Polanski apologises for ‘unintentional mistake’ over houseboat council tax
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy02wdzrg6jo
Posted by Alternative-Win4058
Polanski apologises for ‘unintentional mistake’ over houseboat council tax
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy02wdzrg6jo
Posted by Alternative-Win4058
33 Comments
It’s a bit weird seeing a politician admit they’re wrong and apologise instead of lie and gaslight… I think I’m so used to the psychological abuse from the more right wing politicians I come to expect from everyone.
Edit: this whole comment chain is -amazing- I recommend you don’t scroll past this one!
Yeah sure, the classic my tax dodging was an unintentional mistake defence. Doesn’t the Green Party claim to hate people that dodge tax? Council tax isn’t exactly complicated so there’s really no excuse here
Well well, isn’t that grand … Proclaims people don’t pay their fair share and… Doesn’t pay his fair share
Apologising because he’s been found out.
You can argue over the severity of this, but the reality is this guy has been running his party’s campaigns on people paying their fair share of tax.
It’s a terrible look and the past couple of weeks should really make supporters begin to think more about who and what it is they’re supporting.
Just another political grifter.
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He might have used his hypnotherapy skills to enhance his council tax account. It will have worked successfully until negativity from the media caused the credit balance to disappear.
He doesn’t know that he wasn’t on the National Hypnotherapy Council, doesn’t know that he never worked at MoJ, doesn’t know that he wasn’t a spokesman for the Red Cross and now doesn’t know where he lived and if he should have paid tax?
If it can be speculated you have dementia you’re going beyond “a bit dishonest.”
Meet the leader of the green party, almost as sleazy and corrupt as the other leaders of the other parties.
Caught lying/enhancing the truth again after initial denials and all his supporters insisting it was false or doesn’t matter. Looking forward to seeing the next lie and the excuses made for him because, ‘what about Farage!’
he needs to stop making silly mistakes, and more importantly, he needs to take a leaf out of Farage’s book and never – under any circumstances – apologise for anything
It’s still not clear whether council tax is owed on it, plenty missing from the story. It’s a leisure marina where ordinarily you wouldn’t pay council tax. The valuation list only shows one boat there that was liable for council tax, and that was deleted from the list 15 years ago.
As a council tax nerd I’d love to know the whole picture. I think playing musical chairs and swapping moorings is the usual loophole boats use to get around being liable for council tax.
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There’s a point, when you’re *consistently* having to claim that your mistakes are unintentional where it ceases to be reasonable to believe them to actually *be* unintentional.
That’s what, the 5th time he’s been caught in a lie? 6th?
If you are pro taxing the rich and then “accidentally” avoid tax it isn’t a great look is it?
Never understand why so many politicians don’t know where they live?
Presumably the narrow boat must be his permanent residence as that is what triggers paying Council Tax. And even then, it would likely be the lowest band.
He needs to stop apologising and taking the bait. This stuff is obviously trivial, the only people pretending to care are desperate for reasons to discredit him. As if anyone really gives a shit about retweets and houseboats when you’ve got Farage grifting 5M from a crypto billionaire and promising to build detention centers with our money ??
Show me the politician and I’ll show you the crime. Is that where we are now?
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Part of what the greens have been selling themselves as is they are people who are honest and “good people “. Yet as soon as they get more of a spotlight we are getting the same headlines.
Did anyone check if he paid income tax when he worked as a spokesman for the Red Cross? Or any of the work he did for the ministry of justice. Those 2 places he definitely worked for. He made an “unintentional mistake” when he dodged council tax so we should check he’s paying all his other taxes to avoid any further scandals
Grifter caught out again.
This sub will claim it’s a smear campaign no doubt.
Meanwhile he’s ranting about paying the right amount of tax?
Angela Rayner did this and quit..
He should resign
[https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/05/11/zack-polanski-boat-council-tax-electoral-law/](https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/05/11/zack-polanski-boat-council-tax-electoral-law/)
The only way you don’t have to pay council tax is if you are a continuous cruiser and have no home mooring (which Zack does). Then you have to move on from your temporary mooring, typically, every two weeks.
This isn’t something he wouldn’t know. The Canal and River Trust very much keep you in the loop on what you owe and what licence you have etc because you have to pay it yearly and they tell you what you need to, and don’t need, to do with each.
🥱
Where’s the apology from Farage and his £5m payoff?
He hasn’t been leader of the Greens for a year yet, but his apology rate is already almost at Tory cabinet member levels.
• Underpaying Council Tax.
• Lying about being a spokesman for the British Red Cross.
• Lying about working for the Ministry of Justice.
• Lying about the Police.
• Unnecessary social media bullshit.
• Hypno-Boobs.
What next?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Zack Polanski isn’t even his real name!
The fact they’re raking this hack over the coals over houseboat tax while Farage still hasn’t fully explained a £5 million “gift'” still astounds me. We really have become a nation of clowns.
This thread is so full of anti Polanski rhetoric it must be paid actors. Sure , the guy may or may not be liable, we don’t know, but our other political options are not great and have made their own “mistakes”. Hating on Polanski is not going to fix the shit show this country faces…especially if Reform get anywhere near power!
Who cares about this.
What about Farages £5M donation- money that his party has likely used to pay for bots for pollute comments on social media and comments in the Daily Heil?
I’ve had enough of “scandals” that have no material impact on the actual job of being a politician.
Hate to do a whataboutism but at least he appologizes for his cockups whereas when Richard rice is fiddling his taxes he’s gaslighting you into believing he’s done nothing wrong.
Let’s see the full details. Not a great look though.
I’m sure everyone online who complains about this has NEVER paid a tradesman in cash before to avoid VAT… right?
Even if this was an unintended mistake, Angel Rayner had to resign over a similar unintentional mistake.
Get the feeling Polanski won’t be held to the same standard.
As we all learnt from max and paddy, travelers don’t pay council tax, so why would he pay it for a house boat ?