To think that older, wealthier people should be paying more tax and NI than younger?

[Creambun2]

So various suggestions, which will probably come to nothing, that young people should pay less tax and national insurance than than older people, presumably with a links to actual incomes maintained.

What do you think? I am in favour as I think that young people are being done over really. Unaffordable housing, educations expenses etc etc.

Of course according to many boomer types this is all their fault and they have no money for housing due to buying a coffee and having a phone

Well we have record employment due to zero hour contracts etc. & working families have less & less disposable income.

The biggest welfare bill is pensions at 100 billion + & considering there is already a huge deficit here there needs to be a radical reform.

On houses etc the equivalent multip 4 x of my salary in 85 today buys the same small terraced house in outer London today but that is just because my career sector salaries have kept pace and may be this not that great bit of outer London is not that popular.

zero hours contracts suit some people very well. In the past I've had no disposable income - as in having to save up to buy a bar of chocolate and living of pasta.

I'm not saying people don't have it hard now and that it's difficult, but taxing older people simply for the fact they are old really isn't the answer, it's always been difficult for a lot of people.

The problem with the lack of growth in pensions is the same "problem" that is giving low interest rates. You can't expect that Pensions and savings are going to grow at 20% pa when money is being lent at 4%. When I had my first mortage I was paying near 20% interest. I was also paying into a pension so those early contributions grew well. I don't think it's possible to expect massive growth on your savings of any kind when you are paying so little to borrow.

Probably the best thing parets could do for their children is to put some money into a pension for them as early as you can as you'll be giving the money far longer to grow. Easier said than done though.

I dont think it’s ever been easy to own a home. I know my parents (born 50s) really struggled, mortgage rates were 13.something percent etc. They struggled hugely, it took them many years to work up to even a modest family home.
Homes where they live (the north) are still affordable - I think one of the biggest things that’s changed is the huge disparity in the south east in terms of house prices:earnings ratio.

So...Houses in SOME parts of the country are only affordable with higher salaries, parental help, inheritance etc. That is a problem because it entrenches generational wealth and decreases social mobility

I don’t think it’s as simple as baby boomers = responsible for everything any more than I think youger people can afford a house if they give up avocado toast.

I think corporations are wielding power that was unthinkable even a few decades ago and are not paying the taxes they should. I watched the blade runner sequel the other week and one thing that struck me was that the corporate dominance thing that was a vision of a horrible future in the 80s is a given today. It’s just accepted that these massive companies make shitloads of money, and pay almost no tax.

If I had infinite power I’d:

Review global corporate tax - nowhere to hide, pay the damn taxes.

Look at all places where public money drains into private coffers - housing benefit to private landlords, tax credits to prop up shit wages, selling off resources cheap. Massive government contracts to entities like sodexo.

Those in power must be laughing - get the generations to bash each other. Get the rich to hate the poor, call anyone on benefits a scrounged - keep them all fighting and keep creaming off the profits.

The problem here isn’t millenials and coffee and it’s not baby boomers in three bed semis - it’s a gross inequality in the economic structure of our whole society.

Rubbish idea. People with higher incomes already pay more tax.

WaxOnFeckOff

Yes, becasue when I was young there was a magic cheap house tree

Let all the people on the bottom half of the wealth tree all fight amongst themselves about who should pay more while the rich are laughing up their sleeves.

I think what people are trying to say is that yes, some things are more difficult for young people but equally the older generations had other things to cope with which were equally as difficult. It's all relative.

And yes, I care about my children and want them to have a better start than I did, but they will still have to work hard and make sacrifices for their future the same way that their Dad and I had to.

This ^

I think what people are trying to say is that yes, some things are more difficult for young people but equally the older generations had other things to cope with which were equally as difficult. It's all relative.

No I think that's what YOU are trying to say. There's lots of people on this thread saying that the young are feckless and entitled and if they worked a bit harder there wouldn't be a problem.

I'm sure some young people are feckless and entitled, unfortunately those ones also seem to be quite vocal. The vast majority I'm sure are perfectly decent people just trying to get on with life and who don't think the world owes them a living - the same as most other people in life.

As someone pointed out earlier, the vast majority of older people have children or grandchildren and I'm sure that the majority would want them to have a decent life.

I really have no time for whingers who like to blame everyone else for their own shortcomings or stuff that is just the way it is. Either rise up and try to affect change in a positive way or shut up and stop blaming your parents and grandparents for living their life. And if you do nothing else, at least try to gain a bit of understanding about the issues before opening your gob.

That's not specifically aimed at anyone btw, more a general observance of some of the people I saw interviewed on tv after the brexit vote in the main.

Ahhhhh so it's not that ALL young people are lazy and feckless just the ones who are unhappy with the current housing situation and those people should simultaneously shut up and fight for change. Riiiiiiiight.

And the vast majority of them are decent people trying to get on with life, but they also can't afford to buy a house.

There's a big difference between thinking the world owes you a living and thinking that the current situation is unfair.

This needs to go both ways: And if you do nothing else, at least try to gain a bit of understanding about the issues before opening your gob

I'm not sure why you are starting an argument with me lentil but are you trying to prove my point? There is no point blaming me for the situation or moaning to randomers on the internet. You could join a political party, raise a petition to parliament setting out your solution to it all or anything else other than whinging.

You could tell me your solution now if you like as I'm all ears?

Do you think that the older generation all had crystal balls and could predict the future? What exactly is it that you think we are to blame for as individuals? What should younger people do differently now to help the generation that comes behind them?

Most people on this thread are not the younger generation either, so I'm not sure who is whinging.

I can tell you for a fact that the housing where I live is affordable and young people are buying homes and do have jobs. I don't live in the South East of England though.

FaFoutis, I said in my post who I was referring to as whinging.

I'm not trying to blame you at all, I'm trying to get you to stop being so judgemental and possibly extend a bit of sympathy to the current situation.
I don't think it's the boomers faults as individuals, I think it's just how it's happened but I think it's extremely cruel for someone to say the younger generation are to blame for their own mess when it's just not true.

Well I happen to own a house and have a job, but I also have eyes and know the desperate situation that many of my peers are in.

So are you proposing everyone moves to where you live Wax?

Lentil was whinging? I don't think so. Lentil is being polite and reasonable, well done Lentil.

Yesterday 09:15 SentimentalLentil

^The Op has not come back with post was obviously designed to get the generations shouting at each other and it's worked.

People need to get a grip. We face DIFFERENT challenges now, a bit of empathy would go a long way.^

Just repeating what I said on page ten of this thread.

This is clearly a socio-cultural problem as much as an economic one. God know how you change the perceptions and beliefs of so many people.
Bruce Gibney's book is interesting on this.

I haven't said the young (as a generation) are to blame for their own mess. I'm certain that some will be, just the same as some of every generation are to blame for their own mess.

I do have sympathy and I'm fairly certain that despite my best efforts my DC may not have life as easy as I want. However it wont be for want of me trying. Yes I own a house but my parents didn't and neither did DHs, we intend to sell it when DC are old enough to move out and give them (hopefully) enough for a deposit. We've saved and hope to help DC to go to Uni and emerge as debt free as possible. DH and I have worked 75 years between us contributing tax all that time, we still have about 30 years between us to go and fully expect not to get a state pension at the end of that. I really don't know what else you expect me to do?

whoop I'd have no problem with that, but the point I was making is that there are places where housing is affordable if people want to look and that's not just in places where there is no work.

Fafoutis you are being obtuse here, why don't you go and read my post and tell me where I said that lentil was whinging?

I think for a start free prescriptions, bus passes etc should start at 70.

Fil has been retired for 35 years. 35 years of free everything. For years the council even issued travel tokens if you preferred instead of a bus pass, which the Pil used for taxis to the airport (for Saga holidays). Clearly this gravy train had to stop, but just pulling up the drawbridge for those just arriving is unfair. I think people should be entitled to a maximum of 15 years' old age pension. If you live any longer, you fund from savings or equity in house. And this should be immediate, not phased in so older pensioners are again winners.

So LadyinCement - a 75 year old widow with no private pension and living in a rented house should starve?