). We also have a labour council who are absolutely useless and always have been.
The problem is basically that all of them are using finances to turn people against each other. By doing this they get to phase out the NHS eventually, benefits, pensions, jobs for Northern England, social housing and the choice of having children and working for public sector or setting up your own company. They are turning poor against poorer whilst widening the gap between the rich and everyone else.

well said greenginger. it doesnt matter which party is in power unless the poorest people of this country stop turning on each other and stand together theres no hope for any of us.even the3rd worlds poorest people stand up for there rights,no other country would allow a government to do what the governments of this country are allowed to do.come on people why are we letting the minority crush the majority

Guy Fawlkes where are you now?

this country is a disgrace , i am sick of hearing about fuel going up food going up when are they going to give us more money so we can afford all this. in the space of 2 months i lost my job and my husband lost his job so we ended up on jsa for the first time in 6 years we try our hardest to find work but in the mean time we are having to survive on 400 a month we have 100 rent to pay a month out of this as we only get 68.25 as we have no children i feel for people on benefits now i have experienced it myself, its the worst thing in the world we have no money left after our jsa to pay for food gas elec so we are having to rely on family and if jsa new this they would take the money out of our jsa and now they are wanting to do this with council tax. no wonder this country is in debt and people are turning to door step lenders and these pay day loans. it makes me sick to think of how much tax me and my husband have paid in and never once claimed any sort of benefits and never go to drs and now we are expected to live on jsa while smack heads and ppl who just cant be arsed to work and have a foot ball team of kids get a fortune. and becuase i am under 25 if i get a job and my husband is still unemployed we dont even get working tax and he wont get any jsa its completely f**ked up. just stinks how genuine people like me and my hubby get knocked back by employers and now the governent someone needs to give us a break so we can get back up at this rate all the poor people like myself will end up on the streets. why should the rich people not be made to pay more no one needs 100,000 a year to live on they should be made to help get this country out of debt cos us poor people have nothing left to give

Yeh, that's all we need, more relgious fruit cakes in power. Guy "Fawkes" is exactly where he should be!

get a life joe. how dare you, you dont know the circumstances of everyone on benefits. i paid into this system for over 30 yrs. do you think i just woke up 1 morning and thought you know what,im going to pack in the job ive been at for 10yrs a job i loved by the way and claim benefits, it doesnt matter that i will lose the home ive paid a mortgage on for 15 yrs, it doesnt matter that i will lose the privelidge of owning my own car some thing i have had since i was 18 yrs old and worked dammed hard to keep hold of .it doesnt matter that i will have to leave the area that i have lived in for 15yrs away from all my family and friends ,it doesnt matter that i will probably never have another holiday some thing i had the pleasure of twice a year ,oh but none of this matters does it because i will be able to live in a council house and get part of my rent and council tax paid as i dont get it all paid because i paid into the system for so many years i can rely on other people to take me where i need to go thats if im even well enough to get out of the door, it doesnt matter that ive lost all my self respect, self worth, and independance. it doesnt matter that i would give anything to be well enough to work and why doesnt it matter joe .because according to people like you i live a life of luxury.when are people like you going to realise the nasty snide horrible remarks you are so hell bent on stateing dont effect the people who are scrounging, they dont give a monkeys what you or anyone else thinks, it the genuine people who it effects, who already feel as low as its possible to feel

you have totally missunderstood what i was saying joe im talking about all the poor people of this country working or not. the poorest paid workers of this country get a crap deal but so do genuine benefit claiments, yes there are scroungers there always has been and always will be.these people dont care about anyone but themselves ,im talking about the truely genuine people standing up and saying enough is enough its so easy for someone who is not in this position to judge others who are. and you cant just say take away a persons right to vote if they claim benefits joe ,what if god forbid you had a stroke or an heart attack or something and you were told your working days were over and had to claim benefits to live, would that then mean you should lose your right to vote regardless of how many years you have paid into the system

I am getting mixed messages here ,on the one hand Barnsley Council is so strapped for cash some of us will finish up paying a lot more council tax ,and on the other hand they are spending millions on the proposed new " Fantastic Town Centre" we might get built, for us all to walk round and spend ALL the rest of our money in the likes Debenhams,designer shops, a market to beat all markets. Coffee shops on every corner.Hang on a minute! there are three purses to look into here, 1. The Council Deficit Purse, which is rammed down our throats, 2. The Council Spending Purse, which we will never know really how much is in it. 3. Our own purse which is getting drained every day, can they really believe our purse is bottomless? that we can pay more to them, and spend, spend, spend in their Fantasy Barnsley Land. Dream on!!!!

your so right e turton. how many people in barnsley can actually afford to shop in these kind of shops ,workers are costantly stating on wab how they are struggling to live so they dont have money,genuine benefit claiments can't afford to shop there,the bone idol scammers as some people refer to them will spend there money on other things drink drugs etc .so yet again the only people who will benefit are the well off and theres not many of them in barnsley

can anybody lend me £20??

Too few paying for too many. All council tax benefit should be scrapped. If everyone paid the bill would be nominal for all.

Too few paying for too many. All council tax benefit should be scrapped. If everyone paid the bill would be nominal for all.

And about time too !!!!!...........

get a life you idiots how can you expect someone living on £89.00 a week to be able to pay full council tax they have to pay exactly the same for gas,electric,water,tv,food etc as someone on hundreds of pounds a week and some have to pay a portion of their rent and council tax out of that. a lot of these people are also trying to pay off debts incured while they were working as well im all for a fair system but realistic ive always worked and hopefully will continue to do so but its not garanteed and could find myself in their position some day and so could you

i work 14 hr day shifts ,,,but still dread the unknown future ,,,,, becoming a very unsettled scary place ,,,dont kno wat more the goverment can do to us ,,, but they are and will ,,,,dread to think what its gona be like in 5-10 years its awful ,,, food shopping some things are 4times as much as they used to be ,,, than ya look at reciept but still they take vat ,on how much you have spent in total ,,,, awful just plain awful ,,,scared for the future n scared for the poorer ones ,, its mad !!!!

would like to see exactly wat every penny of our council tax does go on ,,, we pay the damn thing we should (i think) get a receipt of exactly how much they recieve in totally and exactly what it all goes on ,, n let the british ourselves work out where the descrepencies are , and let our voices be heard and run the country ourselves ,, not some f.... pr....s who hasnt got a clue on working class or how the poorer ones live , grrrrrrrrrrr

its madness to argue with each other the plain and simple fact is the government are screwing everyone apart from the rich who are just getting richer while the rest of us meer mortals just sink further into depression worry and debt unless everyone whether low paid unemployed etc take a stand theyre just going to keep persecuting us until we are the next 3rd world country that you see advertised on tv asking for handouts but i bet we wont get any as not every country is as daft handing out monety it hasnt got

your so right disgusted its not going to be long for there are more ghettos than in america. can i just say to the gentleman who seems to think they should do away with minimum wage ive never heard anything so stupid, people on minimum wage are already paid a pitance it should be raised not abolished.most people on minimum wage do the hardest dirtiest most phisical jobs that most pen pushing better paid workers wouldnt dream of doing standing on your feet 8 hrs a day at a machine in a factory,sweeping streets,cleaning public toilets etc ive done jobs on both sides of the fence and never came home exhausted after sitting at a desk all day. give employers a free rein to decide on wages and this country as had it

There seems to be a lot of assumptions that all us "poor people" voted for the con-dems, and that we are all out of work scroungers! This is simply not true! I did not vote for the con-dems; I am a hard working single parent of 2 children; I own my own home, but yes, I receive benefits - without which I couldn't afford to feed and clothe my children. If my council tax benefit is stopped it will bring hardship onto my little family. I have worked all my life, having only taken the statutory mat leave after the kids were born, so I've always paid into the system. I am in no way racist, but am aware that there seems to be larger and larger groups of "ethnic minorities" coming into Barnsley, and if the rumours are true housing is found for these people - although I know a lot of them work hard in minimum wage jobs. The Chronicle tell us that the Council are looking to find a permanent site for travellers - where does the money come from for these things? the Tax payer of course! The whole system is wrong.

I would just like to clarify, my comments regarding ethnic minorities getting council housing referred to people like the Latvian women who was in the national papers last week - she moved to the UK with 3-4 of her kids and was given a 3 bed council house. She then went on to have another 3-4 kids (I cannot remember the numbers) and brought her remianing childing over from Latvia, meaning she lived in the house with 10 children and no partner. She would not reveal who the fathers of her children were. She is getting £34000 a year in benefits and was complaining that she wanted a bigger house. Apparantly, the paper reported, in Latvia they get £9 per month per child! No wonder she wants to live here. As I said I am not racist - I have the same views of these "scroungers" whether they are British born and bred or come from other countries; but I do feel that if people want to live in our country, they should contribute to it! The country is struggling to pay benefits to people who have paid into the system all their lives (pensioners etc) so why should we pay benefits to people who have never made a contribution.

To be honest i think its unfair system, i have a decent job as does my partner but since going part time after having my daughter we struggle, our mortgage & bills are still the same, we get no benefits or help we getting by at min as we dont go out or have proper holidays etc. I here EVERY day jobless parents outside school talking about getting hammered at local, having a chinese cos it was indian yesterday, smoking there heads off. Im paying for that and cant afford it myself so if they have to give up takeaways, fags n booze to take a bit less out the pot n help the shortfall then too right they shud, cos i have nothing else to give up (unless i lost my home :( )

In reply to Mick. Your obviously ignorant to the fact people are ending up with empty properties/2nd homes because they can't afford to sell at such a massive loss. So I can't see how it's fair to add more strain by increasing their council tax.
But then again why should I be surprised that people think the people that earn (and struggle more than people who don't) should be the ones that suffer?!

Woould not matter who was prime minister the cuts would still need to be made due to the way in which our country has been run in past years. But to save costs have our own council leaders looked at their own pay packets and taken a pay cut this would save us money or are they too busy enjoying the finer things in life ?

To pay enough as it is. You are bang on mate. I am in the same situation as you. My husband has a half decent job and I work part time. Where were me and my husband this Boxing Day and New Year's Day.... Working overtime to take out boys on holiday. Where were the people I know claiming non working benefits.... In the pub. Sorry I have no sympathy to anyone having to pay council tax, I have done it for the last 11 years so tough

Im sat here freezing while tryin to sort mi bills art still ant payed mi gas n electric coz I ant enough to pay them don't get payed till end of month darnt put heatin on till kids come home mum payed for me some shopping yesterday so should be ok for a week a two god this is reality n it scares me coz it looks like its going to get worse I agree wi Jayne and pay too much I work hard for a living am a single parent but me n my kids don't get any extra treats like u hear some bragging in the school playground I feel awful coz since iv got my latest gas bill iv not been using heating late at nite and in the mornings the kids get up moaning there cold I feel so guilty trying to stay positive n not let this get me down coz at least we alive n kicking xxx

Everybody is in the same boat wether you work or not . All because some1 works doesn't give them the right to make the rules for the unemployed!! Really Carn't wait till all your who's pulling the unemployed down are in the gutter

so it seems some people think that food stamps should replace benefit money,well acording to the government everyone should eat 3 healthy meals a day to stay healthy,well all i can say is bring it on cos if it meant i could eat 3 meals a day instead of the 1 i can afford at the minuet then send me the stamps cos it will cost them a lot more to provide me with enough stamps to eat their daily recomendation than what they give me now

Were are all in this together workers people on dole and sick.The way i see things is a lot that are are on benefits think society owes them a living and think the goverment can continue to pay your rent pay,pay your council tax, pay for your fags and beer blah blah blah.
Do you think money is a free for all the only people that are taking the hit are the working tax payer and while i sympathise with genuine out of work people that are trying to get back and genuine ill or disabled the rest of you need to get off your arse and earn your council tax and rent instead of sitting on here moaning how badly done to you are.
Britains welfare system needs a radical overhaul and personally i welcome all these cuts and i hope they cut more and Mr David Cameron makes all you work shy get up in the morning like the rest of us and do some kind of activity that benefits society AMEN.

Alan
everbody had the chance to vote these w*nkers out a few years back when mr money bags ilsley stood for re election knowing full well he would be found guilty of fraud' and so did everyone in the labour party' but when he was sent to prison we had to have a by election at the cost of 30 to 40 thousand quid this was our money and the labour council spend it like its a lottery win.
anyone remember the haylo or the tuscan gardens that cost millions in outside consutation fee's and were never built.

Labour have totally ruined the country, pure and simple!!!!

Seeing all of you people rant on like you live in poverty, barnsley isn't a very nice place, but there are a lot worse places. How can you blame labour for this? Who do you think cut the funding? Labour might run the council, but they do not run the country and can't argue with the funding or lack of they recieve.

Im 23 and my partner is the same age, we have a young nine month old son, I have worked, and so has katie since before we were 16, understandly its not even a decade, but the point is we have never taken anything from the government and we have given everything we had to. We applied for Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit a few month back and was offering £4 a week for housing benefit, and didnt even get acknowledged for the council tax benefit. So don't go talking like it is so easy to get it. It isnt. I have just lost my job before christmas and now we are trying to survive on my partners part time job until i can find another. I have not recieved anything from the governement yet and to put it frankly me and my partner havn't eaten. Our son has, he has everything he needs. Is this acceptable? You people need to get a life. Arguing about the politics of it all when you obviously dont understand politics. And yes, it is right that OAPS shouldn't pay as much, and niether should the young, if you are on the sick and arnt working you obviously cant afford ctax, so skinting these people will generate crime and the rich should pay more (which they already do realistically)

Pathetic People, absolutle greed. The council could charge me £5000 a month if i was earning the money to pay it, if you ask people the question how much tax would you pay if you could? Most people say nothing. I say as much as i can, as id love the opportunity to pay that much tax.

And wot about these people on benefits who have disabled children who claim for everything I know someone with twins one parent main Carer for 1 child and the other parent the main Carer for the other child so they never have to look for work but both the children in full time school why can't they work it's disgusting me and my husband both work full time pay a mortgage and they claim rent, poll tax have a car through disability and pay not a penny they have more money than we have coming in the system is all wrong they should look at wot they have coming in and make them pay like everybody else has to they can well afford t pay it instead of us tax payers paying for them that way they will pull some of they short fall money back it is disgusting.

It's a simple equation
Pot of money/ you keep taking out of it but putting less back what's going to happen??? Folk need to realise no matter what their circumstances you are gonna be affected by cuts even workers were in a recession so it's right we all have to pay in one way it another.
Benefits have gone up 20% in last 5 years most people working have and a pay freeze yet they still have to live.
Right off to work just remember the goverment have got us in this mess it's up to them to get us out,unfortunately were on the sh1t end on the stick....

why is it people assume that everyone on benefits is a beer swilling, fag smoking,druggy waster living a life of luxury. there are many people out there dont drink,dont,smoke and dont take drugs and living in poverty and these are the ones who totally agree with a benefits freeze and are extremely gratefull for what little they do get in benefits

sorry greenginger totally disagree i work damnd hard for my money but if i decide to hate someone it will be because i want to not because this shambles of a government tries to brainwash me into it i choose to believe there are many genuine people claiming benefits