Thank goodness tax rise scrapped

[Jems557]

So we’re a blended large family, so after maintenance and all the outgoings for our large combined family we don’t have very much left at all, as obviously we need a big house so our mortgage and council tax is a lot, we need a bigger than average (although several year old) car etc. However we don’t claim any benefits, my DH works hard to provide for his and our children but so much is taken in tax anmd maintenance already, there is no tax allowance for raising children. This would of hit us hard

Fully agree OP - thank God! It had got to the point of why bother working .

My DH is a high earner- I never see him
much , he works all hours, I do everything at home and with the kids and if they tax us more we were happy to step back and live a very different lifestyle. It is just not worth it.

I don’t want to pay for people on benefits who don’t need them and can work. I don’t want to pay for illegal entry immigrants when we’re walking round the supermarket counting everything we spend and cutting back on basics for our kids. Fuck that! The government had got it very very wrong

I don't have a lot of sympathy with people who are struggling to pay maintenance for their existing children, and then go on to have more.

https://crossness.org.uk/

I am loving this diversion into London's sewage systems 😂
Crossness is well worth a visit if anyone else is interested!

I wouldn't even touch one of those men with a barge poll.

Indeed OP. If the lazy sods on benefits have to only have the kids they can afford why didn't you DH take that advice?

No, it was kite flying from No 10 and No 11.

You’re missing the point. If OP’s household (and mine) swapped our high paying incomes for working sixteen hour a week each in Tesco, our standards of living wouldn’t really drop. But the country would lose significant amounts of tax and skilled work. How does that benefit anyone?

OP and her husband can afford it, with a no-frills lifestyle. So can others, to an equal standard, by living on benefits. So what’s the point of working?

Nah, just on the Labour back benches.

Reducing tax thresholds is much worse than o it ting up the basic rate by 1%

This is incorrect. We had to issue over 400k work visas (and the family visas for their families) to fill the jobs which British people mostly don't want to do, like care, nursing etc. Illegal migration is a drop in the ocean really, out of those over 750k net immigration majority are legal.

If we could reduce the number of people on benefits and them filling jobs instead, it's not only we'd reduce this sky high welfare bill, but we also wouldn't need to import that many people in and those working would also pay some taxes.

I'm all for increasing NMW, but surely this has to be reflected in reduction of UC and other benefits spend?

How wouldn't your standards of living not really drop? Especially if you and OP have large mortgages.

I mean, that's absolute rubbish isn't it? 16 hours a week of minimum wage is just over £10k per year. Do you really think you can swap a high income (by which I assume you mean 6 figures, or at least high 5 figures) for that without it affecting your living standards?

For most working people the tax rise would have been offset by a reduction in NI. So once again the grey haired pensioners and landlords will pay less tax than younger working people . Political cowardice

It isn’t a benefit bashing post at all, I’m glad and grateful of what we had when I was a single parent on benefits and happy to see friends who rely on top ups not have to live in poverty. However disagree my children seem to have any more than friends who are on UC, quite the opposite. However I don’t begrudge them that

What about the people like us who have to earn enough to support our larger blended family, we would have been worse off. You would say only by a small proportion but that would have been 10% of our entire disposable income of which we have little as it is.

There are benefits and free childcare which top up the income so that the net net comparison may be very similar

Both would be quite rubbish at the moment. I’m someone who would have advocated rising tax by 1-2% and been happy to pay it, until now. Don’t think people quite realise how squeezed some of the middle are at the moment. Of course there are exceptions, e.g parents who have grandparents that pay for school uniforms or holidays or don’t have typical accommodation or commuting costs

What id like to see is removal of tax free allowance for everyone

You did choose to blend that family and have those children. As did I, for clarity.

But complaining that I have to spend my income on decisions I have actively made seems a bit silly.

UC has been in for about a decade. Getting away with sixteen hours like you used to be able to is outdated.

I was better off as a single parent working 16 hours a week than we are as a large blended family, there are just so many things your not eligible for if you are not on UC and so many extra things to pay for e.g, my DC have their uni maintenance loan reduced by virtue of my DH income, you need an extra room for DSC, extra food, clothes and presents and entertainment but still a large income portion to pay for maintenance. DH higher income has to do a lot of heavy lifting!!

Why did you then blend it or add more children? It is a genuine question.

Should our tax system actively penalise us for it??

If we chose not to blend the state would still be paying me thousands a year in top ups, my rent, and childcare, as it is all my benefits stopped when we blended, we bought a house together and my DH was able to do the childcare to cover shifts which had previously been very costly (and mainly paid for through benefits).

In short - yes.

Who do you think paid for those thousands in top ups etc? Tax payers. Higher earners. Families like yours.

What, you were okay taking it but now you don’t want your taxes to raise to cover someone else’s costs, who are in the same boat you were once in?