AIBU to very nervous about what Reeves is doing to the economy?

[ProudAmberTurtle]

The data for the last financial year is out and, for the first time in British history, the benefits bill (£333 billion) was higher than income tax receipts (£331 billion).

This didn't even happen during financial crises like when the banks were bailed out in 2008-09, or during Covid when the government paid private sector staff's wages.

What's worse is that the government did not predict this and the benefits bill is projected to rise significantly over the next three years to about £390 billion.

In fact, from what I can understand, income tax receipts have always been significantly higher than the benefits bill, and there's always been an understanding between the two main parties since the 1940s that that needs to be the case for an economy to function properly.

I've worked very hard for more than a quarter of a century and always plan for the future, ie paying the maximum in NI so that my partner and I will receive the full state pension. For the first time in my life, this year the amount I'm earning in savings is going up at below the rate of inflation, even though I've got the highest interest rate available, because I've hit an income tax threshold (£50k) which means 40% of everything I gain in interest goes to the Treasury. This means my savings are actually depreciating in value.

AIBU to think this is just the start? That it's inevitable that taxes will have to rise even further and the state pension will be cut?

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/04/labour-welfare-bill-income-tax-revenue/

I’m not ‘comparing’ I’m reasonably concerned about our economy doom spiral. I couldn’t care less what other people do, good luck to them, but I do care when their ‘choices’ en masse are damaging the country

So?
Again, you are edging closer to suggesting eugenics.

I get the additional costs and responsibilities that come with disability, and I am sympathetic. Purely personally, I do not really understand why anyone with a disabled child needing 24x7 care would take on the risk of having a second child.

No one chooses to have a disabled child. No one chooses to have a child who became ill and ended up disabled.
Maybe NO ONE should have kids. Is that what you want? We already have a plummeting birth rate, and that is also a real issue. Less future tax payers.

Which can also be said for plenty of people who don't have disabled children.

No but those children will likely go on to work and pay taxes and not need lifelong care.

I appreciate talking about innocent disabled children in monetary terms is unedifying but if we don’t, the end result will be even more unedifying. And unless you’re willing to work for free, it’s not reasonable to expect the system not to run off money as it needs to pay staff, teachers, therapists, etc

But if you already have one disabled child, it just seems so utterly common now to have another. I’m genuinely surprised to read about families with 3 kids where only 1 has a diagnosis. Usually they all do, or 2 at least. If you’re already claiming benefits and unable to work due to disabled children, it’s wise not to have any more.

OP, I and many others agree with you.

That’s why many people who can do so are leaving the UK.

which of course leaves the rest of us in an ever worse boat.

It isn't always immediately obvious that a child is disabled. Sometimes it means a 2nd child is already here or sometimes it is the 2nd child who is severely disabled.

The able children will pay; the disabled won't,

What horrible, dehumanising language.

So we need to cap benefits completely - ‘listen up, you will never ever receive more than 25k (or whatever) in benefits, so please think carefully about your family size and remember contraception is free and highly reliable’.

Some of the able children will pay. Thats how bad it’s got. We can’t even say they all will, but they’re more likely to. The pool of taxpayers is tiny

£25k is pretty much the yearly salary for a single person on NMW. So you would cap benefits to that, even for people with non-disabled kids?

Eugenics. Just fucking own it.

This isn't true though. People are often just really picky and won't do jobs that don't fit their strict criteria. I notice that this is less the case with say Eastern Europeans and Indian/Pakistani/African immigrants, which is probs why I see so many working in construction and trucking. It seems they just do the well paid jobs that they can get into relatively easily.

Like, my mate got made redundant at 50yo and didn't want to go back to the same industry as he'd been thinking of retraining for years. He did the free skills bootcamp offered by Flannery Plant Hire and got his tracked dumper and ADT tickets within a fortnight. He was then working on HS2 driving 60t dumpers within a month, making a base salary of £200 a day with optional overtime available at £30 p/h.

He basically got a £50k job with no prior experience, no personal cost, and just two weeks training. This was a month ago. He keeps being offered more work from people he meets as demand is high. Contractors building things like new Lidl stores. One offered him £240 a day only last Thursday but he turned it down as he can likely stay on HS2 for a few years.

If I was into eugenics I would suggest not giving them benefits at all. But I’m not.

No, but you would cap benefits at the rate for a single person on NMW, for a family.
You don't like the poorest having kids, and you don't think disabled people should have kids at all.

This is the next phase of politics. I don't like it, but I think we need a better filter than all lives are equal.

All animals are equal

I literally just said I’m happy for people on NMW to receive a top up and have kids.

Well as the saying goes

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship

Hello, Reform UK.

But not if there is disability in the family.

They wouldn’t be working if they were a carer.

There are far too many humans on this planet already. Yes, we've got ourselves in a right pickle whereby we are struggling to look after our elderly but that doesn't mean there aren't too many people overall.

Picture somebody who has such an unmanageable amount of debt that they need to take out more long term loans to pay the short term loans. More loans may be their only option but it doesn't mean they haven't got enough debt already.

Sorry to disagree @RachelReevesFringe but I think your life is probably worth more than the squirrel I shot this morning.