Anyone watching the Budget 2024?

[LadyofRutshire]

I couldn't find a thread on today's budget. Anyone watching live?

From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.

Btw I'm not on a salary as high as £150K, but I will say that I'm happy to pay what I can afford. I want to live in a civilised society - where everyone, including those less financially privileged, have access to life's necessities. I want a society with good public services, a supportive benefits safety net, more council housing, and job and training opportunities.

And of course that ends up paying for itself. Because timely access to essential public services, affordable and decent housing, good healthcare, etc, means fewer people will need support.
False economy is never the answer.

Also, taxes (which everyone pays - working or not) aren't the only contribution to society. Aside from there being more than financial contribution, there's indirect financial contributions - that boost the economy. Spending in shops, having tradespeople do work on your home etc.

Oh, and the people on £25K are helping keep the businesses that employ them afloat. The CEOs on £150K (or more) need the lower paid workers to keep their businesses going and their larger income coming in.

We have lost the £12k tax free amount at the bottom of the scale, even with ploughing as much as possible into pensions etc.

It's not about how much you pay, it's how much do you need?

I guess it's different outlooks, when more people are thriving, happy, buoyant, then for us life is happier, more enjoyable, buoyant. Being in a gilded castle with other prince and princesses all slapping each other on the back for them all being just super whilst the plebs freeze is weird to us.

The happiest societies are the ones with the least inequality divides.

Again, what is the point of going to university for 4 years, taking on debt, getting an education, and working a very hard and very needed job if at the end of it you have to work far harder for less money than someone who left school with no qualifications?

that argument doesn’t really work because a junior doctor doesn’t stay a junior doctor on 32k and they will also have a better pension than someone on minimum wage.

Maggie never did this. It’s laughable to compare them. The last leader who was bold like this was liz truss.

So higher earners or those considered wealthy should subside those on minimum wage?

That’s socialism. It doesn’t work.

There was a reform of public sector pensions in 2012 (?) so those of us in our 40s won’t have “generous” packages. For the next decade there will be big pay outs but they will slowly decrease.

I’m talking about structural reform.

Well yeah.

From each according to his means to each according to his need. Or something like that.

It’s the basis of civilised society.

Circa 28% employer contribution is huge!

And they will be paying full whack for childcare and very high taxes. To cover the fact that half the country is a net drain. But in the meantime you are making it extremely unappealing. We will have more trained people leave to different countries.

@MrsMurphyIWish im in the public sector, yes my scheme isn’t as good as it was but I still get a very good employer contribution.

It works both ways. The lower waged, who are the majority compared to the highest earners, subsidise the economy, by keeping companies in business - and by extension the highest earners. Without the lower waged the economy would collapse.

In general*, you haven’t got a chance in hell of getting a visa to live in the US.
might be worth having a look around at how many countries like giving residence visas to old people before you get carried away with your big exit threats 😂

*no doubt you have dual US citizenship, but 99.9999% of British golden geese won’t be as lucky 😏

And they will be paying full whack for childcare and very high taxes.

Thats true for many though, not just junior doctors.

.To cover the fact that half the country is a net drain.

we have an ageing population which is going to be expensive but it is what it is. Yes some people will emigrate, my parents did but not everyone will.

"From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs."

It didn't work for Karl Marx either 🙄

another thing constantly threatened but not materialised- not even after the disastrous mini budget did all these high earning graduate parents flee to these mysterious countries where they will be taxed less and work and adapt freely 🙄

A few people I know have children in their early to late 20s. One has moved to Dubai to work , one has gone to another country to work as a teacher and one has emigrated to Australia. All have degrees from English universities and the subsequent fees to pay back , but none of them saw much of a future here. It is sad , but maybe if they did see more of a future and house prices were not so high , then maybe we could keep them. I'm sure this isn't unusual across the country too.

Yes. Is the short answer.
In terms of a country's budget, not individuals, recognising that low paid does not mean unessential and each hard working human deserves a basic level of existence, whether that's shoes or heating is just the decent thing to do.

Or does decency decline the richer you become?

We never recovered from 08 and wages have stagnated massively, low interest rates just masked it. It will take years to fix, if it can be fixed. I thought this budget was fairly sensible in trying to readdress some of those issues and the starved public services. At the end of the day nobody wants to pay more and everyone thinks that someone else should pay more.

That is just for the first year of training. Their pay goes up quite a bit after that.

FY1 - £32,400
FY2 - £37,300
CT1 - £43,900
CT2 - £43,900
CT3/ST3 - £55,300

So, a doctor going into their fifth year will be on £55,300. Over the course of four years their salary goes from £32k to £55k.

Will there be a spring budget, does anyone know? Or is it now just once a year?

I would argue some of Nigel Lawson's budgets were a form of structural reform.

It is sad , but maybe if they did see more of a future and house prices were not so high , then maybe we could keep them. I'm sure this isn't unusual across the country too.

Housing is such an issue and has really fucked the economy. If younger people feel they can get on the ladder and make a life for themselves more will be inclined to stay.

@Another2Cats quite.