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

Weird....because I.m here working and I definitely earn more than 45k.
Suppose I'm getting shafted again then.

‘The only thing you can do is to adap your lifestyle’…….so that it emulates that of a Russian peasant circa 1910

Just absorb NI into income tax entirely. Closes a few loopholes.

Just do this already

I agree, but it won’t happen because of the pensioner voting block

Why the eye roll? Have you seen the growth in out of work UC?

@EasternStandard you can't understand the need for the eye roll? What is the growth in that figure in numbers? And you think it has had more of an impact than Brexit?! Can you expand on that?

Future solutions the UK needs to suck it up and accept the consequences (namely a more expensive, lower quality of life for all income and wealth brackets) but I think with the current political climate that the financial consequences of Brexit, which are going to get much worse before they get better, if they get better, I think that the huge influence of leaving the EU should not be forgotten. Before the country heads for round two, votes in a party headed by a key figure in the drive for Brexit. Then financially, Brexit will be like a drop in the ocean.

It's important to keep to the facts.

I agree, but it won’t happen because of the pensioner voting block

so bloody frustrating

It's important to keep to the facts

You would think so!

But there is an opportunity to do it entirely before the next General Election, it might mean Labour won't get in again, and that might be unlikely anyway, who knows, but they could do the country a great service and get rid of it beforehand because no future Government would reinstate it.

@OnlyOnAFriday

Do you not think the lack of growth and investment in this country is an issue. The lack of job opportunities?

Of course I do, it's a huge issue which no government seems capable of solving. However unemployment isn't high.

We have a service economy but people don’t have the money to use services.

Our financial services was damaged by Brexit...

Where is the investment in manufacturing type industries, incentives for businesses to invest in staff.*

we haven't had investment for years particularly in young people. That's a huge part of our productivity problem

H reads me DailyMash stories or news stories, in the evening as a winddown fun half hour or so, and on more occasions than should be applicable I've said "DailyMash?" and he's said, no this is real, or the other way round. It's becoming increasingly difficult to separate fact from satire.

I can't help but laugh at some of the previous suggestions such as 'move to free up 300k' @Wonderofwimbledon we're in a very similar position to you, there's nothing left to give anymore - we've lived in our house for almost 7 years now, but to downsize we'd actually 'lose' money (paid 230 for our small 4 bed, but now 3 beds in the area are at that price point and 4 beds sell for around 260) with the interest rate increases we'd be paying the same monthly anyway.

We have a 190k mortgage for the next 24 years (took it over 30 as I was pregnant at the time and about to go on SMP only maternity leave it made sense)

and then there's @Era, what about when you've already spent the last few years actually doing these things? when people say there's nothing left to give, that's usually what they mean.

some examples -
Have you adjusted your thermostat down one degree? Then encourage everyone to wear thicker socks/jumper etc. heating isn't on yet, and only comes on when the house dips below 15, it boosts to 17.5 which is fine in our new build

Are you heating the hot water for longer than is really needed. combi, and we've turned the temp down slightly

these 2 things make no difference when the tariff rates increase though - they just mean you spend the same rather than have to fund the increase

Have you checked the points on your reward cards etc - I have £12 on clubcard, will use it to take the kids out to the cinema on the run up to xmas.

Can you cancel kids activities/lessons/sport and do cheaper things instead? *our 2 only swim (council lessons) and do karate. Otherwise its afterschool wraparound which we need to enable us to work.

Can you buy things like school uniform etc in the second hand sales do this already for jumpers, the rest is supermarket

Can you grow some of your own food to make life easier next year? plums, strawberries, blueberries and cherries we grow - doesn't help feed a family of 4 year round when mince has added £3/kg to its costs in 6 weeks

Can you shift any financial products to get a cheaper rate e.g. look at insurance renewals etc always do this annually, still lucky to get a reduction on current costs

Do you have high value items like old tech/vinyl records/curtains/vintage clothes sitting in the loft (hurts me to say it but 90s is now vintage in clothing terms and very much in demand - some early iPhones and iPods and games consoles are in demand - old perfumes can give a good return) nothing, we completely cleared out when we moved

all of these things we could maybe find an extra £20 a month - but the kids wraparound care has just increased by £5 a week each, so already in the negative before that anyway. When essential rises are higher than the potential savings it feels so bleak.

DH is local authority so hardly any rises over the last few years, I'm private sector so have had some salary increases but still very single one seems to come alongside a higher expense than the increase allows. I had more disposable income in my 20s living alone and renting, going out every week, running a car etc (with zero benefits) than I do now earning 40k yet everyone told me it would get easier not harder!

Oh we all agree on this. I remembering learning about thr laffer curve many years ago as an economics strudent.

I’m afraid this kind of government (as with similar governments, like Labour in the 70s) tends more towards increasing taxes. The difference today is that there are vastly more quangos, charitable commissions, judicial reviews that would completely stop any and all attempts to restrain government spending.

I was thinking about the extreme consequences of these policy decisions. Already, working families are cutting back on holidays, central heating, eating out, clothes shopping, the odd coffee here and there…..anything and everything. At what point does our economy implode because any and all family post tax spending goes on the bare necessities of housing, housing, housing and maybe the odd bit of food shopping.

It’s like a race to the bottom. Maybe that’s the objective? most of the population scratching about like woodlice in a forest, feeding off the scraps and detritis.I’m convinced that’s the main objective of ‘net zero’: the minions sitting in cold and damp houses.

Presumably, there are large groups of people other than us working parents who still have lots of disposable income?

Because they’re all poor and have fought in the war.

The Institute for fiscal studies have been quite clear in what steps they feel are needed to put a rocket up the economy and get things growing again. Hopefully Reeves has been taking notes. 🤷‍♀️

Whatever the problems with the daily mail, they are not governing the country. The facts are gilt yields highest in 27 years (higher than truss), unemployment up 17% since Labour took over, education tax, stalled job market, stalled property market, inflation up by 3.8%, largest high net earner flight of developed countries, individual UC claimants up 23% … it’s time to stop blaming people who aren’t in power and tell us what the plan is here and why you support it.

To be fair poor people are often told to do this or do that by higher earners.

Do what? Get a job? Earn more than 45k? Think it through

Sell their house. Move to a different area. Give up coffees. Funny you presumed they have no jobs if they are claiming UC.

No, I presumed they earned less than 45k.

Are you in a wildly expensive area, or in a lot of debt? Unless you have six kids and loads of pets that cost a lot or something I’m struggling to see where two people on presumably full time professional jobs are so on a knife edge. I appreciate this may be me speaking from a point of privilege but it doesn’t quite make sense to be so utterly on the breadline if your jobs are decent. A bit tight yes, but your situation sounds desperate.

Unemployment is different to out of work in terms of stats

DailyMash - it's a satire website not the Daily Mail - a supposed factual newspaper
He reads out news sources from places not the Daily Mail just to clarify.

There's very few still alive who fought in the war now.