To want the Government to do more about the Cost of Living crisis?

[user365241987]

I just cannot see what the Government is doing to support the insane rise in CoL. Our income is higher than it has ever beautiful we just scrape by every month. It's so depressing. Don't qualify for any benefits. So tired of it. I have written to my MP. I can't understand why they don't increase the lowest tax threshold as that would at least help everyone at the lower end. I don't see any improvement ahead.

Which is going to make the country's problems worse in the long term.

And this is where the debate is impossible, facts and logic are classed as bashing.

I love a good benefit bashing thread. A lot of people claiming UC do work and do pay their taxes.
Can anyone see how the COL crisis has further divided the country? Lots of things have impacted this, COVID, Brexit and then Trump starting a war one day because he wanted to!
I do believe there's more the government could do to increase productivity and help ease taxation on lower and middle incomes. But I'm more concerned about the impact the scapegoating has on us as a society and people turning to places like reform for the answer. Don't have to look too far back in history to where we've heard this one before...

Tax revenue mainly and dept budgets. In what way do you mean?

They should cut benefits and help people like OP who are working h for a living. Honestly we can’t afford to support all these people who don’t work anymore

There is far too much money tied up in housing, successive governments have caused so many issues making ever increasing house prices a key part of our economy.

As a result it’s too hard to increase taxes on lower & middle earners because so much of that income is tied to housing costs.

We already tax higher earners a lot.

There really isn’t much wriggle room left and despite everyone thinking it’s so easy to get the economy growing again the Tories couldn’t achieve it and labour wont either.

Okay, answer my question- how can I shoulder your problems?

I think it's not acceptable here as in other countries the amount taken is a fraction of what we pay in council tax in the UK. A lot of it paying for social care.

This.
There will be no inflation linked salary increases.
There will be no one off payments.
There will be nobody to step in if you can’t afford your mortgage.
There will be no discounts.

Nobody is coming. You’re a working responsible adult.

God speed.

I think it's not acceptable here as in other countries the amount taken is a fraction of what we pay in council tax in the UK. A lot of it paying for social care.

I think it’s because of our distorted housing market and because so much of that wealth is in the hands of the older generations.
People need to accept that should have to pay for their social care.

The majority of people claiming UC do. not. work

They need to remove the cliff edges, it stops me from working more.

I think they should keep taxes and benefits as they are, possibly even reduce taxes. This would be paid for by taking a person's whole estate when they die into the treasury. This would raise a ton of money for the country, stop a small number of wealthy families hoarding wealth for generations, set a level playing field, incentivise work for all, and mean that public services could be well funded. Winner winner!

The UK has much higher council tax bills than the Irish one quoted. The biggest expense UK councils have is social care. Are Irish councils on the hook for this or is the central funding available?

I have 12 btl houses not 13. The other one is a holiday home and as of yet had not been rented out. None of my tenants claim UC or housing benefit that I am aware of . I try to let to families who pass credit checks and income affordability checks where both in a couple work. I get to see their occupations when I vet tenants prior to moving in.

50% of people on UC are not required to seek work, meaning that the government have assessed them as being unable to work at all.

What do you want them to do and who is going to pay for it? You say you don't qualify for any benefits so do you not think you'll be paying rather than receiving if there is any help?

By not taking yet another above-inflation rise in the state pension and by not complaining about the decision to means test the WFA.

Oh, and by paying NI like anyone of working age with the same income as you would have to.

That’s a scandal in itself.

Can we please include the royals in this.

Not all pensioners can claim a full state pension. Also older pensioners are on the old state pension and get a lot less than £12.5k.

Yes to this, it will increase productivity.

The Tories took us to Brexit, harming the economy, Boris chucked money around at nonsense projects, Truss fucked the economy beyond recognition and we're absolutely skint with city councils going bankrupt.

Yes, it would be great if the government could do more to help, but practically speaking, the options are few.

The problem is that if the Government bail us out we still end up paying in the long run with increased taxes anyway. Aren't we still paying for all the people furloughed during covid?

@caringcarer but they still won’t have paid enough tax will they?