Should I pay council tax?

[TwilightAgain]

I'm starting my postgraduate course this September and so because i'm a student I don't have to pay council tax.

However my OH and I have just moved in together, he hasn't said it in so many words but I think he is a little annoyed that I won't be paying council tax and he is.

Am I being unreasonable by not paying anything or should I be contributing despite not being legally obligated to? I'm a bit unsure of what is morally right with this, what are your thoughts?

 

[foquita]

i think it's unreasonable. we've always halved in for council tax, my OH was a student for a year before I was and we got a discount because of that but he still paid half. if you live together as a couple all household bills should be halved IMO.

same with my ex-OH as well, when he was a student and I wasn't we still halved the council tax

 

[foquita]

and when it's the other way around next year when I'm a student and my OH isn't he will be paying half of the council tax

 

[MrsPear]

No personally I think it's up to him. He's moved in with you knowing you are a student so it's a bit different than if you both had jobs and then you went back to education.

I moved in with a post-grad student (not a bf, just a friend) and I didn't expect her to contribute, I just paid my 75%.

My OH pays all of ours because I am a student (but tbh we do share all our money, so it's kind of a moot point. But basically I get £300 bursary per month and everything else is his money, so I put all my money in the pot but it's not like council tax is the only thing he is paying for in this house).

 

[Blah11]

I'd pay half

 

[foquita]

if it's the same there as in scotland then it's not even a 50% reduction, if you lived alone or you were both students it would be free but your OH is paying more than the half he would have been paying if you weren't a student while you pay nothing, I can see why he would be pissed off.

 

[rosesmummy]

Eeek, I think it personally depends on your stipend, if you do have enough to contribute then I'd say go halves :/

whilst we're on this subject... my OH is becoming a post grade this sept and I'm a ft SAHM. We pay full council tax at the moment and I know when OH starts his phd we'd get a 25% reduction but does anyone know if we get any other reduction as OH isn't counted and I don't (As of yet) work??

 

[lilyd]

I would treat it as a household bill and split it the same way as the other outgoings.

 

[Kate&Lucas]

I'd split it like any household bill.

 

[TwilightAgain]

Sorry rosesmummy I don't know the answer to your question

My OH will get a 25% discount, I think it worked out to be around £945 a year to pay. The thing is though, he is wanting me to buy an imac 27" (for both us, i'm also buying a laptop for myself primarily for study, so the imac will be for both of us). So that will be £1500-£1800. So if he pays for the council tax and I buy the imac then technically we'll be about even aren't we?

Basically i'm going to have around £32,000-£39,000 in the bank to cover my studying (rent, food, bills, tuition etc). But he thinks because i'm got all of this that it's unfair for him to pay the council tax alone because i'll have more money than him. So if I was to say to him that i'll either pay for half the council tax £1000 (thats for both years of me being a student) OR buy an imac £1500-£1800, is that me sounding spiteful or is that fair?

I don't want to 'short change' him because he's done so much for us and i'm really grateful. But at the same time I want to do things that's right morally so if that means paying half the council tax then i'm ok with that but then I may have to revoke my offer of buying us a new computer because I was also thinking of buying myself a car (he has one already, but I could do with one too as it's been 2 years since I passed my test).

 

[Pearls18]

I would comtribute, at the end of the day you have chosen to live with him as opposed to student housing only then are you inclined to not pay anything in my view. When I lived with DH and I was a student and he wasnt we just split the bills, especially as he contributed his wages. Perhaps you could pay 25% and he the 50% I think as well it's good instead of halving bills but to gradient them depending on who contributes what, so if he earns 60% of the household budget, he pays 60% of bills if that makes sense,but I would do all the outgoings in one chunk rather than saying well I don't pay council tax or whatever. I don't know I find it strange how some people split finances, I don't think one person should be much better off than the other in a relationship if another is struggling so we have pooled money for a long time, for us it is the fairest way.

 

[rosesmummy]

Thats ok

I know your intention isn't spiteful, it has reasoning, but it may come across that way... I would say offer to pay half the council tax and off to go halves on the iMac that way evering you 'share' is equal.

I do get what your point of view is but I can also understand your OH.... its ard when you have separate finances. And to be honest me and my OH tend to just put all the money in one account and then whatever is left is for both of us.

As for stuff, this laptop I'm typing on is both of ours came out of the joint pot (although I'm aware OH will need it more when he starts his course). And I'm okay with that.

Relationships take a lot of work and its important you see each other as equals so that "short changing" and "having more money than him" doesn't happen/matter. To us it doesn't matter who earns more money or who earns less as long as we're both happy. Big purchases we discuss and actually I find it stopped me just buying junk and now we've managed to save money and we're looking at buying a house together!

I am interested though.... wouldn't he share his car with you?

 

[foquita]

I would go halvers on the computer and the council tax

marineWAG I agree, we just pool all of our money and get the same amount of 'spending' money even though I make more than him (in the past he has made more) because it's much fairer!

 

[TwilightAgain]

I would go halvers on the computer and the council tax

marineWAG I agree, we just pool all of our money and get the same amount of 'spending' money even though I make more than him (in the past he has made more) because it's much fairer!

I also agree that pooling money is definitely the easier option in most cases.

Though in this case I don't feel like it would work as well because if we did, I feel like we'd find it harder to keep track off (spending will have to be closely monitored to make sure that money lasts for my every need for the next years) whilst he has his own wages to tide him over. Once we're both working we'll undoubtably have a joint bank account, but for now I usually just transfer money over to his account every month to cover bills (we split everything except the council tax which is what I was unsure of). We're still new to this so no doubt we'll find a system that works for us eventually

Just to add, I don't think either of us is particularly better off than the other cos my money will be strictly budgeted to cover the essentials, though i'll have more in the bank than him, i'll have less for the luxuries. Whereas once the bills are paid every month, his money left over is for whatever he wants. So we balance out really.

Thats ok

I am interested though.... wouldn't he share his car with you?

I think he would, he has suggested a few times that he could put me on the insurance but he uses it everyday all day for work so it wouldn't be much use for me. Really i'd like to have one so i'm not so house bound when he's not around as i'd like a little bit of freedom in that way as well

Thank you all very much for your input, I can see now that I was wrong and it's unfair to expect him to take sole responsibility. Though I will broach the subject of us going halves on an imac just so we both feel like it's fair.

 

[KayBea]

ide pay half..

 

[Eleanor ace]

I'd sit down with him and work out what household expenses you will have and what each will contribute. I'd include the council tax in there and the computer. That way it wont seem like you're bringing up the mac in a tit for tat way, you're just making sure everything is planned for so that there are no unnecessary arguments (money matters have a way of causing stupid arguments!)

 

[Vesta]

I have to disagree with the majority here. I didn't expect DH to contribute to the council tax bill when he was a student. (Before we were married.) To me, it would have been like asking him to pay for half my mobile bill!

 

[TwilightAgain]

Thank you all for your input

OH and I talked and I explained that I can't afford to do both. He has agreed that it is fair for him to pay the council tax if I buy the MacBook so all is well

 

[Eleanor ace]

That's good