Sir Keir Starmer and the budget

[disappointed101]

Can someone explain in layman‘s teens how “The middle” will be affected by the budget? We are comfortable but not stinking rich by any means. Reading what people are saying makes me feel sick. We have a good disposable income due to almost being mortgage free, older kids etc but don’t spend on luxury items save for holidays. Is it even worth working at this point? Is it worth having savings or should we spend our savings and upsize in property? I’m so worried he’s coming for everything we have worked for in the past 20 years.

Interesting to see how you want to move the debate away from what it started about. That yes, normal hardworking people like me and my family are likely to be in penalised by this government based on what we are hearing so far. You say "you say you are a nurse" like you don't believe me? Well i certainly am. And giving me a pay rise and then taxing me more isn't helping me. And for what's it's worth, I see NO signs that the current government will do anything to improve the NHS. Their current public consultation is absolutely laughable and an insult to the professionals working within it. Let's see where we are in four years and see what has improved. I'd be happy to put my money where my mouth is and say things will be much much worse

I’m just surprised that people are surprised a Labour government wants to tax us more.
I mean ffs 😆😆😆

yes, normal hardworking people like me and my family are likely to be in penalised by this government based on what we are hearing so far

This is a genuine question - what changes are you talking about here?

They have said they’re not changing income tax. So if they’re taxing you more it will be on capital gains, or investments, or similar. So you have your pay rise which you didn’t under the other government.

If you’re being taxed on those things it’s not affecting your nurses salary….

My husband is out of the house for 14 hours every day! He certainly didnt come from a posh background (majority of students at his school didn't get a single GCSE, several have been in prison). He absolutely did work hard!

I earn minimum wage and I also work very hard. We save money because he sacrifices his time with his family. The money we save is money he has already been taxed on.

Working hard should be respected regardless of income.

I wish the Tory social media team would butt out of MN. There are so many blatant propaganda posts on here now, it’s getting too much.

The issue is that the government wants everyone to work longer. So if you are saving, and investing (and that includes pensions), you will pay more tax on this.
Which will mean if you thought you could retire at, for example, 60, you will no longer be able to.

If you’ve been frugal in order to achieve this then it will feel like a blow.

If you’ve get paid in salary + stocks in the company you work for, these will be taxed more heavily. Lots of people have this arrangement. It’s irritating to be told you don’t work for it. It’s not like there’s a choice in how you get paid.

There will be consequences for going after people in this way. Unfortunately, there seems little understanding of the ripple effect this will have. I’m not sure the poorest will feel better off at all.

I voted for them. They talked of long term plans. I see no evidence of this. I await the budget with little hope it will help anyone significantly.

Tbf there was a load of effort per GE to obfuscate any discussion on tax rises

I recall posters on here adamant it wouldn’t happen, talking about using scrapped scheme money or ‘the money is there’

All false of course

In what way do you think they will make your life worse?

Maybe, instead of being able to earn £500 interest on your savings before you have to pay tax, you may have to pay tax on all of it!

What does that mean in practice?

A higher rate tax payer with £25,000 in savings getting 4.5% will earn £1,125 in interest. £500 tax free and 40% tax on the rest means you pay £250 tax leaving you with £875 interest.

If they remove the £500 tax free means paying £450 tax leaving you with £675 interest.

How exactly does £200 less of unearned money make you worse off?

You may be slightly worse off if you can't reduce your tax bill by ploughing money into a pension - but quite frankly if you can afford to do that now at a rate that makes any kind of significant financial difference then your life is not shit -.at least financially!

We have lived economically, on minimum wage some of the time but have saved and with an inheritance from parent's house we bought a house that we let. The house is maintained and we comply with the regulations, mostly tenants stay for a long time. Now it seems that we are "The Enemy". We preserved the money to help us in our old age and not be a burden on the state. It is a fair chance that we will be hit with extra tax for being frugal.
Don't seem fair.

If you want to move house it is most likely that Stamp Duty will increase again. This will hit older people wanting to downsize.

How does you having, or not having a rental property make you more or less a “burden on the state”?

When you’re old, you’ll get your state pension. And have your rental income to live on.

be proportionate- a 1% change to middle earners income we’re talking hundreds of pounds a year. If that changes your life- in the circumstances you describe- you are managing your money poorly.

I think part of the issue, for me, is if you take more -will you use it wisely?

I’m utterly fed up with governments mismanaging the money they do have from us.

Anyone who speaks out at the government works for Tory PR? Get a grip.

There is nothing wrong with wanting hard work and sacrifices acknowledged and rewarded. It is absolutely insane that posters are coming at you for suggesting this. No wonder we have problems with productivity and economic growth

Why do you want higher taxes when they’re already high?

It’s strange before the GE so many posts re they haven’t said tax rises, now this people are keen. I mean it was obvious at the time but I can see why people feel had (not many on mn granted as pro tax but generally)

I think the budget this time round is all about business. Not much will change for people, that will come in the Spring

Thanks for those who have explained what may change. That’s why I asked for a layman’s explanation as I don’t know. Yes I may come across a little hysterical but there has been a lot of chatter and it isn’t clear to me. I never said others don’t work hard. FYI I’m not a Tory voter. Like another poster we do live quite frugally to ensure a decent pension but maybe it’s better to spend than save. I wasn’t intending to start a bunfight so sorry for those caught up in that

Do you read anywhere other than pro Labour mn threads? You’ll see there’s loads of commentary, plenty are critical of Labour

I doubt it will affect low earners.

OP, you've allowed whatever crap media sources you're accessing to whip you up in a totally pointless frenzy, based on misinformation.

The rate of national insurance your employer pays for you may go up a bit. This will have no effect on you in any immediate sense.
Tax on petrol/diesel may go up a few pence.
And possibly, your income tax might rise slightly, but it won't amount to anything substantial to someone on an average salary. Maybe a few hundred pounds a year?
You are hugely overreacting.

If they do anything too drastic it will backfire massively and it will be reverted by the next Budget! Do anything crazy would be temporary - like the 50 per cent tax rate. They ended up with less money overall. A lot of talented rich people are leaving in droves so they may go for the sitting ducks temporarily, but temporary it will be if it leads to behaviour changes and people working even less. People are already incentived to work less in this country so if they continue down that route anyone with any options or talents will simply leave. Especially youngsters. I cannot imagine they would be that stupid.

What happens to businesses has direct and indirect implications on employees . What a blinkered view.

Liz Truss taught us that they cannot do anything drastic without harming the economy. If they do stupid things with regards to investments in U.K. companies on stock exchanges they are just plain stupid.

This.

I'm currently mortgage free after decades, 2yrs away from being able to take my pension (though I'll still work - NHS Nurse luckily with SCS due to my length of aervice), have a small amount of savings, feel we are finally in a position to say we're financially "doing ok" after years of just getting by.

I have zero concerns about the upcoming budget.