For those of whom that I see on a day-to-day basis, this is not a new topic of discussion, if fact, since before I can remember it has always been on my mind constantly niggling at my brain. But now I am on the verge of having a complete meltdown. And am seriously regretting staying in Manchester, living in this house and going back to college.
Over the summer months, before I went to college I was spending £212 a month on council tax, due to living in a Tax Band F house and being the only occupant non-exempt from paying it as I was not a student at the time. I begrudgingly paid it, despite the fact that I was only earning a measly £999.98 per month after tax.
As soon as I started college in September, I stopped my payments, as I went down to part-time hours at work and was registered as a full-time student. This was okay for a while, until the workload started to really get on top of me, being the only student in my class to not be on benefits, I spent my weekends and evenings working so I was able to live, meanwhile they had the time to write their assignments. I'd pull all-nighters after shifts at work in order to meet deadlines, and come in to college wired and senile. I got to a point where something had to give and as I could not quit my job and leave myself broke and impoverished, I had to leave college.
Unfortunately, before I did, I didn't get around to applying for my Tax Exemption.
As I have been working part-time ever since I am just as poor as ever, having to rely on pay day loans in order to make ends meet, I'm not in a position to continue to have £200 a month taken from my wage. I am now receiving numerous letters from the council demanding that not only do I owe them £1,500 from the 13/14 tax year, but that I also owe them a further £2000 for the 14/15 tax year.
On £799 per month, this is not possible and never will be until I get a new job which pays better.
So now I'm freaking out, I'm supposed to be trying to save up for going back to uni next September, and I need to get a passport in order to sign up to uni and for Student Finance, which I currently cannot afford due to the aforementioned reasons.
I've been trying to stay calm about all this for a while and for months I could, but now I am completely breaking down, had I been on benefits I'd not have been eligible to pay council tax, however by working part-time, where I'm just as well-off as I would have been on benefits, I have this huge weight on my shoulders which is ruining my life and relationships with my friends.
On the upside I'm trying to get rid of all of my stuff to move down south in the summer, so by having bailiffs taking everything away does make it easier, but unfortunately the entirety of my collection of 'stuff' would not even equate to a drop in the ocean of what I owe.
At 22 years old I am heavily in debt, and I don't even have anything nice to show for it. I haven't been abroad in just under 10 years, I consider Topshop to be the closest thing to designer clothing, and my cupboards and fridge are bare as I can barely afford food even after pay day.
And what makes it worse, had I never moved in to this house I'd never have had this problem. I don't even have the upside of being close with my flatmates, because I'm not, we're civil and exchange pleasantries day to day, but I'm more of a burden to them than anything else and feel incredibly uncomfortable to be here on most days.
All in all, my life is shit, if my dad wasn't my guarantor I'd be out of here like a shot and live in a bush somewhere, but alas, my obligations come first and I am on the verge of going bankrupt. Fucking joy.
Going to get myself down to citizens advice tomorrow morning to see if anything can be done to improve my situation, but as I've said in the past, I've got nothing left for them to take from me, but I'd rather do time in prison and have a criminal record for tax evasion over having a bad credit rating, maybe they'll be generous and let me do time to pay! Fingers crossed!
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