Would you be willing to take a pay cut to help fight coronavirus?

[Eyewhisker]

The Times today was reporting that 90% of people want the lockdown to continue but the economic cost is at least double what the government originally estimated. A lockdown beyond end April is probably totally unaffordable.

One way to make this work is to impose a one-off ‘NHS levy’ where everyone with an income above a certain minimum level - say £1500 per month, pays 20% of the income above that level as an extra tax for the duration of the lockdown, going back to normal a month afterwards. Benefits and the triple-lock pension increase could be frozen for two years and the winter fuel allowance abolished. Those companies which benefit from the crisis - supermarkets, Amazon could also pay the NHS levy for the extra profits that they have for the lockdown. This will not be enough to pay for the lockdown but could allow the longer lockdown that people seem to want and reduce the debt that we will all have to pay back afterwards.

If you’re in favour of the lockdown, would you be willing to do this?

Nope.

DH and I are both able to wfh on full salaries and I'd be happy to make a contribution directly to NHS staff costs - well tbh lower paid staff nor doctors as they are already well paid - if that was a possibility. Less happy to pay for MPs £10k wfh increase or the salary of our Scottish ex CMO who can afford two homes and thought she was entitled to flit as she wished between them.

Almost everyone wants the lockdown to continue but next to no one is willing to pay for it. Why not if saving lives is so important?

No they dont. Did the times publish how many people they asked? What demographic? Age, sex, race, financial stability, mix of families, single people, couples etc

90% do not want it to continue indefinitely.

And no, I wouldn't be happy taking a pay cut. Dp has already been made redundant. I am working 60 hours a week. 20% less of my wage will mean dire financial straits for us.

£1500 is just above minimum wage, for all those that are under it, are struggling already. Those that are just above it are struggling as well.

You also are not taking into account those people who once things go back to normal, are going to have to work their arses off to try and get back into the black.

Its not about being selfish, its about being able to feed and have a roof over your head after this.

We are going to be paying for this for a long time and the fact you are suggesting punishing those already struggling

Benefits and the triple-lock pension increase could be frozen for two years and the winter fuel allowance abolished

Just shows who actually this is going to affect and that people are expecting it

I'm down to 80% pay/hours already. I'm more worried about my job long term as who knows how long I'll be shielding for.

Obviously to maintain jobs, I would, but I’d be more likely to take a cut from work to ensure my job survives.

DH is a high taxpayer plus a non EU citizen, so it feels unfair for him to pay a third version of NHS tax on top of what he already pays.

It seems that people are totally blind to the cost of this and the implications for their children’s futures.

No they arent. It appears you seem completely blind to the current implications. Or maybe just protected from them.

I agree with @justgivemewine

I reckon we will all be taking the hit financially eventually.

I don't agree with the big companies/football teams taking the government furloughed scheme. ESP companies owned by Phillip green and Richard Branson. I'm hoping that they will get hit when this calms down

I earn 3p above minimum wage so no, I wouldn't take a pay cut.

Surely it would just result in people on benefits getting more Universal credit if their wages go down?

Op can you link the article?

Absolutely not. I do not trust that the extra levy would make a difference. Public funds are always badly mismanaged - no pay rises for public sector for years but the government can pull £1Billion out of their arse as a bribe to the DUP, and £33Million to pay a Ferry company that doesn’t actually own any boats...

And what would the extra levy pay for? The main problem with things like PPE and ventilators is the supply chain, not the cost.

National Insurance was supposed to pay for the NHS and social care; and that’s now being pillaged as the definition of “social care” gets stretched year on year to suit the government’s purpose.

I can see this “levy” being used to bail out big businesses who are unwilling to water down their share price under the guise of “stimulating the economy”. Like fuck I want to be a part of that.

I already volunteer in a role which by rights should be covered by government funding and have expanded that role to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. This is on top of my main job as a key worker. Please don’t accuse me of being “selfish” for not wanting to give an additional 20% of my salary to contribute to some sort of nebulous “COVID fund”

And people talking about benefits being frozen - you do realise that all Universal credit standard elements have been increased by £1000 for a year and that the normal annual increase was also significant this year. Will this now be taken away again?

The longer lockdown lasts the less income I get.
Expect that's the same for many businesses. So it's a big chicken and egg!

I think I would support easing the lockdown for younger or less vulnerable people first rather than keeping on lockdown for what 18 months till a vaccine is administered?

Fuck that, my company has already taken a big hit. DH is an nhs consultant, working far more hours than he should, taking risks nobody should have to. The world will feel this for a decade at least, it's not going to be fixed by docking workers pay for a few months.

I would.

But, I work from home anyway, we're not spending money we would have done on holidays, shopping bill probably lower as we're doing more from scratch from veg boxes etc. I'm one of the minority who (leaving aside what the heck it's done to my pension values) hasn't been particularly negatively impacted by this.

I've little doubt that in the aftermath of this I'll be paying higher taxes, many of us will have to. (I'm not in the higher rate tax bracket)

I think the cost of lockdown can be paid back over the longer term. It shouldn't and mustn't be paid back immediately - no economist is suggesting that. Either way there will be a recession and there will still be businesses and jobs losses despite the govt package.

On a personal point of you - we have taken a 30% cut on household income. Both working harder than ever before. It would be very hard to cut lower

No. I have no income just now anyway and will need all the money I can get: single parent.

Neither do I see why you’d exempt certain groups who whilst they do an amazing job at least have continued employment.

I’d agree that there should be proper tax collection from the big companies and a long hard look at themselves by people who voted for this.

Pushing people into poverty/further into poverty isn’t a solution to an economic crisis. £1500 is too low a threshold for what you suggest.

It would be good to see some figures on your suggestions to understavd whether this was ‘worth it’ or not.

However I do think that the government should be doing some very radical thinking about taxation, benefits and public spending.

Regarding the tax-dodging giants, I was wondering the other day whether some sort of ‘virtue signal’ declaration could be brought in for companies over a certain size, a bit like food hygiene ratings on restaurants (I’m aware this is a simplistic way of looking at it btw) so when you bought something from Amazon you’d see a rating on how much tax was paid in the UK in the last financial year, for example.

I would support a higher top tax rate, and I think there are other things that could be taxed very heavily indeed - air travel for example.

I would be looking at a UBI if I was in government - simplify state pensions and benefits across the board, abolish or raise the age for a lot of old age benefits (not pensions), take measures to stop private individuals and companies benefitting from state funding (eg some buy to let landlords, railways, etc). I’d also look at the stranglehold the supermarkets have on some food producers.

I’d double (at least) council tax on second homes and tax empty properties in a punitive way to free up housing.

These are just ideas I’ve dreamed up and I have no idea (obviously) of the numbers involved. Things that involve some degree of choice should be targeted more heavily than just an ‘all in this together’ bullshit austerity drive which hurts poorer people the most.

I also think we should be wary of throwing money at the NHS when there are a lot of public services which, if properly funded, take the pressure off the NHS under normal circumstances.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk

I'm self employed, have lost 100% of my income already and if/when I get money from HMRC it will pay me about 40% of my most recent earnings, business only just 5 years old so early years were low.

I also have no idea if I will get any work at all after this. I may be considered an unnecessary additional expense.

And, despite having ME/CFS I am already working in a food bank, delivering meals and good parcels and shopping for 2 households (DH can't drive as he has injured his right hand).

I have no more to give at the moment. And I'm not even badly hurting yet!

I also have no income, they are welcome to take 50% of nothing, they can have a 100% of nothing if they like 🙂
no doubt the people who are hoarding all the wealth will get to keep 100% of the hoard

If I hadn’t already had a paycut at work yes. I can’t afford another though.

Absolutely no.

We are above your income threshold and have ready taken pay cuts to keep our workplaces afloat. Many lawyers/accountants/engineers etc are in the same boat.

We wouldn't be prepared to take an even bigger hit- we are dependent on our salaries to live.

Plus it would totally kill what was left of the economy as everyone would completely stop spending. In our capitalist set up none of us can afford for further mass pay reductions. We'd immediately have to drop music lessons, dance lessons etc which would have a direct impact on the small businesses and individuals who we support by paying for these. We'd cut back on charitable donations/memberships, which would have an impact on that sector etc etc. Far more jobs would be lost as we'd head into a pretty much certain period of depression.

It isn’t about taking a pay cut. It’s about not having a job to go back to.

Lockdown needs to last the shortest possible time to achieve the objective of allowing the NHS yo cope.

Or next winter is going to be cold and grim for a huge number of families.

No