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?

They had to lie to the public to get in. They know the majority of voters are fundamentally stupid and probably get their information from socal media...hence brexit and the popularity of Boris Johnson. So labour lied and so we wont raise taxes and people believed them...now everyone is up in arms that they need to raise taxes because after 14 years of the tories this country is on its knees.

What did people expect???

They had to lie to the public to get in.

An admission at least.

I agree.

An admission they have done what every government has ever done???

You do realise that recently released figures by the DWP showed that fraudulent claims from PIP are so small that statistically they register as 0%. If anyone has been through the system for PIP or helped anyone to apply then they would know that it is by no means an easy process - you need stacks of medical evidence and also you get a grilling by people who are doing all they can to NOT award the money. The way that the disabled have been demonised especially by the Daily Fail et al is appalling. The figure for benefits going UNCLAIMED is eyewatering. I get so angry at people having a pop at the disabled because they aren't visibly disabled. My aunt has severe heart failure and gets exhausted after about 30 yards of walking. She also has auto-immune hepatic disease which makes her feel dreadfully unwell but you wouldn't know it to look at her!

I am comfortable with fairly high levels of taxation provided the money is spent fairly. The number of people recipients sickness benefit is completely out of hand.

Just out of interest how much more tax would you be happy to pay a month?

If they put up PAYE for higher earners (not the ultra rich) they will just work less, ie opt for a 4 day week. I think we have reached the peak of PAYE tax levels without harming productivity.

@twistyizzy no more every month- we have already reached high tax levels which I am currently comfortable with provided the funds are spent fairly.

Indeed, purse-lipped Yvette Cooper and her her hubby Ed 'Twinkletoes' Balls were some of the worst offenders a few years ago using taxpayers cash to flip properties and make even more then had the temerity to charge taxpayers up to £600 for their food bill!!!

Exactly. My DH is a higher rate tax payer (just scrapes 100K per year). He pays more tax each year than the median salary in UK. Tax him more and you take away the incentive for him to work in such a high pressured job. Working 60 hrs per week, every week + whilst on annual leave to bring home less than 70K is ridiculous. His health is suffering, he is having panic attacks and I'm sick of the rhetoric around tax and earners like him having the broadest shoulders. With VAT on indy schools we are already weighing up whether he should pack his job in and downgrade as if Labour continue to target earners like him then it simply isn't worth it.
We have never claimed anything ie child benefit etc and are net contributers yet are now fair game for paying yet more to support everyone else. It simply isn't sustainable for 40% of the working population to keep on supporting the other 60%, that's how you kill aspiration and investment.

Or people who want to move regularly?
Due to my job I help people who move on temp work contracts that are usually 1 or 2 years, mostly from overseas.
Surely you wouldn't expect them to buy a house? Not that they could get a mortgage in any case due to no credit foorprint.
Renting is already very tightly regulated and while there are still some bad landlords its not the profitable business it once was and more and more good ones have sold up. The issue is not enough rentals either Private or Council/HA so Landlords can be very very picky about who they rent to, especially as its very hard to evict someoen even if they stop paying rent

In that case you are definitely who Labour will be targeting! Those "with the broadest shoulders"

Apart from Labour lying did you post pre GE that you knew taxes would go up?

I'm also struck that you think anyone not voting as you do is due to stupidity. Perhaps the opposition really didn't connect with the electorate and they needed to think about why.

@RhubarbAndCustardSweets Furlough cost 70bn. You and everyone else who claps on about "Tories and their mates" seems to have forgotten that most of the country were paid 80% of their salary to stay at home for a prolonged period. That had not been foreseen or budgeted for and obviously has to be repaid.
Also, since Covid, the number of working age people not working due to ill health has gone up from around 2m to almost 3m. Why??
Labour are doing exactly what the Tories said they would do, and they vigorously denied. Raising taxes for everyone. Oh and claiming they didn't realise they would need to do that? Its beyond embarrassing. Labour (quite rightly) called out the Tories on the lies they told, but are now moving forward with lies of their own? It is a joke, the electorate are not as stupid as they seem to believe.

@twistyizzy ...agree completely.
I work in two roles , both high pressured and I don't get bonuses or lots of perks. I work well over contracted hours because I understand the level I'm at is not a clock on clock off job.
I've been driven and worked hard , my DP is the same.
I'm caught in the tax bracket where I'm earning enough to lose my personal allowance but not enough to compensate...so effectively my last promotion and payrise made my salary stand still.
If I'm taxed more , I'm going to reduce hours , work less and look at every possible way to reduce my taxable income.
Like other consultants ( I'm a medic ) I won't be working to just pay more tax

Yes everyone seems to forget the furlough scheme. It was a massive overpayment when people were not commuting/going out/going on holiday. Many people actually made money over it. Clearly it has to be repaid somehow.

I don't have "broad shoulders" ...I have sagging exhausted drooping bloody shoulders.
I don't own a second home, I rent one as my job (like an MP) means I need to be in a different city part of the week...but I cannot claim expenses or tax relief for this, unlike an MP.
So I'm very bitter about higher earners being described as having broad shoulders.

Agreed but that's Labour's expression as stated by the Treasury spokesman this morning. You see it on here all the time ie anyone earning over 40K called wealthy and therefore able to burden more taxation etc

A small thing in the big picture but Eat Out to Help Out was also subject to massive scam. My friend who owned a restaurant said there were no checks at all, as it was introduced with no planning or infrastructure. Businesses scammed it big time.

Furlough was scammed left right and centre.

They said they wouldn't raise a certain number of taxes not they wouldn't raise taxes at all. But as you say alot of people are stupid and won't have understood what was being said.

A GP will sign off if the disability is depression and/or anxiety because they can't really be proved.

My neighbour claims benefits for such bad anxiety that he can't leave the house. Strange then that he leaves the houses every day to work cash in hand, go shopping, walk his dog, go out with his girlfriend!

You have no idea what Amazon pay in tax so how can you possibly decide they don't pay enough?

I heard a really good idea. We all have a tax allowance, yes? So if you don't work for ten years because you are a carer you have lost more than £100k of tax free income. Why not have that as a lifetime allowance? So you can go back to work and recoup the costs over time. Doesn't matter if you had children, were ill, were building a business.