Budget 2010

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

OK - fair point and I don't pretend to know if that is true but....the biggest problem is with lazy, second or third generation scroungers and we all see them, yet they seem to continue to live the life of riley at taxpayers expense

Yep. Ex works for the job centre plus. Literally parents and grandparents would come in and bring their 16 year old in to claim benefits.

Third generation of work shy rubbish.

 

[Bozza]

It's always the 'middle earners' who end up subsidising everyone else

This.

What salary band is a 'middle earner'? Just curious, like...

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

Election just around the corner so expect most things to be freezed to win votes otherwise Mr Darling will be out of a job.

He's going to be out of job anyway, one way or another. This is his last budget.

If the Tories win he'll be in opposition.

If Labour win Gordon will feel strong enough to dump him and Ed Balls will be the next Chancellor.

And if it's a hung parliament then it will be Vince Cable.

 

[Simster]

What salary band is a 'middle earner'? Just curious, like...

Personally, I'm referring to the majority of the population who pay tax on their earnings, but who are unable to claim much in the way of benefits and don't rely on it anyway.

So basically, everyone except the 3% who live on state handouts and the 0.5% filthy rich who could EASILY afford to pay their way, but refuse to do so unless they're promised the chance to be made a LORD by a political party.

 

[strings]

So knock it on the head now. They have to earn benefits by way of community work.

This would be fine by me, the important thing is to get these young people into work before they begin to see benefits as a viable alternative to work.

 

[Simster]

Incidentally, I find it astonishing that people get so angry at the scrounging class while barely giving the tax-avoiding filthy rich a moments thought.

They're as bad as each other - one is a drain on society, the other contributes f*** all to society when in a moral position to do so.

 

[keaton]

Personally, I'm referring to the majority of the population who pay tax on their earnings, but who are unable to claim much in the way of benefits and don't rely on it anyway.

So basically, everyone except the 3% who live on state handouts and the 0.5% filthy rich who could EASILY afford to pay their way, but refuse to do so unless they're promised the chance to be made a LORD by a political party.

So 96.5% are subsidising the rest?

 

[Stoo82]

Personally, I'm referring to the majority of the population who pay tax on their earnings, but who are unable to claim much in the way of benefits and don't rely on it anyway.

So basically, everyone except the 3% who live on state handouts and the 0.5% filthy rich who could EASILY afford to pay their way, but refuse to do so unless they're promised the chance to be made a LORD by a political party.

What about your 'so-called' middle earners who have offshore bank accounts, but with the savings they make spend more on things and therefore make more money for the government through VAT?

Which is why cutting the VAT and not on the tax on earnings was not, in my opinion, the best way to go about it. Cut the earnings tax - people think they have more money, people spend more, more moeny for business and government coffers.

 

[Bozza]

Incidentally, I find it astonishing that people get so angry at the scrounging class while barely giving the tax-avoiding filthy rich a moments thought.

When you were a contractor (or maybe you still are) - did you do everything you could to make sure that you paid tax on a par with a permanent employed equivalent paying PAYE?

 

[Stoo82]

So knock it on the head now. They have to earn benefits by way of community work.

When I was in Bulgaria for a bit, people who did not have jobs and wanted to claim benifits had to work for the community, cut trees and trimming bushes and what not. Should do the same here. People, and I have been one who ahs/and does claim benifits, who work for it, if they can.

 

[User removed 4]

Incidentally, I find it astonishing that people get so angry at the scrounging class while barely giving the tax-avoiding filthy rich a moments thought.

They're as bad as each other - one is a drain on society, the other contributes f*** all to society when in a moral position to do so.

No they're not, they pay their way already, and at least they have created wealth, typical politics of envy stuff.

 

[Simster]

So 96.5% are subsidising the rest?

I think you're being churlish, but yes that's about the size of it.

96.5% pay their taxes, and take very little back - except a bit of child support and the likes, and a small amount of job seekers allowance when required.

Whereas:
3% take hundreds of pounds in housing benefit, job seekers, long term unemployment help and there are people who will claim other stuff where they can get it - dodgy disability handouts, and out and out fraud.
0.5% pay absolutely f*** all back to the country that gave them a safe place to grow up and paid for their education (in some cases).

 

[User removed 4]

I think you're being churlish, but yes that's about the size of it.

96.5% pay their taxes, and take very little back - except a bit of child support and the likes, and a small amount of job seekers allowance when required.

Whereas:
3% take hundreds of pounds in housing benefit, job seekers, long term unemployment help and there are people who will claim other stuff where they can get it - dodgy disability handouts, and out and out fraud.
0.5% pay absolutely f*** all back to the country that gave them a safe place to grow up and paid for their education (in some cases).

I'd bet it's more than 3 %

 

[Simster]

When you were a contractor (or maybe you still are) - did you do everything you could to make sure that you paid tax on a par with a permanent employed equivalent paying PAYE?

No. I did my best to manage my tax affairs for my family (which included paying employers NI incidentally).

The reason that I am no longer a contractor is that the benefits of being self employed no longer outweighed those of being an employee. Rates stayed fairly flat while salaries rose in line with inflation.

To be honest, I'm wondering whether a flat rate of income tax (as being considered in Eastern Europe thee days) might be a fairer, easier way to go about things.

 

[Bozza]

No. I did my best to manage my tax affairs for my family (which included paying employers NI incidentally).

So a tax avoider like those you were seeking to damn. Gotcha.

 

[The Large One]

He's going to be out of job anyway, one way or another. This is his last budget.

If the Tories win he'll be in opposition.

If Labour win Gordon will feel strong enough to dump him and Ed Balls will be the next Chancellor.

And if it's a hung parliament then it will be Vince Cable.

Interesting take.

Whoever is the larger party (Lab or Tory) in a hung parliament, I can't see either of them handing over one of the top jobs to the minority party - irrespective of Cable seemingly having more nous than Osborne or Balls.

 

[Since1982]

0.5% pay absolutely f*** all back to the country that gave them a safe place to grow up and paid for their education (in some cases).

0.5% is (I think and happy to be corrected) something like the proportion of people who earn £100k plus, including, for the time being at least, me. I can assure you that your assertion therefore is wrong.

 

[Bozza]

0.5% is (I think and happy to be corrected) something like the proportion of people who earn £100k plus, including, for the time being at least, me. I can assure you that your assertion therefore is wrong.

Well done you.

Your stats are slightly off those I last read though...

How about the top 25%? A gross annual salary of £31,759 - measured across all jobs - gets you into that club.

How about if you make the top 10%? The ASHE figures reveal that a salary of £44,881 is enough to just edge into that top bracket.

A gross annual salary of £58,917 gets you into the top 5%.

But the standard that has cropped up in newsprint over the years is "the top 1%". It takes £118,027 to get into this bracket. And if you are earning £150,000 - the amount that triggers 50% income tax - you are in the top 0.6% of salaried people, according to the ASHE.

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

Interesting take.

Whoever is the larger party (Lab or Tory) in a hung parliament, I can't see either of them handing over one of the top jobs to the minority party - irrespective of Cable seemingly having more nous than Osborne or Balls.

Agree. No chance of cable being chancellor. Also while I rate Cable as a commentator I'm not confident that he would be good in power. The debacle the Lid Dems got into last year about taxing people who live in £1 million plus homes was his doing.

 

[Since1982]

Well done you.

Your stats are slightly off those I last read though...

Thanks for the correction and I didnt mean to sound boastful as I consider myself fortunate to earn what I do and I dont think it will last for ever but my point is that you can earn what appears to be a huge salary but live a relatively ordinary lifestyle (believe me I do!). I'm not super rich, I pay all the taxes due and I have a number of colleagues who do the same. The bigger issue in this country is not the so-called super rich it is the sponging underclass who do not and will not ever work unless something changes radically.