New NI tax. How are people meant to afford this?

[OnTheBrink1]

We bought our house just before covid, got a mortgage that pushed us quite a bit but worked it all out and it’s been doable since then. We needed to push the mortgage quite a bit because we were upsizing to get an extra bedroom for the kids and a downstairs loo and in our area and from what we had before it was a jump.
Been managing since then but no progression opportunities in DH job during the last 18 months due to covid it seems as recruitment was largely paused.
However, now we will now have to pay an extra almost £900 per year on this new tax. £73 I make it.
We don’t have any benefits of any kind.
It’s going to be quite a struggle to afford the mortgage and still maintain the car (which is old but we need for work and kids stuff) plus all the usual bills and food. Kids are between 8-12 and need bus passes, constant uniform and all manner of expenses of course.
I mean we will struggle by but it’s going to be tough to afford that extra £73 a month when we had all the mortgage planned.
Just don’t get how they can bring it in so soon when it’s such an increase. How are others in a more difficult position going to afford this? People will be loosing their houses surely?

Hah! If Labour had been in, we'd have been in more debt before Covid started & no better off now!!!

Would we? I doubt whether they would have got away with siphoning off billions to their mates - failed track and trace, failed PPE - we could go on.

Hah! If Labour had been in, we'd have been in more debt before Covid started & no better off now!!!

Go and do some fact checking before you make such statements.

As much as I'm not a fan of Corbyn, we just dont know what would have happened if he'd got in.
We do know they'd have got the same medical advice so probably wouldn't have done things much different. Drakeford, Johnson and Sturgeon all pretty much loath each other but they all basically the same thing.

Hah! If Labour had been in, we'd have been in more debt before Covid started & no better off now!!

Oh look! A windmill! A cow!

@echt

Hah! If Labour had been in, we'd have been in more debt before Covid started & no better off now!!

Oh look! A windmill! A cow!

No one can say that Corbyn would have done a worse job. By the same token no one can say he'd have done a better job either.

Ah, right. Thank you @DadDadDad and @Pinkcadillac

my sister is a teacher in London with a TLR & earns 50k ish

..... but most teachers don't. So, to balance out your sister, will be the overwhelming majority of teachers who don't have a London allowance and the overwhelming majority of teachers don't have a TLR

DH works for the NHS and had a wry laugh to think that he's getting the pay rise but is paying for through the NI increase. We're paying out ££££ on IVF and I'm facing possible redundancy, so like a lot of people it's not an ideal time for us to factor in a tax increase.

@Kite22 I never said most teachers did earn that. I simply disputed that 50k was a massive amount of money

Take the Red Blinkers off for once!!

I don't vote for Labour and haven't done for at least 20 years.

Voting for the Tories has done nothing but harm, English folk could have done it so differently and we'd all have been better off.

@Baystard

matilda you're right about tax but what grates with me is that in Scotland higher earners pay more NI than those elsewhere in the UK already.

Only 25% of tax revenue comes from income tax.

No one can say that Corbyn would have done a worse job. By the same token no one can say he'd have done a better job either

Not the point I was making.

@Kite22

Statistically though, not many people earn over £50k. I think less than 15-20%? And those earning £80k are in the top 5% of earners. £50k+ is not the norm based on averages across the UK. And one could reasonably expect that a family with a household income of £80k+ could absorb a £70pcm increase in costs, as rubbish as it may be for them that they have to pay it. The average salary in the UK is £25k-30k now I believe?

Exactly @youvegottenminuteslynn
@longue you seem to be confusing "the working population of the UK", with "me and my friends".
Responsible, graduate jobs with years of experience (nurses, teachers, social workers, paramedics, etc etc) don't earn £50K. Yes, a head teacher might, or a Matron possibly, or some other Head of service, but the vast, overwhelming majority don't. Long before you start looking at the 60% (?) of the working population who aren't graduates.

Once you earn more than £4189 per month your NI drops from 12% to a measly 2%.

I didn't know this. Can anyone explain why this is ?

Plenty of people in those jobs earn 50k if they are experienced and have done further qualifications and are working at a high level. The government teaching site quotes 73k as average headteacher salary. I’m not sure why there’s such a pile on the OP, Someone on a much lower salary can easily be better off in real terms because of so many variables. When you look at the banking crisis it was very clear that this country did worse than others because of austerity. Squeezing the middle reduces spending which in turn squeezes the lower earners. When people say ‘cut back on your spending’ that’s not actually a good thing when you think about it. Spending is actually a good thing, what isn’t a good thing is squirrelling wealth away in over shore bank accounts and creative accounting but the middle section are not the ones doing that..

How much have you pushed yourself on the mortgage? More than 40% take home pay and you’re always going to struggle.

You must be on fairly decent salaries if the extra NI is £900 per year. I think it would have been fairer to put on income tax.

Spending is actually a good thing, what isn’t a good thing is squirrelling wealth away in over shore bank accounts and creative accounting but the middle section are not the ones doing that..

yep

I believe in paying tax, I'm not against paying more tax. But we lost half our income last year when DH was made redundant, he has another job now, but it's less money and less regular money.

Food has got more expensive, utilities have gone up, council tax has gone up... My chance of a pay rise is pretty much nil, I'm on a lot less than the national average, and DH is on less again.

This won't push us over the edge, but we're running out of wriggle room.

I wonder why the government hasn’t tried to claw back furlough money from furloughers now back in jobs

@portico really?

Well not back in one go. Surely, HMRC knows who received furlough. Repayment can happen as a tax on salary - but like with student loans.

But why though? They didn't have a choice in the matter, many had their industries closed down. Why were the industries closed down?

I could work from home & saved a considerable amount, why should I not pay anything just because my job is desk based?

Apologies if this has already been asked- will the care contribution taken as part of council tax be coming off after this development?

Portico

The furlough payments replaced wages, people spent them on food and housing and surviving in lockdown

@ottermadness

Apologies if this has already been asked- will the care contribution taken as part of council tax be coming off after this development?

Of course not.

I’m just trying to come up with options for the government to take. Besides, furlough was a lot more than income support/unemployment benefit. Surely, there should be some clawback.

Yes there was a reason why though