MSE Poll: What should be means-tested? Free bus passes, the NHS, student loans?

davidcomps

yup, a badly designed survey - needs to allow either no response to an item, or an option to say no subsidy

Maineman

I voted to means test child benefit when really I don't think it should be. It should be abolished altogether, being introduced after the last world war to encourage more people to have families. If you can't afford children don't have them and expect me to pay for them, the system is totally abused and an anachronism.

skyeblue

What is an OAP card?

MalcBridge

As has already been suggested, make everything free and then recover the cost through the tax system. The savings on Admin alone would be significant. Not sure that individual tax returns are the answer though; just assume everyone uses everything and increase the tax rate accordinglt.

redux

whosthatgirl1989 wrote: »

For some the admin costs of means-testing would probably outweigh the savings of not giving the allowance/entitlement to all.

Indeed. It is quite often said that it's more efficient to not have means testing and just tax the higher earners more to make up for it. In effect we already have a tax system like this.

newbs68

I do get fed up with seeing buses full of pensioners but hardly any paying passengers. No wonder bus services are being withdrawn because they are not economically viable.

Another one missing of that list is the Winter Fuel Allowance. The amount of folks that have said to me that they use the money to buy christmas presents for their grandchildren is unreal.

I hasten to add that I live in an area with a very high proportion of very wealthy retired people. If you can afford to jet off on twice yearly holidays surely you can afford a bus ticket or pay the heating costs.

I can't and I'm working.

The trouble with many of the thresholds is that they tend to be set too low and then people like myself are left worse off. My kids don't qualify for school meals for example as our earnings are about £100 per year over the maximum.
Many working people here have cash in hand jobs to make ends meet, cleaning the houses of the well off pensioners.

lakesider52

There are two big issues here that make it impractical to means test the majority of these items. Firstly, the cost of employing yet more civil servants to carry out the means tests and don't forget that even if one partner is a millionaire, the other partner, may not have any income so any test would have to look at both partners involving more bureaucracy.
Secondly, there is a trap for those middle income earners who are just about managing end up paying for everything whilst the lazy ones in society get everything paid for them.
Finally, IVF treatment and cosmetic surgery should never be free of charge.

Colin43

TV Licences should be scrapped. After all it's the same fee whether you watch 10 minutes a day or 10 hours a day. The BBC should be funded directly from general taxation via the UK Govt.

Andyjj

As interesting though the results of this poll are, it would be more interesting if some basic information was collated at the point of voting to understand this more. Age of person voting, employment status, approx gross income, have children or not, in receipt of any of the following benefits. Pretty easy to do and surprised they haven't done that. So for example how many people would vote to lose some kind of benefit they are in receipt of? The "haves" don't have the gumption to say "I can live without this". The "have nots" might feel a sense of entitlement. A regular user of a service might bawk at the idea of paying a couple of quid to use it, because they haven't had to before. Even if they could afford it easily.

XRAT

I'd like to see the system change to encourage those who need money to go and earn it. Instead of paying benefits I would allow the personal tax allowance threshold to be raised (as it is with the marriage allowance at the moment.)
If you work you keep more of it, if you don't work you don't get.
Means testing is too easily 'gamed' by the experts. We have too many experts with time on their hands. (Given a days work most criminals are too tired to go looking for easy pickings at night.)
Bus passes should be free to the elderly outside of rush hours. It encourages mobility and eases congestion. But first, councils should clear foot paths so the infirm can get to the bus-stop! (Billing residents if private trees/shrubs need to be cut.)