Tax increases imminent

[Iwishicouldflyhigh]

Heavy hints that taxes will rise in the next Budget after the recent climb down (as the ‘taxes won’t rise again’ was based on a 5 billion saving in benefits).

I can’t lie, I’m so pissed off about this. I don’t think anyone wants to see someone who is genuinely unable to work to be further penalised, but we all know there are thousands of people who could work but don’t.

this country is going to absolute shit . We pay more and more for less and less.

Means testing the state pension is NOT the answer. You are suggesting people pay tax all through their working life (to keep the non working). Then once they reach retirement having not received a penny from the government discover they won't receive a state pension. Yet those same people who have been living off tax payers throughout their lives then get a pension. I.e reward failure.

Means testing the state pension would make tax payers 2nd class citizens. Why would they continue to work? Working would be to their detriment and they would be mugs. Any government that rewards failure is doomed to failure.

Those who are on benefits need to have them reduced.

It's right to ask what others would do in RR's place and I agree with charging a small fee to use a GP. However, this is the UK, so even if everyone agrees that (say) £20 is a reasonable figure, there will be howls of rage from the usual quarters, and by the time we've exempted children, benefit claimants, pensioners, NHS workers, immigrants, people on MW, people with certain health conditions, etc, only 20% of people will actually be liable to pay it, and the cost to them will be £150 to maintain the service for everyone else.

Absolutely! I was in the GP's pharmacy while back and there was a woman absolutely kicking off because her medication wasn't there. It was ibuprofen, something you can buy for 55p. Every person in the queue in front of me was exempt, and then I handed over my £19.80 for two items. I can tell you at that moment I wasn't thinking "I'm so pleased that my contribution is paying for all these other people". Call me an evil Tory if you like <shrug>

Hey don't let that worldy knowledge get in the way of a good old "the UK is a complete shit hole and mainland Europe is paradise"
Have we had a poster say French kids don't get fat or misbehave yet?

They do some pretty stupid things re policy.

For example school fees. We all know this was a dog whistle for the left.

But they could implement the same ideology without wrecking the lives of many.

For example they could have said every new child joining from this point onwards has to pay VAT on school fees. That would have ensured the education of kids with financially stressed parents could continue without disruption while still playing to the ideology.

But no, they decided to disrupt the education of thousands of kids instead, and make a lot of parents struggle. And overall they won't raise any money from it anyway.

It's just weird.

@GasPanic are you suggesting only taxing DC pots? What about public sector DB pensions? A £1m DC pot will pay for an annuity providing an income of c. £35k a year, a comfortable retirement, but not luxurious. It wouldn’t be right to penalise people funding their own retirement through DC pensions without also looking at public sector pensions which cost the tax payer an absolute fortune.

I would also get rid of the triple lock. Pensions rising by inflation is fine, but get rid of the 2.5%/wage inflation link, it’s not needed.

F_ing hell. I am in favour of assisted dying for those who want it, and for improved palliative care, and I have seen some disgusting comments on MN... but this takes the all-time award. I am disgusted that someone with this attitude is allowed near, never mind works in, a nursing home. Let's move beyond who is "genuinely unable to work" and hand out notices to those "genuinely unfit to live".

@WideawakeinSanDiego i agree - overall, we need to look at the incentives around all benefits as we are already in this trap in many places.

I was not impressed by the pledge that everyone who receives any universal credit at all will get free school meals.

I've read enough threads on mumsnet to know that people receiving universal credit (and working) can take home the equivalent of a 60 or even 80k salary.

If families receiving the equivalent of a 60k salary need free school meals then that should apply to all families up to this threshold not only families that receive benefits.

The policy has the inbuilt assumption that families receiving universal credit are worse off than other families and in my opinion that is not necessarily true at all.

Those who are on benefits need to have them reduced.

Benefits for a single person with no dependents are already paid at destitution level. When you add in children, a disability payment or two and throw in housing costs benefit payments creep up to a more significant amount. But no one wants to tackle that because it impacts children, carers and people with disabilities. Nor do they want to tackle high housing costs because doing so will ultimately reduce property values, which is fine if you’re trying to get on the property ladder but will have home owners screaming.

Ultimately no one is prepared to accept any lowering of their standard of living, everyone has a reason why their corner of the financial world should be protected, and everyone considers someone else should pay for it.

The state pension is taxable.

You would have to be extremely naive if you truly believe that raising taxes will go towards funding any of those. A majority of our taxes go on funding the lazy f*cks of this country that don't want to work.

If someone is genuinely to ill or disabled to work I have no issue with them having government support but unfortunately the majority of people that don't work are because they don't want to not that they can't. That's why I begrudge my taxes being raised.

I don't feel disappointed in Labour overall, on WFA and lack of progress on dentistry, yes i do.

My DD works in the NHS, she has seen some real improvements in the last 6 months or so eg her teams waiting lists for neuro therapy down from 12 weeks to 4weeks, done by having extra budget to recruit staff.

They said they wouldn't increase NI Income tax or VAT and they have not...what lies???

The problems with this country are multifaced and longstanding.... You want Labour to sort out Welfare BUT presumably were perfectly happy as the bills rocketed under the Tories??

Why is there no holding to account the party that has given the UK all these problems?
Yes it falls on Labour to fix but i think that some accountability should be expected for the party that caused them, not least on immigration and the costs of Brexit.

I'm not sure if I agree with the state pension being means tested. It's just another shit from a great height on workers, isn't it. People who haven't paid into a pension/haven't worked at all getting their 12k a year and those who have paid +++taxes getting nothing from the system they've paid into.

Joining the queue I suppose of things like those who pay for care homes and those who don't based off their lifelong earnings I suppose.

Well, for starters…

I think disability benefits should be more generous but far fewer people should receive them. I think the pension triple lock has to go.

And I don’t believe we should be paying £100 million a year to Mauritius for ‘taking back’ an island that never belonged to them in the first place.

Everyone has a 'reason' why cuts shouldn't affect them. No it's or buts. Cuts needed across the board for everyone.

If they means test it at 12k odd like they did with the winter fuel allowance there will be a lot of us having a very meagre retirement indeed.

Yep. Also why there are so many posts demanding more.

Resident disabled people should always come before immigrants. They can't be compared, they're not the same.

Means tested state pension??!!! wow, I have put nearly every spare penny I have left into a private pension for 35 years, wish I hadn't bothered if its to subsidise those who have paid nothing!! Actually, more fool me eh!

Edit to add that I have paid tax and NI all those years too.

Cuts/Austerity are the main reason this country is in the mess its in.

We need investment and that will require people to pay a little extra.

I think the whole sector needs looking at but relief on higher rate contributions definitely needs to go.

The other way to do it is to increase inheritance tax. But that seems to send everyone pretty much berserk.

??? What are those on benefits paying. Benefits aren't even taxed.

Cut the welfare bill. You know, like they said they would. Get a grip on illegal
immigration, they should never have abandoned the Rwanda plan. Cut excessive waste and inefficiency in the NHS and civil service etc, more difficult to do but it needs to be reformed. Ideally privatise the NHS if they can’t get a grip on it like other countries have managed to do. And yes, I also trusted Boris far more than the current bunch. Don’t really give a toss about Partygate if I’m honest. Do care that my taxes are increasing and services are getting worse and worse, such that on top of an effective tax rate over 50%, I am unable to actually use any of the supposed services these taxes fund (schools and hospitals) and am forced to
go private. And yes, I’m fully aware these views are selfish, I am not advocating for a zero welfare state but I’m done paying so much for nothing while thousands who could work choose not to.

Sack off the triple lock

Roll NI into income tax so it's payable on all forms of income and regardless of age

Bring back Theresa May's from 2017 to pay for social care

YABU - Taxes for working people should rise.

If we want better public services like a functioning NHS, improved transport, and quality education, we have to fund them properly. Right now, the UK’s tax levels are relatively low compared to many countries with stronger, more effective public services.

People often complain about the state of the country — crumbling infrastructure, overstretched healthcare, and underfunded schools — but aren't willing to consider paying more to fix it. That's not a sustainable position.

Raising taxes doesn’t have to mean punishing people — it’s about investing in a society we all benefit from. If services improve, people would feel they’re getting better value for their taxes, not less.

We can't demand Scandinavian-level services on US-style taxes. Something has to give — and I’d rather it be through fair contributions than continuing the decline.