Con-Lib agreement on a £10k personal allowance for income tax?

ninky_2

lemonjelly wrote: »

In addition to the above comments, think about the perception. An obvious example is a child who's parent(s) can't afford a PC/internet, or the latest trainers, or fashionable clothes, or school trips. They haven't been on a holiday for years. They exist on hand me downs & charity shop stuff. They live week to week. If the washing machine breaks down, it means something else has to be foregone to get another one.

Would that child (or even that parent) feel positively well off comparing themselves to someone fronm a third world country? I don't think so. I think they'll feel they have more in common with that person, or even feel worse off.

" If I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor! "

oh god lj that sounds like my childhood. have to say i didn't really think we were poor at the time. mainly due to references to children in india and my mum saying how she had to share a room with x siblings and how they fought over balls of rice when she grew up in bombay.

lemonjelly

zygurat789 wrote: »

Poverty is a relative term so people who live in poverty here would seem to be rich if you live in sub-saharan Africa.
It is usually the poorest 10%.

See, the problem with any relativist arguement, is they are all self defeating.

Essentially you are saying "well it depends on your perspective..." Now, if you are saying this, you are effectively saying all perspectives are equally valid. Which means that the exact opposite of your arguement is as valid as the arguement you've put forward. Surely that can't be right. There has to be things which are true, & things which aren't...Doesn't there?

Gorgeous_George

The allowance is already £6,475 so £10K won't make a lot of difference.

20% of £3,525 is £705 per annum or less than £15 per week. VAT at 25% (on everything) and the many other indirect (or stealth) taxes so loved by the Tories will soon eat that up.

GG

lemonjelly

ninky wrote: »

oh god lj that sounds like my childhood. have to say i didn't really think we were poor at the time. mainly due to references to children in india and my mum saying how she had to share a room with x siblings and how they fought over balls of rice when she grew up in bombay.

When you compared yourself to your mums stories, perhaps not. But a lot of kids nowadays compare themselves to each other. When looking at it like this, do they then experience a feeling of poverty?

I remember a guy at school who on the first non uniform day was followed around by 2 idiots who mocked him mercilessly for his clothing. The family was poor. No 2 ways about it. Every non uniform day after that, he was mysteriously absent.

mbga9pgf

In addition to the above comments, think about the perception. An obvious example is a child who's parent(s) can't afford a PC/internet, or the latest trainers, or fashionable clothes, or school trips. They haven't been on a holiday for years. They exist on hand me downs & charity shop stuff. They live week to week. If the washing machine breaks down, it means something else has to be foregone to get another one.

Sounds like my childhood. And at no stage did I consider myself impoverished.

Anyone who thinks this country has poverty needs to get their head out of their @rse. We dont have starving people in the street, far from it. We have difficult situations, but the governments definintion of Poverty is hoop, as it could never be gotten rid of, by definition.

I honestly think people in this country choose to be "in poverty" there is no excuse not to get ahead in our country, look at eastern european immigrants, come here with nothing, yet make a stable living.

Nor do I think that my hardearned cash should go to wasters who choose to put themselves in that position, whigeing on one part about having no money, yet on the other, can fund a lavish alcohol and smoking habit.

Malnutrition would be a good starting point for me. Having seen it first hand, together with starvation and children disabled by their own parents to earn more beggging money, I refuse to accept there is any such thing in the UK. Just dross that cant be @rsed.

ninky_2

lemonjelly wrote: »

When you compared yourself to your mums stories, perhaps not. But a lot of kids nowadays compare themselves to each other. When looking at it like this, do they then experience a feeling of poverty?

I remember a guy at school who on the first non uniform day was followed around by 2 idiots who mocked him mercilessly for his clothing. The family was poor. No 2 ways about it. Every non uniform day after that, he was mysteriously absent.

on non uniform day i wore hand me downs from my richer cousins. in my mind it was a top outfit. until my better off friend commented that i 'made the best' of what i had even though it wasn't the latest stuff!

i decided to rebel after that and wear uniform on non uniform day. after all....fashion is for sheep!

Optimist

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

The allowance is already £6,475 so £10K won't make a lot of difference.

20% of £3,525 is £705 per annum or less than £15 per week. VAT at 25% (on everything) and the many other indirect (or stealth) taxes so loved by the Tories will son eat that up.

GG

Good grief, stealth taxes you seem to forget the last 13 years !

ninky_2

is the 10k allowance for everyone or just people with kids?

mbga9pgf

Or people that dont work and earn benefits?

StevieJ

ninky wrote: »

on non uniform day i wore hand me downs from my richer cousins. in my mind it was a top outfit. until my better off friend commented that i 'made the best' of what i had even though it wasn't the latest stuff!

i decided to rebel after that and wear uniform on non uniform day. after all....fashion is for sheep!

That reminds me about a girl I know whose hubbie worked on the market, he bought one of those cheap football kits for the kid, the first time he went out in it he got a right ribbing off the other kids and ended up in tears You can't get away with anything these days