Many have enjoyed a two-month reprieve from Council Tax, but brace yourselves as payments are set to kick back in soon, putting additional pressure on household budgets.

Even though the Government is planning to boost funding for local councils by 2025-26, the reality for countless families is an impending hike in their bill within that year, adding salt to the wound amid soaring living costs.

While most larger councils in England can raise their tax by up to 4.99% each year, special exemptions have been made for six struggling areas to push beyond this threshold. One disgruntled taxpayer complained about her council on TikTok, labelling them “robbers” and decrying what she sees as “rip off Britain”.

In an outburst on the video platform, Jo exclaimed: “Robbers! Simple as! Another increase in Council Tax again! I’m not surprised but still annoyed! Great Britain is a rip off!”

She added: “Honestly I’m raging – and I knew I was going to be raging. Yes we get two months off a year where we don’t have to pay Council Tax – but it’s spread over 10 months rather than 12, don’t go fooling yourself. Now we’ve had a 4.8% increase – an increase in what we have to pay, but a decrease in the services we’re going to receive because we live in rip off Britain.”

Plymouth Live reports Jo highlighted a concerning trend where people are struggling to “can’t afford to put food in bellies” and yet face “threatened with prison” for not paying bills, saying, “I wouldn’t mind paying more if the services were to a decent standard.”

The impact of her words was significant as scores of users engaged with her tirade online. A TikTok user said of their rising costs: “My bill went from £120 a month to £150 a month, increase of £30 per month so unfair,” while adding, “Why do they keep robbing us?”

One user reflected on their life-altering move due to the high cost of living, stating, “Straight facts. This is why I moved out of the UK last year. The cost of living was crippling us as a family. It’s such a depressing place to live now. Worst I’ve seen it in 50 years! Awful. We moved to Costa Blanca – it wasn’t easy and took us a few years to do it but worth it in the end.”

More voices joined the chorus of discontent, with one person venting: “Unfortunately it’s the same everywhere, just atrocious. We pay more and being asked to take own rubbish to skip? So what’s the refuse bill for?” Meanwhile, another voiced their frustration: “I felt exactly the same I blew up! The list of bills that gone since I have retired is off the chart – not by the odd few pounds either. I am starting to feel I’m existing rather than living.”

Note that there are several conditions under which you might qualify for a Council Tax Reduction. Comprehensive eligibility criteria can be viewed on GOV.UK.