Labour voters….

Exactly. We've got it badly wrong when it brings in so little tax revenue. Most people don't pay anything because the thresholds are too high. Those with bigger estates don't want to pay a whopping 40% so take steps to reduce/avoid it. That's why I maintain we should have a lower threshold and a lower tax rate, to bring more people into IHT, but at low "cost" and disincentives the rich from bothering to take steps to avoid it when the cost of professional fees (and restrictions in use as a result of trusts etc) isn't worth the tax saved.

Most people I know have the bulk of their money in their house so are pretty relaxed about some of it going on tax.

But perhaps lower marginal rates are a good idea.

If you are talking about more progressive tax systems with fewer cliff edges I’d agree. The U.K. has an awful lot of cliff edges and seems to keep making more.

What is stopping the UK from emulating their system then? Ie create more medical schools, more medical school places, more training jobs etc etc. If the Philippines can do it and they don't even "need" the staff they train, why can't the UK do it?

We've been short of medical staff for decades. I once read that we started "importing" doctors in the 60s and 70s. Isn't 50 years enough for the UK to sort itself out? Why can't we train up more and then we won't be as bothered if "some" of them emigrate to work elsewhere.

I'm talking about behaviour. If you have an estate of a million, no IHT, but if you have an estate of £1.1m, you pay a whopping £40k. So there's a massive incentive to do "something" to avoid paying the £40k, i.e. lifetime gifts and hope to live 7 years, or invest £100k into a business, or set up a trust etc. Paying a professional, say, £10k to save £40k is a good deal and something someone would probably do.

If the IHT on £1m was £50,000 (i.e. first £500k tax free and then the second £500k at 10%). And the IHT on £1.1m is £60,000, it's not worth paying a professional £10k to save £10k in IHT - it'd be madness to do it!

That's what I mean about it being a behavioural thing.

Lower marginal rates often bring in more revenue because it's not worth the time and hassle to avoid. Higher marginal rates are often avoided because it's worth "doing things" to avoid them.

The country gets good value out of trained young skilled immigrants who end up working for at least 30 years here. Those who only work for a few years and arrive middle aged are not good value.

The Philippines do a very good line in creating highly trained medical staff that they export elsewhere. It’s a huge industry. It isn’t just the U.K. they go to. Nursing/care work is seen as an extremely respectable and important career choice.

IIRC some, particularly doctors are starting to leave the U.K. for places where the pay and conditions are better, including their home countries. This is a ticking timebomb that isn’t getting talked about much.

The only people who do not plan for inheritance tax and end up paying a lot are those with net assets between 1 million and about 3 million, or who have a completely unexpected death. Everyone with assets above 5 million plans around inheritance tax quite substantially and well in advance. You would be stupid not to. And even those without direct descendants tend to prefer to leave a large inheritance to a charity of their choice, rather than HMRC.

However, neither the government nor the care homes want to incur the costs of the training and higher wages.

The public don't want to pay it either

Or reduce the IHT rate from the stupidly high 40% so that more people "accept" paying it rather than paying tens of thousands in professional fees to set up trusts etc to avoid it. Going from a 0% rate to 40% is far too high a leap. I'd far rather see it at something like 10% over half a million.

If you get the full allowance you get a 1m before you pay 40% which isn't that bad imo.

Dunno. Why don’t you ask some? There are plenty around. We should be grateful, they’re fantastic nurses.

What I've never understood is why such foreign trained medical professionals want to come to the UK, when loads of UK trained ones want to leave the UK and move to Canada, Australia, etc. Why don't the Filipino (and others) go straight to Canada/Australia?

Or reduce the IHT rate from the stupidly high 40% so that more people "accept" paying it rather than paying tens of thousands in professional fees to set up trusts etc to avoid it. Going from a 0% rate to 40% is far too high a leap. I'd far rather see it at something like 10% over half a million.

Yes this needs to change. That's a ridiculous state of affairs the UK has got itself into.

Filipino nurses often choose a nursing career specifically because they want to emigrate. The Philippines train far more nurses than they need in order to export them and boost their economy with the money they send home.

@RafaistheKingofClay

Especially when Filipino & Indian nurses & carers are the dogs bollocks IME and worth every penny we pay them

What attracted them to the UK? Is it because they are genuinely interested in the work, or because they can’t earn the same in their native countries?

I would say it the latter.

People should have to be trained to specific standard before they can work in care homes. Pay needs to be higher too.

However, neither the government nor the care homes want to incur the costs of the training and higher wages. So, they are happy to employ cheap labour from outside the UK.

For care, they are going to do the EU youth mobility scheme hoping a lot of nice young women from Eastern Europe come back over to fill the gaps and as it will be short stay and they are young, the long term cost to the country would be less than a middle aged experienced nurse from Africa or Asia. That seems to be where this is heading.

Simply put, I have no faith in him. I don't believe he has integrity, lacks conviction and bends like the wind. He can't decide whether he is courting old, traditional Labour voters, or the more m/c, liberal type. I suspect he thinks and likes the second lot more, but understands he needs the first lot for the numbers, so will use ill advised rhetoric to reel them back in. This lack of clarity leads to a divided party. He'd garner a lot more support by being explicit in what and who Labour actually represents, rather than this watered down flip flopping version who is only alienating members from ' both sides'. Currently, he's appealing to no one. And I disagree with the wfa not being awful; many struggling pensioners are over the threshold of support by mere pounds but have lost their entitlement.

That's not "other than" then, as you are included in the Labour voters who are not disenfranchised to the extent that they cast their vote elsewhere. 😉

“It’s unclear what point you’re making here or which policy you’re referencing...”
As it’s always the case with reform voters. Im
yet to meet a single one of them with the knowledge of the direction the company, reform is going or most importantly, HOW.
They all just seem content and overtly excited by the divisive rhetorics their politicians peddle. It’s beyond me.

So, I hear this an awful lot and wonder , what exactly has Starmer done that’s so bad that other politicians wouldn’t have done ? “

Winter fuel allowance? That was always going to be a problem, whatever the baseline was. They simply removed the blanketed allowance and gave it instead, to the people that really needed it, as opposed to a wealthy “Gary Lineker” . When they say the tills are empty, I don’t think people understand just how true this really , is ?
The amount of money the Tory govt wasted during covid. Goodness ! The money has to be paid back , somehow, you see.
Starmer is left with digging water out of the rocks, quite literally.

I agree. Entirely.
Oh! Other than, I voted the LP & ll continue to do so, all other things being equal.

Why would you want someone who has no skills or interest in a role forced to look after you when you are disabled or vulnerable in some other way?

indeed

It’s called equity release

Jfc

RafaistheKingofClay
I agree entirely. My son's care team are from Zimbabwe, South Africa and Nigeria. They are infinitely better than any of the carers he has had from the UK who were predominantly young British people who did the job because they had no other options, were unreliable, disinterested and spent most of their time on their phones. The people he now has are older, committed to helping him and take their job seriously.