FTBs - practical solutiomns

theGrinch

what practical things can the government do to get FTBs started?

nelly_2

Give us 100 grand

theGrinch

hmmm...interesting, but the subject header does say, "practical"

meanmachine_2

The government can do practically nothing.

And they shouldn't meddle, apart from taxing second homes.

Oh and they could stop fiddling the inflation figures and unemployment rates in a (sadly successful) attempt to trick the unwashed masses into thinking everything's rosy.

Oh and they should ban Kirsty Allsop.

The last thing they should do is use tax payer's money to bribe FTBers.

mrcow

Personally I think that many potential first time buyers are saddled with huge debt before they even start, through, for example tuition fees which can cause problems as they are not in a good position to start saving for deposits at an early stage.

Encouraging saving rather than debt at an early age would be a good start!

mrcow

And introducing basic money management skills and understanding into the national curriculum wouldn't go amiss either (or am I opening a different can of worms here?)

I'm amazed at how many people on this site come and post with basic income tax questions for example (and that is NOT meant to be an attack on anyone BTW!).

I spent weeks in school learning about artesian basins and how to paint in watercolour, maybe my time would have been better spent if I'd had been given some tutorship in tax, pensions, insurance, basic banking, savings, budgeting, job seeking, mortgages, & the ploys that credit agencies will use to hook you for the foreseeable.......

Anyway.....I digress........sorry!

meanmachine_2

mrcow wrote:

I spent weeks in school learning about artesian basins and how to paint in watercolour, maybe my time would have been better spent if I'd had been given some tutorship in tax, pensions, insurance, basic banking, savings, budgeting, job seeking, mortgages, & the ploys that credit agencies will use to hook you for the foreseeable.......

Anyway.....I digress........sorry!

Excellent idea. I could tell you all about how an Ox bow lake is formed :rolleyes: but when it comes to income tax I break out into a cold sweat.

Conspiracy perhaps?

after all, if we were all economically literate and could work out real interest rates and regressive hidden taxation, I think politicians would be in a lot of trouble.

ManAtHome

meanmachine wrote:

Oh and they could stop fiddling the inflation figures

Perhaps it's time to put housing costs back in the index, could always take council tax and fuel out to make it more representative of average household costs...

meanmachine wrote:

Oh and they should ban Kirsty Allsop.

Spooky that, both her and Tony having the same mantra (the only way is up) - would be really funny if she was TBs "property expert" http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/page.cfm?objectid=15666578&method=full&siteid=106694. Sure I heard her on the radio a couple of weeks ago - something like "all the people who know about property - estate agents, banks, building societies, surveyors etc are predicting modest rises, only economists are predicting falls" - for everything else, use Mastercard.

theGrinch

surely cheap starter homes will help bridge the gap between renting and getting on the property circuit. they have to be decent quality otherwise they will depreciate!

it would help if all govt depts ie education, transport, health, environment etc worked together rather than have competing agendas maybe then they will give patronage to some new towns.

theGrinch

MM there is a strong argument that using fiscal policy like taxing second homes will only drive prices up. Increasing stamp duty has after all not quelled demand, but worked to distort the market.

Accountants will just register 2nd, 3rd.....Nth homes in either the name of long lost relatives or companies!

surely the problem is not old labour with tax and more tax, but forward thinking and working on the supplyside for a change.