AIBU to say that I have had enough of this government and Its grabby supporters.

[Ihavehadenough1345]

I have name changed for this and am prepared for the pile on, backlash, kicking I am going to get but I have had enough!

My tax bill was £80,000 this year. I am self employed. I pay £16,000 a year in VAT. I have a valuable asset. I own my own home.
no mortgage. I have worked bloody hard. No inheritance, no Oxbridge, no privilege and no luck!

I pay for private school for 2 DC.

I am asset rich, cash poor. I have enough money to pay all of my bills, no debt, I’m not extravagant. If you met me you wouldn’t know my financial situation. I am normal.

But my tax contribution is not enough for this government and its supporters.

I read all of the posts of all of the threads regarding VAT on school fees, UC, the cost
of living crisis and on and on and on!

I have had enough.

And I do not need therapy and I do not have ADHD or bipolar.

Let the games begin!

These millionaires who up and leave the country because they want to keep more of their insanely high salaries always make me wonder - do they not have the same concerns as the rest of us? I’d not want to uproot my kids from their current school and current friends and move abroad. I wouldn’t want to move away from my elderly parents who I support. I wouldn’t want to move away from my friends and family either.

Well you'd just buy a home in France or Ireland - you wouldn't have to upsticks entirely and kids would remain at their private boarding school.

I think a lot of people feel like you. I also think that people who run their own business see a side of life that middle class professional Mumsnet who can wfh whilst the kids are off don’t.

We see dozens of potential employees who are perfectly capable of doing the job we have. If they put as much effort into the job as they do avoiding work they could do quite well. Routine, a purpose and some money would help an awful lot of their mental health problems.

I also think that peoples idea of work is changing. Not many entrepreneurs, business owners or high up professionals work a full time week of 35-39 hours. Some will. But the majority I know work 50-60 on a standard week and double in a busy period.

We have and have had for years a chronic shortage of tradesmen. Why don't people go to college and do a course in plastering / joinery etc Once you've been qualified for a few years you can become your own business.
I was told recently, I live in a northern,rural area, that there's no tradesmen available as they are all working in London - now that you have ear pods and podcasts etc I'd be quite happy working away on my own.
Any tradesmen that are round here work hard but drive nice big flashy trucks so presumable are doing fine thanks.

Can I also say that speaking to a tradesmen they other day they said that they struggle to get apprentices / trainees as they are clueless - don't bring outdoor clothing, forget to bring their lunch, arrive late etc etc

OP Instead of rereading Atlas Shrugged, you should try The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mandibles

whatever you think of shriver, this is one scary book, especially looking at the uk’s direction of travel right now.

Exactly, I think more people are realising this.

I work advising low paid people working in the creative sector. It’s only going to get worse imo. We already have a spike in employed music teachers being forced into ‘self employment’ to eliminate the vat, NI and pension costs, and zero hours workers in education across all sectors losing work. It’s not just the NI. Another big chill wind is the employment rights bill enabling you to ‘insist’ on regular hours if you’ve worked regular hours for 12 weeks even if you have a zero hour contract. Arts orgs and music schools are openly saying they can’t afford this. It’s nuts. How to break a sector. It’s as if the government only understands a 70s model of regular permanent employment and just wants to bolt this on to all settings with no regard for the settings. Student politics.

In very good shape. NHS ranked best in the world. Sure Start doing real good.

This with bells on. We employ a couple of people on zero hrs who it really suits. Retirees who work for the summer then follow the winter sun. Students who want work in the Xmas hols.

we are actively looking to move away from business activity that involves employing people. It’s far too atresssful.

Could the OP explain why she was so much better off under the Tory's then ?? - because I’m in the same position as her and I see no difference! And if it involves VAT on private schools- well that’s a choice not a necessity

It sounds like your real problem is that you need a better accountant.

Yes, it was in good shape. Six months before the global financial crisis, the Tories said Labour were not spending enough, and promised to increase spending by 5%. That claim was conveniently removed from their website a few months after the 2008 crash, when they were harping on about Labour’s supposedly profligate spending.

We also had the best health outcomes by spending in the developed nations on all measures other than public health; the US was at the bottom of all measures.

The top? Have you heard of Billionaires?

We need economic growth. Tax is not the answer - unless it gives incentives to work / invest. Our politicians (as a whole) are so busy in-fighting and being politicians who’ve never worked a commercial job in their life, that they have no clue on how to encourage it. The huge debt incurred during covid, the interest on that debt, the Ukraine war (jeopardising energy and food) and a poorly executed Brexit have all added to the challenge.

My dream would be for all of society’s contributors and those who need support to feel more prosperous and secure. I can’t see how any political party can deliver on this.

Job vacancies have been decreasing rapidly for over 3 years, what was the cause for drop in the preceding 2 1/2 years before the NI increase announced?

The UK economy didn't bounce back after Covid compared to other comparable countries.

But its just easy to blame Labour for the last 3 years, than look for the real causes.

Growth will only come when we start to invest wisely and with care, not the huge waste we have seen with HS2, over 130 billion if you include the cancellation of the northern leg.

Too much of any growth under the Tories was based on immigration, which isn't real growth at all.

Tax? NI was cut by 19 billion, it led to not a single % point of growth BT it is costing over £10billion pa in lost tax revenue, which means less investment, more cuts elsewhere and lower growth....

Plenty of ministers have had commercial experience in the RW, as have their advisors.

From the hundreds of people I work with there wasn’t any issue with jobs. People left university, they got a job and you never saw them again. It’s just last years university graduates who for quite a few who got a job directly from University and thought they were following a well trodden path only to find that after the Budget they were being let go and no other jobs available and having to return to the agency work on a zero hours contract. Except the agency work that once could offer them 5 days work per week is now only averaging 2 days per week.

You know what would give us some quick economic growth at minimal cost within 18 months- setting up a single market and customs union with EU - I’m sorry but whether people like it or not it’s one of the biggies why there’s an issue - a lack of international investment unless it’s a very uk specific enterprise like say an Amazon warehouse. It was easy to blame Covid initially as they timed together and Ukraine too but the reality is its lack of EU money and international investment that’s an issue and it has now come home to roost , as well as lack of control treaty’s on sending the small boats back - it always would have come home and it’s my belief the Tory’s threw the election too because they were well aware of the score - it’s much easier to carp from the sidelines than deal with the issues - hence why they let 900k not particularly skilled immigrants in legally for several years on the trot

Thats not backed by the figures, 124k fewer job vacancies in 24/25 .... 542k fewer jobs since the highs of 2022.

We have lost more job vacancies prior to July 2024, then since.

R4 covered this recently, one reason is the NI increases & NMW increases, i wont deny that... but another effect is AI, employers are worried about taking people on into roles that may well soon disappear, so are hanging back..

Also, employers are far more choosy, making sure the applicant is suitable and is the right fit, as employment law may change, making it harder to get rid of people for no reason.. not a bad thing?

But here's the rub... more unemployment but productivity remains the same or increases, means we have GDP growth....

100% agree, Brexit and we have Farage of Reform to thank for this, has cost the UK billions in lost investment and needless costs... for what?

Starmer needs to get on and negotiate a CU/SM deal even if the names change, the clock is ticking as we were once told.

This, I totally agree.

I also work hard for the NHS in my min wage job, doing 10 hour shifts with 1/2 hour break.

Why is it always said that it is only the wealthy that have worked hard?

God forbid, op, that you’d have to put your children into state school and they’d have the same opportunities as people who don’t have wealthy parents and you couldn’t buy privilege.

I agree totally about Labour and disability benefits as well, I have voted Labour all my life but this is not what I voted for so will not be voting for them again.

IME zero hour contracts suit employers far more than employees. It is often impossible to get F/T hours, especially in retail. Employers choose to employ under zero hours and then pick and choose which hours they want to give you and if you decline or take time off, they will then not give you hours for a while. I have seen this happen with my own DC.
There will be a small amount of employees for whom zero hours works but for the vast majority, with mortgages and bills to pay, it really doesn’t and it only benefits employers. Personally, I welcome more rights for workers.

@Alexandra2001 but of course those of us who predicted this were just talking the country down - let’s be frank the Tory’s remained in power for 4 years post Brexit and couldn’t make it work - if they could have, they would have done so . However much Brexiters want to think we could be like the US - we can’t - the USA is its own ‘EU’ and has a big enough internal market plus Canada to generate opportunity for international business - Australia is different too as it has strategic alliances with far east but also doesn’t have its competitors literally 26 miles over the sea.

if I can just mention this small thing for anyone that has a business too - specially anyone employing just themselves and one or two others via payroll ( even if it’s your partner ) - im
mentioning it as I do my own accounts and had totally missed this for some reason - the gvt have upped ‘employer assistance’ on employer NI contributions up to £10k. From £5k - which means if you pay employer NI contributions you will probably end up paying nil on employer NI in a small business , unless all incredibly highly paid .

How are those on UC being shafted ?