To ask what you'll be doing to avoid the Labour tax hikes

[OptimismvsRealism]

Pension contributions
Gift aid
Selling my shares now while CGT is relatively low

What really worries me is that all the professionals we actually need to want to be here will just fuck off elsewhere, though.

It's not like we're knee deep in hospital doctors.

Keir Starmer is a self confessed socialist.

Even by your own statistics it’s 23%. I don’t call this a small proportion.

MMT
it’s not like a household budget

The government can raise money very cheaply and use this as the best form of investment in the country - put money into infrastructure, education and health and it pays for itself with a healthier, motivated workforce which in turn generates more in taxes and attracts investment into the country.

We are not broke.

@TheAlchemy Presumably it works because it’s something that has been well planned and tested over many years.

With the constant and unrelenting references to the Xbillion black hole in the finances, I don’t get the impression that there is a will to bring in a change in decades, they’ll be wanting something within the term of government.

But as withdrawal of the WFA never went through risk assessment, I wonder if - should they decide to follow the Australian model - they’ll really look at the long term implications of bringing in such a system without an established private pension scheme for all pensioners.

Any new tax the government brings in requires legislation, publication, workers spending time on implementing it, education to roll it out etc etc etc. All ££££££.

They could abolish all peripheral taxes and make income tax the sole source of revenue. Yes, it would have to go up, but remember you wouldn’t be paying council tax, fuel duty, vat etc.

It would be one revenue stream with one computer system and a single calculation of liability.

It would also be fair because it’s the only way to link tax burden to ability to pay.

Why isn’t this ever considered?

they are all off to 'chop chop square' land!

No one is asking anyone else to pay for heating. And a lot of younger people are going to inherit houses.

Isn't that Saudi? Didn't see anyone mention that.

“The top destinations for millionaires leaving the UK include the likes of Paris, Dubai, Amsterdam, Monaco, Geneva, Sydney, and Singapore, as well as retirement hotspots such as Florida, the Algarve, Malta, and the Italian Riviera.”

uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/rich-leave-london-droves-florida-140707213.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFctb4fk_A3ECwDma3rNjkfUc7zcXaWDB4jp5KGaVpMC59wq8UKF53d0u31uSiX_WTDa7zyOiEGx5WwjSSPGGZShqexX-YGD_wvXflAdRGUIlSBc-NzCVKYMYHFj_AnuAkSUquojXA-RVQytPJAj0XZ5XDVIH5uuz_ZbbyG5guUC#

I'll pay

Hmmm….

Rachel Reeves 2024:
”…today I am making the difficult decision that those not in receipt of pension credit or certain other means-tested benefits will no longer receive the winter fuel payment, from this year onwards. The Government will continue to provide winter fuel payments worth £200 to households receiving pension credit or £300 to households in receipt of pension credit with someone over the age of 80. Let me be clear: this is not a decision I wanted to make, nor is it the one that I expected to make, but these are the necessary and urgent decisions that I must make.”

vs

Rachel Reeves 2014:
“We are the party who have said that we will cut the winter fuel allowance for the richest pensioners and means-test that benefit to save money, but Government Members do not support that. The reality is that we are the party who are willing to take tough decisions to get the welfare bill down, whereas it is rising, not falling, under this Government.”

Both via Hansard.

And there’s a video!

https://x.com/saulstaniforth/status/1828754181211206095?s=46&t=8Fes2zOiDc4t1NPXaw2pZg

What I’ve done, is pre-pay 2 x DC’s school fees to the end of Y11. That’s a 6 figure sum of cash I used to pay tax on the interest earned. As a 45% tax rate payer, I had a zero savings allowance so paid 45% on every penny of interest earned. Obviously I’m not paying that anymore as it’s been given to school.

Now I’m not paying £4k a month in school fees (having paid it up front), that £4k pm is now going into my pension (as I don’t need it to cover school fees anymore). That’s brought my salary back below £100k pa so I get my personal allowance back. Which I’ve not had in years.

How do you know pension contributions will still be tax efficient?
This is one of the rumoured changes.
It's hard to say what you will do, when we don't yet know what is changing.

Starmer is a dyed-in-the-wool Neoliberal. Despite his claims, he is NOT a socialist. You can’t worship at the alter of the free market economy and yet still call yourself a socialist just because you don’t really like the idea of hungry children.

In fact, the majority of Labour MPs hesitate in interviews when asked if they are socialists. It’s a dirty word to most of them.

Nothing. But I only earn £36k. I work full time in the NHS. Well. Actually I work 50 hours a week to manage my caseload and ensure my patients don't wait to see me. Id be happy for the NHS to have a little more of my money to employ more staff to improve my work life balance.

I work in a deprived area. Most people don't have the option of going private round here.

I'd also like TAs to have a funded pay rise. DH earns peanuts and barely pays tax despite ft contract as a TA, plus lunchtime supervisor.

You are deserving of help and support.

Not the freeloaders in our society.

This is not a shock for anyone paying attention. Labour were very careful to say they’d protect working people. Dig down on the definition - public sector workers. Many pensioners on here were falling over themselves to describe KS as the 2nd coming. People would show caution and they were Tory bots.

They got what they voted for. Labour will never back pensioners or those who strive and do well in life. Never.

We're considering moving. We both work for large international companies, so made it known internally that we are looking at global opportunities. Our outgoings are already going up with the school fees hike. When I spoke to my boss it became clear that there had already been quite a few people across our wider department who are having the same conversation.

I certainly don’t want to gain and maintain wealth at the expense of others. I want a fairer society. Research shows that greater inequality leads to higher crime and poorer mental health (for all - not just the poorest).

So, to avoid contributing fairly to the public pot for services we all can use, you are going to uproot your kids? Really? Even though you are clearly wealthy? You’d rather do that than just change your lifestyle a little? Lovely.

Wow!
So much for bringing integrity back into politics. Feeling very let down by labour after the Lord Alli episode too.

Higher earners are contributing more than their fair share. It’s everyone else who isn’t. Try listening to the IFS podcast you may learn something or maybe not.

Because it’s a daft idea. You can easily hide your income, especially if it’s income from assets rather than PAYE.

That’s not an integrity issue. That’s a change of policy in the face of shifting circumstances.

Wow. This thread is something else. I’m comfortably off, have used private education and don’t have to worry about food and fuel bills. But, I can not tolerate living in a society where we let children grow up in abject poverty while others spend the cost of a decent house on a watch. It’s just abhorrent to me.

Just pay your fair share into the public pot so that everyone can benefit from the perks of living in a civilised society, and quit whinging about a few hundred pounds a year max that just means you don’t get that fourth holiday or you don’t get to upgrade your phone quite so soon. It’s so shameful the level of greed here.

High salaried people are not making others poorer. They are often people who have come from poor backgrounds themselves and have worked hard in life. They already pay disproportionately into the system. In contrast big business and extremely wealthy may be , but there are no plans on the table to tax them. But it is not a surprise at all because this in not really about a fair society. It is about envy. And politicians taking advantage of it.