To think all keyworkers should have their tax stopped for the next two years

[marysuzairn]

All of those that worked throughout covid need to be rewarded. Why not just stop all tax for every nurse, care worker, teacher (and assistant), gas engineer, pharmacist etc. They kept the country going and weren't just at home on 80% pay (and actually better off with less outgoing). Isn't it time to now reward them appropriately?

Yabu.

I’m a keyworker as is DH and that sounds crackers! We need to pay tax to help dig the country out of the insane deficit it is in. The country is in a huge financial mess and needs everyone to pay their way to help.

Key workers need to be grateful their jobs/livelihoods aren't at risk

You can't possibly think there aren't any keyworkers whose jobs are at risk.

Make everyone who was fuloughed pay back the support they received in increased tax - choice or not it would have been lovely to have time off for 80% of pay (up to the threshold) and this benefit that was enjoyed (I saw many people have a wonderful time while others were pushed to the limit with stress) should have a cost attached to it. It is pure economics.

Retrospectively change the conditions of furlough scheme pay? Best of luck with the legal challenges to that one. What would you like to cut to pay for the court cases?

marysuzairn
No the keyworkers list is actually very small

you can just wrote down what comes into your head,
or you can quickly google the actual facts from the official websites.

It's up to you, but you do lose any kind of credibility if you stick to the first one

More people will be forced onto benefits than ever before, plus the cost of the pandemic will be cost enough I think without people not paying tax

I'm a key worker, an investment banker, earning a good six figures, but as I work in financial services, I am classified as a key worker.

Do you think I should not have to pay any tax for two years, along with the rest of my investment banking colleagues?

Many of us worked through covid you know, we weren't all furloughed. DH works in the private sector, I work in the voluntary sector and both of us worked throughout covid. Should we get a pay rise?

No the keyworkers list is actually very small, those that were important enough to need to work and the state had to provide child care for. It would be a drop in the ocean compared to furlough!

Stop goading. Key workers were fortunate enough to be able to access childcare (myself included) or school, rather than juggling looking after children and working from home etc. Not everyone can have jobs important to society, but everyone's job is important in some way or it wouldn't exist.

@marysuzairn

No the keyworkers list is actually very small, those that were important enough to need to work and the state had to provide child care for. It would be a drop in the ocean compared to furlough!

No, the list of key workers was massive. DH qualified officially, and he could only really be considered a keyworker in the very loosest sense of the word. Don’t get me wrong we’d be happy for 2 years tax free but it would be absolute batshit . He basically did the same job as usual, in the same place, at absolutely no additional risk as he didn’t have to leave his blooming study!

@Options8

Make everyone who was fuloughed pay back the support they received in increased tax - choice or not it would have been lovely to have time off for 80% of pay (up to the threshold) and this benefit that was enjoyed (I saw many people have a wonderful time while others were pushed to the limit with stress) should have a cost attached to it. It is pure economics.

There are people who were furloughed and lost 20% of their income because childcare settings closed and backup family help was banned. They still had to pay a percentage of nursery fees. And you are suggesting they pay yet more money back?

It really is like suggesting everyone on benefits should be punished because some people take the piss out of the system and have a great time. Yes, but most claim through necessity, you can't just penalise everyone on benefits because you think a few people don't deserve them.

Make everyone who was fuloughed pay back the support they received in increased tax - choice or not it would have been lovely to have time off for 80% of pay (up to the threshold) and this benefit that was enjoyed (I saw many people have a wonderful time while others were pushed to the limit with stress) should have a cost attached to it. It is pure economics.

Are you also in favour of making the public sector workers who weren't actually working their usual hours to repay their wages too??

No, thought not!

A lot of people worked through Covid - many without childcare which was available for key workers, and without access to other keyworker perks. And this while some keyworkers had a pretty normal life, and some got full pay for doing much less than normal.
i’m completely for higher nurses’ and carer’s salaries, but “all keyworkers” is too big a group to justify that.

@edwinbear

I'm a key worker, an investment banker, earning a good six figures, but as I work in financial services, I am classified as a key worker.

Do you think I should not have to pay any tax for two years, along with the rest of my investment banking colleagues?

Well indeed, this is our situation too. First time I’ve ever seen someone argue that a banker shouldn’t have to pay tax though , guess there’s a first time for everything!

What a pile of nonsense.

And the most overused word of this year is "keyworker".

Just because someone isn’t a key worker, doesn’t mean they’ve been on holiday.

Over here the terms “essential” and “non-essential” workers were used, which is even more irritating than “key worker”. I’m not an essential worker (by the state government’s definition) but I was essential in that I have been working and paying tax throughout. I actually had to take a pay cut to keep my job, as did any others in my industry.

It’s small businesses that need the most help, not people who were doing the job they signed up for, earning the wages they accepted.

Isn’t the economy fucked enough already? If this lunatic idea was adopted, the rest of us would be paying about 90% tax.

@marysuzairn

No the keyworkers list is actually very small, those that were important enough to need to work and the state had to provide child care for. It would be a drop in the ocean compared to furlough!

The list is massive, I’m considered a keyworker, I’m an actuary!

Oh yeah and DH is a "keyworker" who has worked full time, from home, throughout. He's a manager in a service critical to national infrastructure. Not on the frontline NHS.

How on earth is that going to help a country, that’s already in a financial hole?

I’m a key worker and think that’s bonkers. What about the people who have now lost their jobs through no fault of their own, how do we help them??

People’s reward for working through this is being paid every month. Furloughed workers did not have a choice and many of them will not have a job to return to.

Yes please!!!

I think OP is probably just a bit naive.
The government said, those who can work from home should do so. Certain businesses had to close, and to prevent redundancies, money was put out to support people who would otherwise lose their jobs. At no time did they say 'don't go to work'.
Obviously they hadn't really thought it through all that well, because by closing schools and child care facilities, and telling people they couldn't meet family and friends, millions of working families were left without childcare, and if they weren't able to work from home, they ended up needing financial support as well.
I think the stay at home message was so thoroughly taken on board, that it over rode the other message that you could still go out if necessary.
I personally think that using the word 'essential' caused a lots of the havoc. That and different interpretations of what was said.
There was a crazy mixed message between people going to work as being heroes (I do think those on covid wards etc are heroes) and at the same time anyone seen leaving their homes at all being vilified (on SM at least)
I worked and shopped for a few people and went to care for my horses throughout, and nobody in RL batted an eyelid.

The public sector is huge and most of it is keyworkers. DP is a public sector payroll manager - he's a keyworker, the council's housing and environmental health officers are keyworkers, DWP staff are keyworkers.
I'm a benefit adviser, but because I work solely with MH clients from a couple of very specific projects, and funded (ultimately) from DWP money, I'm a keyworker.

It's a lovely notion, but it would cost a fortune and if redundancies keep happening at current rates, most of the PAYE taxpayers will be pulbic sector and mainly key workers. It would bankrupt the country.

They kept the country going and weren't just at home on 80% pay (and actually better off with less outgoing). Isn't it time to now reward them appropriately?

We lost 60% of our income overnight and we had the majority of our bills go up and were not entitled to any of the grants. Could we get something?

So the government has borrowed ridiculous amounts of money to cover peoples’ furlough pay etc. To help businesses survive lockdown and ultimately the economy and now you think we should be cutting back on tax revenue?

How are we going to pay back the debt?

Economically what you propose is ridiculous!

My partner is a key worker in a school so we would benefit if this happened but it’s just unnecessarily delaying paying back all the borrowing that’s accumulated during lockdown. I’d much rather the country had a much better long term economic outlook than have a bit more take home income now.

Also as others have pointed out people have been working from home during lockdown and not everyone was just ‘sat at home’.

I also think you are wrong to assume that those who were furloughed were actually better off because they had lower outgoings. You do not know each individual’s personal circumstances, when there may in fact have been people struggling to make ends meet on 20% lower pay - particularly those on low pay initially.