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.

Well yeh it’s more taken out and less to live on, it’s not a surprise when so many are struggling already.

And people do invest. Just not to the demands you’re after.

Are you genuinely suggesting that people who cannot afford to support their children through no fault of their own are not "loving"? Nobody wishes for a disabled child. And nobody wishes for their child to be unable to get a job when they are trying their best to.

They just shouldn’t have lied in their manifesto. After 15 + years of austerity, Brexit and Covid it was never going to be possible to re build services and infrastructure without tax.
I feel like the government have gone about it completely arse about tit.
If you are coming in on a growth platform, you get small and medium business on side. You create training opportunities in industry and try to build the nations confidence to create, invest, build business and expand.
Meanwhile you ( having been honest about the need to urgently invest in frontline services) raise taxes a bit across the board, and be really really transparent about where that money is going.

Also if I hear one more person blithely state that the sick shouldn’t be kept alive or the NHS shouldn’t pay for expensive treatments and we should be paying upfront for doctors appointments think I’m going to de-reg for my own sanity.
Just WAIT. Just wait until you suddenly have cancer, or MS and suddenly YOU are the patient getting the expensive treatment that may or may not keep you alive a few more years.
Just wait until YOU are the one needing to access doctors more often than most, and wondering if you actually could afford it at £ 40 a pop or whatever.
Ill, disabled, old people. They are always” someone else”. Until they are not.

Not at the the moment. I am very familiar with what is happening in the country.

No he didn't, what he did was give some companies an excuse to get rid of them.

I lost mine, my employer used to contribute 12% and me 6%, when we moved to DC scheme, i paid 3% employer paid 4%.... you pay up to 6%, which would be matched by the employer, which did do.

They were expensive to fund for the employer, they leaped on the chance to scrap them.

Any Govt since could have reversed his tax changes but they didn't and it wouldn't have made any difference either.

This with bells on.

@edwinbear I’m all DC, I only really started seriously ploughing money in, in my mid 30s due to childcare expenses, stupidity etc and i was shocked to find that by my mid 40s, i was already at average dc pot size for my age with £80k - I have nowhere near enough yet for a decent retirement and neither does the average dc pot owner…

moneyweek.com/personal-finance/pensions/average-pension-pot-by-age

Remove all possible disincentives to work and earn.

These include:
losing child benefit,
losing tax free allowance at 100k (? I'm no tax expert),
Losing free childcare for 3 year old (at 100k?)

These policies are very short sighted - saving a pittance and costing a bundle in lost tax.

Imagine someone earning 105k who will lose their tax free allowance and free childcare for 3 year old.

They have a child or two and decide to go part time in order to get back their tax free allowance and free childcare. They now earn 80k, enjoy working part time and never choose to increase their hours again.

Without the disincentives to earn they might have stayed full time and the extra tax that would have raised over decades more working life would absolutely dwarf any savings the public make from not paying for 30 hours nursery for a year or two.

The same for child benefit. Once you get into the mindset of not wanting to tip over the threshold you could be reducing your working hours, not going for promotion, saying no to doing overtime. The extra tax that would be raised by getting rid of the disincentives to work would go a long way to covering the child benefit itself and the decades of working for years after the child is grown would certainly cover it but by that time having avoided crossing the threshold the person has had 16 years plus of not wanting to earn more and is probably off the boil for striving at that point.

I say this as someone earning 25k odd so not out of personal gain.

The thing is, you can't suddenly means test pensions.
People have paid their contributions for 40+ years and budgeted on getting that money. (Yes thanks, I do know how our pension system works). You can't suddenly turn round and say to pensioners that they can't have half their income or whatever. It would need a wholesale restructuring of the pension system to enable people to make a choice in their provision.

Someone always know rich pensioners, the ones who have worked and saved and paid for their houses, however I was boggled to find out a friend was surviving on just the state pension and housing benefit (council bungalow). An older couple near me share a lunchtime sandwich if their out, to save money. Not everyone is rich.

Why should the state pension be means tested? It’s the one and only ‘benefit’ I will get when I retire, and yes I also have a private pension, but I am not paying my NI for everyone else to have benefits and me none at all. My own pensions on its own won’t allow me to do much, but boosted by the state pensions I can go out, but stuff support businesses and help the economy by spending. Lots will be like me, and even the really wealthy ones will spend more

The NHS needs a good sort out, but no one is brave enough to do it, but a real drains up exercise needs doing as there is lots that can be done to improve it. Missed appointments should be charged for, they have the details of patients to send bills to them. Make sure non residents are actually charged before treatment is given, other countries manage it. Put in better IT systems to do away with paper, god knows how much they spend and agree contact via email rather than letter for the majority, saves in postage and people can’t claim they don’t get the letters. Send results by letter if everything is clear rather than getting someone to attend clinics, someone can have that stop who is onthe waiting list to be seen. There is absolutely loads that can be done to streamline and re invest,

Foreign aid needs to stop, the civil service needs a good sort out, and no one should earn more than the PM. Money can be saved by doing away with the Lords allowance, or at least reducing it by a third. MPs should pay full whack for food and bars, not be subsidised and when in London there should be a hostel they all stay in for the week, going back to constituencies at the weekend, and all subsides for heat water etc should be stopped

All quangos should be removed, none are necessary. Any big projects such as HS2 should be tendered for and any overspend covered by the company who tendered, not become a bottomless pit of money to be thrown at it

As to taxes then the Government need to get a grip on taxing companies such as Amazon etc rather than going to the person on the street

Problem is Labour are led by the unions who won’t allow most of this

This.

Do you think it would be fair for people to pay national insurance now (to fund the pensions of the currently retired population) and to then not get any state pension themselves when it's their turn?

I keep reading that people are applying for jobs and hearing nothing back, that youngsters at uni can no longer get a part time job.

So why are we also constantly told we need immigration to do the jobs?

No directed at the person I'm quoting just musing really.

Nothing to stop you from sending that money to HMRC now if you truly believe that.

To add to this, people have been encouraged to buy additional years to make up for missed NI contributions. I'd be incredibly miffed if I did that and the government turned around and said "we've taken your money but won't give you a pension anyway, just piss off now".

I would however stop the triple lock on pensions.

The NHS is a bottomless pit and taken for granted. It constantly needs extra funding and some method of sustaining it other than through direct taxing needs to be properly explored.
My friend's niece recently gave birth in the US. The final bill from the hospital was $30,000. Her previous baby had been born in the UK for zero cost.

I genuinely do not know. I am supporting him with writing his applications so I know they are decent quality. Everyone is asking for 2-3 years experience. Even for bar work in a pub. I mean I used to be a barmaid, it took a max of a couple of shifts to train me. Wait staff, experience essential. He's offered to do training shifts for free. He's walked the streets with his CV. He's neat and tidy, personable. No wild clothes or tattoos. He really is trying and I have no idea how I can help.

I wonder if people are using AI to screen CVs and just chucking away anyone who can't tick the "3 years relevant experience" box.

I think tax rises would be received much less furiously if we had a decent healthcare system, roads and education etc to start with. But we don't.

I’m not from the UK, but never have I heard of a country with so many people with mental health problems. And can’t work, at all. Or so many people on benefits.

From the outside looking in, it looks like a joke. I am happy as a Scandinavian to pay lots of taxes, but I am also happy to where most of it goes. Free childcare etc. And people who actually want to contribute to society and work.

*they’re. Can’t edit

@Koinophobia thsr sounds really hard, hope he catches a break soon. I agree, i reckon a lot of computer screening….

It's so hard for young people nowadays, and I don't quite know why. When I was looking for an internship 25 years ago, I put in 3 applications and got the first one I interviewed for. Our current batch of interns are saying they've applied for 30-50 and considered themselves very lucky to get a response.

Approximately a third of all income tax and National Insurance revenue in the UK is allocated to social security benefits, including the state pension. This means that a significant portion of your tax contributions goes towards funding these welfare programs.

So your conclusion is: the only part of the population that have to accept a lowering of their standard of living are actually low & middle income tax payers

Not at all, where did I make that conclusion. If the government can’t/won’t make cuts to benefits, and can’t raise taxes what do they actually do when the number of claims are increasing and there’s pressure on all sides to increase even further the amount people are able to claim, eg two child cap.

There are too many sacred cows - can’t look at pensioners, can’t look at people in receipt of disability benefits, can’t look at people on unemployment benefits, need to increase access to free/cheap childcare, need to improve education, need to improve public services. But can’t raise taxes.

It won’t be popular but I think they should remove all free childcare and make parents responsible for their children, I can’t understand how we ever got into this position in the first place.