July 2015 budget

[LamieRobertson]

I missed that little nugget earlier....I wonder how HA's will cope with a falling rent roll..if thats what it means

The chancellor also confirmed that higher earners will have to pay more in rent for social housing. Those earning more than £30,000 will have to make a bigger contribution if they live in council or housing association property. Anyone earning more than £40,000 in London will also have to pay more. However, for everybody, rents will be reduced by 1% a year for four years from 2016.


Housing associations, however, estimate the lost income will prevent at least 27,000 new homes being built. National Housing Federation chief executive David Orr said: “At the very least, 27,000 new homes will not now be built, though that figure could be much higher. The right to buy for housing association tenants further compounds this.”

 

[El Presidente]

I appreciate I'm biased on this attached issue having an autistic adult child, but if people think that tax cuts for the rich are fair, then this is where some of the money is coming from. This comment is from the National Autistic Society.

The Chancellor, George Osborne, today set out the detail of the Government’s planned £12 billion of welfare cuts.

While it is welcome that the Chancellor stated during his Budget speech that Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will not be taxed or means-tested, we are extremely concerned that he went on to say that the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) rate for those in the Work-Related Activity Group (WRAG) will be cut.

From April 2017, the rate paid to new ESA claimants will be reduced to the same level as Job-Seekers Allowance (JSA).

ESA is the benefit for people who cannot work or have a limited ability to work because of a disability or health condition, and many people on the autism spectrum receive it.

This also means that in the future many disabled people on JSA may receive more than those on ESA, due to the disability premiums that are paid to those on JSA who receive DLA or PIP. We believe it simply does not make sense to put those on ESA at a financial disadvantage compared to those on JSA.

What is means is that if you have many disabilities you will be financially disadvantaged as a result. I'm sure that there are many who say that the Chancellor has a tough job and has had to make tough decisions.

One of those decisions was to target the disabled whilst reducing IHT for those less disadvantaged.

 

[Hampster Gull]

No real surprises - handouts for the wealthy, cuts and falling living standards for the rest of us.

Greater incentives to work, less incentive to expect the state to support you. Love the idea of pulling more low paid out of income tax, i would extend to NI also

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Maybe it depends on what you earn now - I reckon I would

Possibly but I have earned that, and more, but now I earn much less than that and I'd rather have a better work / life balance for less money than have to work the hours MPs have to work for that salary.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Greater incentives to work, less incentive to expect the state to support you. Love the idea of pulling more low paid out of income tax, i would extend to NI also

Is this going to be a ticking timebomb in 30 years time ? Its all well and good not paying tax and NI for those on low incomes but how will they build up qualifying years for a state pension especially if the sum built up over a working lifetime in workplace pensions will turn out to be a pittance ?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

But aside from all of this, is the current MPs salary of £67,000 really commensurate with the role? It strikes me as being very much on the low side.

There's never a shortage of people standing for parliament though. Surely an astute historian, sorry chancellor, would spot this and make a hefty market forces based cut?

 

[Hampster Gull]

Is this going to be a ticking timebomb in 30 years time ? Its all well and good not paying tax and NI for those on low incomes but how will they build up qualifying years for a state pension especially if the sum built up over a working lifetime in workplace pensions will turn out to be a pittance ?

Good point but pensions dont have to be linked to NI for the lowest paid

 

[Bozza]

There's never a shortage of people standing for parliament though. Surely an astute historian, sorry chancellor, would spot this and make a hefty market forces based cut?

I'm not entirely sure what you're suggesting but the most obvious interpretation is, again, the mis-placed assertion that MPs are setting their own pay. Neither the current chancellor nor the broader group of MPs do that.

 

[beorhthelm]

Housing associations, however, estimate the lost income will prevent at least 27,000 new homes being built. National Housing Federation chief executive David Orr said: “At the very least, 27,000 new homes will not now be built, though that figure could be much higher. The right to buy for housing association tenants further compounds this.”

i'd call shenanigans on that claim. HA's built 37k homes last year, so i hardly think a 1% reduction in rents will reduce their asset base by that much (a 2% reduction would mean unable to build any new homes, and presumably have to start selling to cover overheads).

what we have this evening is everyone with a vested interest, economically and policitally, saying how bad it is for their area of interest.

 

[Dandyman]

Greater incentives to work, less incentive to expect the state to support you. Love the idea of pulling more low paid out of income tax, i would extend to NI also

It's about the transfer of wealth into profits and rent. I love the utter drivel of right-wingers who believe you incentive working people by making them poorer and the wealthy by making them wealthier.

 

[narly101]

No. It is not a lifestyle OR an investment. It is education.
Learning things should be FREE to ALL and funded by taxation from the whole of the population as it benefits everyone.

Primary and Secondary education IS free for all. Your point?

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Good point but pensions dont have to be linked to NI for the lowest paid

Am I correct in thinking that with the new one tier state pension introduced next year the pension credit to top up the state pension to those with insufficient NI qualifying years is being withdrawn ? No doubt there will be a complex formula to calculate how much you get when you eventually retire but if employees dont pay enough NI throughout their working life who makes up the shortfall ? The one tier state pension is really a misnomer as every individual will get an amount based on their contributions.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I'm not entirely sure what you're suggesting but the most obvious interpretation is, again, the mis-placed assertion that MPs are setting their own pay. Neither the current chancellor nor the broader group of MPs do that.

I know they don't settle their own pay (Labour's PS Act of 2009). My point is I think 67k is too much. There is of course nothing to stop them dispensing with the PSA.

 

[Triggaaar]

Correct. The current threshold is £325,000 per person, but is transferred to the spouse upon death provided the estate is transferred, and therefore becomes £650,000 on the death of the second spouse.

Nice.

If the public finances were such that the government was not borrowing money then frankly I wouldn't be bothered about the whole thing, but George Osborne originally claimed the deficit would be eliminated by 2015, he then revised this to 2018 , and today put it back to 2019.

It's not exactly easy to predict something that depends on so many factors, including the global economy.

It seems odd to give such large tax cuts to those inheriting wealth when this year the expected deficit is over £60 billion in this tax year.

But budgets are always about moving things around in line with the current government's policies, so even when debt needs paying there will often be some tax cuts that are paid for by changes elsewhere. Haven't they said that this particular tax cut will come from taxes on pension savings of people earning over £150k? So it's taking from the very wealthy and giving to the slightly less wealthy.

 

[carteater]

How can a loan (which by definition requires repaying) be more generous than a grant (which doesn't)?

Because student loans get written off after 30 years, and if you earn less than 20k(could be more, could be less, I'm not sure) after graduating you don't have to pay anything back.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

As for the 5k dividends thing didn't Labour do something similar in the mid 00s and scrap it a year later as it encouraged book cooking? I recall something about hundreds of thousands of small businesses all with 9k profits and no tax to pay.

 

[El Presidente]

If paying MPs more money would prevent idiots representing us I would be wholly in favour of it.

However it is not the case, they are chosen by idiots a lot of the time, and it's a job where if you are in a safe seat (and that goes for all parties) then you effectively have a job for life irrespective of you ability to make decisions in the best interests of your constituents or the country as a whole.

Any claim that at least it's only the capable that go on to become ministers is blown out of the water by the Minister for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, the man who closed down Remploy, which provided employment for disabled people, because 'all they do is sit round drinking tea'. This is the same man who has overseen a £600 million overspend on a computer system in his department, which has created delays in paying out to the disadvantaged and needy, and being responsible for the rise in the use of food banks in the world's sixth richest nation, where hunger is now a sad reality for the poor and disenfranchised.

Even his own party's premier intelligent publication thinks he is useless.

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/nick-cohen/2014/06/the-conservative-case-against-iain-duncan-smith/

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

The BTL thing is a step in the right direction.

 

[Hampster Gull]

Surely an astute historian, sorry chancellor, would spot this and make a hefty market forces based cut?

Thats all you can get on those wages

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Because student loans get written off after 30 years, and if you earn less than 20k(could be more, could be less, I'm not sure) after graduating you don't have to pay anything back.

I suppose some money could be recouped if the student loan is only written off after 50 years as this will allow more time to pay it off.