To want a society where we just pay for ourselves

[LettingTheBadThingsGo]

Okay this is going to get some backs up but it's also how I feel so..
I wish we could just live in a society where we all just pay for ourselves.
So you want to have children - you pay for it all yourself. No benefits of any kind.
You want to see a GP - You pay a fee and get the service
You need the police - You pay a fee and get the service
You want education for your kids - you pay for it and get to choose where to send them

Nobody gets a pension or any benefits. However we all know this and as such we pay no tax/NI and save for ourselves.

Obviously there would have to be a phased input over a large number of years (like 30)

I want to know that if I need the police I can get them here in 5 mins. If I need an ambulance I want to know I can get it here in 5 mins. I don't want to not have these services because there is a rubbish 'free' service because there is not enough being allocated to them because it's all being spent on things I disagree with (welfare, council houses)

This would make everyone responsible for themselves. Those who work hard would be better off. Those who don't work will be worse off. Seems fair to me.

Everyone would save from day 1 in case they become ill or disabled and need to support themselves or have a disabled child (although they could choose not to have children in the first place).

I find it very weird that we live in a capitalist society where so many people are being supported by welfare. To me that is the opposite of a capitalist society.

Obviously there are some things that could never be allocated to each person such as defence of the country. There would have to still be a 'country charge' to every person to cover things that just could not be split. Street lighting would probably have to come under this as well. However roads could be covered by a charge to each person based on their mileage each year.

Yes it would take lots of thought and as I said would have to be implemented over a large number of years. However this would lead to a more productive society as well as better services. Obviously on the basis of a thread I haven't thought everything out but hopefully you all get the idea.

Anybody who didn't want to live like that could leave of course and live somewhere else.

So anyone else agree - no tax or ni - save and pay for yourself. Just pay a 'country charge' to cover things that can't be allocated like defence of country. Everything else is private (healthcare, police, pensions) and you save for it all yourself.

The only people who I can imagine not wanting this is those that live on the hard work of others ie life time welfare claimants. For everyone else surely they would be better off.

one thats not profit based, but one that is for the greater good of society

We don’t have a Victorian style education system.
And the topics taught will be different from then too. Here in Britain at least.

Bright, average and disabled? What if the child is disabled and bright?

“they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

Watch out at Christmas - you might get a visit from some ghosts!

You have no idea, do you, what makes a civilised society. Police only come if you pay them? Fire service, health service ditto? And are we to have various versions of all these which you can choose from on a price basis?
You do know that all the things you suggest have already been tried (study some history) and have been shown not to work to the ultimate good of the whole of society, which means no-one is safe, no-one has reliable services at all, except possibly the very rich (as ever)? That is why the things you list are statutory provision.
Such ignorance is appalling. And it would have to be a huge 'country charge' to pay for defence (the first duty of any government) if you are not having any tax paid. It would dwarf what you pay now in income tax - that is unless you would like to find out what happens to countries that have poor defences?

While the UK hasn't explicitly used the 19th-century Victorian education system for decades, many education experts argue that its underlying DNA remains deeply embedded in British schools.

@PenelopeJoanSterling The vast majority of children attend state-funded schools, which are not run for profit.

One of the beauties of the modern age, and our increased leisure time and wealth relative to previous generations, is that we are free to pursue other subjects in our spare time.

You do realise that a lot of people are born with a disability and will never have an income to be able to save? What a load of bollocks you really need a rethink on your fantastic ideas

You must be unbelievably uneducated to actually believe this could work… also very disturbing that you want to live this way.

Goodness, you sound heartless and ill educated. Others are allowed to exist, you know. I mean, maybe you should form an alliance with Trump and Musk, and live in your ivory towers in the sky with the elite

Bugger all of us minions and plebs, aye? 🤨😅😬

I stopped reading at " Police will only come if you pay them".
Ayn Rand has risen again.

What you’re asking for already exists - it sounds like you either don’t want to pay for it or don’t have enough money to pay for it.

private medical care ✅
private security ✅
private pension ✅
private schools ✅
gated community housing ✅

On a side note: if the gap between those who have a lot and those who have nothing widens too much then those who are affluent will fall prey to those who will take from you to get their needs met. Any civilised society tries to prevent this by taxing those who have a surplus and spreads this among those who haven’t got much.

Posts like yours are understandable but morally reprehensible because you’re condemning good people who’ve fallen on hard times or have disabilities or care for those who have disabilities to suffer through no fault of their own. It would increase crimes rates and fray the very fabric of society.

The OPs been a long time cutting the grass.

This, OP. The best reply on here. Read this and have a jolly good think.

But why on earth would anyone’s proposed solution to that be to cancel all taxes and public services for everyone so people have to pay for all their own healthcare, education, police, fire services, roads and infrastructure upkeep, armed forces and defence instead of simply making work worthwhile?

I mean we live in a country where minimum wage and living wage are two different things so I’d start there personally.

So I think you have to earn about £45k a year or more just to cover your own benefits costs (education, healthcare, state pension etc) over a lifetime. That's higher than the average wage - so most people would be much poorer.

I earn six figures so I'd actually be richer under your proposals, but I think it's a stupid idea!

How much do you earn OP?

Yes, and low paid work is often the most essential work: cleaners, carers, cooks, also jobs that are not particularly high paid are essential: bin men, road diggers, bus drivers.

because in any system theres only so much profit to be made, then you factor competition, then globalisation etc and before long many services and businesses can only function with very low wages for staff

...or you could just leave and live somewhere else (and I'm a higher rate tax payer so that stuffs up your theory).

Op, if you have had a child (or more than one), had any health problems, even minor ones, had your own childhood health and social care, been to school and university, then you have taken more money out of ‘the system’ than you will ever pay into it during your lifetime. So you can look at it as if all the tax and NI you have paid has been used on you and your family, not to pay for some ‘scroungers’ GP appointments.

She’s probably got the Telegraph or Mail to get through as well

Just remember that you are only ever one stroke or bad accident away from not being a tax paying, hard working member of society.

OP - your ignorance is truly astounding.

what a prick.

This. I cba to even address it. If you’d spent two minutes paying attention in primary school you’d see lots of flaws in this plan.