[toyg]

> Council tax was never meant to be anything like property tax

Well, it was meant to look like a property tax, while at the same time ensuring it would disproportionately affect the lower classes, for sure. It was a Conservative measure, after all (which Tony Blair was obviously "intensely relaxed about", since it directed money to local authorities Labour controlled, hence it was never repealed). As wikipedia reports: "the Valuation Tribunal Service [...] states that: "The tax is a mix of a property tax and a personal tax".

> They set one rate which is the Band D rate.

Yeah, and they can't even be arsed to figure out if a Band D property in 1991 is still a Band D today - the roof might have fallen off since then, but hey, who's got time to do periodic surveys? Local councils have better things to do, obviously.