Suggestion that over 40s pay slightly higher tax to fund social care

[Bishybarnybee]

This seems to make sense - at least it gives younger people a few years of not having to pay for care while they are getting established. I know many 40 year olds will still be right in the middle of raising children and there's never going to be a good time to find extra tax - but paying for care over the second half of your life seems as good a solution as any.

Don't forget that Blair/Brown increased NIC twice (The "tax" that workers but no one else pays) to "save the NHS". Well that worked well didn't it?

It was the debt that individual Hospital Trusts were enabled and encouraged to get into to massage efficiency figures under Blair/Brown that sunk it. Although the specific legislation was brought in under John Major’s conservative government it was used sparingly, but unfortunately became open season under New Labour.

Social mobility has stalled utterly, and I predict will continue to accelerate backwards. The bottom end of the squeezed middle will slide into poverty themselves so we’ll get the far left government so many are hungering for. The richest of the rich will jump ship, because they can afford to. The far left will drive the economy faster off the cliff on the trajectory Brexit and now Covid-19 has pointed us at.

Good luck everyone! We’re all gonna need it!!

@user1497207191

why not just increase NI contributions for everyone.

First we need to charge NI for everyone. At the moment, most people aren't paying it. It's only paid by workers. Everyone else is exempt: pensioners, benefit claimants, buy to let'ers, those living on investment income and those living on foreign income.

If we extended NI to all income, from whatever source, we wouldn't need to raise taxes at all.

Or even better, just scrap it and add a few percent to income tax.

But pensioners who work often pay more tax than working age people, my husband is a case in point he is 71 and earns 23k a year as a cluster charity shop manager if he was working age he would pay £3,456 pa in tax and NI but he doesn't pay tax on £23k he has a private and state pension of 15k a year so he pays tax on £38k which is just over 5k , I am sure he would be happy to pay NI the same as a working age person if his state pension was tax free like working age benefits (UC and tax credits)

Apart from anything else to fund the current state of social care is going to cost a fortune particularly if the government keeps its pledge to stop people having to sell their homes to self fund. I think it should be funded in a similar way as NI.

What about the fact that 40 yos have already had their pension ages increased from between 2-7 years, final salary pensions closed (unless public sector?) and an NI increase of 1% back in 2008, university fees and in your 40s be juggling working and caring responsibilities. Also the age most likely to get divorced. Do 20/30 somethings still feel that they are harder done by than those in their 40s?

It's the perpetual dream for someone else to pay.

It's probably not intended to stir up inter-generational strife, but I think that's all it will serve to do

Don't forget that Blair/Brown increased NIC twice (The "tax" that workers but no one else pays) to "save the NHS". Well that worked well didn't it?

The NI hikes of the early 00s were huge, unprecedented, and completely eaten up,with very little to show for it. One big programme back then was modernising, mending and rebuilding every school. But it was done in a way that means loads now need major repair again now, less than 20 years on. Running maintenance yes of course, but there are enough in a terrible state that it's making the news again.

Sorry, that's just a rather wordy way of saying I will never again support the idea that we should all be paying more tax because it will improve Because it just doesn't work. Tax according to means - as we do now with the richest paying an enormous proportion of the income tax take.

@TheNortherner

What about the fact that 40 yos have already had their pension ages increased from between 2-7 years, final salary pensions closed (unless public sector?) and an NI increase of 1% back in 2008, university fees and in your 40s be juggling working and caring responsibilities. Also the age most likely to get divorced. Do 20/30 somethings still feel that they are harder done by than those in their 40s?

I was coming on to say exactly this. Many people in this age bracket are struggling to prepare for the years when they will no longer be able to work - yes, changes to pensions and retirement age will also affect the younger generations, but they have their whole working lives to prepare for it.