Des' Dad Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Todays budget knocks the Tories slogan of "we're all in this together" right out of the water. Ending the 50p tax band hands thousands back to high earners and ?40,000 a year to millionaires. The rest of us pay more in indirect taxes to pay for this. Tories showing their true colours now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King of the North Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Todays budget knocks the Tories slogan of "we're all in this together" right out of the water. Ending the 50p tax band hands thousands back to high earners and ?40,000 a year to millionaires. The rest of us pay more in indirect taxes to pay for this. Tories showing their true colours now. Now? Since day one of this government, when the news of their very first deep and instant slashes in public spending were greeted with brays and cheers from the hooray henry yobs on the back benches, their true colours have been front and centre - nobody should be surprised by this budget. Anyone daft enough to vote for them and expect anything different...? Course, many people voted for them with the full knowledge that this is what Tories do -they should be ashamed too, but those people are not stupid - they are just c**ts. Oh for an opposition worthy of the name... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun.lawson Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 - Personal allowance up 1100 quid - Stamp duty of 7% on homes worth more than 2 million - Introduction of flat rate pensions which will benefit lower earners and penalise higher ones Or is the above just a figment of my imagination? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMac Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 - Personal allowance up 1100 quid - Stamp duty of 7% on homes worth more than 2 million - Introduction of flat rate pensions which will benefit lower earners and penalise higher ones Or is the above just a figment of my imagination? Personal allowance would be a lib dem policy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun.lawson Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Personal allowance would be a lib dem policy Indeed it would. Those ******* Lib Dems, who should've let the Tories govern by themselves, and left low paid workers to rot, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMac Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Indeed it would. Those ******* Lib Dems, who should've let the Tories govern by themselves, and left low paid workers to rot, right? If I was in charge I would have but what is done is done and so are the lib dems... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun.lawson Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 If I was in charge I would have but what is done is done and so are the lib dems... The Lib Dems are now at about the same level in the polls as they generally always are in mid-term. Meaning the expected wipe-out come 2015 might well not materialise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsmak Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Thought it was a great budget today.. Ed Milliband made a plonker of himself in the rebuttal. Hasn't a clue that man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Le Clos Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I don't understand why they don't just add a couple of pence on income tax for everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudi Skacel Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Can someone explain this personal allowance thing to me? I dont really understand all this budget stuff but to my thinking (which I know is wrong) the personal allowance should mean I get about an extra ?20 in my net pay every week, but that doesnt happen. I was confused about this last year when it went up by ?1000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingantti1874 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Is a good budget IMO - reasonable balance struck.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davesmith Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Can someone explain this personal allowance thing to me? I dont really understand all this budget stuff but to my thinking (which I know is wrong) the personal allowance should mean I get about an extra ?20 in my net pay every week, but that doesnt happen. I was confused about this last year when it went up by ?1000. Basically you don't start paying tax for another ?1,000 so effect on net pay is you get 20% of ?1,000 extra (assuming standard rate) or ?200 better off per year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gasman Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Millions pay for Millionaires tax cuts. It's the Tory way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Dee Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 The Tories & Lib Dems never cease to amaze me with their underhand behaviour. Surely the English voters will vote them out next election? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun.lawson Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 The Tories & Lib Dems never cease to amaze me with their underhand behaviour. Surely the English voters will vote them out next election? Unless Labour get rid of little bro and bring in big bro, pronto, the Tories will win a clear majority at the next election. It's nailed on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victorian Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Can someone explain this personal allowance thing to me? I dont really understand all this budget stuff but to my thinking (which I know is wrong) the personal allowance should mean I get about an extra ?20 in my net pay every week, but that doesnt happen. I was confused about this last year when it went up by ?1000. a tax code allowance is an amount of earnings you can earn that doesn't attract tax. basic rate tax is 20% therefore an allowance should always be calculated at the rate of tax one is liable at to view the monetary benefit to them. when someone says an allowance has increased by ?1000, it never means you will be ?1000 better off. you always multiply it by 20% to get the cash figure. it's about time the personal allowance was significantly cranked up. it should be taken much much further in the future. it would make much more sense to increase it up to ?12,000 - ?15,000 and fund it by increasing the basic rate. that really would be a vote winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Kilpatrick Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Meanwhile, away from the 'tax reform' the OBR make up more fantasy growth numbers that Al Darling would be proud of! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jambos are go! Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 - Personal allowance up 1100 quid - Stamp duty of 7% on homes worth more than 2 million - Introduction of flat rate pensions which will benefit lower earners and penalise higher ones Or is the above just a figment of my imagination? This budget is fiscally neutral according to an expert on BBC news. A billion pounds has been taken from pensioners and used to fund the reduction in the higher tax rate. They have taken up to ?200+ a year from pensioners and given upto ?10k per year to higher tax payers. The LibDems promised a ?10k tax allowance immmediately following the election and that delayed promise means that the ?10k figure will be eroded by inflation and will be worth roughly half the LibDem pledge if not delivered till 2014. Do you deny any of this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenbank2 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 The Tories & Lib Dems never cease to amaze me with their underhand behaviour. Surely the English voters will vote them out next election? How can any budget who gives ?170 quid to someone on ?10K per year and ?50,000 to each of those on ?1M be fair? the Eton old boys are taking care of their own. Middle England will love this budget. The trouble being that everyone in the home counties who is a higher rate (40%) tax payer likes to think they're the elite and although never will be, want to think that one day they may genuinely be part of the 1% who own the majority of the countries wealth. So they vote for what they believe is their own kind. The Chipping Norton set will be foaming at the mouth in delirium. Mr Ed is a side show village idiot. Gideon positioning for more perceived give-aways and the Tories will romp to an overall majority at the next election and for years after. If you don't want to live an a country with these values, there is only one solution. Roll-on the referendum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dagger Is Back Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Why the surprise and condemnation? Tories have been ******* over the masses for decades whilst the rich get richer. Today was very much in keeping with what has gone before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun.lawson Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 This budget is fiscally neutral according to an expert on BBC news. A billion pounds has been taken from pensioners and used to fund the reduction in the higher tax rate. They have taken up to ?200+ a year from pensioners and given upto ?10k per year to higher tax payers. The LibDems promised a ?10k tax allowance immmediately following the election and that delayed promise means that the ?10k figure will be eroded by inflation and will be worth roughly half the LibDem pledge if not delivered till 2014. Do you deny any of this? What is it that I'm supposed to deny, exactly? If you expected anything more than a fiscally neutral budget at a time like this, you must be off living with the fairies somewhere. The very point is that it's neutral, and a million miles away from the rhetoric already being deployed about it. What they've given to higher rate taxpayers, they'll take back elsehere - but you just ignore that bit because it doesn't suit you. I'm at a loss as to how equalising the personal allowance across the board is somehow outrageous: funny, I thought you believed in fairness? And only you, only you, could somehow portray the massive rise in the personal allowance as a bad thing, because it hasn't happened more quickly! What was it that Labour, so-called party of the working man, were going to do with the personal allowance had they won the last election? Oh yes: nothing at all. And you dare to criticise those who raise it substantially, with further rises still to come? If Labour were still at the helm, you think they'd be doing anything much different? Do you deny this? http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jan/13/ed-balls-labour-party-economic-redibility It is now inevitable that public sector pay restraint will have to continue through this parliament. Labour cannot duck that reality and won't. There is no way we should be arguing for higher pay when the choice is between higher pay and bringing unemployment down... My starting point is, I am afraid, we are going to have keep all these cuts. There is a big squeeze happening on budgets across the piece. The squeeze on defence spending, for instance, is ?15bn by 2015. We are going to have to start from that being the baseline. At this stage, we can make no commitments to reverse any of that, on spending or on tax. So I am being absolutely clear about that... Vote for us - and get, um, the exact same thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Todays budget knocks the Tories slogan of "we're all in this together" right out of the water. Ending the 50p tax band hands thousands back to high earners and ?40,000 a year to millionaires. The rest of us pay more in indirect taxes to pay for this. Tories showing their true colours now. Thats not all DWP pay to be regionalised. So what would this mean for me, I work in an area with lower cost of living. But I live in an area with high cost of living. Great, its bad enough my pay packet decreases every year without this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
systemx Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 The tories taking money from the elderly to give to the rich is hardly a surprise .Its what Tories do.Its the smug fecking Liberals who are cheering them because they got a personal allowance change that really get my goat.The same feckers who voted through the NHS reforms earlier in the week.B*"tards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deek Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Its a pretty non descript budget and you are all arguing over rubbish. He should have put a pound on a packet of fags, 50 pence on a pint and a pound off a bottle of wine. Cheers!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davesmith Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Thats not all DWP pay to be regionalised. So what would this mean for me, I work in an area with lower cost of living. But I live in an area with high cost of living. Great, its bad enough my pay packet decreases every year without this. Actually a great idea. Pay should be regionalised for the public sector like any sector. I do feel for all the poor public sector workers though who are no longer be overpaid for mediocre service. If someone chooses to work in a high cost area but work elsewhere then that's their own decision. Tbh it seems a perfectly fine budget for me and most people will be winners. The pensioners are losing however not every pensioner is skint and eating bread and butter as people would like to think. The pensions of this era's pensions will never be repeated. Only the other day was hearing of someone who was getting a 5k per annum pension from a previous employer they only worked for a few years. Christ the people these days might be lucky to get that for 20 years of contributions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rand Paul's Ray Bans Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Was pleased to see tax credits for high-end TV production and video games production announced, as well as Edinburgh getting earmarked for ultra-high speed broadband and wifi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I P Knightley Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I'm rather pleased with it all, tbh. Hadn't planned on moving house, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jambos are go! Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 What is it that I'm supposed to deny, exactly? If you expected anything more than a fiscally neutral budget at a time like this, you must be off living with the fairies somewhere. The very point is that it's neutral, and a million miles away from the rhetoric already being deployed about it. What they've given to higher rate taxpayers, they'll take back elsehere - but you just ignore that bit because it doesn't suit you. I'm at a loss as to how equalising the personal allowance across the board is somehow outrageous: funny, I thought you believed in fairness? And only you, only you, could somehow portray the massive rise in the personal allowance as a bad thing, because it hasn't happened more quickly! What was it that Labour, so-called party of the working man, were going to do with the personal allowance had they won the last election? Oh yes: nothing at all. And you dare to criticise those who raise it substantially, with further rises still to come? If Labour were still at the helm, you think they'd be doing anything much different? Do you deny this? http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jan/13/ed-balls-labour-party-economic-redibility Vote for us - and get, um, the exact same thing! now that you have not denied it it would appear that you are content to fund tax cuts for high earners through increased taxes for pensioners through lower tax allowances. I am not content because I dont think its fair. You obviously do. You have ignored me highlighting that taking 4 years to take the tax Threshold upto ?10k is a substantial reduction over the election pledge to take it up to that level in 2010 in one go if you takne inflation into account. Yes I agree that cuts are inevitable but Ed Milliband and Ed Balls have made it clear that they would not have cut the top rate of tax and kept pensioners allowances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Wilde Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Vote Yes in 2014 and ditch the UK ConDem ^^^^ts forever. They're a fecking abomination.Edit: Labour are just as fecking awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Actually a great idea. Pay should be regionalised for the public sector like any sector. I do feel for all the poor public sector workers though who are no longer be overpaid for mediocre service. If someone chooses to work in a high cost area but work elsewhere then that's their own decision. Tbh it seems a perfectly fine budget for me and most people will be winners. The pensioners are losing however not every pensioner is skint and eating bread and butter as people would like to think. The pensions of this era's pensions will never be repeated. Only the other day was hearing of someone who was getting a 5k per annum pension from a previous employer they only worked for a few years. Christ the people these days might be lucky to get that for 20 years of contributions. My pay is shit, I work in the DWP on a promise of a decent pension but that's been hammered too. I'm now working longer earning peanuts, paying more into a pension scheme for a smaller return. I put up with a lot of shit in my job, with changes in legislation constantly affecting the role. I enjoy what I do. But it will be worth it if I came to some security when I retire. Because put it this way, when many of you retire there will be no state pension, that will slowly be taken away from the benefits system, probably over next 15/20 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davesmith Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 My pay is shit, I work in the DWP on a promise of a decent pension but that's been hammered too. I'm now working longer earning peanuts, paying more into a pension scheme for a smaller return. I put up with a lot of shit in my job, with changes in legislation constantly affecting the role. I enjoy what I do. But it will be worth it if I came to some security when I retire. Because put it this way, when many of you retire there will be no state pension, that will slowly be taken away from the benefits system, probably over next 15/20 years. Welcome to the real world. Bet your DWP wage and pension is better than those in the private sector and to top it all off the DWP are utter crap. I am sure all those folk working in the private sector feel your pain. About 5-10 years ago. Really little sympathy for the private sector moaners. You are simply finding your wages and benefits cut to competitive levels with the private sectors. Why should I and Joe Public have to pay more tax to support your overly generous packages? Oh and there will be a state pension. Scare mongering by people that think the state pension shouldnt need to be topped up by a personal pension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southside1874 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I don't understand why they don't just add a couple of pence on income tax for everyone. If you take the tax from folk then it stops them from spending it. The thing about cutting tax for high earmers is that they will spend the money and therefore they pay vat on what they spend. The money they spend will keep folk in jobs and their earnings will be taxed and the money they spend will have vat levied on it. It seems strange but getting folk with disposable incomes to start spending their money is how our economy works. We could all actually go out and plant our seeds for two weeks in the spring and spend a month in the autumn bringing in the crops. Spend a month on our house and a month on our livestock and have the rest of the year off. Folk had that much time on their hands they went on pilgrimages. Now we work like dogs to pay taxes and interest on loans and charges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rand Paul's Ray Bans Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Also, Ed Miliband's response to the budget was his best performance yet as Labour leader; although it was an open goal. The Downtown Abbey joke was tragic as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyw_1874 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Its a pretty non descript budget and you are all arguing over rubbish. He should have put a pound on a packet of fags, 50 pence on a pint and a pound off a bottle of wine. Cheers!! Ye thats right. Hammer 3 things that keep a lot of people happy is this miserable, cold, depressing and over price country of ours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToYouToMe Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 ?200 better off. By 2013 any benefit from that will be wiped out by inflation. A ruse to detract from what they are really up to, lining their own pockets and that of the super rich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southside1874 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 ?200 better off. By 2013 any benefit from that will be wiped out by inflation. A ruse to detract from what they are really up to, lining their own pockets and that of the super rich. Tell me what politician or political party is different??? Under the Labour government we had folk getting super rich. Its London that leads these folk to make policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake Plissken Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 My income tax is 3% Worst part is, it could have been 0% if I'd applied for exemption but I didn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Just Came To Say Kello Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 I'd be up for assassinating every corrupt banker, insurance broker, executive, trader and financier involved. Not their biggest fan - still, I'm sure they're really bothered what I think as they pocket their bonuses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Just Came To Say Kello Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronJambo Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Todays budget knocks the Tories slogan of "we're all in this together" right out of the water. Ending the 50p tax band hands thousands back to high earners and ?40,000 a year to millionaires. The rest of us pay more in indirect taxes to pay for this. Tories showing their true colours now. I'm no tory but it was a decent budget as far as they go. The 50p tax band was probably costing the country more in tax than it was making and should never have been introduced. Its been the old, robbing Peter to pay Paul game. Sadly, Miliband hasn't a clue. If we don't get rid of that clown in due course the Tories will scrape through next time with another coalition. It'll involve more than two parties though, as I don't think many will be voting for the Lib Dems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deek Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Ye thats right. Hammer 3 things that keep a lot of people happy is this miserable, cold, depressing and over price country of ours. If you read back it was only two things I asked to be hammered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theshed Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 petrol still going up by nearly 4p a litre in nov Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dobmisterdobster Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Don't worry guys, Labour will change everything once they regain power. Remember back in 1997 when they reversed all the Thatcherite policies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gasman Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 petrol still going up by nearly 4p a litre in nov It goes up 3.2p a litre on 1st August. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamboX2 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 The budget is a bit of a damp squib. No real plan for growth in it. It's a fudge tbh. Osbourne really wanted to go the whole hog back in 2010 and cut taxes back to the pre-2007 levels and also withdraw more money to boost the private sector (thank god he didn't because world wide growth has stagnated again). In all I think it's a non-budget, what we really need is major infrastructure investment or plans to attract private sector investment. Both I'd say were fleeting. I have thought for some time that a National Investment Bank, like the Germans, French and the Americans have. Essentially its a state bank which attracts private money in for a share of the profit from stater run and built assets on long term bonds. So you get Norwegian Pension funds buying bonds, to say build a new railway from Edinburgh to Leeds, and once its built they see some profit back from it over time. It's a good idea, and I've no idea why we haven't (in over 50 years of need for major investment in industry and infrastructure) gone for it. The personal allowance is obviously a good thing, but its only good if the higher rates stay 50%+. As they cut it, in cash terms the rich got a 5p tax cut and gained a ?10k tax lump sum too. After all the poorest are either already below the ?9k sum or only see a marginal return from it due to higher living costs (proportionately they pay more on bills because they earn less). I think we need a better balance there. We never got it. But in all I can't see how it was dreadful, but I can't see what was great either. Was a non-event. The Labour response was all right, again not great. They need to come up with some policies soon, to get them disseminated into the electorate before 2015. They also need to either boot Ed before December this year or stick with him to 2015. He wasn't great in his response and I think the likes of Cooper could've given Osbourne a harder time of it. Maybe even Harriet Harman or Hilary Benn. But we'll see what happens to Labour. I thought the best response came from Ken MacIntosh MSP and Carwyn Jones the Welsh FM, and that says something about the strength of the Westminster leadership. The SNP response was woeful. They get the North Sea Oil tax breaks and investment they've craved and slate the budget after it creates more Scottish enterprise zones and increases our Barnett Consequentials, and when asked what they'd do, they say see us after 2016...sorry not good enough, if they want independence and to run our affairs in these areas then they better have a plan now or a better grasp of what they want to do. Vagueries of it being 'unfair' and 'anti-Scottish' won't float anymore imo. It wasn't the budget to cure, and it's not totally killed. But its a fudge which screws working people and pensioners a bit more than the richest. So it's just a typical timid Tory budget. Where the trade off from the Lib-Dems is on 50p cuts is beyond me, where's the mansion tax? And this Tycoon tax is nonsense, it's essentially tighter tax collection....which we should have as it is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossthejambo Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 It's all a bit "meh" IMO. It doesn't affect my directly but I can see why people would be pissed off. I try to look at it all without the anti-Tory specs and it's not really as bad as it's being made out. Sadly people up here, unsurprisingly, hate everything Tory so will shoot it down regardless. I am by no means a Conservative btw, I'd rather not vote than put an X next to a Tory on the ballot paper. What I will say is, that the longer the Tory's are in power, and I reckon they'll be in power for at least the next 2 terms considering how utterly inept the Labour party are, the more likely we are to have an independent Scotland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsmak Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 As for the 50p tax rates and the tax exemptions, anyone who is in the 50% bracket (over 150k per year) are not entitled to any personal allowance. There is an upper limit starting at 100k where the personal allowance is stopped and at ?114k it is gone completely. So the mega rich don't benefit at all for an increase in personal allowances. The rich already contribute more than their fair share and while I am well jealous I can understand why 50% is crazy. With NI contributions on top of this, they pay so much in tax. So when it went up to 50% the rich stopped paying themselves wages and got more shares and dividends from their companies (which are taxed at a lower rate) or putting aside as much as possible to be paid later when the rate dropped. They basically fixed it so they wouldn't pay it. As it has been stated, this actually cost the taxpayer money because less tax was taken in. ----- Pensioners allowances - the personal allowance for the over 65s and over 70s is ?9,940 and ?10,090 compared to the under 65 rate of ?7,475. The older ones are being merged with the normal one and will in a couple of years be ?10K for everyone. This is a bit of a reduction of tax exemption for the over 75s. But it will be 20% of ?90 so they will lose about ?18 per year. So I don't really see the fuss. As for the state pension. It should be an individuals responsibility to look after themselves. If you want nice things you work hard to buy them. If you want a nice retirement you should put money away for it. Yes its hard and saving for a pension is something a lot of people don't worry about, but, you work for 40 years and need to use that money to pay for 60 years of living. The state pension is a little over 5k per year and I now that I couldn't live on that. People need to take responsibility for their own retirement now and make sure that they don't become one of the poorest pensioners who can't afford to pay for heating., ------ Infrastructure - There is a little bit said about improving Manchester's rail lines and maybe increasing airport capacity in the south east. This is a start and will make more jobs. There was also talk of upgrading the broadband service for the 10 biggest cities - Edinburgh being one. This will also make more jobs so this is good. What we really needed was more help to people buying houses. If the housing market went from strength to strength it would kickstart the economy with money moving around again rather being tied up in property and it would create jobs in the construction industry. This would have been the best thing that could have happened and not much was said about it. I'll stop now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan_R Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 total joke, most regular folk are worse off and the price of sausage rolls is going up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Kilpatrick Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 As for the 50p tax rates and the tax exemptions, anyone who is in the 50% bracket (over 150k per year) are not entitled to any personal allowance. There is an upper limit starting at 100k where the personal allowance is stopped and at ?114k it is gone completely. So the mega rich don't benefit at all for an increase in personal allowances. The rich already contribute more than their fair share and while I am well jealous I can understand why 50% is crazy. With NI contributions on top of this, they pay so much in tax. So when it went up to 50% the rich stopped paying themselves wages and got more shares and dividends from their companies (which are taxed at a lower rate) or putting aside as much as possible to be paid later when the rate dropped. They basically fixed it so they wouldn't pay it. As it has been stated, this actually cost the taxpayer money because less tax was taken in. ----- Pensioners allowances - the personal allowance for the over 65s and over 70s is ?9,940 and ?10,090 compared to the under 65 rate of ?7,475. The older ones are being merged with the normal one and will in a couple of years be ?10K for everyone. This is a bit of a reduction of tax exemption for the over 75s. But it will be 20% of ?90 so they will lose about ?18 per year. So I don't really see the fuss. As for the state pension. It should be an individuals responsibility to look after themselves. If you want nice things you work hard to buy them. If you want a nice retirement you should put money away for it. Yes its hard and saving for a pension is something a lot of people don't worry about, but, you work for 40 years and need to use that money to pay for 60 years of living. The state pension is a little over 5k per year and I now that I couldn't live on that. People need to take responsibility for their own retirement now and make sure that they don't become one of the poorest pensioners who can't afford to pay for heating., ------ Infrastructure - There is a little bit said about improving Manchester's rail lines and maybe increasing airport capacity in the south east. This is a start and will make more jobs. There was also talk of upgrading the broadband service for the 10 biggest cities - Edinburgh being one. This will also make more jobs so this is good. What we really needed was more help to people buying houses. If the housing market went from strength to strength it would kickstart the economy with money moving around again rather being tied up in property and it would create jobs in the construction industry. This would have been the best thing that could have happened and not much was said about it. I'll stop now. It was the property boom that caused the mess in the first place and you want a repeat dose?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigsmak Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 It was the property boom that caused the mess in the first place and you want a repeat dose?! The boom was a big part of what happened, but it was mostly down to irresponsible lending criteria from the banks. The sub-prime market in america was the tipping point for the whole thing. I don't understand why there was a sub-prime market in the first place. By definition it is the people who are not likely to repay their mortgages. Why would you lend money to them? Why? And when they couldn't pay back, their homes were repossessed and fell into negative equity and the banks lost a lot of money, or money they had budgeted in receiving at any rate. What needs to be done is either an increase in council housing so people don't have to buy. Or an increase in the help that is given to first time buyers. As long as the banks don't go above lending people 4 times their salaries as they had done, and over 95% (although I would say 90%) of the value of the houses it should be fine. Should be. Should. EDIT - and greeedy construction companies.. They were spilling out flats that were not great quality and cost way more than they should have. This was a big factor in it all. Example, a couple sold their house and put ?120,000 as a deposit for one of the ?450,000 penthouse flats at the point between leith and granton (near the new asda). That flat dropped in value to ?300,000 and they were in negative equity even though they put down ?120k... WTF... were these people idiots? Or were all the house builders in Edinburgh artificially inflating prices by having a price that only a few people paid (mugs) and the discount price that they offered to everyone who asked. But even with the discount price, the sale price recorded for the housing market was the original inflated one. Maybe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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