Council Tax

[EverythingAllatOnceAllTheTime]

Does Labour plan to scrap the single person council tax discount?

@Ihateboris

if I downsize any further, it'll have to be shed in a friends garden!!

I feel the urge to join you, but currently on medication & it would make me puke 🤮 so have one for me!

How is it too low?! . We pay £220 for a small 2 bed flat, it has gone up 20% in the last 2 years

A pensioner receiving state pension cannot receive carers allowance if their state pension is more than the carers allowance amount which most people's will be. They are overlapping benefits. they can get a carers premium on a pension credit calculation if they qualify for pension credit.

Crikey, I really hope not.
I know several people already who have fuck all left after their bills etc. Having to pay an extra 25% in CT will push them over the edge.

@Bumpitybumper I don't know if you're misunderstanding my posts or ignoring what I'm trying to say. I'm tired and maybe not articulating well.

I didn't say I thought children shouldn't be paid for. As I'm a parent I obviously appreciate tax money helping fund them.

You're the one who seems to think some people ("entities") are less important. I apologise though if I'm misinterpreting your posts.

You seem to think single people (who, as I've said, include single parents) are "more of a burden" regarding later life care. Again apologies if I'm misinterpreting your posts.

I was simply trying to point out the unfairness of your claims. Yes everyone was supported when the were kids but single childless/childfree people pay a second time for other people's children.

That's fine because, as you and I both agree, we're in a society. That however means reciprocity. So if a childfree/childless person needs social care, they've paid their way and until needing care taken less.

YES a large proportion of carers ARE partners. Didnt seem to cut much ice when they changed the rules on claiming Pension Credit for mixed age couples five years ago though. Funny that!!! The younger partner WILL end up caring for the older partner and without PC now has work condtionality as well. I wonder how many of them downed tools and how this has affected the pressure on social care.....
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/money-matters/3479693-Changes-to-Pension-Credit

Welcome to the Labour Government!
They’re going to continue to screw over the working class and the fat cats get fatter and people thought they would be better than the Tories.

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar

one way of announcing you have no knowledge of the difficulties around school transport for children with SEN

You have my commiserations, and I hope that it doesn’t come to that. A friend of mine is in a similar sort of position. Her pensions income, state and private, after tax is around £1,700 a month. Not the breadline, but after council tax, utilities and insurance it’s about £1,300. The removal of the winter fuel allowance has already reduced that by £25. The removal of the 25% council tax discount would reduce it by another £40 or so. The removal of the tax free element of pensions would knock another £70 or so off. So, if all three of those things are actioned she’ll more than 10% worse off in terms of disposable income straight away. And that’s when most research says you need around £2/£2.5k a month net for a comfortable retirement. I can’t believe that even this lot would penalise those on below average income that much.

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar

could you try to explain what that has to do with my post you quoted?

SS it is I pay 75% council as opposed to the 50% someone in a couple pays. If they remove the SPD I'll be paying the same for just me as a couple pays. Feel free to explain how that's fair

@Bumpitybumper
As for the claim that childless and childfree people are "more of a burden" later in life.

First, although figures may change in the future, currently older people without children are a minority. Something like 17% of over 45s.

So the majority of older people have children - yet many still need social care. For a variety of reasons. A big one being that their adult kids have their own kids and are busy caring for them.

Also not many people can afford to give up their jobs to care for elderly parents especially with mortgages or rents to pay and especially if they need to support their own kids. There's also the issue that often the level of care needed is unmanageable for family.

Secondly, it's long been the case that single childless/childfree adult children (especially, according to the article below, women) are more likely to care for elderly parents. At high economic cost. This article is about Australia but it's relevant to the UK too.

Caring duties for elderly parents (and sometimes siblings) disproportionately falls on single, childless daughters

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/dec/03/i-fret-about-the-years-that-lie-ahead-the-unique-caring-burden-of-single-childless-daughters

Again, I'm not saying children shouldn't be supported by society. As a mother I'd be odd to think that! However, I do think single people (childless/childfree and single parents) need a fairer deal with housing, council tax, etc.

@Bumpitybumper

stop patronising me. Yes I'm all too bloody aware of care home fees.

I'm not begrudging children anything! I simply don't think I should be paying the same as two other adults.

Sorry, I literally can't follow your line of reasoning.

I don't think anyone is less important than anyone else. I simply don't think child free people are less of a burden on council services because they don't have children.

They cost the same when they're children themselves and are likely to cost more in old age. Social care makes up well over half of what Council Tax is paying for so it's extremely relevant.

I have no idea how you can work out that child free people are paying twice? If everyone pays for themselves over their lives then people that are children now will grow into tax payers and pay back in CT the money that was spent on them as children and this the cycle continues.

@Bumpitybumper

if you're not going to actually bother to read my posts, kindly stop @ me.

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Labour being urged to raise pension age to 68. So more parents can kiss goodbye to the free childcare that some grandparents provide.

Where have you read about railcards being axed?

I am in the process of getting one with my DP as we travel together a lot.

All I can see is about the discount being reduced by less than 1%.

For a start off we should scrap the subsidised MP meals and their second home energy allowance. The government can get to fuck if they think that ordinary people should be funding that whilst they are trying to rob us of every penny we have. Our pointless cretin of a prime minister and his po faced chancellor know nothing about the reality of the lives of ordinary people in this country.
.

It pisses me off that former governments, and this one have squandered OUR money and we are being punished for it.
I'm sick of being squeezed and squeezed. I have no more money, I've cut out everything I can. I no longer have lunch each day!

I refuse to pay it. I'd rather go to prison.

Exactly.

And then when it all comes to fruition on 30th October, then what?

You will be silent, or will you try to defend the indefensible?

I also read in the paper yesterday that the single person discount may well be scrapped. This will impact so many widowed, divorced, single, single parent families and would be a massive mistake and push many people over the financial cliff. For the elderly who live alone,what with no winter fuel allowance either,this will be a disaster

To those who voted labour, you wanted change snd you're certainly getting it and not for the better

Pension age already is 68 for those around 44 and under.

I think this is the press's tactic. They are going to keep asking Labour about every possible rise over the next two months - knowing Labour cannot and will not deny it all because that would essentially leak the budget early - leaving the impression of a million tax rises before any have actually happened.

It's irresponsible because all it does is worry people before there is anything actually to worry about. But, of course, they don't care about that. They just care about political point scoring.

I'm not denying there may be tax rises and maybe this will even be one of them. But we don't know anything yet and it's really daft to panic people over made up rumours. Much better to wait to see what is actually going to happen.

Right now all we know the WFA is going for everyone not on benefits and that the triple lock is going to rise the pension by about £400 next year.

Don’t panic people you say.

How would you describe Starmer’s rose-garden speech please?