NHS pension anxieties...any thoughts?

marklv

roysterer wrote: »

bendix,
I 100% agree with your last post.
It is not envy at all. I am one of the lucky ones with 30+yrs Final Salary behind me. The young people in this country are not getting a fair chance they will not have the chance to retire before they are 70 or more. And paying high taxes to subsidise pensions in this current form is unethical, whilst providing a pittance
for themselve's.

And your point is? Not to be pay taxes? Income tax is not high in the UK at present. Back in 1970s the basic income tax rate was 30% and the highest rate was 83% with 98% tax on investment income. The high taxes are petrol duty and council tax; taxes that ordinary people have to pay but have little effect on the rich. The rich have never had it so good.

roysterer wrote: »

Hope your next 4 yrs in the rat race fly by and you have a good retirement.
That ignoramous marklv thinks all people are after personal gain at the expense of him and his croonies. 3 members of my immediate family 2 nurses and 1 doctor work in the NHS and I have total respect for the hard work they do.
Fairness is all that anyone wants.

What you call fairness is most certainly not fair for millions of public sector workers, whether they be doctors, police, or IT specialists like me. What we need instead is for those who earn huge salaries to pay more in income tax, not less.

bumpoowee

marklv wrote: »

And your point is? Not to be pay taxes? Income tax is not high in the UK at present. Back in 1970s the basic income tax rate was 30% and the highest rate was 83% with 98% tax on investment income. The high taxes are petrol duty and council tax; taxes that ordinary people have to pay but have little effect on the rich. The rich have never had it so good.

Indirect and 'stealth' taxes are high though. Since I had the cheek to go to University I also have to pay an extra 9% tax so even though my basic salary is within the normal banding I get taxed for 40% of anything over £14k (20% tax, 11% NI and 9% Student tax). This article says a lot about the situation and also mentions graduates typically are taxed for over half their income:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2767109.ece

The program on channel four tonight also suggested the increasing future pensions burden on todays young is likely to cost another £1000 a year per taxpayer to fund. With the high cost of live (esp. housing) the burden on today's young is unsustainable and if unchecked will either result in pension payments failing to be made when the time comes as your childrens generation will refuse to pay them, otherwise there will be mass emigration as they will be unhappy being taxed out of existance to pay for pensions of others that are just far too expensive.

And as ever the problem with taxing the rich is that the minute you come down on them they decide to pay (fewer) taxes somewhere else and you get nothing. I don't know what solution there is to this. Of course morally I agree they don't pay enough, however morals and reality don't always match up.