THE topic of students paying council tax is one that comes around year after year. But there is an important point about fairness which never seems to come up.
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be a president of a students’ union and I was able to spend time with students from all backgrounds, learning about the hardships so many of them face. In the same time I met local residents and associations across the city, as well as the leader of the council at the time.
There are real challenges to living in a city with so many students, and it would be wrong to ignore those. But I feel so often students are blamed and scapegoated for issues that really are not due to them. The city has a financial problem, but it’s nothing to do with the student population, it’s because of deep government cuts.
Given that 50% of students will settle within 50 miles of Southampton they will make their contribution later to the local coffers.
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But the big issue I can see here is the cherry picking of arguments. The point is made that students while they are here are part of the local community, and are a draw on resources. As part of the community they should pay taxes. Ignoring the millions they pay in VAT to local businesses let’s entertain that notion. If students are considered to have to take on the financial responsibilities of being local then they must be entitled to the benefits.
The average student income is £10,000 a year (loans plus part time wages/savings). A large portion of students are on closer to £8,000. The wage would entitle them to housing benefit, tax credits, and council tax discounts. Yet for some reason this never comes up.
There will always be a few thousand students who have the income to go on nights out, but there are tens of thousands more living day to day on next to nothing once they’ve paid their rent and bills. When students were made exempt from council tax they were also made exempt from the government benefits aimed at the poorest in our community. To propose reinstating one without the other would be unjust and highlights prejudice towards the wider student population.
So the question I ask, would you prefer student sharing houses and paying no Council Tax, or would you rather our council spend millions more charging the tax, but paying out for the benefits that students used to be entitled to?
SAM LING
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