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.

I'm a bit confused by the questions about pensioners paying less income tax?

Apart from the lump sum, which most posters here are talking about drawing down early so isn't included in income, all their income is taxed at exactly the same rate as everyone else's i.e. anything that comes in over their personal allowance (same as everyone's) is taxed at the standard rate for that income level.

I wouldn’t mind if we had Englands income tax rates and bands. Here in Scotland the higher rate band starts at £43k instead of £50k and is 42% instead of 40%. At £75k it goes up to 45% and £125k to 48%.

Agreed. The people I know who were born in the 1940s are the wealthiest people I know. From what I can tell (I haven’t asked for their financial numbers), it’s mostly down to their final salary pensions and low-cost (and in some cases, government subsidised) properties that have blown up exponentially in value.

Tax wealth . A start would be to put national insurance on unearned income. Its ridiculous that income from Rupert's trust fund is more lightly taxed than Rachel's earnings working in Tesco

They don’t pay NICs currently which is effectively the same as income tax.

They can’t, because it acknowledges that.. yes, it is unfair the pensioners pay less tax than workers.

£25k income = £1793 for a worker.

£25k income = £1876 for a pensioner.

Particularly absurd given the very high cost of the elderly to the state.

They dont pay national insurance like workers

"The average disposable income for pensioner couples, after housing costs, rose by close to two thirds between 1999 and the end of 2022, from £16,588 to £27,144."

"During the same period, disposable income for couples with children only rose 41pc, from £17,524 to £24,752,"

This is a huge part of the problem & why growth is so elusive

@MidnightPatrol I guess the refusal to acknowledge is in part why we are in this mess.

I thought she worked for the Bank of England?

Increasing the higher rate and leaving the basic rate alone would be more convenient and cheaper for me, whilst I hope to benefit from the improved services I won't be paying for

FIFY

I’ve already said on this thread that I think she’s an idiot, and not competent.

But her knowing that the rule was in place in this area of Leeds doesn’t mean she knew it was in place in Southwark. It’s not a universal rule.

That doesn’t excuse her not knowing of course.

it’s mostly down to their final salary pensions and low-cost (and in some cases, government subsidised) properties that have blown up exponentially in value.

And yet the narrative on MNs is they were all to poor to pay into private pensions and we are too generous with benefits today conveniently forgetting all the social housing in the past.

They dont pay national insurance like workers

todays workers will of course as the state pension age has increased.

They pay 0 National Insurance, which is a tax on us PAYE employees in the workforce.

@Motheranddaughter cut public spending, cut waste, improve productivity.

and actually lower some taxes rates to encourage investment

This is on your employer to raise your pay again then @Dacatspjs
They are a business so should be able to afford to pay employees a wage that allows them to pay the tax set by the government. I’d go back to them and explain you need more now due to the tax increase. If they can’t afford to pay you then they’ve got solvency issues. Not the government’s fault! Ask them again x

My dad is a boomer and worked private sector all his life. When he left his job after 15 years he took no pension with him. He spent the last 20 years of his career trying to build his pension up. His friends in the public sector had great pensions and all retired well before 60 though.

my grandad worked for private companies and he relied on the state pension. He was lucky my dad was able to subsidise him because he really struggled and that was with no housing costs. The pensioner poverty in the 90s led to trying to keep it at a decent level.

the whole pension system in this country needs clarifying

and we need to get rid of NI. In other countries social security is like an insurance and what you put in reflects what you can take out (xref France and their pension crisis!) whereas that’s not the case here so just. E honest and add it to IT and make things simpler

From a dot gov page:

• Nearly 1 in 4 people out of work due to ill health are under 35 – underlining the need for government’s employment and welfare reforms

and

Approximately 8.2% of working-age adults (16-64) in the UK have never had a paid job, which equates to about 3.4 million people. This figure has increased by 50% since the late 1990s, with young people (16-24) making up a significant portion of this group, largely due to the decline in casual work and school-leaving jobs.

and there is your problem. because these are the people who are earning wages, increasing productivity and who will go on throughout their lives NOT earning wages but staying on benefits. Completely unsustainable.

Pensioners pay taxes. they use their disposable income to buy goods and services. they use public transport out of work hours to make it stay sustainable. they volunteer to do things in their community for free.

Who’s too poor to pay into private pensions? In any case, the final salary pensions that boomers had aren’t available to anyone Gen X and younger…

I don’t buy it that Boomers don’t have pensions.

I support public services and am happy to pay more tax to support them

@EK27 im
aware if the % and labour desire to raise it to 0.7%

I object to £193m given to Syria Islamist govt, the £101m given to Gaza, the £171m to Afghanistan and my many more, while supporting terrorist govts

If you are paying a lot of tax already you must be earning a lot of money, so can afford to pay more tax.
Increasing the higher rate and leaving the basic rate alone would be fairer.

No - higher rate tax payers can't keep getting squeezed. Time for everyone to pay up if there are to be tax rises, if you want fairness.

Not unless something changes. NI is only applied to workers under pension age and not applied to non-working incomes like pensions , investment income and trust funds at any age

This figure has increased by 50% since the late 1990s,

What was the state pension age then? People forget that as it moves out more of the working population fall into the ill health/disabled category then?

Young people not working in casual work and school-leaving jobs. are not the problem you think they are.