Media reports on tax credits cuts

[VivienScott]

I, like many others on the other threads, have been affected by tax credit cuts. I get working & child tax credits (single, p/t worker, 2 children) and will lose over £1400 net a year, just like many others. I work for the NHS, this is equivalent to losing 2 months net pay.

I'm hearing pretty much the same thing from lots of other people. People who don't have much money are losing a huge chunk of their income, and yet, it's hardly spoken about in the press. Everyone's saying what a great budget it is, no one is focusing on just how big a chunk of money people are losing. If people on low to mid incomes were going to be hit with a £1400 income tax bill from next year there would be outrage in the media.

AIBU in thinking the press are in on it too?

I don't receive tax credits and I broadly support the idea that the taxpayer should not be subsidising wages but until wages are high enough to enable people to have a basically decent life without them needing top up benefits then I don't believe they should be cut.
As a self employed person I will be slightly better off under this budget and I feel that work should reward people more than benefits but this move would seem to hit the lowest paid people who really need the help.

Watching this from abroad the media reaction is extraordinary. Does no one have any critical thinking skills any more?

Only FB feed, practically all my UK based friends are losers, most by over a grand a year. These are nurses, teachers etc! Not people in minimum wage jobs.

Even Martin Lewis on Breakfast TV wasn't really explaining it beyond the NLW and it being a good thing for low earners. I know he made a shit load from selling his site a few year ago 600 million from memory but id always considered him to be very mindful of those who are watching the pennies so I would have expected him to be ranting about the cuts.

There has been much talk of the raising of the income tax threshold and I suppose that affects far more people.

And that threshold tweak will benefit people to the tune of around 10% of what the OP is losing in tax credits. And those supposedly (according to GO) wealthy people on £30K+ will benefit from that as much as people scraping by on £12K.

There is a budget calculator on the bbc website that can show how you might be effected. I'm coming out at £1570 a year worse off.

I don't get tax credits because although I'm on a low wage my DD lives with my EXH ( yes I know but too long a story
to put here) but I think the Tories have royally fucked up. Sorry for all of you that are losing money. I dunno how this government can be so cruel. I wish I could do something to make MNetters who are going to lose out feel better .

I am a strong believer that tax credits need to go asap. Having said that, the minimum wage needs to rise quicker and tax thresholds rise quicker to compensate.

Unfortunately the majority of the press is right-leaning and support the tories. That's how the got elected, and now that's how they get away with screwing people over.

I think the journalists will wait to hear actual stories when the cuts come in April. It's not much of a story atm, but when Joe Bloggs can't afford to pay for things for his kids, it will be all over the news.

I would also caution against taking the calculators as gospel. Yesterday I put exactly the same figures and circumstances into several of these and had such a range of figures from £130 / to almost 1.5k

It's absolutely disgusting what they have done, especially when there are those already earning this "living wage" and struggling.

What do people expect from the press - they are nearly all Tory sympathisers

They're discussing it in a bit more detail on radio 2 now.

I can't understand why there isn't more coverage about these cuts. Maybe like morethan says there will be more outrage when the cuts actually bite.

I will be around 1.7k worse off, I work full time in the public sector. I will gain £80 per annum through the increase in tax codes and I will get a 1% pay rise for the next four years. So basically I am facing a fall in living standards for me and my kids for years to come because I work in a the public sector and am a single parent. What am I supposed to do??

We will be losing £2700 but I'm supposed to feel joyous that my DH will pay £80 less income tax. Suppose this is my reward for being unfortunate enough to have a child with a very severe and complex set of disabilities which means I had to give up my well paid job.

Something that has been really glossed over is how these threshold changes will also affect those claiming dla or caring for a child who receives dla. Yes if you receive dla you are exempt from the cap - but not the thresholds, which mean every family like ours on a low income with a child receiving dla will be worse off.

My ds receives high rate dla, I receive carers allowance and my dh works 38 hours a week for 15.5k. We will be about £30 a week worse off. It's like they have effectively reduced the dla they give my son by proxy - but of course no one wants to talk about that. They said they wouldn't touch disability benefits - but tax credits are a huge support for those on dla as most families with dla are very low income.

The child disability forums are absolutely raging about it all.

I find when they do report they then use extreme examples that just add fuel to the fire. My local tv used a mother with 8 children, the daily mail used a part time lecturer (there maybe reasons not reported) which just gives those who have no insight even more reason to believe what the press say. They do not use women left high and dry by their ex, or two people juggling 70 shifts on low pay. That's no sensational enough.

This is because Mr Murdoch owns lots of the UK media. He hates labour with a passion (think Mr Blair and Mrs Murdoch) and he let his papers rip Labour to shreds in the run up to the election.

He is doing the Tories a favour again by not having his newspapers highlight the reality of the budget.

If his papers were still backing labour you can guarantee this situation would not be occurring.

I find tax credits really confusing. Will the rise in national minimum wage make up for the horrendous decrease you are due?

Not for me. I get WTC due to disability. I already get an hourly rate much higher than NMW, which I'm not moaning about at all, but as the amount of work I can do is reduced due to disability I get WTC.

Now I'll get less.

I'm also going to be hit because as of April next year I won't be able to claim travel expenses, so that will limit how far away I can travel to jobs.

The tories only know hot to give money to those who already have it. A rise in tax allowance helps only those already earning more than 11k.and costs the exchequer money in helping even those on 80k, say who wouldn't even notice the 80 pounds a year.
1 million quid Inheritance tax threshold helps only those who have big houses/significant assets to inherit.
Right to buy only helps those council tenants in a position to get a mortgage.

Meanwhile, those LEAST able to change their situation (children, disabled, those in insecure employment), to help themselves, and with the least money are hit. And hit very very hard in some cases.

For me it's effectively a 5% drop In income. So that national pay rise is a pay cut for me. And I earn more than nmw.

I had a "discussion" with someone on Facebook last night who was basically gloating over the fact that people who "churn out kids for benefits" will lose out and how she's sick of working so hard to provide for other people. I pointed out that a)it's people who work in low paid jobs hit hardest b) that she will have free childcare in the form of her mum when her baby is born and c) she is lucky that both her and her husband will both continue to be able to work full time with no childcare costs and won't need to claim tax credits. I also pointed out that my dd will face huge debts going to uni and she said uni is a luxury. I don't think she understands that all the hospital staff delivering her baby have degrees and that the ability to just walk into a well paid job at 18 isn't available unless you have connections.

And this is the attitude from so many and it utterly depresses me.

Yanbu, families badly affected have been conveniently ignored. we need to start making lots of noise! Any one up for a March???

Working tax credits were given to people with massively higher incomes than minimum wage. Those good earners moaning about being £2500k worse off and in professional jobs, you shouldn't of had those dressed up benefits in the first place! The gravy train is coming to an end, our economy cannot afford these excesses. Those using it to fund nice cars, IPhones and the rest of the junk (and you know who you are) it's time to learn some money management skills. Don't dare complain unless you are earning nominal minimum wage and really struggling with the basics.

I've read the Guardian ( my usual paper) cover to cover this morning and it paints a very different picture of even the way the wealthy are bring 'hit'. For example, non- doms, the test will be if you have lived here for more than 15 years in the last 20- then you can't be a non-dom. Sounds pretty generous to me. BTL - will still get 20% tax relief on mortgage interest and the higher rates aren't going until 2017. However, better coverage of the TC losses are coming out now - IFS figures bring quoted now. And all this buying into the national 'living' wage and quoting the £9 figure - that's not until 2020 and is still lower than the current 'proper' LW for London. BTW - is there to be a London LW figure? I just feel impotent with rage at the cunning cynical way this budget has been constructed and is being reported.

And if China goes belly up, then everything will be fucked anyway

One thing that might help those able to work is that there are more jobs about. We have certainly noticed it round here. You used to have people queuing round the block for interviews if a new employer were recruiting and it's much easier to get them now. That will help some single parents who move from part time to full time work. However that is not the case in the rest of the country.

housepictures

The only people I have found complaining tbh are people like yourself and those who are really poor and will lose so much they won't be able to feed their dc, they are worried and have every right to be.
I have tried several calculators and stand to lose but the amount is different on each one.
I am not complaining because even though we are low income, I am a sahm.
I also know that high incomes didn't receive tax credits, and those on middle incomes received a small amount. My dsis has a good job and her husband does, they received £10 a month before the first cuts. I'm not sure where you get your info from.