Goodbye Spongers!

[ShakesPear]

Anyone else thrilled that the family on benefits living in a £12,000 pcm in London house paid by us will no longer be getting that benefit?

In fact I wonder if the cap on unemployment benefit is to high!

Absolutely Vicar; worked for a aprenting charity for a while. yes many of our clients were on benfits but they were nice, normal humans who wanted the best for their kids despite often really tough times.

spongers?...yeah because life is so simple isn't it...

YOu must admit though, sponging is a sin

I eman, who would want a sponger in their house?

Better a nice rag roll, no?

..

Defective is right. And she brings us neatly back to the subject of rogue landlords and their criminal decor.

shakespear no disrespect but do you have a life? and if so do you spend much of it in of others?

lol@criminal decor...wood-chip abounds

WH666 All I can say is "Jag mein oberleutnant!".

t

Who just said it's all the banks fault?

If you add up the figures the banks caused a tiny proportion of the problems and 13 years with Labour spending like there was no tomorrow caused the deficit. Every Labour government from time and memorial have brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy but we all forget and vote them in again!

OP, I think may have been misunderstood. I live in London and my neighbours - whom I am very fond of - do not work and are in an £8000pcm house. They have four kids and have been on two holidays this year. It winds me up but she is too nice for me to hate her personally! LOL!

I also think that the more tax you pay the more galling it is to think that's what your money is going on. DH paid £94k in tax last year which probably went into my next door neighbours pocket. And when it came to getting a certain medicine was turned down because we are in the wrong postcode! I'm thrilled that our taxes go on everyone but us!

MeAndMrJones

My comment about blaming it on the bankers was sarcasm. People in this country blame everything on bankers (some was their fault) but never accept any responsibility themselves for what happened.

I've seen a similar problem when we lived in Richmond. A house opposite us was being paid for by the council at >£5000/month. I have no problem with those living in the house; clever to exploit the system. I have a problem with a government that allows that to happen.

My DH is in the 50% tax bracket. His tax bill last year was > 10x my gross salary (I'm a lawyer). So yes we are keen to make sure it's used well!

It needs pointing out though that some private landlords rents ballooned to match the increas in HB that was allowed by the lab gov (previously I'm sure most people owning a 8K pcm house wouldn't have considered someone on HB.)
There is nothing wrong with trying to correct this.

However I see from the standard that there are moves afoot to exempt London from this which IMHO would be a great shame.

it needs saying that if a working person lost their job or suffered a big loss of income they would have to cut their cloth accordingly why should it be any different if you are on HB?

me and Mr Jones I can't be the only one who had to read your post several times to make sure I'd read your figures correctly, at first I thought Mr Jones had paid £94 yax!!

Blimey, if even the Standard is opposing the benefits cap I think we can safely assume it's iniquitous and unfair.

The chances are, people on HB have ALREADY lost their jobs and suffered a big loss of income - that's why they're getting HB. And very few of them are living in decent accommodation.

It's not opposing the benefits cap it just wants some people in some London areas to still be allowed to receive excessive amounts.

I have presumed the motivation is all private landlord profit, high house prices are good theme but I may be wrong.

This isn't really about whether houses are decent is it though? It's about reigning in the 8K pcm HB claims surely? They make irritating (for politicians) newspaper headlines.

I shall have to see what's available round here for the money, I'm guessing (an educated guess I can assure you) quite a bit.

I notice everyone on here was cynical about the standards dispossessed drive it's at 4.2 million now isn't it? are people still so cynical about it I wonder?

mrandmrsjones are you the op?

Your dp paid 94k in tax,your dc is about to go to eton.

I am hard pressed to see how much "tax" you need to be spent on you tbh.

Out of interest how much tax did you pay or do you not work?

I know I'm waiting for someone to come along and tell me how much you need to earn to pay 94K tax !!
It's a lottery win isn't it?

(I missed the Eton bit)

Actually he ended up paying £135k, I made an error.

I don't mind paying taxes but I do think there is something wrong with the system when the people that prop up the country with vast taxes cannot even get a cancer drug, but the next street can! Oh and just because we earn a lot does not mean we can afford private cancer treatment which cost £20k per month!

The people that pay the most taxes get absolutely nothing in return. Because of hard work or fate or luck we are expected to solve everyone elses problems!

oh come on don't taunt us

you've effecgtively told us

how much income is needed to pay 135k tax

I want to know whether you're the richest person I've ever met (excluding the Queen Mother!)

sorry about your cancer drug? (I really really do mean that horrific when that poor woman had bought her own drug by remortgaging and then they tried to deny her all NHS care) Maybe buy a pied a terre in the neighbouring PCT and use that address?

The lack of availability of the cancer drug is not due to your income though is it? It would be the same for anybody living in that postcode. The nhs is free at the point of delivery. Thank god.

Not just high earners work hard. There are plenty of peaople in low paid jobs that work just as hard, perhaps harder even.

Which cancer drug is it? And you still haven't answered how much tax you not your partner paid last year.

No but I expect the lack of availability can be directly linked to the general public sector cash splash that has been going on recently

I don't work.

Wealth is relative. As a family we are the poorest at our children's private school! But I still feel very fortunate.

'The people that pay the most taxes get absolutely nothing in return. Because of hard work or fate or luck we are expected to solve everyone elses problems!'

nothing, eh?
bollocks
you get access to the NHS
state schools

(not that you want either of the last 2 probably and are lucky enough to be able to afford to go private)
police
roads

etc etc
you get to be part of a society which looks after (or used to) its more disadvantaged members, which should give you a lovely warm fuzzy feeling

If you feel fortunate then it really is very bad form and highly unpleasant to glory in others' percieved misfortune.

Next time it may be you. You are very very lucky not to have to work. In a way you could be described as a sponger yourself couldn't you?

I find it is often the partners and wives of the very highly paid who themselves do not work and sit in judgement of others so much less fortunate.

Be careful who you show your arse to on the way up because it will be the same people that you will have to shake hands with if you fall from the top.

FWIW, I grew up funded by benefits and my family are all still on benefits and refuse to work. I even offered to buy my mum a small house and she said No because she basically got a house free on the state.

DH has only had a large salary in the last two years and my views were the same when we were sharing a council flat with my mother and our two kids. The amount of screwing the system we saw on our street alone was shocking!

All the pointed attacks about how much did YOU earn seem to be having a go at her for being a SAHM.

Surely that's not the case? :)

And, as an official London scumlord (I like that term, I'll use it in my correspondence with my tenants) I actually charge under the maximum HB rate and the other owners I know think I'm mad as it's guaranteed cash in the bank. It's easy to criticize landlords, but if someone offers to pay you more rent, you have to have quite a good reason not to take it.

nobodyisasomebody - so SAHMs are spongers? Lovely, I dare you to take that attitude over to some of the other threads.