Nervous/anxious/scared about the Autumn budget 2024

The winter fuel allowance has been in the cross hairs for a while as it was widely accepted in policy circles for years to be a poorly targeted and poor value benefit. There are much better ways to help low income, fuel poor pensioners.

Labour has black hole as in the first six weeks they spent billions on pay rises we couldn’t afford

you don’t really believe this surely? Are you having us on?

This terrifies me, if he wins it will make the world even more dangerous and if he does not win he is going to cause profound problems by challenging the result and whipping up his cult followers. When I am feeling really depressed about it I can imagine civil war breaking out in the USA. Trump would love that. I try not to be dramatic but the events of January 6th leave no room for complacency

I don’t think that anything can be written off as disinformation until it actively hasn’t been implemented.

If people had said during the election that labour were planning to scrap the winter fuel allowance they would have been shouted down for publishing “disinformation” on the basis that Keir Starmer accused the tories of killing pensioners if they scrap the WFA, and yet that was one of the first things that labour did.

Of course not everything that is being bandied about is going to come to fruition, but until the budget is published, absolutely nothing can be ruled out.

I reckon it's mostly going to be changes to rates of taxation on sources of income that aren't subject the standard income tax thresholds. The rationale being to bring them up to or above the normal income tax bands.
Also, employer NI contributions (so no one will see a change in their pay packet, though obviously some companies may slow/freeze recruitment and/or offer smaller pay rises/bonuses to fund it).
The freeze on petrol/diesel duty will end (painful, yes, but hard to still justify the freeze). Probably changes to CGT and IHT (see my first point) and the removal of various exemptions.

Pensions won't be cut (triple lock); income tax thresholds won't change; personal NI contributions won't change; state pension age won't rise.

I earn pretty well, I pay a lot of tax, I'll probably have to start paying more after the budget. But if doing so helps to improve and maintain services - especially the NHS - and make life just a tiny little bit easier for people who are really struggling then fine by me.

Oh right, ok keep blaming the tories as they did it at an election years ago

Labour has black hole as in the first six weeks they spent billions on pay rises we couldn’t afford. And now we all have to pay for it. It’s not the tories, we all know the economy was righting itself. Interest rates dropping, but they fucked it. We all watched, watched labour spend spend spend and cow tow to the unions again and now they are scrabbling about looking to tax everyone.

and it’s going to be a shit show for the next four years. If you think for one moment you’re going to see marked improvements for the money, you are sadly mistaken,

There will be a lot of tax changes that affect the rich, the super rich and pensioners that pay tax.
Eg cutting the amount you can take from a pension pot tax free from 25% to 20%, or taxing amounts over an amount eg 100K. (It's only fair, as these will mostly be people that paid tax at a higher rate and used the pension pot to reduce the tax they paid will be the argument, never mind that the plan was to draw this money out to pay off the mortgage/buy a new roof for the house or adapt the downstairs bathroom and add a bedroom so allowing you to live there for longer without impacting on social care.)

Free prescriptions will be discontinued for the over 60 but under retirement, and higher rate tax paying pensioners in England - that'll benefit the NHS.

Any pensioners without private pension will be fine as they can claim pension credit which opens the door to masses of over benefits, including winter fuel allowance: these will I'm sure be protected

And FWIW @GasPanic my eldest has a horse, pays for it all herself out of her (lowest tax bracket) income BUT the amount she spends is still less than one of her friends pays out on holidays abroad.

@dollopofsauce tax payments on dividends are now a 'thing' - back in the day it was considered fine if your company paid corporation tax thatdividends were considered tax paid. Now there's a threshold free - which has already been cut from £5k in 2016/2017 progressively down to £500 in this tax year, and then you're taxed according to your income tax band See https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-dividends

What is it you are scared of that the budget will do to you?

Not everyone wants to pay more and more tax, and be poorer. It shouldn’t be a race to the bottom. 🤷‍♀️

Fucking hell, at the last election, the Tories were blaming Gordon Brown for the last 14 years!

Labour were elected in JUNE! In what world are they supposed to turn the country round by October!?

Tax burden is pretty high already for higher centiles so you'd have to be sure higher taxes wouldn't trigger behaviour change where people just opt out altogether

When a new party come in they always blame the party before. They hope it will deflect blame from them. 🙄

What? Who are you to tell anyone what they can and can’t spend their money on?

I’m not on this earth to redistribute wealth, reduce inequality or fix the NHS. I didn’t cause any of these issues. They’re unsolvable, anyway.

I’m an additional rate taxpayer, I contribute enough. Any more, and I would seriously think of leaving. Why on earth would you stay.

I’m also dubious whether people realise that CGT is only payable when the asset is sold, and only on the profit not the total value from some of the reactions I’ve seen.

I’ve had a quick google and the only reference I’ve seen about Rachel Reeves getting £250k expenses is she received £248k in campaign donations.

Well I wouldn't suggest any on income because I am not in favour of them.

But they are pretty obviously going to be ones associated with discretionary spending.

So revenue associated with higher rate tax bands for example will be where they will try to increase taxes.

Personally as regards taxation I would like taxes on assets (CGT) and income to be aligned, and I'd like to see higher taxation on housing and inheritance tax.

ar some point Labour supporters need to stop blaming the tories. Really they do. No one is buying this shit show is their fault any more.

I’m middle aged and for the first time in decades I’m scared too. In the midst of a col crisis and our heating just going up , as winter approaches they are going to fuck the public. Every single way they can, as they came in and spent spent spent in their first weeks.

its terrifying.

Must have had one of those magic money trees.

The world this weekend on radio 4 had an interesting section on their programme. You can listen on catch up in BBC sounds. People really need to start going beyond the tabloid headlines and online news bites. We’ve had years of underfunding and lack of investment from the tories. Austerity was a political idea not a necessity. There is no budget under any government right now that would not involve tax rises. The real question is what are they going to do with it. That’s where the debate should be.

Don't you think Labour announcements have spurred this on?

They've said pain, difficult decisions and harsh light of fiscal reality

I mean pain is never good is it?

Actually I'll qualify my statement. My concern about higher taxes for small business owners is that as a nation we need to encourage economic growth. These taxes may disincentivise some small businesses.

I would like to know what plans Labour have for that, what incentives are there for businesses to set up or remain in the UK? Without a serious plan for economic growth , higher taxes are pointless as the financial burden is too great.

The telegraph and other right wing media are doing a lot of scaremongering.

I haven't told anyone what they can or cannot spend their money on.

Learn to read and comprehend. If your brain cell can stretch that far.

@Singinginthespring fucking hell that.is terrifying. Sort of explains a lot of things though. 😬

What tax rises are you suggesting?