I wish I had your council tax bill.
Most people classed as being in poverty 'have job'
- Thread starter Bromhead
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I wish I had your council tax bill.
Do what many others do, including many on £40k in London and students. Share a house.
£38 a month for a phone bill is pretty steep as well, that's a pretty high end contract!
I'm not saying 13k is a lot but many of those that complain they arent on enough to survive would make a student feel like a king and have more luxuaries than someone paying sinlginficantly more tax than someone living in London.
I do like the idea of reducing tax and increasing the minimum wage though, however that wouldn't really help those companies that just scrape it each year and pay little tax because they make little profit.
Soldato
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Come on, you know full well that no other political party cares about them either.
Labour wants their votes...
Soldato
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How exactly is it Cameron's fault?
Soldato
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And what exactly did they do for them in the last government? Can anyone even name a single thing? Aside from creating a generation of people who are far better off not working.
Soldato
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I have said this for years now, it's not minimum wage that is the problem at all. It's the absolutely ridiculous cost of housing, especially for the group of working adults at around the "poverty" (I hate this word when describing people in this country!) line. The fact that the vast majority of housing benefit actually goes to this group, should be setting alarm bells ringing. Instead it's rarely ever mentioned at all, it should be the number one issue to be addressed.
When a huge amount of politicians are milking the buy to let system themselves, with large property portfolios, is there any wonder why we are in such a dire situation. It's almost comical.
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Soldato
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Tax Credits already existed pre labour 97 under a different name and as most things evolved with the times, Surestart is a good program so I will give you that one
Soldato
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1) Where's the money coming from if employers NI was abolished?
2) People who earn more already pay significantly more tax proportionally. How is it justifiable to tax them yet more?
If low earners need more money, we need an economy that offers better jobs, and have population qualified to carry out those jobs.
Current income redistribution between "workers" can hardly be seen as unfair.
Man of Honour
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I stand corrected.
I think this is the way they want it. Why build affordable housing (god forbid public housing) when you can instead force them into the renting trap? That £200,000 sitting in the bank isn't making anything but buy a house and walla, you can suckle of the £600-800PCM rent instead. The rich won't have to make any lifestyle sacrifices and it keeps the poor in their place.
Soldato
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I took out at £55k mortgage back in 2006 when I was earning slightly more @ £14k. My lender (Nationwide) said that I could take out a 25-year mortgage @ 4x my wage.
Band A property here, as it's a 1-bed flat. It's literally just 1 large downstairs room, 1 large upstairs room + small bathroom.
I've always only had a mobile, with the mentality of 1 single (albeit high) bill instead of 2 bills, and getting a free high-end handset. I have done the house-share thing though, which helped me to save for a deposit to buy the flat (further up my post here).
Though in deeply pains me to say it, come the imminent revolution, I suspect those taking zero hour contracts will be high on the list to hang from the lampposts ... they are doing nothing but enabling the **** ConDems. They should be protesting (as violently as required) to get back the rights that have been stolen from them.
So you propose we create a massive hole in the governments budget, and then distribute council funding based on the wealth of its population rather than the volume? Assuming of course that you plan to feed the extra income tax out of the IR and back into councils, rather than just cut all their funding?
More income tax and more overall employment. Even if the saving from employer's NI wasn't re-invested by a company, it would be retained as profit so would be charged under corporation tax anyway.
That's how a progressive tax system works. The current council tax system which is essentially just an on/off switch when people go from not working -> working is a barrier to getting people back in to work.
That's not what I said, please re-read. You could interpret the change as a local income tax.
Soon as Thatcher destroyed unionisation they were in line to get shafted.People need a living wage not a minimum wage, pure joke the way workers getting shafted in this country
That woman completely shafted everyone who just wanted to make an honest living in this country, all for a quick buck.
Only way we'll get back to employers paying a fair wage to workers is through unionization, without anyone fighting for the workers rights they'll get nowhere and poverty will just get worse and worse.
Well, that, and the abolition of tax avoidance, force out companies who are draining markets and local economies dry and forcing out competitors using unfair methods, while contributing very little to society. Let local run British firms who are prepared to play by the rules replace them and generate wealth for local economies and local people.
Sick of this neo-mercantilist claptrap the government keeps spewing, masquerading as free market economics. You cannot have a free market if government and law exists, and you cannot have a partially free market - it won't self regulate, that's just mercantilism. Free to those who can afford it, very expensive to those who can't.
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I agree with this but to be 100% clear, unionisation doesn't necessarily mean going back to three day weeks, strikes, work to rule etc. That doesn't benefit anyone in the long run.
As always it's the Germans who show us how to do it, with union recognition and representation at board level being the norm in most corporations.
I do agree with you, but it's wrong to assume people on the minimum wage are always illiterate and/or questionable work ethic. Even if you were university-level on all of your "basic" skills, had a great work ethic, and did an extra hour of unpaid overtime, your wage would be the same for doing the same job.
Because if you ask for more, someone else will take the job for less. Most people on minimum wage are overqualified, and they cannot improve their chances by "being better" at what they do, they gotta do something else.
The system is rigged a bit; if you get minimum wage, you are stuck on it.