To wonder how the UK will look in 3 years time?

[Labradorlover987]

I was inspired to write this after reading the UC post that was just reported - the govt’s welfare bill has passed but was watered down so unlikely to make any real savings.

I earn 40k, have a school age child and just feel like I am living hand to mouth 😩 I 100% think there should be a welfare systems that supports people on low incomes but I wonder how the current system will be sustained in the long run?

Just wondered what other people thought.

I actually wouldn’t mind paying more in taxes if we could be guaranteed more in services etc - for example my council tax just went up and the services seem even worse this year than usual.

It's responses like this that make me so glad we are leaving the UK. Let me guess, you are a low rate tax payer with no assets? You must be, otherwise why would you advocate for more taxes on what are already high taxes?

So- Someone on housing benefits is subject to the same eviction criteria as someone who works for all their income?

if the rules change for all, as you point to, that’s neither here nor there?

I can’t help feeling you’ve just misunderstood what the conversation was about? It was nothing to do with the general ease of eviction.

It’s people on benefits having autonomy to pay their own rent and taking responsibility to do so. Previously people on benefits didn’t manage their own rent payments. The poster was suggesting that is what we should go back to.

My peers are in their early 50s and with redundancies happening even in the city, some at this age are actually moving to the Middle East where they have been offered great jobs for very good pay.

I look at my young graduate kids who are full of enthusiasm and I feel sad for them. One of them even talked about whether they would work in the Middle East. And I know that they do not want to do that, but if all the scaremongering about working in this country, taxation, benefits bill etc comes true, I wonder if they would consider a move. I hope not.

You must be, otherwise why would you advocate for more taxes on what are already high taxes?

We don't tax assets like income though.

I'm surpised at what people apparently think will happen in 3 years.

I personally think they'll stop NHS getting worse at best as they are against the ageing population and 14 years of staving funds and covid back logs and NHS workers wanting better pay ( don't blame with with living costs on the rise ).

I think education -schools and uni -will limp on for another three years plus - as more cuts happen in background - getting nearer criss points that will hit but further out.

I don't think current government is really up for radical reform of anything - they'll plod along at best and push long term decisons out as long as possible with a bit of tinkering here and there.

I don't see anyone means testing or getting rid of state penion in next 3 years - next decade or two I'm much less sure about.

I don't think the economoy will be great due to partly high taxes partly high debt partly sluggish growth or recession- but aslo fall out from USA - they seem to heading down dark paths econoically and poltically and that will impact everyone else and they do seem to be in a hurry to get there and that likely will be bad within three years.

Unless you have assets in the region of £10 million you wouldn’t be affected by the kind of wealth tax advocated. Of course if you fit into that category you wouldn’t really miss a one off 2% tax on your the portion of your assets above the baseline.

There’s no such thing as low rate tax, incidentally. There’s basic rate which you pay on the portion of your income above £12570 up to £50k, then higher rate which you pay on the next £100k.

You’re wrong to assume everyone is like you, by the way. Not everyone with a comfortable income and assets begrudges every penny of tax they pay. We’re comfortably off and could easily pay more tax but we’re not close to point of liability for a wealth tax.

Wrong! I am guessing that you speak from the opposite end of the spectrum to those potentially impacted.

You ignore human behaviour. Labour have proven themselves to have a flexible relationship with the truth. GBP 10mn today, 2mn tomorrow. A ‘one off’? Pull the other one.

Is it similar in portugal?

Tbf, I don’t think wealth tax can be a one off. The fabled Norwegian tax only accounts for 1% of their annual tax revenue, it barely does anything. commentators seem to think it doesn’t make any real difference for distribution of wealth but does provide a bit of welfare, and is seen as an important policy for the type of society they want to be.

that said I agree additional rate taxpayers pretending it’ll impact time are tiresome. I still want my lord stripped though 😂

It’s fucked now so in 3years it will be more fucked

I think in three years time it will we will have a zombie government with Reform ready to for a landslide. Labour have borrowed against future growth to benefits and that growth is not going to come. They have just wasted their opportunity to fix the system. Reform will come in with sweeping cuts.

I said where I am on the spectrum. I’m really tired of the assumption that you must be on the bones of your arse if you can see how unfair the current taxation model is.

It’s so bad Labour have hit SMEs like this.

How does it work with healthcare when you emigrate? Do you have to pay anything extra or do you pay tax in Spain so you get free healthcare? I’m just interested in how it works. And if you came back to the UK, would you be eligible for NHS care?

For once, we agree (that the current ‘taxation model’ is unfair).

I'm not of an older generation but I would not support a wealth tax. A wealth tax would affect anybody with assets. I already pay such high taxes, why would I support them taking even more? What is the benefit of working hard and doing well if everything is taxed so much? The uber wealthy will always be able to hide what they have and laws like this will just affect the upper middle class. Pass.

Did she explain what labour have done to her cafe? The NI increase has been very difficult for many but depending on how many staff she has it’s hard to imagine how it has finished a successful cafe off? On minimum wage it is unlikely to cost say an extra £1k a year. It must’ve had other problems?

Nah that go over and take it for free after never paying any tax in Spain. Like reverse boat people. The Spanish must hate them, it’s not a wealthy country.

you should lose nhs entitlement here but it’s not straightforward there are ways to keep
it.

edited to say: I think you pay a minimal contribution in Spain for healthcare

They can't take all of their assets with them. This is about preventing the flow of wealth from the working people (low and high earners) and the government to the richest. The situation we're in today is a consequence of wealth inequality. Ordinary people find it harder to afford a home, access decent healthcare, or get a good education without taking on heavy debt because the wealth is concentrated at the top. The super rich outcompete ordinary people for housing, education, and other resources and that's because they can afford to pay more, move faster, or access things others can’t.

Let’s at least try to be honest with ourselves.

The next major milestone is the budget - Labour will soon start the process of drip feeding potential fiscal policy to the media etc. in order to gauge reaction. They will again talk about black holes, broad shoulders, the Tory legacy etc. They will redefine ‘working people’. All of this, and more.

But they are coming again - any sane person knows this. Maybe Reeves will not survive this time, because Starmer will not hesitate to run her over if he needs to, as we have seen.

So, we don’t need to wait three years, simply because I believe this budget will prove seminal for the rest of this torrid Labour government.

Economics for dummies.

I want the future generations to have opportunties.

Assets over £15 million? Tax them. Is that really a controversial thing to do?

We need more economically productive people who work and pay basic rate tax, but to get there we need investment in the economy.

Assets of the ultra rich I.e. above £15 million can contribute more to that.

If they then decide to leave after we have taxed their assets- let them. Let them leave. We need economically productive people, with long bright working futures ahead of them, from backgrounds who are hungry for change, to become the country's next multi millionaires 😊, which will be achieved through investment.

If we are to accept the shit status quo - we need hope of change for the next generation. Or we all just try and leave.

The UK may be one of the few tolerable places to live temperature and climate-wise compared to many countries over the next decade or longer. It’s getting hotter here of course. But I would not want to live in southern Europe now, never mind anywhere else further. In three years time I would thus rather be here I think.

Yes I did it as a young mum without a car and it was bloody hard. Now the companies have got greedy and have cut all the times allocated down to each service user. It's shocking and poor practice. So care staff are expected to have their own car, serviced and ready to go to each job on what is normally minimum wage or not much off it. Very difficult for someone with young children from a working class background to do that job. I could not afford driving lessons when I was a single parent and I am sure many single parents can't these days.

Wealth tax is not about taxing high-earning working people. It's about taxing the super wealthy - people whose wealth exceeds 10 million. It's about taxing wealth, not work to prevent the transfer of wealth from ordinary people (low and high earners) to the super rich. The working people are being completely squeezed out.