If you were the PM what would you do to fix the mess we are in?

[HoppingKangaroo]

Just that really, if you were the prime minister what would you do to help fix the country and the cost of living crisis.

Instead of targeting the elderly who deserve to be in hospital you could move to more day case procedures. I can remember after having DS I had to prove I could look after him and myself before I was discharged. Remove that DH responsibility I didn't move off the sofa for nearly a week so could have gone home hours after the section and been waited on by him instead of blocking a bed. Open more community beds staffed by HCAs for those needing more social care as they recover. You could look to charge much more than £5 for the desirable appointments I would happily pay £50-100 for a very early morning (like 6am) or very late evening (9-10pm) appointment. Then people who need to be seen during the day or don't want to pay can use those appointments.

Who do you expect to house those that can't afford or don't want to buy? With new builds you know what you are buying as you look at it before you purchase so how will having a mandatory size help. I love our small 5th bedroom it's ideal for a dressing room and in reality with the way the window is placed it's meant to be that or a study. If it was a new build and they said it had to be X size they would have likely made the master smaller or stolen space from one the other good size rooms. It's a trend to have smaller bedrooms with an extra to use as a dressing room or study, people seem to be loving it and just buy a house accounting for it. So if they need three good sized rooms they buy a 4. We needed two bedrooms but want a spare plus a dressing room. We ended up with a older 4 that has been extended to make it a 5 which gave us the downstairs space we wanted.

Parents will always want the best school for their kids. If you get rid of private schools all that will happen is parents will concentrated into areas around outstanding schools and pay for extra curricular activities it will actually make contextual offers harder. The equivalent of our house in the catchment of the best local school is 150k more expensive every year that catchment gets smaller and smaller, the ex council houses that used to send some less fortunate kids to the school are now more expensive than new builds outside of the catchment. If you got rid of private schools by increasing fees all you would do is shrink those catchments further.

www.readwritethink.org/sites/default/files/resources/30827_modestproposal.pdf

Solar panels on all agricultural and industrial building rooves so we have solar farms without losing land.

The problem with taxing the rich more is that there aren't enough of them to raise sufficient money to make a meaningful difference nationally, and they tend to be mobile so they'd just leave & relocate elsewhere.

Just curious, at what salary level do people think increased taxation should start?

I said upthread, I think the tax bands are ok but it's too easy for the self employed/people who pay accountants to avoid it. We spend too much time talking about "top rate tax" which means PAYE salary bands, but the wealthiest people don't pay tax by that system and so anything we do doesn't affect them.

I think this is a great idea

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60053919

Personally I get very irritated with the "they'll just leave" argument. If people don't want to contribute fairly to the society they live in, then good riddance.

That’s what Francois Hollande said, and guess what happened. They left. 60k of them. Yes, 60,000 millionaires left and France lost billions in tax revenue. Macron reversed this policy in 2017 calling France ‘Cuba without the Sun’.

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it” said some far cleverer than the people who trot out the tired argument about ‘let the rich leave’.

That's a great idea. We would still need a government that plan and spend more efficiently. It might be a while.

It’s always about 25% more than they are on…

Solar panels compulsory on all new builds.

Build some gas storage capacity in the UK so we're not as sensitive to roller coasting prices. An energy cap that is a cap and not a moveable feast.

Invest in more renewable energy sources.

I read somewhere recently that hospital beds cost the govt 2k each per day, care home budget for a bed is £600. That needs to change so that we have enough affordable care homes, with well paid staff, to unblock beds in the NHS.

Govt to increase the number of places at med schools in the UK (will take a few years to trickle through, but still).

1p on income tax - to go to NHS, schools, social care.

Bring rail ownership back into the UK. At the moment our huge ticket prices are subsidising many cheap foreign rail ticket prices, because so many train companies are owned by European companies. Profits go to Europe.

Pay MPs a bit more and then stop all the expenses.

All bids for govt contracts have to be independently assessed so there's no more giving money to mates (PPE, for example).

Cap on dividends & bonuses that shareholders / directors can recieve to make sure that the majority of profits go back into investing in the company (water companies, for example).

That should say 1 penny on income tax

I know that's often the case for real life discussions, but was hoping that was not the case here.

@ImaginaryDragon I would be more fair

10k tax free
10-100k 20%
100-250k 30%
250k-500k 35%
500-1million 40%

That would be of all income regardless of source so tax dividends etc the same. But I personally think their should be a lifetime cap on the amount of tax we pay it would encourage people to better themselves and stop the reliance on tax havens. I'm about as far from communism as you can get and think we have a real problem at the moment with over taking those who better themselves.

If there are fewer tax payers and simpler taxes it will save a lot of expenditure on bureaucracy and also invigorate the economy from the bottom up. Therefore merge Income Tax and National Insurance - its a pointless split these days.

Increase Personal Tax allowance to ensure anyone on minimum wage doesn't pay tax. Allow spouses to share allowances so parents can afford to stay home to look after their children or elderly parents etc. Family looking after the elderly in their own homes should be encouraged wherever possible and encourage multi-generational living arrangements to reduce care home and child care needs.

Simplify the tax system. Enforce IR35/stop all personal service companies etc to ensure that self-employed are paying same taxes as the employed. Tax all forms of earnings at the same rates.

Increase the tax rates for those earning higher amounts. An extra 2% on those earning over £50,000, 5% over £100,000 would not drive everyone overseas but would potentially cover the increased allowances across the board.

Reduce the tax-free lump sum that can be taken from pensions early. Too many future pensioners are cashing-in but will find themselves short of cash later on in retirement.

Increase Corporation Taxes for companies with high profits (windfall tax).

Stop tax credits and any other benefits paid to employed workers - if everyone working takes home a decent wage then they become unnecessary. Benefits should only be paid to those who are not working for genuine health reasons. Nobody in work should need to be subsidised by the Government.

Increase the VAT rate on luxury cars, yachts, flights and other expensive luxuries - the rich can afford to pay more. Call it a Green Tax - the cost of something should reflect the damage it does to the environment.

Renegotiate freedom of movement/goods and services with the EU (I have accepted that we can't reverse Brexit)

Provide free university places/write off student loans for students who become doctors, nurses, teachers, etc. providing they work in the job in the UK for a set number of years.

Stop encouraging everyone to go to university - create better apprenticeships/ training routes for non-academic careers to allow more people to learn on the job (while earning at least minimum wage not the current low level of apprenticeship wage that nobody can survive on). Our schools are too proscriptive and do not encourage enough creativity and diversity at present. Get rid of Sats tests and trust our teachers to do a good job.

Spend more on Police to combat anti-social behaviour and tackle drugs
(other than weed that should be legalised but controlled and taxed like
alcohol). Make our town centres safe again by having an increased Police
presence. Increase punishments.

Charge VAT on all highly processed food and packaging. Tackle the obesity crisis head-on by making healthy food much cheaper than processed food. Increase taxes on smoking and alcohol. Expand preventative healthcare.

Change the way our A&Es operate so that there are far more walk-in minor accident/illness facilities available at a local level to help those that don't need full emergency care and reduce pressure on GPs and A&E alike. Only those arriving by emergency ambulance or triaged by GP/minor injuries to go to A&E. Invest in the NHS but charge for services that are non essential/time-wasting/missed appointments etc. but only once there is a decent IT system in place for arranging appointments.

I like those tax rates. Maximum lifetime tax is an interesting concept. It would be problematic agreeing a level but definitely has the potential to increase revenue.

I think your proposed tax rates are too high for those two groups. Those salaries are not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. That's no redistribution of wealth IMO just taxing those it is easiest to tax .

Just curious, at what salary level do people think increased taxation should start?

About a £ more than themselves

That made me laugh out loud. So true.

@ImaginaryDragon Earners at the lower level of £50,000 will actually pay less tax because of the increase in the personal allowance. Only those that earn over £100,000 and pay 5% will see their actual tax increase.

The problem with only increasing the rates for the very wealthy is that those that can afford to move overseas or use other schemes to avoid tax. It is better to have a much more general tax increase on the earners above £100,000 bring in sufficient income, otherwise it just wont raise enought tax.

I would put a tax of 100% of the wholesale price on gas for domestic use, and distribute the proceeds equally between all electricity accounts in the country. This should reduce demand for gas, by creating competition between consumers, as households with below-average consumption would be subsidised by households with above-average consumption.

Apart from that, I would only give direct help with bills to households on Universal Credit.

Distribute the proceeds equally to all gas accounts, I meant to say, in this incarnation of may plan.

I like a lot of this.

Especially sorting out the obesity crisis. Forget Covid, it’s the single biggest threat to the NHS apart from the shit management.

Three words for the next PM to seriously consider:

Universal Basic Income.

If you have any sort of insight into how money is spent in the NHS you’d agree they certainly don’t need more of it.

Look at proper subsidies to encourage people to fit solar power.

Currently there is absolutely no incentive to fit them as a landlord - and like them or lump them this country has a lot of landlords. It's very difficult to get them in a council house, so the poorest in the country are likely to be the most likely to be relying on the grid. Even the incentives for home owners are poor.

Getting people to fit solar panels would reduce reliance on solar panels. If you also fitted batteries at a subsidy you could do so using a contract that in winter ensured they were filled from the grid at off-peak and the power was then used at peak, so the pressure on the grid was lower.

Or, you know, we could just stand around bitching about how awful it is to be forced to look at wind turbines and solar farms whilst the country burns.