Surrey to hold a referendum...

[HazardO]

The whole British tax situation is a bad joke. No party has the balls to say " We are going to put up taxes to ensure that the NHS, care system, education and other services can be run effectively and efficiently".

Council tax is an unfair burden on the poor
NI is a tax on employers for providing jobs (we should tax profits not jobs).

We should scrap both council tax and NI, and recover the difference from income tax and VAT (VAT is important because it recovers money from people who are rich but have no significant income, and it also helps us fleece tourists).

The basic income tax rate shouldn't start until at least 20K, and the base rate should be at least 30%.

 

[Nasher]

Well, they can't just keep putting taxes up while wages stay the same. Or at some point the whole system will collapse :/

The problem is at the moment taxes are very high, people are buying less things and that means less jobs, which means less people paying tax.

 

[Avenged7Fold]

snip

20k+ with a base of 30% sounds unreasonable at first but then if you juggled the numbers of what people would save from other forms of taxation/gain from the increased starting rate of 20k, it probably comes out a lot more reasonable across the board.

Well, they can't just keep putting taxes up while wages stay the same. Or at some point the whole system will collapse :/

The problem is at the moment taxes are very high, people are buying less things and that means less jobs, which means less people paying tax.

They cant but HazardO is suggesting a fairer form of taxation aiming to take the pressure off of lower income earners rather than just a flat increase. Whether the numbers cover the cost difference, we dont know but i imagine there is a lot more to be made by scrapping these other taxes while upping income tax.

The people buying less due to cost increases would be the lower income earners. His suggested taxing methods would avoid that.

 

[Haggisman]

Nope, not paying twice for a service I don't use.

That's a terrible attitude to have - what happens when you're elderly and poor* and need social care and all the young working people have that same attitude?

* whether you have preparations in place or not, sometimes life doesn't go according to plan.

 

[danlightbulb]

No is my answer. Because I do not see efficiencies being made before asking for more money. I believe local councils are very wasteful. They have to do more to drive down cost and manage services better before asking for more cash.

This is what the government is trying to achieve by cutting their budgets. It defeats the objective if they can just put up rates.

 

[Avenged7Fold]

The money does have to come from somewhere but imo, it is coming from the right pockets in the wrong proportions.

 

[HazardO]

No is my answer. Because I do not see efficiencies being made before asking for more money. I believe local councils are very wasteful. They have to do more to drive down cost and manage services better before asking for more cash.

This is what the government is trying to achieve by cutting their budgets. It defeats the objective if they can just put up rates.

The government is not trying to make the services more efficient*, it is trying to cut the amount of money it borrows and reduce the increases in debt burden. Rather than borrowing they could tax.

* It appears to me that the NHS and education systems are running pretty lean already.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

That's a terrible attitude to have - what happens when you're elderly and poor* and need social care and all the young working people have that same attitude?

* whether you have preparations in place or not, sometimes life doesn't go according to plan.

I'll be paying for my own care, thanks.

 

[danielanthony]

Funny how so many people claim that they would be happy to pay more for decent public services and then complain when they're actually asked to pay more tax.

I'm also intrigued to find out who the rich* are and how much OCUK think they should be paying.

*Probably 'anyone but me'.

 

[antijoke]

The whole British tax situation is a bad joke. No party has the balls to say " We are going to put up taxes to ensure that the NHS, care system, education and other services can be run effectively and efficiently".

Council tax is an unfair burden on the poor
NI is a tax on employers for providing jobs (we should tax profits not jobs).

We should scrap both council tax and NI, and recover the difference from income tax and VAT (VAT is important because it recovers money from people who are rich but have no significant income, and it also helps us fleece tourists).

The basic income tax rate shouldn't start until at least 20K, and the base rate should be at least 30%.

Agreed, at some point this situation is going to go pop, council tax keeps increasing every year as does everything else but wages are not rising inline with this.

 

[danielanthony]

It'll all be ok when everyone pays 100% tax because the whole economy will be based on providing government services and the welfare state. I can then 'retire' and let other people pay for my lazy lifestyle (if anyone else is bothering to work that is).

Wonder what we'll tax then.

 

[Haggisman]

I'll be paying for my own care, thanks.

As I said, life doesn't always go according to plan, you probably will be fine, but there's always the chance that something goes horribly wrong for you.

 

[Efour]

Stupid country needs to get real and just raise all taxes. What are people gonna do? Boo hoo.
Reform the political system then start on a clear no bs tax sytem. It will be fun for a few years but I'm sure everyone will survive.

 

[Vern1961]

Would be a no from me.

This won't stop councils means testing those with a little savings put away or house owners and expecting them to sell up to pay for care. There's already a debate in SC about NI shouldn't "entitle" you to a state pension and this could end up the same way, paying out but getting nothing in return. No one objects to paying a socially responsible contribution for the welfare of the less fortunate, but there should be a return for yourself on it too.

Perhaps the councils should be doing something about the increasing costs and a thorough audit on care homes where, despite employing staff from the lower end of the wage pool, they are charging more per day than a reasonable hotel...

 

[Lord-Jaffa]

Yeah no thanks, the elder generation has already enjoyed their life, im not paying even more for them when I can't even afford to buy a house here.

 

[Avenged7Fold]

Funny how so many people claim that they would be happy to pay more for decent public services and then complain when they're actually asked to pay more tax.

I'm also intrigued to find out who the rich* are and how much OCUK think they should be paying.

*Probably 'anyone but me'.

Everyone who works, pay income tax. Seems to me the general attitude is not to let the rich pay but to let everyone pay proportionally to their income, rather than rates which tend to gouge the people with the least wealth.

My example earlier of a G band property being twice the price of a F band property, yet only pays 15-20% more, pretty ridiculous. Especially so when you consider those are the upper bands of the scale.

 

[Mynight]

Yeah no thanks, the elder generation has already enjoyed their life, im not paying even more for them when I can't even afford to buy a house here.

Well they paid for your education and healthcare .

 

[jaybee]

Absolute jokers. Big no from me.

 

[Tefal]

Well they paid for your education and healthcare .

except they didn't.

the country is in huge debt that paid for that stuff, the last generation didnt even pay for themselves let alone the next.

 

[breadturbo]

Who decides how much council tax is? the council themselves?
I ask because I'm Band H near Leeds, and my rates are £2,836p/a
but according to google Surrey band H is only £2300? Low for the 'better off' South, maybe they are just falling in line.