AIBU Income Tax rise.

[H202too]

To be panicking about income tax rise.

Things are tight and to loae even £30-60 a month will be difficult.

I know people are talking about the mansion tax being a no go. But I would prefer this than taxing the workers as per usual.
The tax free rate should be put up. What a mess.

Why do you seem so sure this will never happen? There's been £2.4 billion investment in schools since the last Budget, and 7 million more GP appointments available on the NHS. Anecdotally, I've definitely noticed it's been easier to get a GPs' appointment. The trouble is, we've had 14 years of under-investment, followed by blowing a huge hole in the public finances with Brexit, and then Covid. It will take time but public services can get better, and arguably already are (a little, at least).

I'm sick of the rhetoric that those in the higher rate of tax are 'rich'. Most are not. Why should a doctor or dentist pay a fortune in tax as well as paying back their student loans and then having to pay for the millions that have decided that work just isn't for them?

My DC’s school has received precisely £0 to date. In fact, they’ve sent us parents an email begging for us to donate money to the school.

Another thing I noticed this year is that all 3 local 6th forms that we applied to said that they had “unprecedented numbers of applicants” this year, and there was a lot of disappointment on GCSE results day because entry requirements had to be raised to accommodate for this. Many didn’t get places that they would’ve gotten with the same grades last year. Who were all of these new pupils making the numbers so untenable?

This was all “fully funded” though so what’s happened?

Reform is going to stop sexual assault? Out of the mps they have multiple have already been accused of assault or harassment of women. Reform will do this country absolutely no good whatsoever. Half the reason why it’s so broken is thanks to farage and all the brexit garbage. All they’ll do is finish it off.

Sorry, I don't understand the question?

Starmer is basically Tory lite and not at all a socialist. The average UK worker pays less income tax than quite a few Northern European countries and expects a lot for it. Most Northern European health systems are insurance based and not 100% free like the NHS. Honestly, you get what you pay for.

The Scandanavian system is excellent. It could not be replicated here - the size of the country for a start !

It's funny how people see things so differently! In terms of tax and spend, I'd characterise this government as centre-left, not exactly full-blown socialist. The trouble is, there's very little money to spare, but what's there seems to have been focused on public services. Agree broad-based income tax rises are needed for better public services (and for better local government too)

My son’s sixth form college has had to increase class sizes due to a cut in government funding, not an increase.

Why do Reeves and Starmer need to hike taxes to do the things you listed when they declared it was fully funded pre GE and that the last budget tax hike was a one off?

Why are they failing on that pledge?

I live well below my means for this very reason.

This is what is most frustrating, our whole society is based on protecting shareholders. Things must go up in price so profits aren’t impacted. It’s never considered that actually it’s not just salary that needs to fix this. Nor indeed just taxes generally, the government should’ve be having to subsidise salary through universal credit etc because big business. Yes I know we need business, good economy etc and that’s largely where we’re failing, but if workers need to reset their expectations then so should shareholders.

That’s one way to kill the investment growth that Reeves keeps banging on about. (Quoted the wrong poster)

That’s one way to kill the investment growth that Reeves keeps banging on about.

The Labour budget was ‘fully funded’ on the basis of what the Tory’s were stating the financial position was pre-election. They get in, they open the books, guess what, the Tory’s had been talking shite for ages and there was a massive (£22bn IIRC) black hole in the nations finances which RR had to plug in her first budget.

Where Labour get less sympathy is that it was perfectly clear to anyone with a brain that the Tory numbers before the last budget were bunkum, with the Director of the IFS saying at the time that he’d eat his hat if Labour didn’t get in and say ‘oh my goodness there’s a totally unforeseen black hole, who knew!’

Labour’s plans were based on the presumption the Tories weren’t lying, even though Labour knew full well the Tories were lying. Both parties are to blame.

Stone dead

'The wealthy' aren't a single homogeneous mass. Where is your evidence to support this? I also asked how they were being 'subsidised' - still waiting for a response to this.

Personally, I think they shouldn't have made that pledge in the first place, but now they're in government the least bad option going forward is to raise income tax to increase the money available for public services, paying down the national debt (and much else besides...)

Needing to increase defence spending following US essentially opting out of European security has also been a factor - that wasn't completely predictable before the election either. It's a very tough situation.

I thought it was 54% - 45% + 9%.

I agree and then the younger ones can't even get on the property ladder.

💯 agree. It’s so easy to say it when it’s not actually happening to you.

Agreed 100%. The problem is everyone who voted Labour thought they would tax someone else…the so called ‘rich’. Well guess what, as usual Labour is running out of money and we are all going to be a lot worse off. As PP said this is what you wanted though isn’t it, more taxes better services….or more likely you wanted more taxes but just not for yourself!

We have been living beyond our means for years and are dealing with a terrible population demographic.

It’s not socialism, it is reality.

The right wing fantasy of cost cutting and becoming more efficient is just that, a fantasy. Sure, we need to cut costs and become more efficient, but self interest groups will militate against it and there just isn’t that much to be cut compared to the huge costs and debt servicing. Look at Elon Musk and Doge. I think he cut 10% of what he promised and ended up getting rid of useful functions, as well as useless ones.

The left wing fantasy of taxing the rich is also a fantasy. The genuinely rich are very mobile and will duck the taxes and there are also very few of them. So this idea ends up hitting the comfortable off and moderately rich and disincentivising the bright and motivated.

So any government tinkers around the edges at cutting a bit of cost and raising a bit more tax from a portfolio of sources.

We need productivity growth, growth of the working population (babies or immigrants) or austerity and high taxes.

But this choice isn’t something that most politicians want to discuss in an honest way, so we get the same dishonest debate between cost cutting and tax raising.

I don't mind at all if it means disabled people aren't getting their benefits removed. I work, pay tax, and use services, and look forward to my pension, I'm in a better place than a lot of people.