Which taxes should Burnham put up?

[Toohotforwork]

It seems pretty clear that in the Autumn we are in for another massive tax rising budget. Starmer has done of the ground work to show what we need to spend and how there isn't any money, I'm sure the "blackholes" were co-ordinated with the new team for messaging. Labour don't have it in them to cut the welfare bill and to be fair the Tories didn't either - so I can't see that changing.

Which taxes would up increase to fund the country properly?

Personally I'd go the easy route and put 1 or 2p on the basic rate of income tax. It would break the manifesto but one short sharp initiative has got to be better than death by a thousand small increases.

I think the care proposals of getting rid of inheritance tax and replacing it with a 10% charge on everyone is very sensible.

Equalising income tax and capital gains tax seems an easy win as well.

There shouldn’t be any social housing.

Seems perfectly reasonable. I'd also suggest that if you own a house that you rent out, you shouldn't qualify for social housing.

What’s that got to do with the topic? Do you have any ideas?

Ok? So people who cannot afford private rent should live where?

That absolutely should be policy!

Not my problem, and not the state’s problem.

It would be your problem if suddenly there were 4 million households worth of homeless people on the street. That would be a problem for everyone.

I don't agree - it becomes the state's problem if people are homeless. However, social housing shouldn't be a long term option for people imo, nor should there be under occupancy or higher income earners living there. It should be a temporary solution for most people until they can rent or buy - with mortgages far more accessible than they currently are. It's crazy that the monthly payments for many people would be cheaper than renting the equivalent property. And don't get me started on benefits paying expensive rentals...

If you are in the top 20% of earners, then arguably you don't really need subsidised housing. Private rent or mortgage? I know £80k x 4 only gives you a mortgage of £320k, but that's plenty in most of the country outside the south east, London and a few other places.

As per my previous post, I totally agree. That comment was to someone who said there should be no social housing.

We absolutely should be moving to a system like the French or the Dutch instead of the NHS.

Tax fast food/sweets more.

Possibly the 1p tax on income tax but it will be meaningless if we don’t have some sort of healthcare reform and tackle the national debt - of which we spend practically as much on interest payments as we do on the bloody NHS.

What do you propose be done with people who could do some work sporadically but no one will hire them because they are frequently ill and off sick or need reduced hours/remote working etc and employers just can’t or don’t want to accommodate as it’s much easier to just look for someone who can work full time ?

I am really unwell quite regularly but have 2 degrees and a 12 year professional career before I developed my condition.

I can still do some work but I have now been made redundant and I fully believe the fact the type of work I can do reduced and my frequently being off sick meant I was more easily selected for redundancy than I might have been if I had not.

When job hunting my CV gets lots of interest but as soon as I start talking about the reasonable adjustments I would need that interest fades. As yet I’ve not had any offers.

Thanks that’s a big jump. Should be flashing red but doesn’t seem to feature much.

The main problem is not that people don't want to pay tax. Unless they are supremely stupid or greedy (and I always have to remind myself they can be true at the same time).

It's that having paid tax, people see very little for that money. It's almost as if there's a sort of financial black hole between taxpayer and taxspender.

Not quite sure how to address that.

Actually I share that view. I currently have to pay more than £400 a month for my medical care that keeps me alive as I cannot be seen on the NHS until November.

I don’t want to pay more tax when all of my money goes on paying for something I should already be receiving from the tax I’ve paid.

One of the reasons I think we need some sort of NHS reform - perhaps if people felt they got anything back they might be ok about paying more tax.

Although it doesn’t solve the problem of the squeezed middle. I like what a PP said some way back about 10% 20% sliding scale etc etc tax instead of tax free allowance and then 20% then the jump up to 40%.

That wouldn't happen because the landlords would have to rent out otherwise empty properties, i.e. reduce rents. They're not going to sit on empty properties bringing in no income for long. Housing benefits etc have propped up and fuelled housing cost inflation for a couple of decades.

It also needs to be assumed that child maintenance is being paid and deducted as income from any benefit entitlement. That might persuade the very many parents that can't be bothered to pursue the absent parent for the money. This has to go hand in hand with giving CSM more powers and more funding to pursue parents who won't pay.

53.3% is the latest figure (for 23/24). https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/theeffectsoftaxesandbenefitsonhouseholdincome/2024

I agree an increase to 60% appears quite a jump. I think it is the combination of demographic shift and more generosity with welfare. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-documents-for-spring-statement-2025/impact-on-households-distributional-analysis-to-accompany-spring-statement-2025

Social tenancies should not be transferable to say your child, but I think they should still offer security of tenure for the original applicant. If you are caught sub-letting then you should be made to leave.

If they built more smaller one bedroomed homes (on a single level) then more pensioners would probably move.

Getting people to downsize is not easy as long as the retirement properties are McCarthy & Stone rip-offs, which are catastrophic as investments. I am certainly not going to pay stamp duty at any percentage to live in one. Plus, I still want a spare bedroom, a decent kitchen and a living-dining room with space for a table and chairs, as well as a comfortable sofa and armchair.

Security of tenure is fine, but if the need for a family house has passed, there should be a way to re-assign a valuable asset where it will be of most social benefit.

You should get some basic support but this should not become a convenient lifestyle choice. Perhaps you should get an extra weighted amount recognising the years you have worked and contributed?

I’m not sure as it’s common for PIP etc to be used as convenient lifestyle choices - it’s really not easy to get and not some huge payment either.

I am in the process but because my condition is transient and doesn’t necessarily affect my mobility I would possible only get the lower amount which is about £74 a week. Which means unless I can secure some sort of work I will loose the house I have spent the last 10 years paying towards. I currently pay out more than that for private medical care and for medical food I need to survive as I can’t get in front of anyone on the NHS to help me with it. Even if I do my condition is not standard and doesn’t respond to standard treatment so the NHS may well refuse to pay and leave me to essentially suffer and die.

Anyway. The point is. PIP isnt enough to lead a life of riley.

I would much rather work and there be incentives for employers to hire more disabled people. Then we have some independence and possibly less judgement from Joe Public. Although presumably people still too disabled to work at all might still be considered leeches.

And people can’t help at what point in their lives the became disabled so I don’t think it would be very fair for people who’ve have been lucky enough to be well enough for work previously to get more money.

I was lucky and got to experience life before disability but many aren’t.

Yes! My 84 year old MIL who worked five years her whole life and has over £1m assets gets nearly £450 pm in AA. She just banks it.

“The landlords”? Who are they? And they don’t “have” to do anything. You think there are 4 million houses sat empty? There aren’t. And like I said, private landlords are selling up at unprecedented levels.
And even if it did, if all 4 million social houses were….removed, if those tenants moved to private rentals? The rent would simply increase and would STILL be paid via the housing element of UC. To private landlords. How is that better?

Sorry, I misread your post. As you were. 🙂