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Original poster

to hope the government has the guts to tax WEALTHY pensioners more

953 replies

ReallyTired · 22/04/2013 09:12

The Fabian society has suggested that wealthy pensioners pay more tax.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22220345

Some how I can't see a conservative wanting to tax wealthy pensioners more when they all vote Tory.

I find it unfair that pensioners with an income more the average family's income get free bus buses, winter fuel allowance, TV licence as well as paying less tax and national insurance. It is about time that the the wealthy pensioners took their share of the pain of the cuts.

I am in favour of well off pensioners having free bus passes, winter fuel allowance as these things encourage independence and improve health. I would like to see the money for these things clawed back by WEALTHY pensioners paying more income tax.

OP posts:
teenagetantrums · 22/04/2013 18:29

all i can say is after 25 years of working im living on jsa as a single mum of 2, thank god my parents who ae in thier 70's have enough extra money to pay for our extras , es they dont need thier wfa but they used it to pay my gas bill and pay for kids xmas..yes the penson costs a fprtune compared to jsa but many of those pensiners are propping up thier family that cant live on thier inome..

handcream · 22/04/2013 18:29

I can afford Sky and I am neither a pensioner nor a skiver! What does surprise me is people who believe it is an entitlement.

I had a friend who used to work for the local council helping people on benefits or low wages get out of debt. Some people really didnt have a clue how to budget. She would get them to list out all their outgoings and when things were clearly missing she would ask pointed questions - really just to ensure that everything was taken account of.

When Sky appeared she suggested that it wasnt a necessity and could be cancelled. Two people formally complained about her saying that. She didnt last very long in the role. Gave up in the end!

Squarepebbles · 22/04/2013 18:30

Faster who is eating the meat though- it sure as hell isn't most families I know.We're all sharing our veggie meal recipes.

My parents eat waaaay more meat than we do as a family of 5,not 1 medium chicken or 500g of mince < sigh>a week but expensive M&S cuts of meat- daily.Ditto the inlaws.

Squarepebbles · 22/04/2013 18:31

Hand ditto mobile contracts- get a payg £10 Tesco cheapy.

ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmmmmmmm · 22/04/2013 18:35

"When Sky appeared she suggested that it wasnt a necessity and could be cancelled. Two people formally complained about her saying that."

In my job, I come across this on a nearly daily basis.

People are literally speechless with rage when you suggest,as they are struggling to pay debts,they may not need the full, £80 pm,sports and movies package.... Hmm

handcream · 22/04/2013 18:38

A £10 PAYG isnt good enough!

My DS who is at boarding school wanted a Blackberry - all his friends had one(that old one!). We give him an allowance every month, he had to pay it out of that. Its a contract and he doesnt take it abroad. Any extra's he pays me for. He once went over his allowance and I made him give me the extra £10. he never did it again!

I see kids around the shopping centres - trousers around their knees so that they walk in a funny way. Maybe its my age but how stupid does that look! They have the latest iPhones - wouldnt be seen dead with a PAYG

Squarepebbles · 22/04/2013 18:41

My kids would as it'll be that or nothing.Simply couldn't afford it.We have a £10 payg cheapy for us so no way could I afford or justify 3x blackberries for the dc,just not possible(unless they get a Sat job).

Lazyjaney · 22/04/2013 18:43

"Lazyjaney - you associate council estates with skivers.....??"

In DMWorld of course I do....

(There needs to be a facetious tongue in cheek smiley on here, I think)

handcream · 22/04/2013 18:43

Things - its that sense of entitlement, something there really wasnt 30 years ago IMHO. You have it, I should have it too. I can do what I like, someone will help me out if I mess up, if I get pregant by mistake people give me money too. Not much but more than I am getting now.

As I messed around at school I have no real qualifications and now I have a baby, well, its not worth working. I do want my pension though and I want no one judging me or saying I am not contributing. I am raising the tax payer of the future (stats show they are likely to have children very young too) and it goes on....

ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmmmmmmm · 22/04/2013 18:43

" Maybe its my age"

Yep. It is.Wink

SinisterBuggyMonth · 22/04/2013 18:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FasterStronger · 22/04/2013 18:45

I have PAYG. you can end phone calls by saying 'oh I am getting low in credits must go' & I am known for being eccentric so get away with having PAYG.

ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmmmmmmm · 22/04/2013 18:45

Lazyjaney,

I know, I was only joshingGrin

handcream · 22/04/2013 18:47

A Saturday job - now that is the next thing I want my DS to get... Issue is that he is at school on a number of Saturdays. Not impossible though, bar work, putting his name down at Pizza Express for shifts so that they call him and see if he is available.

So, as I have told him - not impossible!

handcream · 22/04/2013 18:48

Things - do you like that look! It makes them waddle.... Most attractive...

Chottie · 22/04/2013 18:50

Lots of today's pensioners went out to work full time from the age of 15 or 16. So they have often worked 50 years when they get to retirement. Many people did not have the opportunity to go to university.

In reply to the comment about women not working or only working part time, not that long ago when you had a baby you left work, very little was available for maternity benefits. Family allowance was not paid for the first child.

Lots of friends in their 50s or 60s are still helping out their adult children with down payments for homes or providing childcare or paying towards nursery costs.

p.s. a friend works in the debt dept of CAB and she comes across the SKY comment as well.

Squarepebbles · 22/04/2013 18:50

But hand I think pensioners have a sense of entitlement even though logic and fairness says no.

Sorry where I live this sense of entitlement amongst young people and families isn't there just hard working families getting hacked off with constantly being clobbered.

It's so wrong to discard the younger generation as entitled shirkers and pensioners as all being hard working.

I've worked since I was 13,paid a shed load if tax in my 44 years(which I'll see very little of in my dotage),never ever received any benefits,raising kids who ask for nothing etc.Many,many people are the same.

handcream · 22/04/2013 18:51

I have a phone with work and it is a BB but if I wasnt working - well what's wrong with a PAYG. At least you know where you are with it.

handcream · 22/04/2013 18:53

I sort of agree with you Square. My PIL's worked in the medical profession - both of them which was unusual. They have lovely pensions but they do argue that they have paid for those pensions by both working. They did retire at 60 (lucky things!) and have a great life but I cannot argue that they didnt work for it. My MIL in particular went to uni when it was unusual for women to go. Good for her...

ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmmmmmmm · 22/04/2013 18:54

Squarepebbles,

Surely, logically, pensioners are entitled ?

They have played by the rules,no ?

ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmmmmmmm · 22/04/2013 18:58

Handcream,

re. ultra low trousers.......... grubby boxers/arse crack....

Noooooooooo.....almost guaranteed to induce apoplectic rage in me.

But aware that's cos I'm an old gimmer (50)....GrinGrin

Squarepebbles · 22/04/2013 19:03

They stuffed up and got lucky.

Over the years they didn't pay enough in to the NHS or public pensions(we're picking up the tab),they spent money on free education,CB etc,etc.

Also,sorry last time I looked at our payslips we've paid by the rules sooooo can I have my CB,free education,decent retirement age,NHS until I die and descent pension please too?

CloudsAndTrees · 22/04/2013 19:15

They paid what they were expected to pay Square.

No one phones up HMRC and offers to send them an extra £100 this month instead of spending it on something else do they? The difference is that they did what was expected of them and were told what they would get in return. So now they want the other side of the deal to be kept to, that's not being entitled. That's just wanting to play fair.

XBenedict · 22/04/2013 19:24

My dad would blow if I suggested the OPs ideas to him. He's a fairly wealthy pensioner, has recently retired at 65 but I don't know anyone who has worked harder than him. He's a lorry driver and has been all his life, was away all week when we were kids living in a lorry. Has just finished a job where he got up at 4am and home around 3pm. He's only just getting used to sleeping in.

My parents were very careful with their money. We lived in a council house until they had saved a deposit for there first house. We didn't go on foreign holidays in fact there were weekends we could only afford the fuel to go to the nearest town to get our shopping and not further afield. The car would be on the road because my dad would tinker with it and mend it at the weekend. But despite all this they planned very carefully for the future, they've always planned for this retirement that they are both now beginning to enjoy. Why should he have to pay more tax? Makes me really Sad to think he may have to.

ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmmmmmmm · 22/04/2013 19:31

Square,

CB-check. Free education-check. NHS - check. Pension, ALLEDGEDLY, will be going UP in a few years time. Retirement age, well, hmmmmm. Been no women of a certain age complaining that they will have to retire at or near the same age as men have for the last 50 years, has there ? Wink