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Only Immigration can save us from Pensioners
HAMISH_MCTAVISH
Posts: 28,592 Forumite
Only immigrants can save us from pensioners
Excellent article at the link below, the following excerpt explains the problem clearly.
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/only-immigrants-can-save-us-from-pensioners.html
In other words, it is impossible to maintain the current ratio of workers to dependents without immigration.
And without that, taxes will surely have to rise significantly.
Excellent article at the link below, the following excerpt explains the problem clearly.
Immigration is part of the solution to how we deal with our changing demographics. If we stop people coming to this country then one of the side effects will be that our worker/dependency ratio will shrink rapidly, as the number of workers covering the benefits of the very old and young shrinks.
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/only-immigrants-can-save-us-from-pensioners.html
In other words, it is impossible to maintain the current ratio of workers to dependents without immigration.
And without that, taxes will surely have to rise significantly.
“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”
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Comments
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I'd be interested to read a valid counter argument to this, assuming there is one, and I don't mean the kind of idiocy we normally get like Wookster typing the word desperate repeatedly or graham not understanding what % meansThis is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0
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Surely increasing the average earnings of workers would bring in as much or more tax than just increasing the number of workers.0
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Surely increasing the average earnings of workers would bring in as much or more tax than just increasing the number of workers.
How? I'm all for that.This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0 -
Surely increasing the average earnings of workers would bring in as much or more tax than just increasing the number of workers.
10 workers with an average income of £100
5 workers with an average income of £150
Assuming a constant tax rate, under which circumstance does the government take more in tax?“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0 -
HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »10 workers with an average income of £100
5 workers with an average income of £150
Assuming a constant tax rate, under which circumstance does the government take more in tax?
Why 10 and 5?0 -
Why 10 and 5?
To illustrate your point as being not necessarily correct.
Increasing the average wage does not necessarily increase the tax take.“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0 -
This alarmist nonsense is clearly the product of the usual "straight line thinkers". The same idiots who see houses fall by 7% in a year and predict they will cost twopence by the time you've paid the mortgage.
Boomers [I hate the expression!] were the product of a 'fertility blip' by poor parents after the war. Let us set aside the intricacies of the debate, but simplify by saying that the "rich" boomers, amongst other things, decided to enjoy life and have fewer kids.
In turn, this has (despite record immigration) caused a dearth of tax-paying earners to fund the boomers' pensions - now coming to payment.
But unlike their parents, boomers' children have reacted. They spend all their money. Live for "now". Don't worry about the niceties of affording children before having them. And in a lot of extreme cases, having more kids is more money - innit? [We have Brother Brown & Co to blame for that].
So yes us boomers are very expensive for the following generation to support - particularly as they prefer to live a different lifestyle. But by the time they, themselves, start drawing their state pensions, there will be plenty of their offspring to fund it.
Of course we now have to wonder about this 'third' generation, and their own propensity to work, save, pay taxes etc. etc. We don't fully know since these poor sods are only just starting work.
I am the first to admit my above anaylsis is 'rough and ready', but I believe the article is pure nonsense, and would only be believed if backed up by a sound population trend analysis as could be done by, say, the ONS.0 -
Anyway, from memory, the current ratio of workers to pensioners is 4:1.
If the number of pensioners increases by 150,000 a year, then to maintain the same ratio, the number of workers must increase by 600,000 per year.“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0 -
HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »To illustrate your point as being not necessarily correct.
Increasing the average wage does not necessarily increase the tax take.
it could though, depends on the numbers.0
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