Benefits and the deficit: what would you cut?

ray123

Why not close parliament for the next four years? That should solve are budget deficit problem!

wolvoman

SingleSue wrote: »

The one thing that appears to come out of all discussions on benefits, is the amount of posters who automatically assume that those on benefits have never worked, never paid into the pot, who basically, are just lazy.

There are oodles of people now claiming benefits (of all different kinds), who have worked for years and years and have suffered a job loss or an illness to themselves or to a loved one....a job loss could mean they are back in work fairly quickly (in a good employment area) but those who are experiencing an illness or who have had to become carers, could mean that they are pretty much stuck for a longish time on benefits.

Being a benefit claimant through no fault of your own is not a nice life, some have worked extremely hard over the years yet possibly one thing (or a combination of things), has completely destroyed it...the impact on your pride, your feelings of self worth and yes, your ego is soul destroying.

I don't know what the answer is to be honest, I know cuts have to be made for the countries' financial future but exactly where and to what extent is so much harder to assertain.

It's very simple.
Benefits for lifestyle choices should be cut in an instant.

If you can't afford a child then don't have one.

Therefore tax credits and child benefit is gone. £34 BILLION saved right there (plus a few billion for sacking the beaurocrats who administer it).

Jobseekers, carers and incapacity allowances are fair because they are for people who have genuinely had hard luck. Of course there needs to be some checks on who is claiming.

Kohoutek

StevieJ wrote: »

From your eagerness to attack this budget, I assume you think YOU or your family will never need it

Well my family works hard and pays a lot of taxes so I wouldn't receiving mind some money for doing nothing, which is what the benefit system represents.

Many benefits aren't needs. People coped without housing benefit and child benefit in the past, let alone free TV licences - it just meant more people lived under one roof. I don't accept that an extensive culture of entitlement is healthy for society or aspiring people towards working.

My Dad works in legal aid, it's from that experience that I know how many undeserving and fraudulent claimants there are. He's even been asked for advice from a client on how to cheat the system!

wolvoman

ray123 wrote: »

Why not close parliament for the next four years? That should solve are budget deficit problem!

Maths isn't your strong suit is it?

StevieJ

Kohoutek wrote: »

Many benefits aren't needs. People coped without housing benefit and child benefit in the past, let alone free TV licences - it just meant more people lived under one roof. I don't accept that an extensive culture of entitlement is healthy for society or aspiring people towards working.

And sent the kids up chimneys :eek:

Kohoutek

StevieJ wrote: »

And sent the kids up chimneys :eek:

That was before pre-16 education was compulsory and before we had extensive safety at work laws, so that point is completely irrelevant today. With or without those benefits, no 12 year old would before forced to work today.

bendix

vaporate wrote: »

Pointless. Everyone will just say cut this n that which they do not claim, or will not be affected by it.

I don't claim anything.

Cut the bloody lot of it.

SingleSue

wolvoman wrote: »

It's very simple.
Benefits for lifestyle choices should be cut in an instant.

If you can't afford a child then don't have one.

Therefore tax credits and child benefit is gone. £34 BILLION saved right there (plus a few billion for sacking the beaurocrats who administer it).

Jobseekers, carers and incapacity allowances are fair because they are for people who have genuinely had hard luck. Of course there needs to be some checks on who is claiming.

It's actually not as simple as you claim. There are people who are ill, caring or who have suffered a job loss, who had children before that happened and at a time when they could afford them.

I know that I could certainly afford my children when I had them...I was a high rate tax payer with little outgoings (I never lived to or beyond my means, I was still a complete scrooge back then!).

None of us can know what the future holds, !!!!!! can and does happen and savings can only last so long when it does.

Rochdale_Pioneers

A point that needs making is that the "sack the pencil pushers" argument is laughable as a means of saving money. Many of these people are on salaries of £20k per year - the cost of paying them redundancy AND JSA AND Housing Benefit AND Council Tax Benefit AND losing their Income tax/NI revenue AND losing their disposable cash being spent on stuff far outweighs the saving in salary.

Nor can you say that they'd get another job therefore the loss in tax revenue and payout in benefits would be short-lived. We know what the net effect is of people spending less cash - it makes other people lose their jobs and keep the recession fuelled.

So what we need are savings in costs and efficiencies that doesn't slash jobs en masse. Surely the way to do this is to look at the whole benefits structure and find a way to make it more efficient. I never did get why Tax Credits were a good idea - tax people then give them their tax back is more costly than tax people less. So the LibDems have it right - raise the tax ceiling to £10k and make it fair by taxing the people at the top end more so that they don't benefit. All the people who administer tax credits can then be redeployed going after tax dodgers.

StevieJ

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

A point that needs making is that the "sack the pencil pushers" argument is laughable as a means of saving money. Many of these people are on salaries of £20k per year - the cost of paying them redundancy AND JSA AND Housing Benefit AND Council Tax Benefit AND losing their Income tax/NI revenue AND losing their disposable cash being spent on stuff far outweighs the saving in salary.


.

If some of the characters on here had their way they would not be receiving any benefits :eek: