Yes council tax is quite high, and some places worse than others, but as was pointed out in post 5 by Peter they have a different system over there in Calais...three strands of funding which we couldnt possibly match with council tax alone...not without it going ever skywards. Great pity in a way....here we have two towns doing the same job, servicing the same business, one much more affluent than the other, by no fault of its own.
Just come back to add a little further pic...wealth levels determined by the quality of your stems!