Council Tax Arrears

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Do I have any defence at court if I state that I am unable to pay?

No - the simple question that the court considers is whether or not the money has been correctly demanded, the reason why it hasn't been paid is immaterial to the court.

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I don't see what I can do to avoid a criminal record.

Although dealt with by the Magistrates' court it is a civil case not a criminal case.

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9 hours ago, Dookist said:

Hmmm... I thought non payment of tax was criminal... my mistake!

It's because it's one of the few civil cases still dealt with in the Magistrates' court- from the Magistrates side it's dealt with under Part2 of the MCA 1980 (Civil Jurisdiction & Procedure). Council Tax is a strange amalgam of civil law with some aspects more akin to criminal law thrown in (i.e jail for non-payment). As an aside the fact it's civil has caused major issues in the past in respect of disputing decisions of the court as s142 of the MCA 1980 (power to re-open cases) was deemed to be only applicable to magistrate's criminal cases - it was eventually ruled that the courts have a common law power to re-open a case if needed irrespective of their being no statutory power.

 

 

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On 3/2/2019 at 6:06 PM, Dookist said:

It's because it's one of the few civil cases still dealt with in the Magistrates' court- from the Magistrates side it's dealt with under Part2 of the MCA 1980 (Civil Jurisdiction & Procedure). Council Tax is a strange amalgam of civil law with some aspects more akin to criminal law thrown in (i.e jail for non-payment). As an aside the fact it's civil has caused major issues in the past in respect of disputing decisions of the court as s142 of the MCA 1980 (power to re-open cases) was deemed to be only applicable to magistrate's criminal cases - it was eventually ruled that the courts have a common law power to re-open a case if needed irrespective of their being no statutory power.

 

Now I'm very confused... so you can still go to jail for non payment, but imprisonment doesn't result in a criminal record?

 

One of the odd features that further confuses people - you can be jailed for an offence that isn't actually a criminal offence and doesn't give a criminal record.  It's because council tax has it's own odd amalgam of legislation.

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Is it the same for the TV licence... that's a tax, too, isn't it?

TV Licence evasion is specifically legislated for as a criminal offence.

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Conviction for non-payment requires that culpable neglect or wilful refusal be found. In real terms the OP doesn't get anywhere near meeting that with a competent bench.

 

In April 16 to July 17 there were 95 warrants of commitment issued but there had been 134 suspended orders made against those 95 people first - so some had at least 2 suspended orders. The number of people convicted and who are never jailed will be a good bit higher. Many councils are very reluctant to use committal, even against debtors owing tens of thousands of pounds. If councils decided to make full use of committal applications the number of convictions would rocket.