Restoration of the age related allowance

margaretclare

Zygurat, you're arguing just for the sake of arguing. You pick me up on a typo - actually, I can't remember what the price of lean steak mince was when I wrote post # 48. I do know I checked it this morning in our freezer and what I saw there was £1.90 for 250g.

Yes, I do know that the CPI exists. I learned about it when doing statistics as part of a degree course many, many years ago. The most recent one is February 2012:

CPI annual inflation stands at 3.4 per cent in February 2012, down from 3.6 per cent in January. The largest downward pressures came from domestic electricity and gas, recreation & culture and transport. Partially offsetting these were upward pressures from alcohol off sales and vegetables. The CPI stands at 121.8 in February 2012 based on 2005 = 100

One simply cannot frame an argument around the price of beef mince in one supermarket and compare it with the above analysis. Vegetables are mentioned - these are inevitably more expensive in the winter-time. Alcohol is not something we buy at all.

GD would not ask if she wasn't desperate, and I think it is appalling that someone who is doing a good job as a local authority youth worker cannot make ends meet. If she ever asks, I know she needs it. She's fiercely independent but she also will not have a credit card. Many do.

My attitude to those who smoke is born of many years of seeing those 'addicts' at close quarters, of seeing them offered all kinds of help to stop which is usually refused on the grounds of 'I've smoked all these years, why give up now'. Or 'You've got to die of something' - that's one of the most stupid remarks ever. I see them at bus-stops getting the last gasp out of a cigarette before getting on the bus. Having said that, I recently listened to a church pastor who has given up after smoking for 62 years. Well done to him.

mirabelle

I started this thread on the restoration of age tax allowance and it now seems to be about mince. Please try to be nice to each other as I have noticed that some members are starting off their posts by prefixing it with "Er or Erm" which implies the person they are replying to is thick. Happy Easter

Thrugelmir

mirabelle wrote: »

I started this thread on the restoration of age tax allowance and it now seems to be about mince.

Seems a sensible approach given that austerity will effect us all in some way in the years to come.

zygurat789

margaretclare wrote: »

Zygurat, you're arguing just for the sake of arguing. You pick me up on a typo - I can;'t be expected to know when you make a typo, can I? actually, I can't remember what the price of lean steak mince was when I wrote post # 48. I do know I checked it this morning in our freezer and what I saw there was £1.90 for 250g.

Yes, I do know that the CPI exists. I learned about it when doing statistics as part of a degree course many, many years ago. The most recent one is February 2012: You did fein ignorance of it

One simply cannot frame an argument around the price of beef mince in one supermarket and compare it with the above analysis. Vegetables are mentioned - these are inevitably more expensive in the winter-time. Alcohol is not something we buy at all.

GD would not ask if she wasn't desperate, and I think it is appalling that someone who is doing a good job as a local authority youth worker cannot make ends meet but not pensioners?. If she ever asks, I know she needs it. She's fiercely independent but she also will not have a credit card. Many do.

My attitude to those who smoke is born of many years of seeing those 'addicts' at close quarters, of seeing them offered all kinds of help to stop which is usually refused on the grounds of 'I've smoked all these years, why give up now'. Or 'You've got to die of something' - that's one of the most stupid remarks ever. I see them at bus-stops getting the last gasp out of a cigarette before getting on the bus. Having said that, I recently listened to a church pastor who has given up after smoking for 62 years. Well done to him. You don't seem to understand "addiction"

No it is you that refuse to see the point are go off at a tangent.
The point being that the index is an average and the items within it which pensioners spend the majority of their money, the basics, ie mince an example I chose which illustrates the point are increasing at a faster rate. Therefore the CPI indexing of the pension is ensuring that pensioners become poorer relative to wage earners.

zygurat789

RichandJ wrote: »

Er, perhaps because you pay IT on income, not net or gross worth.

Maybe that will help in reconciling Osborne's statements.

If his only income was his Chancellors salary then he wouldn't pay 50%.

His salary as chancellor is £15435 short of him paying 50%. He is the elset son of a baronet and is reputed to be a millionaire. How does that not generate £15.5K?

He was also implicated in the expenses scandal having flipped his second home and the Lib Dems reckoned he owed the public purse £55K
Check him out.

zygurat789

mirabelle wrote: »

I started this thread on the restoration of age tax allowance and it now seems to be about mince. Please try to be nice to each other as I have noticed that some members are starting off their posts by prefixing it with "Er or Erm" which implies the person they are replying to is thick. Happy Easter

The age allowance was to compensate pensioners who are financial penalised because their expenditure is not average within the meaning of calculating the CPI. Mince, a basic item, is just one such example.

I think if someone starts of Er then they really don't know what they're talking about.

SallyG

"Trending e-petitions
Most active e-petitions in the last hour.
Page last updated 16:22 BST.
Restoration of Age Related Tax Allowances
57,480 total signatures
40 signed in the last hour"

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31778

margaretclare

zygurat789 wrote: »

No it is you that refuse to see the point are go off at a tangent.
The point being that the index is an average and the items within it which pensioners spend the majority of their money, the basics, ie mince an example I chose which illustrates the point are increasing at a faster rate. Therefore the CPI indexing of the pension is ensuring that pensioners become poorer relative to wage earners.

Sigh.

Yes, I am well aware that the index is an 'average'. I learned what an 'average' is a very long time ago.

However, the whole problem with an average - as I learned at the same time - is that it does not take individuals into account . The mass media would love to see all of us in the later stages of life as poor creatures, having to choose between eating and heating (that's a lovely soundbite!) without taking into account that there are people whose personal circumstances differ widely and that the 'average' may be skewed either to the upper end or the lower end of the scale.

We are about the middle of the national income scale including all age-groups, and that IMHO is the best place to be. The situation would, however, change radically if there were to be only one of us rather than two. The poorest people in the land are older women on their own, who either made no pensions provision for themselves or depended on someone else to do it for them. These are mostly below the level of tax and therefore, the present petition will be irrelevant and unhelpful to them.

Yes, I do understand the nature of addiction, having come into contact with many addicts over time, but I also know that addiction can be beaten.

Mirabelle, I respect what you're trying to do, and I have nothing further to add to this topic.

This article, in yesterday's 'Independent', made about the best sense I've seen so far. http://www.independent.co.uk/money/tax/julian-knight-granny-tax-trick-will-prove-to-be-a-dead-rabbit-7584348.html

mystic_trev

zygurat789 wrote: »

Therefore the CPI indexing of the pension is ensuring that pensioners become poorer relative to wage earners.

Stop moaning, we're all in it together

Thrugelmir

mystic_trev wrote: »

Stop moaning, we're all in it together

CPI is far higher than wage inflation currently.