The budget 2014

[VikkiMumsnet]

George Osborne is all set to deliver this year's budget on Wednesday 19th March.

Here's a useful link for what's expected to be covered. Headline issues are likely to include property tax and stamp duty, as well as an increase in the personal tax allowance (up to £10,000).

What do you want to see as part of the budget, and what are you dreading coming up? Share your thoughts below.

The idea of stopping people from getting a "State Pension" "Because they are Wealthy" is appalling . If some one pays N.I for 40- 50 years the least you should expect is a "pension" regardless of "Wealth"

What about people who have not worked and not paid NI and are wealthy because of inherited money.

Should they get a state pension?
And subsidised council tax?
And free bus passes?
And winter fuel allowance?

""Inheritance" Tax is the most amoral and unfair tax."

I don't know about that, Motown.

The idea of any tax is to get some money from people who've got it. Those people will always say it's unfair.

The previous owners don't need it any more, and the future owners didn't work for it, so the tax doesn't actually make anyone worse off than they were before inheriting.

Very often it is charged on estates that have had the benefit of house price inflation, so it depends on where and when the previous owners chanced to live, and what has happened to that area.

If we had a wealth tax, so that owners of £2m houses had to pay a bit every year, it would be harder for them, because they might not have the income to cover it.

I do think though that it ought to be graduated, rather than single-step once over the allowance. If the rate was lower, it could be started at a lower rate, and winch upwards in bands, like income tax does.

I don't know what should be done to prevent it capturing mostly the moderately-wealthy, I understand the really-rich can afford wheezes to avoid it. I did hear that loopholes avoiding foreign oligarchs who are billionaires and own UK homes but don't pay UK tax, are being tightened up a bit.

Talkinpeace. for a start they wont use a Bus pass .

How many "Wealthy"people are there who have "Never Worked" or Paid no N.I . About 1000 Seriously Rich Sons/Daughters I bet that's all.

The people who will Inherit "Moderate" Estates of £2-3 Million will probably have been in Employment ( Whether Having Sleepless Nights Running the Family Business) or working in other areas.

So a "Well" Off or Comfortably off family live in a 4/5 Bedroom House, valued at £1- 1.25 Million but pay up to £ 4k Per year in Council Tax ( For what ) .That is a Total Rip off , as are the Business Rates that they are Probbaly paying as well.

my mother's house has been in her family for 5 generations, she, her father and all the babies in the family before them were born in that house... some died there too ... it is all my mum owns - no savings etc... but due to artificial house price inflation, when my mum dies it will have to be sold to pay the IHT... it saddens me.

motown
sorry but you are wrong

the widows of people who worked get the cushy pensions despite never having worked themselves
thousands and thousands of them

the bus pass is vehy useful for getting to Harvey Nicks
the fuel allowance gets spent at Majestic
and the 25% discount on the london house and the cotswolds house covers the fuel in the jag

rates in the UK are a pittance compared with land taxes in countries like the USA
a $1m house pays around $20,000 a year in land taxes

TheGreatHunt Based upon the fact that if the fraud is undetected, it is very likely to be higher than what you suppose. For example, there could be any number of frauds being committed that nobody is detecting (rather than those which are detected and then extrapolatoed over the entire benefits population - there is a difference).

I'm not sure that I agree that inheritance tax is immoral. I do beleive that the use of trusts should, in all but a very very few circumstances, be prevented in relation to IHT. If we're not careful, your chances of owning your own property will be dependent on whether or not your parents owned theirs. That to me is fundamentally wrong. Whether or not you inherit (and the opportunities that you may enjoy as a result of any inheritance) is entirely an accident of birth. The only reason I can think of to not have inheritance tax at a higher rate is because I doubt the government's ability to spend any revenue wisely.

shadow why does it 'have' to be sold? could you not move in and get a mortgage to pay the IHT?

if you have a house of your own now could that not be sold to pay the IHT given you're going to have another house to live in?

or is it that you want to keep the house but don't want to have to actually live in it or have any costs involved?

You said the figure is probably much higher. I disagree. DWP do work on fraud and as they detect more then fraud levels which are detected go up.

probably much higher. It still doesn't answer my point as to undetected fraud.

Undetected tax fraud dwarfs undetected benefit fraud

rather than focussing on the unknown unknown, focus on the known knowns and known unknowns

that way potential success rather than certain stress lies

I should point out that I'm not in favour tax fraud either (it's not an "either or" argument for me). But you're right, I'm making the case for unknown unknowns.couldn't quite bring myself to do the whole DOnald Rumsfeld thing

I do think that as a country we need to look more towards equality of opportunity, rather than just equality. Much of what is written here reflects the politics of envy - which is to everyone's detriment.

nothing I wrote is the politics of envy

I'm an accountant
the loopholes are there to be closed - if there is the political will

Tax fraud is treated leniently. Like traffic offences. Because it's committed by people who consider themselves "respectable" such as MPs and newspaper proprietors You actually get people saying it's not "fair" that there are so many speed cameras, you ought to have a fair chance of not getting caught.

Whenever HMRC get permission to spend a few million on investigation of tax evasion, they always get back much more than they spend. But they aren't allowed to do more. Insane, because it doesn't actually "cost" anything.

That's why I said "much of what's written here"

I think that the general anti-avoidance principles will go some way to making things fairer (this was more than a so-called labour government managed).

We do though need to distinguish between tax avoidance (everyone who has an ISA is a tax avoider) and tax evasion.

I start from the premise that tax is theft.

My ideal would be a low flat tax/NI which is capped once you've paid £50k or £100k tax a year. Then I'd abolish IHT and stamp duty. I would ensure CGT and income tx were at the same rate and abolish all tax reliefs on charitable contributions, ISAs, pensions and all the other myriad of reliefs from patent box to film finance.

I would halve the size of the state and state provision starting with the £2bn we spend on NHS meals each year. Much of what we spend is on the old. I would abolish the heating allowance and the free bus pass. I would accelerate later retirement dates.

I would consider costing out a universal payment to everyone over 18 whether in work or not instead of state pension and all other benefits including tax credits and housing benefit of say £10k a year.

Instead we have a Government as wet as ever with no real cutting agenda which is keeping the state as bloated as ever.

I'm broadly with you, save for the inheritance tax issue.

"I start from the premise that tax is theft."

ha ha ha!

You must be living in the wrong place. You should be living in a place with no street lights, public health, NHS, benefits, state pension, fire brigade or police force, or state education which provides an educated workforce.

Oddly, some of the oligarchs and gangsters from such places like to have a home in the UK which has a degree of public service and rule of law.

Laura
You better hope that your kids have part time jobs to look after you in your old age

I will work until I die.
There is no party nowadays to represent my views. All 3 want a huge bloated public sector bigger than it has ever been with a massive tax take.

I am utterly unrepresented in British politics and most women will be glad as most women earn much less than men, give up work or work part time for not much money so are more left wing on tax and spending issues.
My 20 something daughters have paid £40k in stamp duty on their first tiny flats in the last 12 months and pay some tax/NI at 42%. The burden falling on young people is appalling at present and of course middle income families. The old, NHS and education have been protected for far too long.

Laura. If your Daughters "Starter" Homes cost 40k In Stamp Duty You really need to get a life Comparing them to 99.9% of 20- 30 year olds?

I say that as someone who Up thread says IHT is Amoral . and certainly not someone on the Left , but I think you inhabited a world of "Princesses".

Inhabit a world

Middle income family in the United Kingdom is Probably £50K between two earners . The Statistical average in the Uk is £32K up from 29k from 2 years ago. Your Daughters must be earning £200k Pa Each to be able to pay 40k stamp Duty 1 million house "Starter" Home. Even if that is the combined duty of two still £500k homes at Twenty Something.....

LauraBridges Mon 17-Mar-14 18:17:39
I will work until I die.

I deduce that if you become frail, sick or disabled, you are planning to die early.

Laura - shall we just shoot you if you get too ill to work?

You know that episode of Dallas where she wakes up and Bobby is in the shower? I'd like to discover that Gideon was just a nightmare.