Man of Honour
- Joined
- 21 Nov 2004
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Oh I’m sure they can manage it by the end of their term.
National insurance cut
- Thread starter aspiring
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Oh I’m sure they can manage it by the end of their term.
You seriously don't think tories give contracts to people they are personally involved with?
There's plenty of high profile examples. Can't imagine how much it happens at local level.
I'm not saying that it wouldn't happen under labour. But I can't imagine it'd happen more.
Yeah I'd jump at 4 days a week.
If someone offered me 4 days a week for 4/5 the pay I may not do it.
But 4 days a week for 4.5/5?
Yes absolutely.
To find a job offering 4 days a week, or the equivalent bump in holiday is a dream!
I want more time now. Not more money.
To make a material difference to my life I'd need so much money it's not realistic. What would I do with more money if I didn't have more time?
But a day extra a week off would be life changing. And that's easier to achieve than the money side.
I'm using every day of my holiday allocation for expensive holidays.. And I don't really spend loads on anything else.
Its still not easy to find 4 day a week jobs.. I hope it becomes more normal soon
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Soldato
I disagree. Now if you had said "short term thinking" or the like, I would agree but I believe that it's more important in the current climate for people to be able to access the basics of decent shelter, food and warmth than it is for Mr and Mrs Jones to afford to trade in their 3 year old BMW for a brand new car or to take Maisie horse riding.
Now, once society has taken care of it's most vulnerable members, then definitely let's look at spreading the wealth.
Give tax cuts so that you get more tax? You will need to incentivise it with more than just tax cuts. If I was ploughing money into pensions etc, in order to minimise my tax bill, then giving me a tax cut would just let me put more money into these schemes. It wouldn't really impact my quality of life as I would ensure my take home would remain the same.
Exactly... And if you then received a tax break after enjoying life on a 4 day weeks would that encourage you to go back to 5 days or would you possibly take that extra money and put it into a pension or other scheme?
That's not how it's working. High earners are avoiding tax by pumping pre tax earnings into their pensions and retiring early rather than taking as income and paying tax because the tax levels are too punitive.
Soldato
I don't think you will ever stop people who can afford to do that from doing it. But for every person earning 60k mortgage free and pumping their pension there will be someone earning 60k mortgaged to the hilt who needs more income.
How do you allow people who need the money and will spend it to have it, but tax those who don't need the money who will just squirrel it away if you give tax breaks?
Soldato
Yes I get that but, if it was me, giving me a tax break wouldn't steer me away from continuing to do exactly the same i.e. pumping it into pension to retire early as the ultimate plan is not having to work at all (I'm not sure what I am trying to say is coming across the way I mean it to)
If you could take income at 40% tax instead of 60% tax would you consider taking some and reducing the 40-60k you are putting into your pension instead ?
If you make the right changes then you encourage higher earners to pay more tax not less.
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Soldato
Probably not, and that's not to be contrary in this discussion.
My number 1 aim is to not have to work. I have a certain lifestyle just now and that costs a certain amount of money. If, by giving me a tax break, I get to have more income available, I would put more into my pension and keep my existing CoL the same.
In simplistic terms, if I need £2000 a month to live and a tax break means I can get £2,400/month, I would put the difference into my pension meaning I would still have £2000 NET income to live on and keep my CoL the same. I could then possibly retire sooner.
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Never, the horror of even thinking any government would do that, wash your mouth out you naughty person
I’m not going to say that no government would ever do this but the backlash would be phenomenal. The retirement age for a state pension is going up and up and is nearing the point where if you want to retire at a reasonable age then you absolutely must have a private pension of some sort. You cannot remove state funded pensions (which the increasing state retirement age is doing) yet also remove the ability to save into a private pension without government interference
You're proving the point because you would rather save additional income for retirement than pay more tax. We already have the tax break on retirement savings that encourages people to save for retirement rather than take income. That's the problem at certain levels of earning.
Maybe you are different but most people want to increase their quality of life as they earn more as long as it makes financial sense, not be stuck on £2k a month forever.
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For me it would.
If 40pc tax started at 60k vs 50k I'd contribute less to my pension.
When you're getting 20pc tax relief.. But you also pay over the tax free allowance.. That's a lot less gain than getting 40pc tax relief but paying 20pc over the tax free allowance.
Feel like I'm in the minority preferring to live more for now than try to retire early. I'd have to sacrifice so much of now to retire a few years earlier.. Its not worth it.
Soldato
We don’t have enough going into pensions so deferring some income now to take it later is a good thing. I think we need to break this crab in a bucket mentality that forces us to be envious of others simply because they earn more. I don’t think this will end well for the country. We already have a lot of high earners moving away from the country, one of the most significant falls is happening at the moment. We lose tax and we lose business.
It can be easy with shift work or where you have lots of small tasks and can log hours etc. my sister is a doctor for example and so contracted to 40 hours a week, she gets to do 4 * 10 hour days instead of 5 * 8 hour days - it's easier to do with that sort of work as there are clearly appointments and other tasks that can be scheduled and the employer is clearly still getting the same work done overall.
But with other jobs with ongoing stuff, project work etc.. that's going to be tricky - if you're technically scheduled for 40 hours a week but typically people work a bit later anyway and put in more hours when required towards the end of a project or I guess with professions like accountants - at month end etc. then wanting to be paid full time for 4 longer days a week might not be so feasible.
That's where people come up with their claims of productivity boosts from the 4-day week etc. but how applicable those claims are to any given type of work is a bit iffy.
Soldato
Not really proving your point as that tax break is already available. You were looking at additional tax breaks with part of the reason being to bring in more tax income as people take it as income rather than investing in a pension (see below for continuation)
Absolutely. Everyone is different but giving tax breaks doesn't automatically mean everyone will take more as income thereby increasing the tax take for the Government to spend. I wouldn't but @413x would.
My 2k was just a arbitrary figure to help show my point (you would obviously increase this for inflation etc
)Not really proving your point as that tax break is already available. You were looking at additional tax breaks with part of the reason being to bring in more tax income as people take it as income rather than investing in a pension (see below for continuation)
Absolutely. Everyone is different but giving tax breaks doesn't automatically mean everyone will take more as income thereby increasing the tax take for the Government to spend. I wouldn't but @413x would.
My 2k was just a arbitrary figure to help show my point (you would obviously increase this for inflation etc
Also.. Is that what goverments want?
I mean they also want to increase pension contributions.
Pension income still gets spent and taxed.. Just later.
Soldato
I’m not sure it is what they want. The impact on the UK equities and bonds market can’t be ignored either. That could be really devastating if a lot of money was no longer being invested.