We don't want the government to lurch to the left

[Bargepole45]

I am absolutely astounded that Labour think it's democratic to decide that they can lurch to the left despite being elected with a very clear promise to not tax and spend. I believe this is absolutely not what the general public want and I am really worried that the economy isn't going to survive this and we will end up with an IMF bailout that will lead to very painful spending cuts for our most vulnerable.

Please vote:
YABU :I want Labour to lurch to the left in order to increase taxation and spending
YANBU: I don't want Labour to lurch to the left and would be against further tax and spending rises

My suggestions will be considered outrageous by many, but we can't carry on bankrupting the country.

Tweaking benefits and taxes is never going to resolve the long-term issues. Our whole system of financial government needs a complete and drastic overhaul but obviously that can't be changed overnight. These proposals would be very long term and we would work gradually towards the goal of simplification and streamlining of government.

IMHO the way to go is increasing the income tax personal allowance annually until it reaches the equivalent of a living wage. Why on earth should we be taxing people who don't earn enough to live on and then paying them benefits to make up for it.

National insurance and Council Tax should be abolished/combined with income tax - it would be much fairer and the multiple departments right across the country that are needed to manage this could be scrapped. Capital Gains could also be taxed as income and Inheritance Tax could be abolished too.

I would keep VAT but have more levels, to allow for an increase in the rate for luxury or human and environmentally damaging goods to curb irresponsible spending.

To offset the loss of revenue from the above measures we need to do two things - firstly raise the basic rate of income tax, and secondly get rid of Universal Credit and other in-work benefits for anyone above a set wage level. They should become unnecessary for those who are able to earn a living wage. Benefits should be confined to those who are unable to earn a living wage for whatever reason but with very defined and strict criteria to avoid mis-use.

We need to incentivise employers to pay better wages to avoid the need for in-work benefits. I would not increase Corporation Tax for small businesses but would have increasing rates for high profits, and would set limits on pay differentials between highest and lowest paid. Tax reliefs given for providing lower paid employees with tangible benefits such as help with transport costs and local housing (to reduce travel times). Tax incentives could help increase employee shareholding or bonus systems, etc. to improve job satisfaction at the lowest levels.

We should offer tax relief for private health care to reduce the pressure on the NHS. These reliefs could benefit employers and employees/self-employed through huge increases in private insurance and allow for a lot of scheduled surgery etc to be taken out of the NHS. The NHS would should become much more focused on emergency and critical care as well as care of the elderly whilst outsourcing more scheduled sugery and medical care. This should help avoid some of the delays and remove inefficiency in the system. Mental health and addiction services should be separated and include more local community-based initiatives to tackle the problem at source (and as far as possible keep the issues away from A&E).

Childcare in nurseries should be free for all, just like schools, but parents should be able to opt to stay home with very young children. Working parents should be given extra tax allowances to help fund a parent staying at home or they could receive longer paid maternity from their employers (again a company tax deductible benefit). The complex childcare credit rules etc could all be abolished.

Simplifying the system will reduce bureaucracy and costs enormously. It will create a much fairer system where everyone is taxed once on their income, regardless of source (earnings, self-employment, rental or passive income, gains etc). A simple system with tax incentives could encourage a much more employee-focused working environment and increase productivity and employee motivatation.

Our government has become increasingly bureaucratic over my lifetime to the extent that I now feel I want to escape but realistically I'm not able to go anywhere that would be much better. My young working adult DCs are both depressed as they cannot see a decent future where they can earn enough to be comfortable. I was lucky to have a great career that paid me well, but for most young people, the outlook is very bleak. I can completely understand why so many of their generation are suffering mental health issues. For their sakes, we need to make work and even just staying alive seem worthwhile.

@FalseSpring I would be happy with all of that.

@FalseSpring
in an ideal world with a few additions that all seems good

Unfortunately people don’t work enough hours to contribute in this ideal world to make it work . We’d love it if they would
How would that attitude change be achieved and how would the full working week be forced on people

The nhs idea of mainly private falls apart for those who can’t pay into a private system. If doctors within the nhs care are only carrying out emergency ops then who carries out the booked in ones for those with no insurance. It can’t be the nhs doctors as they wouldn’t have the practice experience and private doctors would stick the non private’s well at the back of the queue.
So how would this system guarantee everyone was treated equally. We’ve already seen a shocking attitude change since the euthanasia proposals were put forward.

In terms of tax incentives for those with private healthcare and again in order to be fare and equal there should also be tax incentives for those who pay for private education. It’s a saving every year for 14 years to the state so the same as the healthcare saving
Perhaps a system similar to that used in parts of Scandinavia ( can’t recall which) whereby all parents are given the child’s budget and can choose which schools it goes to.

Ultimately i think
along with your proposals
we will need higher taxes and
as you say a reduced welfare state
to have the funds to ensure equality of care for all.

@DrPrunesqualer

People would work longer hours as they would no longer receive state benefits to top up their part-time hours. The cliff edges (caused by our ridiculous benefits systems on childcare etc) for higher paid would also disappear providing more incentives for everyone to work longer hours.

Employers, free from NI contributions would offer a more widespread private insurance schemes which would be tax deductible for both employer and employee. The more extensive and inclusive these schemes become, the more affordable they are - much like some European models.

For those that can't afford the private health insurance premiums, the same doctors would be available, just like many are now (e.g. working half the week on NHS and the other half private), but the costs would be met by the state. Gradually, as the take up of private insurance increases, the cost to the state of routine proceedures decreases. This has to be a good thing.

I am with you on the idea of choosing which school gets the teaching budget for your child (state or private). It might improve all schools as they would need to compete for pupils. I would also allow private school fees to be tax deductible.

I am suggesting a higher basic rate income tax would be needed but it would be balanced out for hard-working taxpayer by the benefits and incentives built into the system along with the abolition of many of the back-door taxes to make the whole system more much transparent. There would also be huge savings made by the abolition of numerous unnecessary civil service departments at local and central goverment levels! A slimming down of the civil service and all those fat-cats at the top that they support is essential. It appears that many of these people's raison d'être is to create more and more bureacracy. In every department these days, there are staff who don't have a clue about the laws they are themselves trying to enforce, so what chance do the general public have. Simplification and transparency are the only way forward.

Before anyone mentions redundancies, I am not suggesting this could happen overnight, but it should be the ultimate goal. Hopefully natural wastage would reduce the numbers over time.