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?

Yep I agree. Young people have been absolutely shafted. I'm so fucking bored of hearing older people saying it was harder in their day. And actually I'm 48 years old myself.
Time to redress the balance.

Well if this site is anything to go by, statistically speaking, a majority.

I'm not sure many of us would disagree that young people have been shafted. I can certainly see that my children and their partners are having a tough time, and have little choice about mums working etc.

But I'm thoroughly sick of the assumption that we had it easy. We did not. We just had a different set of problems.

We DID work hard. We DID struggle. We just had a whole load of other shit to deal with.

Don’t They pay more tax though?

personally I agree with the free prescription one. I don’t get why they are free after 60 when the retirement age is 66 currently. If you are on sickness related benefits then fair enough but why is someone earning £50k a year getting free prescriptions?

Well if this site is anything to go by, statistically speaking, a majority.

Are there many youngsters using this site?
Why on earth would you extrapolate MNs to real life, people don’t open doors after 6pm here!

Saying it’s harder now for young people doesn’t mean it was easy, it’s just harder now.

I presume the op has a young family which is why they are suggesting a budget that suits them but it needs to be fair for everyone

I think raising the tax free threshold for everyone would be a good idea that would reduce the need for top up benefits. I don't think it's the same with UC but I knew people on tax credits who would only work 16 hours a week as they would lose their benefit so would be no better off working more hours

Either free prescriptions for everyone or a lower flat rate for everyone if on multiple prescriptions you can get a prepayment that makes it cheaper

In an ideal world means testing on things like wfp but I think it's to expensive to implement

I don't know much about it as it's not likely to affect me as i don't have a second home /share to sell but changes to capital gains tax

If by 'They', you mean people paying tax in Scotland, then yes. We pay a higher rate of tax. The process of administering/assessing free prescriptions costs quite a lot (I can't remember how much), it's almost more cost effective to have our prescriptions for free. My friend was involved in the evaluation of the policy, and the cost saving/spend was a fairly small margin.

I do think, overall, we should be looking at how we can make life a little easier for young people (and what do we class as 'young' - given more older students, etc.), but it's not fair to think that everyone over 50 is doing it for their kids. I couldn't have kids, and like a PP, paid a LOT in fertility/IVF treatments. That's fine, I am not complaining, as needed to know that we'd tried.

However, I am far from wealthy. I earn a reasonable salary, but it has a maximum of around £55k, in a University. So, I don't get bonuses, big pay rises, etc. I am now on my own, and won't get my employment pension until I'm 68. I will have my mortgage paid off by then, but on a modest 2 bed apartment. I KNOW I am much better off than many people, but thinking we're all well off, and 'doing it for the kids' really isn't accurate.

Sorry about your condition, but your claim about young couples with children having it easier than childless singletons defies the most basic arithmetic calculations. More often than not, one of the wages will be dedicated entirely to pay for the nursery, and you still have to feed and dress the little one/s.

No sweetheart, if is not ridiculous at all. A healthy society should place the well-being of children at its heart, as they are our future. That includes easing access to property to their parents to ensure they have a stable upbringing.

yes I agree with this 100%, as a regular bus user on a very low income this is really worrying me. I cannot walk the journey I take as it is miles. 40+ pounds per month is a huge amount of my income that I cannot afford to lose. It may not be much money to the millionaires who make these stupid decisions but it is to me and thousands of others who will struggle as a result of this increase.

But that's their choice, why should other people have to pay for someone else's children?

You said your claim about young couples with children having it easier than childless singletons

Except the poster never said that. Her comment was that single people.with no children are treated like second class people. Never a priority not even seen as equal when it comes to most things in society but in particular the budget. We are just simply cash cows to be milked to pay for other peoples choices.

Someone paid for your state education etc so why shouldn't you for the current generation?

Absolutely. It took me until my mid 30s to get on the housing ladder with no family help, my finances are still recovering from exorbitant childcare costs and years of paying student loans.

However I honestly believe I have had life so much easier than most people in their 20s today. I at least could move and rent a room in a shared house. I was not infantalised when I went to uni - I was an adult and 90pc on my own two feet - not relying on parents. I could do a degree I loved and spend the next few years working in a career I enjoyed for low pay, while living independently, which has helped set me up. I lived and worked in Europe.
I was able to eventually pay off my student loan and slowly buy a house.

Most ordinary kids in their 20s now can’t do any of this now and a lot of that is, in part, down to choices made by older generations of voters - Brexit, austerity, snapping up buy to lets, the mini budget.

This is so true. It really is depressing for young people today. No wonder they probably have low motivation. I read an article that a large percent of young people wish to move out of Britain. My generation has faced two recessions, Brexit, COVID19, Ukraine & Middle East war…

The thing that most people don’t realise or care to reflect on is that we need young people to support our economy, jobs, infrastructure, pensions even.

I think every generation has their hardships, but what’s the point in thinking about the past now, we really ought to think about what is going to benefit the present and the future. No point engaging in compare and despair.

The trouble is most people just think about what benefits themselves and not for the greater good of the society that we live in. As for the “why should I prop up people who chose to have children.” Well those children might be your carers one day!

They DID say it though. Here:
"we single, childless people are the bottom of the pile and second class citizens but you know we struggle more than a couple with children do getting on the property ladder as we only have one wage."
And it's obviously ridiculous to suggest that 1 salary paying for 1 person is going to be harder to manage than 2 people's salary (1 of which is being taken by childcare costs potentially) paying for 4 people's living costs. It actually makes NO sense at all.

Exactly. I bloody hate this attitude. Some people seem to think by paying for children's education they're somehow doing the PARENT'S a favour. As though they didnt get the same themselves.
And actually if they want to retire someday then they need other people to be having kids (especially if they had none themselves) to ensure future tax payers who can cover the costs.

Yes! 100%. So much self centred thinking on here.

Build more social housing.
Cap on private rent.

The biggest difference I've seen in the young people generation Vs their parents is that they are starting their adult life feeling deflated, whereas we were full of hopes and ready to embrace it. We focused on the positives whereas the new generations seems to be stuck with every possible negatives. This is so sad.

Ultimately, whether harder or not, life goes on, and to feel scared, deluded, pessimistic about what's to come is certainly not how it should be. They need to feel some confidence that life is not all gloom. However, with a generation governed by the media, which feeds on sensationalism, they are caught in a dreadful vicious circle. Media are the poison of their generation.

This

100%

And why wouldn’t we want to improve it for them?

It’s the classic old attitude of “back in my day, we didn’t have colour TV”

”Yes Dad, but times change and move on…”

Why would we want people to be stuck in hardship?!

All groups have some people struggling. Pitting one against another isn’t helpful. Theres nothing special about younger people, any more than there is about anyone else. 🤷‍♀️

But 2 people working means 2 tax free allowances. You also get child benefit and help with childcare costs if your income is that low.

All single people get is a 25℅ council tax discount.