Nervous/anxious/scared about the Autumn budget 2024

Incredible lack of understanding of tax and spending according to a recent survey.

Many, many people just have no understanding at all.

taxpolicy.org.uk/2024/10/26/the-publics-surprising-choice-of-tax-increase-and-why-we-should-ignore-it/

A survey showed people thought MPs expenses cost the state more than pensions. They thought immigration cost more than pensions too! Pensions = £141bn a year, immigration = £3bn. MPs cost £100m. Is this what too much Daily Mail does? Mushes brains? 40% of taxpayers thought when you reach the 40% higher rate of tax, ALL of your income is taxed at that rate. Of course it isn’t! The first £12,500 is tax free, the next to £50k is 20% and any income that you make over £50k is taxed at 40%.

This leads me to think there must be a lot of people out there who are petrified that they’ll lose loads if their income hits the higher rate. When it doesn’t. Chill guys. Chill.

Who the fuck are you to tell people what they can and cannot spend their money on?

Stalin in disguise?

I’m working every hour God sends. I will spend it on what pleases me. I’ll feed caviar to my ponies while I drive them to a horse spa in my Range Rover while the dog rides separately in the Porsche. Well, not quite but you get the idea.

And WTF is a “beamer”?

Unfortunately, labour is not the party for workers. It is for scroungers, who don't want to work and won't work.

No doubt.

But it's still disappointing and we are allowed to say so.

Not when you hit the higher tax bands and pensions payments.

I haven't got a personal objection with the tax as such, it's the use of the term 'working people' prior to the election and the fact that it is now being used in a different way.

Changing the meaning of everyday words isn't a good look. He ought to have had the courage of his convictions prior to the election to explain his intentions with taxation.

Instead people will feel mislead, and rightly so.

But the people that already don’t have those things can’t cut back even more.

But are still affected by the increase. Those people cannot afford to pay more tax.

The average Joe isn't off skiing, doesn't have a Merc or own a horse. 🙄

Well to be honest they can.

I see plenty of beamers and audis on the roads. People don't need those. They don't need foreign holidays and skiing, they don't need horses and they don't need 5 TV subscriptions or football season tickets either.

There is plenty of scope for taxing people in the UK more. What there probably isn't much scope for is taxing them more without impacting their comfortable lifestyles.

NHS England is developing a 10 year NHS plan. You can even contribute your views if you wish

Another one? There is already one. And a digital plan and a mental health plan. The trouble is the plans always come up with the same conclusions which never get implemented.

If it was me I wouldn't of promised not to tax income any more, but here we are.

He’s a lot better at it than Johnson was.

Obviously some are probably true, like CGT and IHT changes and continued freeze on thresholds, but others are just scaremongering, like the council tax discount one. VAT on children's clothes also seems unlikely.

Eta: @Cartwrightandson never bothered to come back to their thread, so that is a bit 🧐

@lifeturnsonadime no I'm not saying that. I'm aware that it's legal and that those many getting dividends are working. But closing these legal loopholes is something that has been discussed for years. Why can't those working people be taxed in the same way as all the other working people? If a small business owner earns over the basic or higher tax threshold, how is it fair that they can reduce that burden by taking some of their income in dividends?
If I worked full time I'd be into the higher tax band. I'm PAYE so I have to pay tax.
Someone earning on paper the same yearly salary could push themselves back down into the basic rate by paying dividends.
Why should their tax burden be lower than mine?

He just doesn't seem terribly good with telling the truth, which is not a good look for a prime minister imo.

Social care is a big issue isn’t it. Thats a huge bill.

But how do you “fix” it. Same as the few SEN children who have to as it’s the only place they can attended are basically private boarding or non boarding schools fully funded. It’s huge costs.

But these things are needed. But people can’t just be taxed and taxed and taxed higher and higher because what happens when they can no longer afford anything. Taxes up, food up, rent up, energy up, costs of getting to work up. Everything but wages going up.

Well it's because he's tying himself in knots.

He doesn't want to appear unpopular by saying he is taxing "working people" because most people identify "working people" with the working poor, the very subsection of society that Labour should be protecting.

But working people are literally the only people who you can tax to raise the amounts necessary to make a meaningful difference to the nations finances.

And whether they are on 20K or 200K, paying dividends or taking their whole salary as PAYE they are still "working people".

So he's got himself basically into a right mess.

Time is going to tell on whether the leaked stories are disinformation. Let’s come back to this post budget.

There's a lot of anger amongst pensioners, particularly those who've voted Labour for years- (who also are usually low income) this is seen as a big betrayal and won't be forgotten.

@JaneEyreLaughing you are literally having a laugh. Far left indeed. Hilarious!

Google MPs expenses its all there

This

Im dreading Wednesday, I’m responsible for 30 people’s rent/mortgages.
we are doing very well this year and you want to reward loyal and hard working staff. But how, when it’s going to cost be 15% on top in tax plus pensions and the added red tape of last week’s announcement.
But according to this Government, I’m part of the problem ?
I work 14 hour days 6 days a week to make a profit and invest in my staff and business in a brutally tough industry and I still clean the staff toilets.

and no I’m not coining it in, as much as possible is reinvesting in facilities, and also improving staff facilities and environment.

It's perfectly legal to be a shareholder in a company.

My objection is the use of the phrase 'working people'. Lots of people work very hard and are shareholders, many companies give shares to reward long service.

Using the phrase 'working people' in the way Starmer did to avoid explaining exactly who would be impacted by tax increases prior to the election ,was trying to be clever / mince words. Or do you think that he is right that those who receive dividends, for what ever reason, are not really working people?

As I said up thread he's getting a bit of a track record for not knowing the meaning of commonly used words, another example is woman.

They never had most pensioners’ votes and they certainly haven’t lost mine, it would take A LOT more than £150 to do that.

Just saying it's all pointless if they don't get another term which will leave more appetite for extremism.