Immigration and economical emmigration

PolishBigSpender

The amount of myths on this thread about Poland is rather amusing.

leveller2911 wrote:

...My point is: If (which we are) paying for children living in Poland or Romania child benefit of £15 for the first child £12 per week for the 2nd child and so on the cost of living out there is far lower than here and so the money goes much further than here.Child benefit IS NOT a red herring at all.

Clearly you don't know about the costs of living in Poland. My administration costs for my flat (like an equal to council tax) runs at 150 pounds a month. That's not including any rental/mortgage costs - which can be (for an average sized flat for an average family of 2 parents and 2 children) around 400 pounds a month. 550 pounds a month for accomodation isn't much in the UK - but when the average wage in Poland is around 650 pounds a month, don't try and tell me that the cost of living is 'so much lower'.

Petrol is another example - I'm paying about 85 pence/litre at the moment. A bit less than in the UK, but hardly 'much cheaper cost of living'.

i8change wrote:

Those that come over here from low wage economies often take on lower paid work so they don't in effect pay any tax as the Tax Credits will be far greater than the small amount of tax they have to pay. Even more so if they come from countries that tend to have larger families, Catholic, Polish for example.

Larger families? I don't think so. Poland has even bigger problems than the UK does with the birth rate - at the moment, the country is sitting on a huge timebomb with pensions to be paid for communist-era workers who might not have contributed much and yet still need to be paid their guaranteed pensions - which in some cases are absolutely astronomical. Yet the birth rate is low and has been low for years - it's certainly not 'normal' to have large families here.

Of course, it would make far more sense to scrap the whole stupid tax credit system and simply raise the personal allowances. Then you won't find people taking advantage of the system! It's certainly nonsense to pay benefits to children resident abroad!

Sapphire

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

The amount of myths on this thread about Poland is rather amusing.

Larger families? I don't think so. Poland has even bigger problems than the UK does with the birth rate - at the moment, the country is sitting on a huge timebomb with pensions to be paid for communist-era workers who might not have contributed much and yet still need to be paid their guaranteed pensions - which in some cases are absolutely astronomical. Yet the birth rate is low and has been low for years - it's certainly not 'normal' to have large families here.

Of course, it would make far more sense to scrap the whole stupid tax credit system and simply raise the personal allowances. Then you won't find people taking advantage of the system! It's certainly nonsense to pay benefits to children resident abroad!

Dobra odpowiedz (from someone who's parents came here in 1946 as political refugees, from Poland, to German POW camp, to Italy, to the UK).

I do, however, feel too many Poles (no matter how law-abiding and hard-working) and others are being allowed into this country. It is too many people coming too quickly, and it causes justifiable resentment among the long-resident population, particularly in economically very difficult times, and particularly when so many people do come here for the benefits. Just look at how desperate people stuck in France (from non-EU countries) are to come here. I am sure it is not for the weather or because they love the British people...

Pozdrowienia.