I don't want to pay more fucking tax!

[marthainthemarket]

I am the sole earner in a family of four, earning just under 40k a year and getting probably fuck all or below inflation pay increase next year, if I am lucky enough to keep my job ( public sector and employer needing to make massive budget savings). I barely cope now.

I am so fucking angry that Labour fucked up the disability benefit cuts. Other countries don't have run away disability benefits crises because they have a proper assessment process that means they keep a lid on people getting disability benefits who don't really need them. But instead of dealing with that, they came up with a crap proposed cut that wouldn't have dealt with the actual issues and they couldn't defend.

And having fucked that up they are now raising everyone's tax. I hate them!

Income tax has been raised, just not the basic rate.

We don’t actually know what and how taxes will be raised so save your breath till the worst happens.

the problems Labour have are a direct result of far too much Tory mismanagement including austerity and Brexit . It took decades for all the problems to really come into play and it will take as long to fix. Throw in war and climate change and Covid

the disability assessment processes have been in lace far longer than Labour

Err no, some people want more and more services, yet haven't contributed any tax.

I agree with you. The trajectory for this was set years ago. No government wants to raise taxes, no one wants to pay more but this certainly isn’t a problem created by a government who have been in power for less than two years.

Exactly. Some people seem to forget that if they aren't working and paying in, someone somewhere is paying for that thing they get 'free'.

The working person is the easiest to target, tax us more and make us work longer rather than go after those who have never contributed. They keep sticking the boot into those of us who have worked all our lives. I hate them too!

Yes to me that was the start of the rot. Cameron should be in the tower of London for treason in my opinion!

Reform now call their proposed tax cuts 'an aspiration' rather than policy.

Six of their local councils will raise council tax despite promising not do so after realising there are no savings to be made.

Wrong. Because Farage and his cronies who screwed us over Brexit want to do it again with their Reform lies.

You do realise some of 'those who have never contributed' have never physically been able to? And you're saying you'd like to see them struggle even more than they already are doing?

I would be OK to pay more tax to join the EU again.
Certainly don't remember Labour objecting to Brexit before the vote.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/30/labour-voters-in-the-dark-about-partys-stance-on-brexit-research-says

And this seems prescient:

You don't know if you'll pay more?
You're prematurely ejaculating about something that will likely not happen.

Mainly because it is a load of bollox

Million more people are now claiming universal credit compared to a year ago which increases the welfare bill further. Crazy times.

Sorry but no. It’s important to understand exactly how we got here so that the next time a snake oil salesman claims he can fix everything and it won’t hurt a bit then people will be aware.

But no, everyone thinks there is a magic wand that the government have but just aren’t using. I do think the super rich need to pay more tax but I also think we need them to make the investment that will help the economy grow. I don’t envy RR having to juggle plates of shit!

Sadly there are just too many people taking. The rich can leave, or give up, and we actually need businesses and employers. Disability benefits - and indeed pensions - are out of control when the numbers claiming for years on end are swelling every day.

Also unfortunately there does need to be a clampdown on - or reassessment of - some disabilities. There has been a tsunami of claims in the last few years. Although most people genuinely believe they are in some way “handicapped”, there needs to be a serious conversation about this. There was a woman on Question Time with anxiety. Fgs - what sort of anxiety allows you to travel to a studio and speak on national television?! Surely 90% of people wouldn’t be able to face that!

People often write on these threads ‘tax Amazon properly’ or whatever, but surely the government have teams of accountant/economists who are doing whatever they can to glean as much money as possible from these companies. If it was possibly to ‘raise billions’ by ‘going after the big corporations’ without consequence, then surely they would be doing precisely that? Why wouldn’t they?

It’s completely pointless getting into whose fault it is. Many of our problems are common to all western countries: 2008 financial crisis, covid, aging population, poor productivity. Where we are outliers is in Brexit and welfare. The question is, can labour do anything about this? Politically i’d say they can’t. We have a problem with disability benefits, which we spend way more on than other countries. Their backbenchers won’t let them make cuts. The only solution therefore is to raise taxes, but if they do that they’ll be voted out in the next election.

If they banished housing benefit they probably wouldn't need to charge Council tax. Afterall it is all "house" related. Swings and roundabouts. Just a thought..

Of course there are people that have never been physically able to. I reckon most people know someone that could work but doesn't. I certainly do. Well enough to go to the pub every single day for years but can't work? Righto. Well enough to drive to Spain but can't work due to a bad back? Righto.

Agree with this.

As a self employed lower rater tax payer, I'd be prepared to pay 1p more in income tax BUT ONLY IF it was going to make a proper difference in our services and not just get consumed by other spending requirements.

@Hyperion100 exactly. I voted against Brexit precisely for the reasons was fairly likely to be ruinously expensive. And here we are.

I can afford a tax rise but it seems obvious to me that Brexit would make the poor poorer, and squeeze us in that bracket of “middle to high but not crazy-high” income. People like me will again rein in spending and so that will harm the economy.

And meanwhile the truly wealthy and the political class that lied to us about Brexit and so many things, just widen the wealth gap and laugh at us little people, squabbling amongst ourselves over cutting benefits and essential services.

A lot of other countries have higher tax levels.
The years of austerity which ran down our public service,, combined with Brexit and the pandemic are to blame for the need for a possible tax increase not disabled people.
My income is less than the OPs but I think a penny on income tax is the answer

Well, you sound like someone that has never liked Labour and that has now suffering memory loss for the 14 years that went before them.

If you are wondering why Labour are having to do this, look at 14 years of financial mismanagement by lunatics like Liz Truss and grifters like Boris Johnson, and you might get close to understanding.

All the Tories wanted to do was feather their own nests, make life comfortable for their Millionaire and Billionaire mates and fuck the general public over.

But you keep crying about Labour and ignore how we got here.

"Pensioners who pay tax would pay more, but not you."

Exactly, not sure if that will save the UK though because people who know what they are doing will find tax shelters. Eventually the bond markets are going to call time on this economic circus and when that happens the less debt you have the safer you will be.