If you're really fed up of all "your" money going to benefits ....

[Yesimmoaningaboutbenefits]

We really need to be campaigning for more council homes. One of the biggest payouts is housing benefit because of the extortionate private rent costs.

That single mum topping up with UC to bring her to over 100k? (supposedly) Wouldn't happen if her rent wasn't >£2000pcm for a 1 bed flat.

Build a 3 bed house for £300,000 (presumably less with large contracts). Charge £500 rent, they'd make the money back in 50 years even without increases. And houses last more than 50 years!

I know I've read several comments over the years from people saying this. RTB was the worst etc. So why hasn't it happened? Upfront cost. It would cost the government a hell of a lot upfront, despite the astronomical gain further down the line. But if they're not in power when the gains start to show, they get none of the glory. And that's what it boils down to. Elected governments only want something they can boast about within their term. Who cares if it benefits the country in the long run? If it doesn't benefit them short term, it doesn't matter.

Same with education. Better funding will result in more people in work, out of poverty and out of crime in 20 years time. It's the best use of money possible! But no.

SEN funding. Early intervention can prevent children getting to crisis point and keep the gap from widening so they have a chance of staying in school, getting qualifications and contributing to society in the future. Not funding SEN effectively is pretty much cutting off a section of society and forcing them to spend their lives on benefits. Funding could give them a chance. But no.

How many health conditions could be improved by early treatment so people don't end up out of work and incapacitated on benefits?

You've got to spend money to make money...

Your last sentence sums up the position we are in. Brexit, Covid and the wreckless governments of Johnson and Truss have brought this country to its knees

It will take a decade to turn round and no party has a solution to do it quicker. The Tories would target business but not care about the degradation of public services and the poverty of the lower paid. Reform - just look to the US to see what chaos and division they’d cause. The Greens and Libdems just live in cloud cuckoo land. We have to let the government we elected to work their way through this and pull together as a country instead of the division we now have.

The media also need to get their act together and start reporting facts instead of the sensationalist speculation. It’s seems like they’re trying to make the news and the constant scalp hunting is draining.

I’m 67 and have seen this country find its way through many crises. It’s time to knuckle down and get on with it

@Happyher Brexit, Covid and the wreckless governments of Johnson and Truss have brought this country to its knees

So the Tories are responsible for the Covid Pandemic?

Do you really believe that?

No - I meant them as three separate things

Or instead of aiming lower because it is easier to sit on your arse and be given money for nothing perhaps we should be encouraging those who make benefits a lifestyle to get off their backsides and work for a living?

I think it has an impact on everyone. The tax free amount is staying the same. That "should' also rise with inflation. You dont have to go up a bracket, the tax free bit just becomes a smaller percentage of you pay if you pay rises with inflation, so you pay 'more' tax. Like by 2028 at 2% inflation the tax free bit should be nearly 14k if you also increased it this year by inflation.

I have no idea about the £1000 is worked out though. To me, that difference in tax free bits would be more like 300 a year worse off for that 3rd year. I cant remember how ni is worked out. It is a tenous way if kooking at things as not everyone gets inflation pay rises. But either way the purchasing power of the tax free bit is reduced.

We keep hearing that the families receiving these benefits are working. It would be interesting to see how many have both parents working full time, how many 1 full time and 1 part time and how many only 1 full time. The fact is the more children you have the more difficult it is to work full time, this is just pushed further and further out by each extra child. It is the parents keeping these children in poverty and teaching them that you don’t have to work full time as the tax payer will top you up. I appreciate childcare is an issue - it’s the same for everyone so don’t have more children.

I think the impact on a £35k salary was used as an illustration by the researchers because it is the median UK salary, so the impact could be seen more readily. It’s more relatable to the average reader/voter?

Clearly everyone in the 20% tax bracket will feel more impacted by the freeze because the additional £200-400 tax they are paying each year for the next 5 years is a bigger %age of their salary. Someone on 80k, or 150k will barely feel it, whereas someone on £35k today with that impact may have to make budgeting decisions to address the shortfall.

Do you have figures how many people are making benefits a lifestyle?

And an insight on the reasons and how to help?

Any way don’t the benefit scroungers and the low paid go and get a +100k job because they are really easy and you don’t need to work hard or sacrifice anything to do them

Agree on housing: either council or private. Doesn’t matter, just build lots more of it.

Also reconsider the consensus that the state should subsidise people to live in places they otherwise couldn’t afford. One reason why housing in London is so expensive is that the government bids up the price to keep people from moving.

But what about nurses, cleaners, etc who need to be in London but can’t afford the rent on their pay? The govt keeps their pay artificially low by subsidising it through UC, state housing and other in-work benefits. But that subsidy is poorly targeted (ie wasteful). Reduce the blanket subsidy and wages must increase (or firms invest more in productivity).

On the rest of your post: your rationale is a perfect case for debt funding. Invest more in the hope of a return later. But the problem is that we are getting pretty close to the maximum we can borrow for public finances without triggering a loss of market confidence and raising rates significantly, which is self-defeating. So we should be looking to see how to reallocate spending and subsidies, not just where to add more.

This is not true btw. Look at the latest stats for tax burden compared to other countries, uk is high.

They are responsible for how they mismanaged it, yes.

The late lockdowns, the corruption, the parties, the hare-brained eat out to help out scheme...the lies... the list goes on.

Using a legal loophole at the time, the government was able to award huge contracts without any competition. And, it would seem, without any basic due diligence checks. A gambling company and a fashion company among the benefactors of billions.

In fact @NotMrsBrown the tories lost 9bn of taxpayers money to dodgy contracts, waste, greed and fraud.

9 BILLION!!!

Like by raising taxes in order to invest in public services (that were all but destroyed by the Tories) that support and encourage better outcomes for those in generational poverty and with disabilities, like education and healthcare and social care? Sounds good to me.

9billion seems a drop in the ocean, though, compared to 70bn in tax rises over the last two autumn budgets.

The selling off council houses did more than reduce the available social housing.

It turned council estates from mixed demographics to new tenancies only being offered to the most in need. Which means entire areas “normal” is low income survival which impacts the outcome of children growing up there.

https://www.closer.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/CLOSER-worklessness-briefing-web-version.pdf#:~:text=Worklessness%20in%20the%20next%20generation%20The%20main,of%20work%20than%20sons%20with%20employed%20fathers.

Government report here - source:%20GOV.UK
https://share.google/Sl0a5DCRcRdeM82jW

All my money doesnt go on benefits. The tax i pay goes to all sorts of essentials services which i use. Some of it goes on benefits which i could also claim if something happened and i became eligible. .where is your social conscience?

I often wonder if I'm hard of understanding or if different people's taxes are allocated differently.

According to the HMRC app, only 21.6% of my taxes went to Welfare and the remaining 78.4% to other services. The welfare budget includes pensioner benefits, Universal Credit, and disability benefits; with the largest share going to pensioners.

How is all your tax going to benefits @Yesimmoaningaboutbenefits ?

It's not. The thread title is quite obviously a sarcastic eye-roll at all the moaning about rising taxes and benefit increases.

In my experience I've known a lot of families the man works the woman stays home with kids and they get benefits. The household where no one is working is usually single mother

Ah, my apologies.

This. Private rents need to be capped.

I am not a fan of council housing.

Do not trust the state of make smart decisions on what types of houses to build and how many and at a low cost.

And the main reason private housing supply is low - NIMBYs objecting - are still there no matter who builds (council or private). I can already imagine the comments, "it will attract the wrong kind of people to the neighbourhood".

A big problem we have is that private sector building doesn't see enough competition. Building is expensive due to dysfunctional Planning Regulations and NIMBYs, only those with deep pockets can do this. Loosen up and say no to NIMBYs, this will let smaller builders enter the market

Ah, that makes the waste and corruption ok then.

Ah yes, like the fact that Rachel Reeves lied at the despatch box this week and has been lying to the country and the markets since 17th September. That kind of corruption?

Rachel Reeves accused of misleading Britain before budget

https://www.thetimes.com/article/40f40949-7878-48a5-ad50-2e8dfa86a66e?shareToken=99f2dd6ee71065281275414852a306fa