Tax Credits

Mistermeaner

It's early days, do the difficult stuff first. Approach to tax credits was a little clumsy but needed to be done.

An even braver approach would have been cutting pension age benefits but the silver votes are too scarey

I expect non working benefits to go next.

Be interesting if / when newnewnew labour get in if they reverse the tax credit cuts. As much as everyone may squeal they are a ridiculous and unsustainable form of benefit.

Moby

michaels wrote: »

According to this:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171766_305977.pdf

20% of households aged 50-64 have higher value pension pots than I do so have probably benefited from more tax releif than I have.

I know nothing of your circumstances but the reason I have a large pension pot is because I minimise my expenditure. No Sky, no iphone, holidays with relatives in the UK, value line food, cheapest mortgage rate etc as I value being financially secure over such things. Other lifestyle preferences are available and equally valid, complaining that I have more savings whilst not recognising what I have gone without to acheive them is not.

You are good tory mate. You know how to make the tax system work for you. I find it quite interesting that the criticism of you is based on the premise that it's not good for 'society'. I didn't think society or the well being of others figured highly in the considerations of our rightward thinking contributors

Mistermeaner

People standing on their own 2 feet is good for society. People dependent on state handouts is bad for society.

Labour was once a party that represented working people (hence the name) it became the party of not working.

Moby

Generali wrote: »

Rather a shame for Labour that they have such an utterly incompetent leadership team that is fundamentally unable to decide on a policy that lasts for more than a few weeks let alone actually take advantage of any of this 'ham fisted' stuff.

Whats with your obsession with Labour? I didnt mention them. I was thinking about the woman in tears on Question Time re. Her tax credits and having voted for porky dave on the basis that he promised not to reduce them on his Question Time appearance? Surely you must be aware of the current conversations about this. We were all talking about it at work yesterday.

Mistermeaner

Moby wrote: »

Surely you must be aware of the current conversations about this. We were all talking about it at work yesterday.

Maybe he works somewhere else?

Moby

Mistermeaner wrote: »

Maybe he works somewhere else?

Really!.....from his intimate knowledge of the British political scene I assumed Generali was obviously living and working in somewhere like London......like me for instance.

Seriously though I've met Jezza and John McDonnell a couple of times through union activities. They are genuine people who really believe in society and are not 'in it' for themselves. Love them or hate them because of their politics.... they are a breath of fresh air. That comes from someone like me who knows they are ultimately unelectable! The politics in this country is staid and has been characterised for too long by both parties fighting for a few votes right in the middle of the electorate while the rest are ignored. That's why Labour support fell away so rapidly in Scotland. They had taken the electorate for granted....the SNP saw that and filled the gap. Jezza is a campaigner....he'll probably never be an opposition leader...sad for me but in the UK with our gutter press defining how most of the British public see our 'leaders'.... I have to be a realist. Blair was the only left of centre option who could rise above the establishment rules and he could only do it be becoming part of the establishment himself.

The one great thing now which is happening is that real alternative options/policies are being highlighted in the mainstream whereas previously these policies were not even discussed because they wouldn't appeal to that part of the electorate that would define the election.

The crying shame is that the reporting is so vituperative and beyond that..... highly inaccurate at times. Laura Kuenssberg's coverage over the Labour internal splits on Osborne's puerile Charter was nothing short of scandalous!

CKhalvashi

Mistermeaner wrote: »

Labour was once a party that represented working people (hence the name) it became the party of not working.

I supported the Tories at the 2010 election, and Labour this time around (although I didn't think a lot to the this years leader)

I'm a member of a political party, and politically active, however it's neither of the two I've mentioned above.

Oh, and I do work (have done since I was 17, plus worked for myself since I was 19, partly when working full-time), so it's not always the party of the not working.

CLAPTON

Moby wrote: »

Whats with your obsession with Labour? I didnt mention them. I was thinking about the woman in tears on Question Time re. Her tax credits and having voted for porky dave on the basis that he promised not to reduce them on his Question Time appearance? Surely you must be aware of the current conversations about this. We were all talking about it at work yesterday.

what do we know about the QT ladies circumstances?
very little except that she runs a business with zero profit and has 4 children and seems to live in a very nice house.

what do you think her taxpayer funded income ought to be?

kinger101

gadgetmind wrote: »

BTW, Mrs Damp Eyes on TV complaining that she was going to have to pax tax just like everyone else, and really hadn't expected it, does anyone know the system well enough to take a stab at what she's earning?

She's "earning" nothing, because she's running a loss making nail bar in her front room. A ridiculous business proposition if ever I heard one. That's partly why she's so dependent on the state.

michaels

Moby wrote: »

You are good tory mate. You know how to make the tax system work for you. I find it quite interesting that the criticism of you is based on the premise that it's not good for 'society'. I didn't think society or the well being of others figured highly in the considerations of our rightward thinking contributors

There are people all the way across the income and political spectrums who take the time to understand the rules, be it for tax and benefits, mobile tariffs, energy tariffs or whatever. Others are probably much busier living life, going out, having fun or simply without the maths skills to understand the long term consequences of spending 50 quid a month on an iPhone or 20k on a wedding.