To want a budget which puts young people and families first

[HFJ]

In advance of an upcoming budget that will likely hammer working people (again, despite the rhetoric), I’m consoling myself by imagining my own budget. You’ll notice a theme. This is because I believe young people and families are the future, deserve to have hope, aspirations and goals. Please feel free to contribute.

1. The first 5 years of young people’s full time earnings to be tax and NI free. This would enable all to save for a house deposit, rather than only the few who inherit. Imagine the incentive to work hard!
2. No increases to any tax that primarily affects working age people, including fuel tax (because working people need fuel to go to work)
3. No stamp duty for young people and those with children under 18. This enables them a fairer chance of buying property rather than have to compete unfairly with cash buyers
4. Complete removal of the pension tax free cash allowance. This is because 100s of 1000s are poised to take their 25% lump sum and plough this into the property market (tbf I think the gov has got wind of this, hence the landlord tax changes)
5. instead of massive increases to NHS budget (which does not really benefit the young or families), a £10 charge to see the doctor, so people start to take ownership for their health
6. Removal of the free prescription for over 60s. Instead, use this money to bring back the school nurse and perhaps even school dentist visits

Any other ideas?

But I didn’t vote for that. So stop blaming older people. End of. Plenty of younger people voted for Brexit. Maybe have a go at them?

People wouldn't need to save up so much money for a deposit if house prices weren't insane. Build millions of homes.

People buying a house would have less to worry about from cash buyers if the housing market wasn't such a seller's market due to under supply. Build millions of homes.

But I didn’t vote for that. So stop blaming older people. End of. Plenty of younger people voted for Brexit. Maybe have a go at them?

That posters was talking statistically though…

I think if you solve housing issues for families and young people then the rest follows. The first place this country fell flat on its face was when homes became investments rather than somewhere to live. The best start in life is a secure home and a means to move around the country without having to think too much about whether you can afford to live there.

Both Labour and Tories fucked this up and were too thick to realise this, but Tories probably a bit more.

Sure. statistically a huge percentage of people aged 50 or over didn’t vote for Brexit. Statistically a significant portion of young people voted for Brexit.

It’s easy to turn around. Lots of older people also have young adult children and are well aware of the issues facing young people and their families. Those same young people who seem unable to recognise the hardships we went through (there were many, not necessarily the same as now) but expect the over 50s to give up their homes, any financial security they may have been able to achieve and forgo any kind of healthcare so we drop dead ASAP.

I think the generation raising children now seem to think they have a monopoly on hardship and no other generation has ever had issues but them.
Every generation has problems. I am 57 and houses were cheaper and easier to mortgage in the 80s when I bought, but interest rate rises were horrific.
My parents bought a post-war semi on one wage but struggled at times as you had to live within your means with no easy credit to fall back on.
To the OP - you will be 50+ in no time at all. I think you will see things differently then

Those same young people who seem unable to recognise the hardships we went through (there were many, not necessarily the same as now) but expect the over 50s to give up their homes, any financial security they may have been able to achieve and forgo any kind of healthcare so we drop dead ASAP.

How many young people statistically think that? 😆

Can’t they do that now with the money they currently get?

Especially as those of us over 50 grew up in Thatchers Britain. That was fun for young people.

No but if some of the mostly younger people who couldn't be arsed to vote got off their backsides and did so, then we could have had a different outcome.

We can't "build millions of homes". There isn't the infrastructure, there aren't the tradesmen. It's too simplistic.

Far better would be to bring existing homes back into residential use by targeting empty properties, attacking second home, holiday home and holiday let owners, attacking foreign investors who have homes that have been empty since the day they were built, incentivising conversion of derelict retail and industrial properties, do something about all the empty floors above High Street shops, etc etc. Existing properties already have the infrastructure so it should be a quick and easy process to bring them back into use - just needs the political will.

You'd think so, but they seem incapable of even realising that there's a problem, let alone finding a solution. They're too busy congratulating themselves for getting 10% of list price of, say, the stationery catalogue, when everyone else gets 50% off!

Build the infrastructure, train the tradesmen. Britain built millions of houses in the past it can do so again.

It will take a while, but it took decades to get into this mess. You wouldn't expect to be able to fix it with one budget.

Scarily, I think you are right @taxguru .
I'm so glad I'm old.

The same as every single generation before them has had to deal with choices previous generations made?! I’m so sick of this victim narrative. Yes, some things are harder for young people than previous generations, and some things are a hell of a lot easier. The fact is younger generations today are more pampered, have more luxury and more opportunities than any generation before them.

The fact is younger generations today are more pampered, have more luxury and more opportunities than any generation before them.

What opportunities? To get on the housing ladder? To build equity if one is on the housing ladder? To have access to a great pension scheme? Salaries that grow in line with inflation or at least don’t stagnant? Or do you mean opportunities like watching lots of different TV streaming services?

No but if some of the mostly younger people who couldn't be arsed to vote got off their backsides and did so, then we could have had a different outcome

@daliesque why do you think most didn’t vote & the outcome would have been different?

Salaries are higher than the past.

Salaries are higher than the past.

Why wouldn’t they be? Have they kept up with inflation though?

Plus house prices vs salary ratio is also higher. 5% of a big mortgage is not that different to 15% of a smaller amount.

I’ll answer that for you

“Real wages grew by an average of 33% each decade from 1970 to 2007; but they are now back at the level they were at in 2005, according to data from the Office for National Statistics, ONS (Times, 2023).
Indeed, the Resolution Foundation calculates that after 15 years of stagnation, average earnings are £230 below the trend before the global financial crisis of 2007-09 (BBC, 2023).”

Yes of course those things benefit the children but it would be very naive to think that no-one ever wastes their benefits on things which do not benefit their children.

I was a teen during the early nineties recession. People went into negative equality with their houses. There was mass redundancies - three million unemployed. Graduate and sSchool leaver jobs disappeared overnight. It was a scary time and times were tough.

Life hasn’t always been easy.

Err that was a joke…

I am probably quite a lot closer to 50 than the op and I absolutely agree with the basic principle. Pandering to largely older Brexity, Tory-types ( and that is a demographic fact) has led this country to the brink. It’s time to prioritise other demographics - that doesn’t mean shafting older people but it does making them less front and centre in policy making - so re-designing triple lock, removing the no NI exemption for pensioners etc.
By older people I mean c67 plus - not people of working age.

How many young people are doing 5 long shifts a week, plus an overtime shift at the weekend, with the other adult working unsociable hours around their DH because there's no childcare available... free or otherwise.

Just to pay the mortgage and utilities.

Because that's what we did in the 80s and 90s.