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!

My DH could have a motability car, he's worked it out and he reckons he's much better off having his DLA, buying a decent secondhand car and paying the running costs from his DLA.

Why does anyone deserve a certain level of income due to the simple fact they work full time?

What's the point of working if housing and food are a real struggle with no hope of things improving? I think hope is a big factor that is missing today, people have always struggled but generally things improve. Things have stopped improving for manner & that is bad for wider society.

Interesting. Not that you need my opinion.

I would vote for a version of 1 managing a return to productivity not a cliff edge even if it cost more in the short term.

2&5 I would be 100% against. I don't think homeowners should be penalised because of corporates and side hustle investors who have turned property into commodities. Better to address the route cause of the issues in the housing market. This will bring house prices down. The state needs to build more homes but not on green belt. We need smarter rules and inducements that will limit the ability or desire to charge extortionate rents. Private businesses are almost always chasing profit. As for downsizing - where are all the homes that the elderly can downsize to? Every time a bungalow comes on the market someone turns it in to a dormer bungalow and the price shoots up.

Plus taxing them on a guestimate is not much better than theft. The only time you know the true value of a house is when it is sold. I wouldn't like a capital gains tax but if there is one then that that is the most sensible point at which to apply it just like on other capital gains applicable asset.

3 I would hate, but agree we do need to do something about the pensions crisis. We need more from all sections of society. But it doesn't seem right that person A can waste all their money or take a less stressful job for an easier life and a lower salary and will be able to pick up a pension but Person B who earns less than them but who has been more cautious will not be able to collect a pension because they have a private pension. On the other hand I do think assets are fair game if you need to go into a home. They should not be ringfenced for your children or other beneficiaries.

4 Could work well but our government has shown themselves to be an inept partner to the private sector. It also does not address unfunded government pension schemes.

I personally feel they need to rewind the disability benefit claimant numbers to pre-covid levels. I don’t accept that 800k extra people have become disabled. This increase didn’t happen in other European countries. This may be easier said than done, but we need to get people into work even if it costs money in the short term

I thought sickness has increased in lots of other countries?

I know a lovely young lady with autism (meltdowns and all that) who has recently embarked on a career in the Royal Navy.

Yes a few people did pile on. One poster gave advice on a relatively low skill, chill job. The person didn't want to do it.

I did suggest if the person was too scared to leave the house to maybe try and do something on the laptop, but person refused and said she finds using MN on her laptop as hard as it is.

Why does anyone deserve a certain level of income due to the simple fact they work full time?

Contributing to the welfare state is a by product of working so that I can have safety, stability and security for my family. I don't work just for fun. I work longer hours to have more security.

I agree with you, it’s not wrong… but I’m wondering what the point / meaning is of highlighting it…

If you know one person with autism, you know one person with autism.
I can't believe no one realises that by now. Everyone is different.

Maybe MN is the only interaction she has with the outside world. Being too scared to leave your house is scary and lonely.

Again, what computer based jobs can someone do from home that is not that tech literate, is 100& WFH, and totally entry level, and enough to live on? That is before you get onto reasonable adjustments for their disability.

I knew I wouldn't have to look far to find a proponent of eugenics on this delightful thread.
I feel like there was a political regime that implemented eugenicist policies some time in the 1930s and 1940s, which included what you seem to be advocating for here, the forced sterilisation of disabled people. I don't remember the exact details but I am sure that it all ended very well and that particular political ideology is fondly remembered by all.

Benefits are being, not eliminated, but reduced. Right now. There are many who right now have won the benefit lottery so to speak, but going forward it isn't going to be anywhere near as easy to claim sickness benefits. Just how the current pensioners won the pension and housing lottery, this generation have won the benefit lottery.

Going forward the state is going to be much less generous for all. The freeze on amounts will hit harder and harder each year as inflation makes money worth less as time goes by and new claimants will not be able to claim as much or as easy, give it 5 years and there will be a noticeable reduction in welfare payments. Pensions are not far off being the cut off for pension credits. Once the state pension hits the cut off they will remove pension credits and all the additional financial help people get with that. It's sort of an easy more, to freeze one number and increase the other just a small amount.

Everyone is concerned, workers for job security and increased costs and those dependent on just welfare payments. And many in between.

I don't know why workers are getting wound up about benefits it's not a great place to be right now.

I've said this to my parents.
They have a mobility car, not a bmw or luxury make so no additional upfront costs, but they need a larger automatic car to fit a scooter and be higher up to get out. So even if an older car wouldn't suit their needs right now, they would be better off in the long term taking the money to buy the car they have on hire purchase at the end of their 3 years on mobility scheme. Eventually they would just get to keep the money for a better lifestyle. They get stressed easy so like not having the hassle of upkeep though

I do remember a few months ago on a thread about if school grades mattered etc. there was someone who pissed about at school but then did a IT qualification got a job in IT and is getting paid well.

Then again this is some anecdote, I'm half remembering on MN

And, once again, the plural of anecdote is not data. Many posters on here sharing their stories about their, definitely not imaginary, neighbour who claims PIP for having a bad back while being world limbo champion would do well to remember this.

Agree could make the idea better by doing it this way. But then the roles would have to be productive and add to council expenditure so less available to all. Someone learning alongside someone on council house maintenance for example will not be very productive for quite some time and budgets are tight. Doing it more as a keeping your foot in, or taking a step into work without having too much pressure, plus the flexibility around childcare just to make up their few hours would make the scheme spread around for enough people. Cant really class as back in work part time, box ticked on 6-7 hours, but it will be good for experience. Offer out more than the 1 shift or few hours per day and there won't be enough to spread around to reach all that could benefit

Sorry, but I disagree. I as a tax payer is subsidising a luxury vehicle - that shouldn’t be what my taxes and that scheme is about - it should be for necessity. I am fully aware that those with disabilities need to get around, and I’m in support of helping them but why do they get to have a BMW?

That’s like the tax payer subsidising a gold plated stair lift for someone. If they can afford to top up their motability scheme, why are they qualifying in the first place?

BMW is a status symbol car - she doesn’t need a BMW, she wants a BMW.

some of these comments are staggeringly vile. It’s shocking really how emboldened people feel from their phones or laptops.
let’s say disabled people or those ‘living on benefits’ could work … where? where are these magical jobs that are supportive of disabilities and tolerant in times of struggle? A person with a chronic illness might have two good weeks a month, what job can they can get where an employer will be fine with them then not managing for two weeks a month? Disabled groups have highlighted how hard it is for disabled people to find supportive positions, they don’t exist. Which leads me to the biggest issue; how we all seem to subscribe to the capitalist boot licking notion that a persons worth is determined by their productivity and salary. People have intrinsic worth and a decent society understands that and doesn’t demonise the poorest, most vulnerable individuals within it. So many people here equate benefits with laziness but don’t consider how huge companies rely on UC and the benefit system to ensure profits for shareholders by paying below a living wage safe in the knowledge that the gov will top it up. Be mad at that. Be mad that so few companies are family or disability friendly and don’t support the various types of workers that exist. Be mad at the presentee performative pratts who think their middle management position provides them with the right to judge others in different situations to themselves. If you want more people to work, ‘work’ needs to change and be a realistic prospect for those who are struggling to access the standard life draining 8-6 hours expected of many jobs. I despair seeing some of the comments on here, people who are alright and so therefore buy into the daily mail rhetoric of everyone on benefits being a scrounger and every disabled person being a liar.

Many companies who pay nmw also gave razor tight margins. Like it's tiny in food

But it's swings and roundabouts; those not having children pay tax to provide your maternity benefits, your children's education etc.

Tony Blairs fault opening our borders with a magnetic benefit system "come to the uk and just work 16 hours" to abused

I’m with you 100%

The state of the UK is such that we need more taxes to fix it.

It's not pensioners fault.
It's not the fault of the sick or disabled.
It's not parents' fault.
It's not children's fault.
It's not the fault of immigrants or refugees.

We need to accept the magnitude of our problems and do as much as we can to get the UK out of the hole it's in. Blaming pensioners/parents etc is illogical and doesn't help.

You can't have free health care education etc without taxes. Everything costs more so schools and NHS pay more for things. They need more money. Factor in Brexit which is costing us a fortune due to the people who foolishly believed that we would be better off

People are prepared to pay more tax but it has to be on basis that as much inefficiency as possible is removed from the system.

And they sort out the unfunded public sector pensions.

The end