Stop government using the words "Low Income" when referring to benefits & financial support schemes

maisie_cat · 22 January 2023 at 11:22AM

The OP has a point with the definition of "low income", the ONS definition is different to that used by other GOV departments.
The lazy route of assuming every household claiming benefits is really struggling and every other household is not is flawed, especially for pensioners.

singhini · 22 January 2023 at 3:20PM

Martin_the_Unjust said:

So tell me something OP, how much extra tax would you have been happy to pay while you were earning big in order to let people with well over £16k in saving’s receive means tested benefits?

Zero

its not about £16,000 or any other amount of savings!!!
Its about the government taking and turning their back on people and then insulting them with headlines that are false!!!

Personally i think its good to pay tax at 40% (perhaps the government should scrap the £12,570 tax free allowance and start charging everyone 20% on that amount and then 40% on anything thereafter). then the treasury would have so much more to help the people

singhini · 22 January 2023 at 3:23PM

comeandgo said:

You have so much yet you want more..

No the government has it all.

All Ive got is 90% less income. And no help from the government and misleading statements that the government are peddling.

singhini · 22 January 2023 at 3:26PM

Keep_pedalling said:

singhini said:

Keep_pedalling said:

singhini said:

I've just spent this evening going through old wage slips and P60's to discover that over the last 22 years ive paid £357,522 in Income tax and NI
If paying tax doesn't get me anything, then i don't intend to pay another £350,000 over the next 20 years, i will leave that to others.

What a load of tripe, are you really saying that you would turn down a job that would give you take home pay of around £1.3M over those 20 years you would refuse it because you don’t want to pay £350k tax on the gross pay.

If you did not build up substantial savings and pensions in those 22 years of being very highly paid you have yourself to blame, but if you did then what the hell are you moaning about.

Im moaning about being treated like rubbish!

Really? in another thread you say despite now being on low income you are still paying in to your SIPP and despite not being a tax payer the gov. are adding 20% to your contributions,

I get £720 and the government gets £25,000 (hardly doing much for me). Perhaps you could pay my £25,000 and i would be happy to sacrifice the £720

singhini · 22 January 2023 at 3:33PM

The thread is about the government peddling false information, i don't have a problem with paying tax. i have a problem that after paying it people are sh@?&d on and lied to.

But you lot want to make it about money. Well im off to have my lunch (swan and caviar with a bottle of Chateau d'Yquem 1825).
Suppose i could start spending my savings on restoring my all aluminium bodied 300sl Gullwing.

Torry_Quine · 22 January 2023 at 3:36PM

We pay tax in when our circumstances allow, it's not sitting waiting for us. My husband never earned much above minimum wage but we weren't entitled to any means tested benefits when he was unemployed due to savings. Unlike the OP we saw it as the rainy days we'd saved for. Benefits can be changed or removed so it's never good to rely on them if you're able to manage without.

theoretica · 22 January 2023 at 5:21PM

So it is about the extra words, and all statements about benefits/help could be aimed at 'low income and savings'? Or 'low income and other criteria'? I agree that would be more complete, though it is not something I would put high on my list of annoyances.

Brie · 22 January 2023 at 5:38PM

I agree that many of the benefits are mislabelled when they refer to being available to those on low incomes.

And job seekers is a bizarre benefit. It could be based on past earnings - I had expected it to be first time I heard about it as I assumed it was like unemployment insurance I used to be able to claim far away and many years ago. If I had lost a low paying job I would get a low amount of UI, high paying job, high UI. Capped of course but still it was a better system to me. And none of the job search scrutiny done in the UK but a guaranteed income for up to 12 months. Then again this was based on the fact that many claimants lived where only very well paid but very seasonal work was available.

Job seekers and DWP in general seem to be staff by unhappy and either uninformed or badly trained individuals who have no interest in helping those who unfortunately are their clients. A very broken system.