The budget will be 'painful'

[darada]

We're going to get absolutely bent over a barrel aren't we?

I fear the middle classes are going to be hit hardest because the poor don't pay that much (not unreasonably) and the very rich have access to accountants, lawyers and advisers and therefore will wriggle out of having to really pay.

I don't mind paying my fair share but I fear we're going to be squeezed and the money is going to be wasted a lot of it.

Anyone else feel a tad dispirited like me?

There are many ways to find money that does not involve hammering the average working person:

-removing MP's ability to claim for their food, transport, housing...their salary is high enough

-taxing utility companies: they have been making obscene profits for years

-making sure big corporate companies pay their fair share of tax

-taxing landlords who own more than one rental. Also taxing Air b&b (a blight on local communities...)

-getting on with trying to recover the millions in tax payer money that were wasted on dodgy contracts with Tory mates during the Covid crisis...

-cutting government waste. There are too many vanity projects and highly paid consultants and that need to be reformed too.

I completely agree. We ploughed our savings into buying properties as per the instructions of Tony Blair when he told us not to rely on state pensions. We did precisely that. Are good landlords and are now getting completely screwed on all fronts. We fully intend to move abroad in a few years. We just can't be squeezed any further. I just feel so despondent. We have worked so hard to try and get a great retirement pot and now it just seems impossible.

I think we are just angry. We've had years and years of austerity and everyone is fucked off and exhausted.

We expected a new government to stop the cronyism (they havent), tax the ultra rich (they don't seem to be interested in this). KS said that the Tories plan to scrap the WFA was an awful idea (now he's done it).

I think if you aren't questioning every single colour of government then you should be!

And what you thin Labour are better? Do you think it's okay they winter fuel allowance is taken away and will hurt a lot of people just over the threshold for pension credit...meanwhile Rachel Reeves is claiming expenses for her energy bills on her second home?

I think everyone has the right to be bloody angry at what will be more taxes they have to pay whilst that type of shit is going on. No fuck that why shoukd I go.to work and hand over more money so her and all other MPs can keep claiming those expenses. They themselves are on a salary.double almost triple what I am on, they talk about the broadest shoulders taking the burden what's happened to their broad shoulders?

You would think before or with the announcement of taking away winter fuel they would also announce they are cutting their expense claims and not giving themselves exorbitant pay rises...

Because the people who are getting the free money haven't been taxed on it.
Its like saying you should never pay VAT on PAYE earnings because you have paid once - but its actually better because the people getting taxed have never been taxed on that inheritance

Dh has a (small, struggling) business here and he loves where we live and is naturally very risk averse. Even he said this morning let's sell up and leave the country!

We have the same conversation every week. 😀

'@RhubarbAndCustardSweets
I think the most worrying aspect of all this, is that so many people seem to be suffering from collective amnesia. We're in this mess because for the last 14 years the Tory party have prioritized funneling money to their mates through dodgy contracts, promoting their cronies to the House of Lords, and failing to address immigration, tax avoidance, all leading to a desecration of public services. But you lot are all angry at what Labour might do to try and fix it.'

We all know that and that's why many of us voted Labour.

That does not mean that we can't point out that we did not vote Labour in just so they could continue to destroy the average person's standard of living and carry on with austerity for the little people, while yet again the rich & big companies continue to prosper....

Pensioners and people on average salaries are not the ones Labour need to go for.

People want a fairer society not another version of the Tories.

Bloody landlords can never see how they are part of the problem. Makes me sick.

These are all very good suggestions, I would vote for you 😀

Me too!

You sound charming. No landlords? Where are the people who can't afford to buy a house supposed to live?

Absolutely this.

'@crowsatemyslugpellets · Today 09:22
I completely agree. We ploughed our savings into buying properties as per the instructions of Tony Blair when he told us not to rely on state pensions.'

Nobody needs to own several properties.

I have no issue with someone who acquires one buy to let to have an income when they are no longer working.

But landlords who own several properties & push house prices up so that first time buyers can never get a home of their own are just parasites.

And if anyone thinks the problem with the finances in this country is the old lady down the road who can afford to run a car, or the family who've saved into a pension for years, then you aren't thinking straight.

Whoever pays, the money has already been wasted. It’s to fill the black hole borrowing.

The process of Brexit in itself cost billions, the Grayling non-ferries, the dud PPE, the massive list of schemes and incompetencies, corruption, stupid consultations (from May reviving grammar schools in the think of Brexit crisis to Boris undertaking a consultation with the retail and hospitality sector in whether to go back to Imperial measures, FFS).

Plus all the stuff we never knew about.

I’m not saying Labour aren’t also capable of waste and misspending, but the money we are paying is money that has been wasted.

I do think the WFA should be means tested. I'm not entitled to child benefit or tax free childcare because my income is too high. That is right and fair. Why should my taxes therefore go to heating the home of a wealthy pensioner? The threshold potentially needs looking at again for those at the cut off but otherwise this is perfectly reasonable.

Everything else people are identifying on here is pure guesswork and hyperbole. So I question the motives of many posters who don't actually know what will be in the budget at this point and are very keen for us all to forget why we are here in the first place.

I’m very dispirited! I have been going through the options, wondering what will be subject to increased taxes and how
much we will be hit for.
Im a higher earner, as is DH. I know we can shoulder more than some. But we have ‘cut our coat’. We have fixed outgoings and can’t ‘just’ find hundreds more. We already receive no help for childcare or anything else. We have worked (and saved) very hard making well thought out decisions for our family.

We also work bloody hard (and have for 20 years) in high pressure jobs. This all seems utter bullshit right now to be honest. If they remove pension relief how short sighted is that?! NHS will suffer (as consultants cut hours) and why would you discourage pension savings?
CGT and inheritance tax, maybe I get that more.
All in all, you can’t keep targeting the same section of society and asking them to pay more. Well you can, but in my view you will lower productivity and dampen aspiration along the way.

I don't disagree that the WFA should be means tested, but that's not what they've done.

Financial stuff aside I'd hope that there will be a big push for health - healthy eating, exercise, cutting down smoking and drinking etc.

The amount of money our country spends because we exist in an environment that expects the state to make us better when we make ourselves ill and do not look after ourselves.

Of course we need a great NHS to treat illness but the system is on its knees. I hope they heavily tax bad food and takeaways (I love takeaway), incentivise exercise and volunteering in some way and encourage us all to take more responsibility if we can.

We should be cutting MP subsidies. No more discounted food/drink and no second homes.

Taxing the profits of utility companies, gas etc.

Putting an end to wastage in the NHS.

No more contracts to the governments “mates”.

Id Also support a tax on fast/unhealthy foods that lead to obesity as this is something that costs the NHS an enormous amount of money.

No one needs this stuff.

Just to add. I think it’s utterly reprehensible to be elected on certain assurances, find a fictional ‘black hole’ (if they didn’t know, they should have done) and then hit people with measures that weren’t honestly discussed during the election process.
I’m pretty cynical at this point but I think this is disgraceful and un democratic

He must think the public are stupid

All the sanctimonious outrage about the tories being immoral liars (some are!!) and then this. He is a hypocrite.