The Freeman on the Land movement believe that they are bound only by statute laws they consent to.

  • being a ‘freeman’ does not exempt any person from paying council tax
  • council tax is not optional and not something you consent to
  • if you are liable to pay council tax, you must make your payments

The liability to pay council tax falls under the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and later regulations. This is a statute created by a democratically elected parliament of the United Kingdom which has received the assent of the Crown.

The Council Tax (administration and enforcement) Regulations 1992 gives local authorities the right to demand council tax which is used to fund essential local services.

Anyone who withholds payment, will have recovery action taken against them. If the council needs to take recovery action additional costs will be added to amount owed.

Common requests we receive about the legality of council tax

Some residents consider that council tax is a legal contract requiring signatures indicating an agreement. However, council tax is a legal requirement and a contract nor wet ink signature is required. No wet ink signature is mandatory on a court summons either. 

Any reference to the Companies Act, Contracts Act, Bills of Exchange Act or other acts regarding companies or contracts is irrelevant.

The hierarchy of who is considered to be the liable party is contained in the Local Government Finance Act 1992 c14 Part 1, Chapter 1, Sections 6-9. Individual agreement of this is not necessary. 

Whether a name is legal or fictional is irrelevant for the purposes of council tax. Council tax is charged and payable by whoever the liable party is, which is determined by reference to the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and Council Tax (administration and enforcement) Regulations 1992. 

The issue of a council tax demand notice (the bill) creates the debt.

Council tax is deemed outside the scope of VAT and we are unable to provide a VAT invoice. 

Newport City Council is a local authority within the public sector and does not have a company number. 

Under Regulation 8 of the Data Protection Act 2018 the authority does not require consent to process data that is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in exercise of the controllers official for the exercise of a function conferred by an enactment or rule of law. The billing and collection of council tax is conferred on the authority by the legislation stated previously. This is in keeping with Article 6 (c) and (e) of the GDPR regulations.

While we do our best to answer all relevant enquiries about council tax, we reserve the right to refuse to respond to enquiries that focus on hypothetical arguments that have no basis in statute, which use our resources at the expense of other taxpayers.

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Completing our form will mean we can direct your enquiry to the correct team and provide a quicker response.

If you are already registered for council tax, please have your council tax account reference to hand before starting the form - it is an eight digit number and begins with a three.

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