To ask how much you think income tax will rise by?

[Wonderofwimbledon]

We’re absolutely financially at our limit… I’m so incredibly stressed. An income tax rise will break us and we won’t be able to afford it. We won’t have money to eat.

What do you think it’ll be? I just want to curl up and cry- we can’t take anymore increases our bills , mortgage everything has increased we have no spare money at all

Do we all think that this will be the last round of tax rises, or do we think there will be more to come?

I’ve heard a lot of rumours suggesting 2% increase to income tax but a reduction of 2% on NIC shifting the burden from workers to pensioners.

I don’t think all the rumours are helpful though. And it feels incredibly cruel that they are making people wait so long when they are feeling anxious.

No, I think they will come back for more and keep blaming Brexit, the Tories, and anyone but themselves.

This is why it pisses me off. I earn loads, but I’m damn well not going to pay loads more tax just for the government to pay the triple lock to wealthy pensioners and PIP to the parents of kids with exceedingly mild adhd so they can get their nails done more often. Sod that. If the money was going to improve schools or expand prisons or being down NHS waiting lists, that would be fine.

Yes I do know that, thanks. Out of interest, at what salary does the entitled attitude that someone should sell their house and move somewhere cheaper so they can give you some extra money give way to a less totally selfish and adult world view?

This is what I fear!

I have to be honest - I just dont trust them!

I don’t think many people will now.

Understandable after promises

Don’t think I ever did say that. The economy has being fucked by a multitude of things. A spiralling benefits bill is one of them. I did say that a worsening economy snowballs the situation as companies go bust and lay people off.

I stand by that. I am seeing a lot of people being made redundant. People I know personally and yes they’re unsuccessfully job hunting. I’m also reading about a lot of similar people who I don’t personally know in a similar situation. Posts on here, people talking on Reddit, posts on fb from people desperate for work. Stuff in the media about companies going bust. I see adverts for a nmw barista job where they want 4 years experience. My friends son who’s applied for 96 pt student type jobs before getting one. A thread on here yesterday about someone’s graduate son who’s applied for hundreds of jobs with no luck and multiple people saying this is normal. As a midwifery lecturer knowing a lot of my students from last year don’t have jobs.

it never used to be this hard.

obviously some people who are unemployed won’t be looking for work.

I don’t think they can credibly keep increasing taxes every budget. Stability of tax policy is a major thing companies look to when deciding which countries to invest in / build a new factory in etc. Take those car manufacturers. Would you build a factory somewhere that increases employers NIC every 6 months, or might double your rates bill where they get a bit skint? You’d go for the country that might have slightly higher taxes but you know won’t mess you around instead. Reeves knows this. She’ll have to make this increase big enough to know she won’t be coming back again for more.

So she should be.

At some stage people have to start thinking about consequences of their choices.

In 2029 OP will vote for Reform and then in 2030 will come back crying about awful government dismantling NHS so her DH/DC/DM/DP/whoever can't get their life saving treatment.

People have to learn at some stage

Agreed

eta. But they have to simultaneously reduce outgoings. Ie. The benefit bill which eats up billions of tax payers cash, reduce immigration - hundreds off thousands of people a year every year, is unsustainable. Especially when they’re often net takers. Tax all benefits.

I really hope this isn’t what they choose to do. It would feel incredibly unfair. A tax rise should impact everyone - not just high earners.

I don't disagree with how difficult it is compete with people who dont have to charge as much or any VAT. When DH was self employed, he often lost jobs to people who weren't VAT registered because they were cheaper for the customer.

But it doesn't change the fact that VAT is paid by your customers and not you.

Based on a 10% pre-tax net profit on a £1000 invoice:

Cost of sales (supplies, salaries) is £500 (gross profit of 50%)
Out of that gross profit you pay your overheads.(utlitities, loan interest, equipment repair etc) costing £350, leaving you with a pre-tax net profit of £150 out of which you pay tax and capital loan repayments.

Your turnover for that job is £1000, but at 20% VAT registered you charge the customer £1200 - the extra £200 is never yours - it's earmarked straight away for HMRC.

For the purposes of corporation tax only the £1000 is taken into account, not the £200.

I remember finding VAT payments really hard because when you are running a business on a hand to mouth basis, it's naturally tempting and often necessary to use the VAT money to pay day to day costs upfront, so when it comes time to pay the VAT I know it can feel really painful.

But the difficulties of competing against people who are not VAT registered and running a high turnover low margin business doesn't change the fact that VAT is calculated based on turnover but is not counted as part of turnover.

If you have been including the VAT on your invoices as part of your turnover calculations for corporation tax or double counting it in your VAT return (e.g. in the example above you calculated £240 VAT based on the total £1200 pound invoice instead of £200 on the ex-VAT £1000 portion) then it may be worth seeking some advice because you would be due a fairly significant rebate.

I said that because that is what higher earners tell lower earners. 🙄

Why aren't you claiming? Those extra costs associated with your condition is exactly what PIP is for. If you've claimed and were turned down, have you appealed?

Unless you are wealthy and and are choosing to be benevolent because you don't need the money or are simply not claiming out of a sense of pride, then that is on you, but you can't judge someone else not sharing those values and for claiming what they are entitled to.

You can't means test a benefit like PIP - it would be hugely unfair and would essentially be a tax on disability and people with disabilities are already at a big enough disadvantage.

Carers allowance is a weird one - the example you give is slightly bizarre and without knowing the full circumstances I wouldn't want to comment.

In the main I think that carers allowance should be significantly increased. If it paid closer to.minimum wage, more people would be able to afford to work part time / give up work to look after their loved ones who needed care.

Even with the loss of tax revenue from their work and an increased carers allowance it would still significantly reduce the social care bill and people would have better outcomes being looked after by their friends and family than they do from receiving care from strangers.

Do they really have any credibility left? In all honesty, would you choose to start a business under this Government, risk renting out your flat to move to a new City for an employment opportunity, sell a property, buy a property, hire somebody new, expand your business, take a risk on moving to a higher paid job? Would you trust the Government to lend them money through gilts or would you want a risk premium for how b@tsht they cone across? No, nether would most other people which is why they’ll be back in 5 months with another black hole.

7% of the working age population are claiming PIP.

It always feels like one step forward two steps back for us. Every time we get a (below inflation) annual pay rise or stop having to pay nursery fees, the electricity or mortgage goes up. The food bill’s ridiculous. A meal at Pizza Express is now out of reach at £120 for four.

This last spare £100 a month they are going to take off us will stop us ever saving up to fix up our ramshackle bathroom - it’s not like we were going to save the money - we just want to give it to a local workman

Why are you speaking on my behalf? And saying who I would vote for- you don’t know me at all.

In terms of your comment about thinking about our choices and learning at some stage…. We are both degree educated, we’re early 30s. We have professional well paid jobs but in a sector that’s more of a vocational calling that has not had inline inflation rises and some have been on strike for. No idea what consequences you are talking about? Our degrees took 7 years to get, we work unsocialable hours and we’ve made good life choices. We live in an area near a hospital which costs more but we need to live near work. Oh and it’s me and DH who are doing the life saving treatment so sod off with your belittling , uneducated comment … maybe it’s you who needs to learn at some stage … patronising much

Work - pay income tax.
Live in a house - pay council tax.
Drive anywhere - pay road/fuel tax.
Buy 99% of anything - pay VAT.
Send your kids to private school and free us a state school place - pay VAT.
Pension - same as above.
Die - inheritance tax (Jeez Louise!)

We are taxed MULTIPLE times on the same bloody money. It’s abhorrent.

And RR wants to RAISE the amounts paid.

We might as well all just be put into grim high rise flats ala the Eastern block, and be given coupons for food, and the chemical engineer is paid the same as the administrator. THAT is what RR wants.

They might as well just confiscate all our wages at source and give us back just enough for basic rations at the rate they’re going 🙄

Don’t give them ideas

This is how I feel!!!! You can’t seem to get ahead - or it’s not worth it as they take it all off you so I’m feeling very much like why bother. Unsure why I do a night shift and don’t put my kids to bed some nights when it feels like it’s all for nothing .

and agree on the comment on private schools - they should be incentivising people to pay for their child’s education and reduce the state burden - not increasing it! Same with private health care- my team is working over our contracted hours and it’s getting worse so we need private health care to take some of the capacity. If they add VAT on which looks likely after taxing education , then the same will follow suit.

an option me and DH are questioning is wether we go into the private sector healthcare which we never wanted to do , but we may have to to earn more now

This is me. I’m earning more, just got some spare after years of children etc etc. and now the government want it.
I heard today my nhs trust are looking to only pay London weighting for the days your onsite. So because the cost I’ll need to bump up to 5 office days to keep the money and afford the travel. If I go down to two days I loose too much London weighting and my train fare still stands at over £250 a month.I'm the point where I don’t see the point, I was considering a degree in the new year to gain my next promotion but genuinely don’t think it’s worth it at all