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Income Inequality 2
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"YouGov, June 2025: ‘Are taxes on the rich too low or high in Britain?’ 58% ‘too low’ 19% ‘about right’ 8% ‘too high’ 15% ‘don’t know’ ….that’s a awful lot of Socialists. " That’s 42% of the population that don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer. That’s higher than I would have thought. It’s hardly surprising that people who don’t have money think other people should pay more tax. The tough question is how do you define rich? | |||
"This was the last post…. YouGov, June 2025: ‘Are taxes on the rich too low or high in Britain?’ 58% ‘too low’ 19% ‘about right’ 8% ‘too high’ 15% ‘don’t know’ ….that’s a awful lot of Socialists. That’s 42% of the population that don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer. That’s higher than I would have thought. It’s hardly surprising that people who don’t have money think other people should pay more tax. The tough question is how do you define rich? " It's an assumption that they're all socialists. | |||
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"Income tax records show that in 2024-25 there were an estimated 29.5 million basic rate taxpayers, up 2.1 million since 2021-22. The number of UK higher rate taxpayers has increased to 6.31 million from just over 4.4 million over the same period. 9.5 million in receipt of welfare which includes in work top ups. 12.95 million in receipt state pension " If you let knocking on for a million people in every year, I’d hope some of them are gonna be tax payers. | |||
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"36 million paying in (20% of them higher rate) Vs 22.5 million drawing out of the system Add 14 million under 18’s I can’t see how tax can ever get in surplus " Simples, stop paying out so much  | |||
"This was the last post…. YouGov, June 2025: ‘Are taxes on the rich too low or high in Britain?’ 58% ‘too low’ 19% ‘about right’ 8% ‘too high’ 15% ‘don’t know’ ….that’s a awful lot of Socialists. That’s 42% of the population that don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer. That’s higher than I would have thought. It’s hardly surprising that people who don’t have money think other people should pay more tax. The tough question is how do you define rich? It's an assumption that they're all socialists. " For the avoidance of any doubt, I was clearly being sarcastic as a riposte to the lazy assumption that it is only Socialists who want to tax wealth. It is highly unlikely 58% of that poll are going to class themselves as Socialist, but nevertheless would back that particular Socialist policy. As regards ‘defining wealth’: “Patriotic Millionaires UK is advocating for a 2% wealth tax on individuals with assets exceeding £10 million. This proposal is supported by a majority of UK millionaires polled, with 80% expressing support for such a tax. The organization believes this tax could significantly contribute to public services and national infrastructure”. | |||
"This was the last post…. YouGov, June 2025: ‘Are taxes on the rich too low or high in Britain?’ 58% ‘too low’ 19% ‘about right’ 8% ‘too high’ 15% ‘don’t know’ ….that’s a awful lot of Socialists. That’s 42% of the population that don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer. That’s higher than I would have thought. It’s hardly surprising that people who don’t have money think other people should pay more tax. The tough question is how do you define rich? It's an assumption that they're all socialists. For the avoidance of any doubt, I was clearly being sarcastic as a riposte to the lazy assumption that it is only Socialists who want to tax wealth. It is highly unlikely 58% of that poll are going to class themselves as Socialist, but nevertheless would back that particular Socialist policy. As regards ‘defining wealth’: “Patriotic Millionaires UK is advocating for a 2% wealth tax on individuals with assets exceeding £10 million. This proposal is supported by a majority of UK millionaires polled, with 80% expressing support for such a tax. The organization believes this tax could significantly contribute to public services and national infrastructure”." So why haven't the 80% paid that tax yet? Are they also waiting for daddy government to tell them to pay and only then they will pay? | |||
" 12.95 million in receipt state pension " Which is triple locked as well. Any reason the retirement age hasn’t increase in relation to an increased life expectancy, other than it being an obvious grey vote loser? A large Baby Boomer cohort are going to be living 13 years longer than when the NHS was formed. That all has to be paid for by a shrinking indigenous workforce. And yet Farage wants a lot less immigration? | |||
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"I think I'm like many people, where we see that services need more money, we'd be willing to pay more tax. Social care needs substantially more money, for example. Local authorities were starved of central governments funding, when they need more. There are many ways to tax wealth and it's right that we all pay our fair share. I think wealth is under-taxed" How about we stop haemorrhaging money Lammy has just announced the UK government announced an additional £94.5m (on top of £50m last year) to the new Syrian Isis government. £4.5bn for Ukraine. Directly taken off farmers and pensioners | |||
" 12.95 million in receipt state pension Which is triple locked as well. Any reason the retirement age hasn’t increase in relation to an increased life expectancy, other than it being an obvious grey vote loser? A large Baby Boomer cohort are going to be living 13 years longer than when the NHS was formed. That all has to be paid for by a shrinking indigenous workforce. And yet Farage wants a lot less immigration?" Haven't people in receipt of a state pension paid tax and national insurance to collect their pension ? Those on a lifetime of benefits ..,. Hmmm | |||
" 12.95 million in receipt state pension Which is triple locked as well. Any reason the retirement age hasn’t increase in relation to an increased life expectancy, other than it being an obvious grey vote loser? A large Baby Boomer cohort are going to be living 13 years longer than when the NHS was formed. That all has to be paid for by a shrinking indigenous workforce. And yet Farage wants a lot less immigration?" Even if most of the migrants work, pay taxes and support this aging population, all you’re doing is building up an even bigger aging population for in 30 years time. When there’s 20 million pensions, how many migrants will we need? We have to find a way to reduce government spending on welfare. If not income tax will have to increase fairly dramatically. | |||
" 12.95 million in receipt state pension Which is triple locked as well. Any reason the retirement age hasn’t increase in relation to an increased life expectancy, other than it being an obvious grey vote loser? A large Baby Boomer cohort are going to be living 13 years longer than when the NHS was formed. That all has to be paid for by a shrinking indigenous workforce. And yet Farage wants a lot less immigration? Even if most of the migrants work, pay taxes and support this aging population, all you’re doing is building up an even bigger aging population for in 30 years time. When there’s 20 million pensions, how many migrants will we need? We have to find a way to reduce government spending on welfare. If not income tax will have to increase fairly dramatically. " Part of the solution would be for individuals and companies that owe tax to pay it, and close loopholes in inheritance tax. | |||
"I think I'm like many people, where we see that services need more money, we'd be willing to pay more tax. Social care needs substantially more money, for example. Local authorities were starved of central governments funding, when they need more. There are many ways to tax wealth and it's right that we all pay our fair share. I think wealth is under-taxed" Is anyone stopping you from paying more to the state, if you want to? | |||
" 12.95 million in receipt state pension Which is triple locked as well. Any reason the retirement age hasn’t increase in relation to an increased life expectancy, other than it being an obvious grey vote loser? A large Baby Boomer cohort are going to be living 13 years longer than when the NHS was formed. That all has to be paid for by a shrinking indigenous workforce. And yet Farage wants a lot less immigration? Haven't people in receipt of a state pension paid tax and national insurance to collect their pension ? Those on a lifetime of benefits ..,. Hmmm" They have paid tax & NI, but in reality in many cases they won’t have paid enough & will end up being net recipients due to the length of retirement. When the OAP was brought in, the retirement age was 70. Thing is, not nearly as many people back then reached that age. I’m not saying we go back to that exact scenario, but it’s pretty obvious to me the status quo is unaffordable & all politicians are spineless. | |||
" 12.95 million in receipt state pension Which is triple locked as well. Any reason the retirement age hasn’t increase in relation to an increased life expectancy, other than it being an obvious grey vote loser? A large Baby Boomer cohort are going to be living 13 years longer than when the NHS was formed. That all has to be paid for by a shrinking indigenous workforce. And yet Farage wants a lot less immigration? Even if most of the migrants work, pay taxes and support this aging population, all you’re doing is building up an even bigger aging population for in 30 years time. When there’s 20 million pensions, how many migrants will we need? We have to find a way to reduce government spending on welfare. If not income tax will have to increase fairly dramatically. " Aren’t we always told migrants have more kids, hence the fearmongering about Brits being out bred by Muslims etc? Anyhow, don’t want to completely derail the thread but it seems to be another example of the young getting completely shafted & generational inequality as the retirement age is *slowly* creeping up on their watch. | |||
" 12.95 million in receipt state pension Which is triple locked as well. Any reason the retirement age hasn’t increase in relation to an increased life expectancy, other than it being an obvious grey vote loser? A large Baby Boomer cohort are going to be living 13 years longer than when the NHS was formed. That all has to be paid for by a shrinking indigenous workforce. And yet Farage wants a lot less immigration? Even if most of the migrants work, pay taxes and support this aging population, all you’re doing is building up an even bigger aging population for in 30 years time. When there’s 20 million pensions, how many migrants will we need? We have to find a way to reduce government spending on welfare. If not income tax will have to increase fairly dramatically. Aren’t we always told migrants have more kids, hence the fearmongering about Brits being out bred by Muslims etc? Anyhow, don’t want to completely derail the thread but it seems to be another example of the young getting completely shafted & generational inequality as the retirement age is *slowly* creeping up on their watch." The retirement age has always been creeping up. Things change. A house costs more now than it did fifty years ago. My parents paid virtually nothing for their house. I had to borrow hundreds of thousands to pay for mine. I didn’t really bleat about it. I can’t recall ever thinking the situation was unfair. I suppose I could have sat around sobbing into my matcha about it and blaming the Tories and Billionaires. But instead I just went to work and paid the mortgage off. Worked out fine. | |||
" 12.95 million in receipt state pension Which is triple locked as well. Any reason the retirement age hasn’t increase in relation to an increased life expectancy, other than it being an obvious grey vote loser? A large Baby Boomer cohort are going to be living 13 years longer than when the NHS was formed. That all has to be paid for by a shrinking indigenous workforce. And yet Farage wants a lot less immigration? Even if most of the migrants work, pay taxes and support this aging population, all you’re doing is building up an even bigger aging population for in 30 years time. When there’s 20 million pensions, how many migrants will we need? We have to find a way to reduce government spending on welfare. If not income tax will have to increase fairly dramatically. Aren’t we always told migrants have more kids, hence the fearmongering about Brits being out bred by Muslims etc? Anyhow, don’t want to completely derail the thread but it seems to be another example of the young getting completely shafted & generational inequality as the retirement age is *slowly* creeping up on their watch. The retirement age has always been creeping up. Things change. A house costs more now than it did fifty years ago. My parents paid virtually nothing for their house. I had to borrow hundreds of thousands to pay for mine. I didn’t really bleat about it. I can’t recall ever thinking the situation was unfair. I suppose I could have sat around sobbing into my matcha about it and blaming the Tories and Billionaires. But instead I just went to work and paid the mortgage off. Worked out fine. " The retirement age has not always been creeping up. As I pointed out, it began at age 70 originally. You don’t bleat about it. And that’s ok, you’re Gen X just like me & yes as far as I see, we’ve had it easier, though not as easy as some (baby boomers) So blame the younger generations for bleating but I’m not, I think they are perfectly entitled to as so many chips seem to be stacked against them. | |||
" 12.95 million in receipt state pension Which is triple locked as well. Any reason the retirement age hasn’t increase in relation to an increased life expectancy, other than it being an obvious grey vote loser? A large Baby Boomer cohort are going to be living 13 years longer than when the NHS was formed. That all has to be paid for by a shrinking indigenous workforce. And yet Farage wants a lot less immigration? Even if most of the migrants work, pay taxes and support this aging population, all you’re doing is building up an even bigger aging population for in 30 years time. When there’s 20 million pensions, how many migrants will we need? We have to find a way to reduce government spending on welfare. If not income tax will have to increase fairly dramatically. Aren’t we always told migrants have more kids, hence the fearmongering about Brits being out bred by Muslims etc? Anyhow, don’t want to completely derail the thread but it seems to be another example of the young getting completely shafted & generational inequality as the retirement age is *slowly* creeping up on their watch. The retirement age has always been creeping up. Things change. A house costs more now than it did fifty years ago. My parents paid virtually nothing for their house. I had to borrow hundreds of thousands to pay for mine. I didn’t really bleat about it. I can’t recall ever thinking the situation was unfair. I suppose I could have sat around sobbing into my matcha about it and blaming the Tories and Billionaires. But instead I just went to work and paid the mortgage off. Worked out fine. The retirement age has not always been creeping up. As I pointed out, it began at age 70 originally. You don’t bleat about it. And that’s ok, you’re Gen X just like me & yes as far as I see, we’ve had it easier, though not as easy as some (baby boomers) So blame the younger generations for bleating but I’m not, I think they are perfectly entitled to as so many chips seem to be stacked against them. " When I was younger the retirement age was 65 for men and 60 for women. Now for my age group it is an equalised 67. Should I be bitter about this? I mean you are right it is someone else’s fault. It’s the fault of decades of useless politicians who let the country live beyond its means and failed to control public expenditure. | |||
" 12.95 million in receipt state pension Which is triple locked as well. Any reason the retirement age hasn’t increase in relation to an increased life expectancy, other than it being an obvious grey vote loser? A large Baby Boomer cohort are going to be living 13 years longer than when the NHS was formed. That all has to be paid for by a shrinking indigenous workforce. And yet Farage wants a lot less immigration? Even if most of the migrants work, pay taxes and support this aging population, all you’re doing is building up an even bigger aging population for in 30 years time. When there’s 20 million pensions, how many migrants will we need? We have to find a way to reduce government spending on welfare. If not income tax will have to increase fairly dramatically. Aren’t we always told migrants have more kids, hence the fearmongering about Brits being out bred by Muslims etc? Anyhow, don’t want to completely derail the thread but it seems to be another example of the young getting completely shafted & generational inequality as the retirement age is *slowly* creeping up on their watch. The retirement age has always been creeping up. Things change. A house costs more now than it did fifty years ago. My parents paid virtually nothing for their house. I had to borrow hundreds of thousands to pay for mine. I didn’t really bleat about it. I can’t recall ever thinking the situation was unfair. I suppose I could have sat around sobbing into my matcha about it and blaming the Tories and Billionaires. But instead I just went to work and paid the mortgage off. Worked out fine. The retirement age has not always been creeping up. As I pointed out, it began at age 70 originally. You don’t bleat about it. And that’s ok, you’re Gen X just like me & yes as far as I see, we’ve had it easier, though not as easy as some (baby boomers) So blame the younger generations for bleating but I’m not, I think they are perfectly entitled to as so many chips seem to be stacked against them. When I was younger the retirement age was 65 for men and 60 for women. Now for my age group it is an equalised 67. Should I be bitter about this? I mean you are right it is someone else’s fault. It’s the fault of decades of useless politicians who let the country live beyond its means and failed to control public expenditure." Well, yes & no. Would you vote to increase the retirement age being honest? Would anyone? | |||
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"Is the noise here around income inequality coming from genuine inequality, or from unrealistic expectations and the belief that all outcomes should be equal regardless of effort or ability? " To me, wage inequality is when two people doing the same job with the same amount of success and same experience don't get paid the same amount. The rest of the chatter is just bullshit | |||
" 12.95 million in receipt state pension Which is triple locked as well. Any reason the retirement age hasn’t increase in relation to an increased life expectancy, other than it being an obvious grey vote loser? A large Baby Boomer cohort are going to be living 13 years longer than when the NHS was formed. That all has to be paid for by a shrinking indigenous workforce. And yet Farage wants a lot less immigration? Even if most of the migrants work, pay taxes and support this aging population, all you’re doing is building up an even bigger aging population for in 30 years time. When there’s 20 million pensions, how many migrants will we need? We have to find a way to reduce government spending on welfare. If not income tax will have to increase fairly dramatically. Aren’t we always told migrants have more kids, hence the fearmongering about Brits being out bred by Muslims etc? Anyhow, don’t want to completely derail the thread but it seems to be another example of the young getting completely shafted & generational inequality as the retirement age is *slowly* creeping up on their watch. The retirement age has always been creeping up. Things change. A house costs more now than it did fifty years ago. My parents paid virtually nothing for their house. I had to borrow hundreds of thousands to pay for mine. I didn’t really bleat about it. I can’t recall ever thinking the situation was unfair. I suppose I could have sat around sobbing into my matcha about it and blaming the Tories and Billionaires. But instead I just went to work and paid the mortgage off. Worked out fine. The retirement age has not always been creeping up. As I pointed out, it began at age 70 originally. You don’t bleat about it. And that’s ok, you’re Gen X just like me & yes as far as I see, we’ve had it easier, though not as easy as some (baby boomers) So blame the younger generations for bleating but I’m not, I think they are perfectly entitled to as so many chips seem to be stacked against them. When I was younger the retirement age was 65 for men and 60 for women. Now for my age group it is an equalised 67. Should I be bitter about this? I mean you are right it is someone else’s fault. It’s the fault of decades of useless politicians who let the country live beyond its means and failed to control public expenditure. Well, yes & no. Would you vote to increase the retirement age being honest? Would anyone?" Yes I would. I’d take it to 70 straight away and increase it to 72 in 5 years time. Why? Because is the right thing to do and it affects everyone equally. Historically people lived on pensions for 5 years or so, now it’s something like 12. Life expectancy has risen by nearly 10 years over the last 60 years where the pension age has barely changed. | |||
"This was the last post…. YouGov, June 2025: ‘Are taxes on the rich too low or high in Britain?’ 58% ‘too low’ 19% ‘about right’ 8% ‘too high’ 15% ‘don’t know’ ….that’s a awful lot of Socialists. That’s 42% of the population that don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer. That’s higher than I would have thought. " your maths is wrong ... it's only 27%. | |||
"This was the last post…. YouGov, June 2025: ‘Are taxes on the rich too low or high in Britain?’ 58% ‘too low’ 19% ‘about right’ 8% ‘too high’ 15% ‘don’t know’ ….that’s a awful lot of Socialists." "That’s 42% of the population that don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer. That’s higher than I would have thought." "your maths is wrong ... it's only 27%. " Your logic is wrong, 42% is the correct figure. If they'd said "42% think that takes shouldn't be increased", you'd be right, the "don't knows" aren't in that group. But they didn't say that, they said "42% don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer", which is correct, because the "don't knows" don't think that. | |||
"This was the last post…. YouGov, June 2025: ‘Are taxes on the rich too low or high in Britain?’ 58% ‘too low’ 19% ‘about right’ 8% ‘too high’ 15% ‘don’t know’ ….that’s a awful lot of Socialists. That’s 42% of the population that don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer. That’s higher than I would have thought. your maths is wrong ... it's only 27%. Your logic is wrong, 42% is the correct figure. If they'd said "42% think that takes shouldn't be increased", you'd be right, the "don't knows" aren't in that group. But they didn't say that, they said "42% don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer", which is correct, because the "don't knows" don't think that." nope you're talking garbage again. the don't knows are don't knows so can't be counted in either group no matter what idiotic metal gymnastics you try .... the figure is 27% it's that simple | |||
" 12.95 million in receipt state pension Which is triple locked as well. Any reason the retirement age hasn’t increase in relation to an increased life expectancy, other than it being an obvious grey vote loser? A large Baby Boomer cohort are going to be living 13 years longer than when the NHS was formed. That all has to be paid for by a shrinking indigenous workforce. And yet Farage wants a lot less immigration? Even if most of the migrants work, pay taxes and support this aging population, all you’re doing is building up an even bigger aging population for in 30 years time. When there’s 20 million pensions, how many migrants will we need? We have to find a way to reduce government spending on welfare. If not income tax will have to increase fairly dramatically. Aren’t we always told migrants have more kids, hence the fearmongering about Brits being out bred by Muslims etc? Anyhow, don’t want to completely derail the thread but it seems to be another example of the young getting completely shafted & generational inequality as the retirement age is *slowly* creeping up on their watch. The retirement age has always been creeping up. Things change. A house costs more now than it did fifty years ago. My parents paid virtually nothing for their house. I had to borrow hundreds of thousands to pay for mine. I didn’t really bleat about it. I can’t recall ever thinking the situation was unfair. I suppose I could have sat around sobbing into my matcha about it and blaming the Tories and Billionaires. But instead I just went to work and paid the mortgage off. Worked out fine. The retirement age has not always been creeping up. As I pointed out, it began at age 70 originally. You don’t bleat about it. And that’s ok, you’re Gen X just like me & yes as far as I see, we’ve had it easier, though not as easy as some (baby boomers) So blame the younger generations for bleating but I’m not, I think they are perfectly entitled to as so many chips seem to be stacked against them. " When the OAP act of 1908 was introduced it was age 70 and means tested, But in 1948 NI was introduced with a retirement age of 60 and 65 so people thought they where paying in to something to get it back at the end of there working time. Where really the government spends what it collects and life hand to mouth with nothing in the bank for a rainy day. And it's now pissing down 🌧 | |||
"This was the last post…. YouGov, June 2025: ‘Are taxes on the rich too low or high in Britain?’ 58% ‘too low’ 19% ‘about right’ 8% ‘too high’ 15% ‘don’t know’ ….that’s a awful lot of Socialists." "That’s 42% of the population that don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer. That’s higher than I would have thought." "your maths is wrong ... it's only 27%." "Your logic is wrong, 42% is the correct figure. If they'd said "42% think that takes shouldn't be increased", you'd be right, the "don't knows" aren't in that group. But they didn't say that, they said "42% don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer", which is correct, because the "don't knows" don't think that." "nope you're talking garbage again. the don't knows are don't knows so can't be counted in either group no matter what idiotic metal gymnastics you try .... the figure is 27% it's that simple" I know that's what you want to believe, because it fits your narrative, but you're wrong. In this case, the don't knows don't think that taxes on the rich are too low (just as they don't think the opposite), so they can be included in those that don't think taxes on the rich are too low. | |||
"This was the last post…. YouGov, June 2025: ‘Are taxes on the rich too low or high in Britain?’ 58% ‘too low’ 19% ‘about right’ 8% ‘too high’ 15% ‘don’t know’ ….that’s a awful lot of Socialists. That’s 42% of the population that don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer. That’s higher than I would have thought. your maths is wrong ... it's only 27%. Your logic is wrong, 42% is the correct figure. If they'd said "42% think that takes shouldn't be increased", you'd be right, the "don't knows" aren't in that group. But they didn't say that, they said "42% don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer", which is correct, because the "don't knows" don't think that. nope you're talking garbage again. the don't knows are don't knows so can't be counted in either group no matter what idiotic metal gymnastics you try .... the figure is 27% it's that simple I know that's what you want to believe, because it fits your narrative, but you're wrong. In this case, the don't knows don't think that taxes on the rich are too low (just as they don't think the opposite), so they can be included in those that don't think taxes on the rich are too low." repeating the same garbage won't magically make that claptrap come true .... the irrefutable fact remains that the figure is 27%. | |||
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"This was the last post…. YouGov, June 2025: ‘Are taxes on the rich too low or high in Britain?’ 58% ‘too low’ 19% ‘about right’ 8% ‘too high’ 15% ‘don’t know’ ….that’s a awful lot of Socialists. That’s 42% of the population that don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer. That’s higher than I would have thought. your maths is wrong ... it's only 27%. Your logic is wrong, 42% is the correct figure. If they'd said "42% think that takes shouldn't be increased", you'd be right, the "don't knows" aren't in that group. But they didn't say that, they said "42% don’t think increasing taxes on the rich is the answer", which is correct, because the "don't knows" don't think that. nope you're talking garbage again. the don't knows are don't knows so can't be counted in either group no matter what idiotic metal gymnastics you try .... the figure is 27% it's that simple I know that's what you want to believe, because it fits your narrative, but you're wrong. In this case, the don't knows don't think that taxes on the rich are too low (just as they don't think the opposite), so they can be included in those that don't think taxes on the rich are too low. repeating the same garbage won't magically make that claptrap come true .... the irrefutable fact remains that the figure is 27%. " Agree with you. ‘Don’t know’ means what it says. It’s not backing any affirmative answer. | |||
" Well, yes & no. Would you vote to increase the retirement age being honest? Would anyone? Yes I would. I’d take it to 70 straight away and increase it to 72 in 5 years time. Why? Because is the right thing to do and it affects everyone equally. Historically people lived on pensions for 5 years or so, now it’s something like 12. Life expectancy has risen by nearly 10 years over the last 60 years where the pension age has barely changed. " Fair play to you. I’m not going to be a hypocrite here, I wouldn’t vote to increase the retirement age myself. Who would give up a longer retirement voluntarily? Not many of us. That said, I totally agree with you that objectively it would be the right thing to do. In fact, it should already have been done using something like your age thresholds. Both Labour & Conservative governments have known about increased life expectancies coupled with falling birth rates for long enough, but have opted to do too little. …and now the brown stuff is beginning to hit the fan. | |||
" 12.95 million in receipt state pension Which is triple locked as well. Any reason the retirement age hasn’t increase in relation to an increased life expectancy, other than it being an obvious grey vote loser? A large Baby Boomer cohort are going to be living 13 years longer than when the NHS was formed. That all has to be paid for by a shrinking indigenous workforce. And yet Farage wants a lot less immigration? Even if most of the migrants work, pay taxes and support this aging population, all you’re doing is building up an even bigger aging population for in 30 years time. When there’s 20 million pensions, how many migrants will we need? We have to find a way to reduce government spending on welfare. If not income tax will have to increase fairly dramatically. Aren’t we always told migrants have more kids, hence the fearmongering about Brits being out bred by Muslims etc? Anyhow, don’t want to completely derail the thread but it seems to be another example of the young getting completely shafted & generational inequality as the retirement age is *slowly* creeping up on their watch. The retirement age has always been creeping up. Things change. A house costs more now than it did fifty years ago. My parents paid virtually nothing for their house. I had to borrow hundreds of thousands to pay for mine. I didn’t really bleat about it. I can’t recall ever thinking the situation was unfair. I suppose I could have sat around sobbing into my matcha about it and blaming the Tories and Billionaires. But instead I just went to work and paid the mortgage off. Worked out fine. The retirement age has not always been creeping up. As I pointed out, it began at age 70 originally. You don’t bleat about it. And that’s ok, you’re Gen X just like me & yes as far as I see, we’ve had it easier, though not as easy as some (baby boomers) So blame the younger generations for bleating but I’m not, I think they are perfectly entitled to as so many chips seem to be stacked against them. When I was younger the retirement age was 65 for men and 60 for women. Now for my age group it is an equalised 67. Should I be bitter about this? I mean you are right it is someone else’s fault. It’s the fault of decades of useless politicians who let the country live beyond its means and failed to control public expenditure. Well, yes & no. Would you vote to increase the retirement age being honest? Would anyone? " That applies to all sorts of benefits. Irresponsible politicians tell people they can have free stuff. Turns out the stuff isn’t free. Impossible to stop people getting the free stuff because they feel entitled to it and carry on voting for the politicians who will keep sending them free stuff. I’m actually surprised that there is still a state pension. I imagined when I was younger that it would be gone by now. Sooner or later a lot of this stuff (NHS, state pensions) will have to go. I suspect the only way to deal with it (barring some financial collapse that forces the change overnight which is not unlikely in my view) will be to gradually phase the benefits out for new workforce entrants over time. | |||
" Impossible to stop people getting the Sooner or later a lot of this stuff (NHS, state pensions) will have to go. " Although successive governments have done too little, too late, pensions are slowly being addressed by (kind of) mandatory contributions to private pensions. This really needs to be expanded fairly quickly, because most private pensions are a meaningless pittance. | |||
" Impossible to stop people getting the Sooner or later a lot of this stuff (NHS, state pensions) will have to go. Although successive governments have done too little, too late, pensions are slowly being addressed by (kind of) mandatory contributions to private pensions. This really needs to be expanded fairly quickly, because most private pensions are a meaningless pittance." I read the average private pension fund value is £31,000; from that an rpi linked annuity at around 3.7%. And a generation coming up with far less people in final salary schemes. | |||
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"Looks like taxing wealth could be on the way. Runners and riders (from The Times) are supposed to be... " The biggest risk for Labour is this: Conservatives (or Reform) will start promising to (1) undo any unpopular tax measures, and (2) reduce or withdraw benefits that Labour has introduced/increased. This is almost certainly their game plan. So Labour has to be really selective about which voters matter the most to them. That Welfare Reform bill will ultimately be a lose-lose for the current government. Paired with unpopular tax rises, it's open goal for the next election. But what choice do they now have? | |||
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"36 million paying in (20% of them higher rate) Vs 22.5 million drawing out of the system Add 14 million under 18’s I can’t see how tax can ever get in surplus Simples, stop paying out so much "Educate yourself | |||
"If people think tax avoidance needs to be stopped they really ought to be thinking about how taxes are applied in the first place. It is goodnight from him and goodnight from me. How could this possibly go wrong..." Are you worth over 10 million? If you are I forgive your political outlook and love Barbados and Dubai (yes, I holiday at both) Over 10 million you'll pay a 2% To keep schools, hospitals and infrastructure in a state that keep your workers, educated, healthy and happy. Not only your workers but the people who you extract that wealth from, their no good unhealthy, spending less in your shops and draining on the state!! Education being poor does benefit the super rich, the poorly educated are easier to manipulate with this whole shtick of trickle down economy!! Just ask Mango Mussolini, "I love the poorly educated" of course you do | |||
