If you can manage financially - would you pay more tax, for better public services?

We spent a lot of time in various hospitals last year while my husband battled cancer and without exception the nurses said it’s not more money the NHS needs it’s less managers who have no idea how a ward is run, people who have never worked in a hospital and reorganise everything at great expense as soon as they arrive only for it to all change back again a few months later.

katie590 I think you have a very rosy view of being a white van man. Quite often how much business you get is dependent on things outside your control - like the state of the economy and pandemics..

We had an extension built during 2021. Just as we were coming out of COVID, during which time many building sites had closed down and many potential domestic clients were unwilling to let strangers in the house because of the fear of infection.

White van men had a very bad time, many had little or no work for months on end and the kitchen fitter who did our kitchen in December 2020, said our contract had come like manna from heaven, just in time to save his family Christmas.

For half the time we were building, our building contractor could get any tradesman he wanted with a snap of his fingers, they were begging for work. By June 2021, all the building sites were active again and building developers on big projects offer long term employment for six months or more and when it got to second fit, our builder could not get soe craftsmen. Ours was a small job and who wants to lay flooring in a small area of kitchen when a contract to lay 200 floors in a housing dvelopment can be had.

I wonder if you speak from experience? There is pressure to earn enough to pay the bills and look after the family. The last thing you want is a bad review from someone who you have refused to work for. Word gets around. It doesn’t pay to be complacent - there’s always a competitor waiting to poach your customers.

When everyone able to work does I would pay more. I’ve worked over 45 years so paid in a lot.

Because you are a “one man band” with few overheads there is no pressure other than the hours you want to work. If it’s a builder you finish one job and move on to the next customer regularly anyway, the last customer you want is one that doesn’t supply materials properly then wont pay on time.

Good skilled self employed people are charging £30+ an hour in this area if they are working 35 hours a week it’s a very good lifestyle, if you want a day off you take it

You can never guarantee that the customers you prefer won’t be poached by someone else.

Germanshepherdsmum

You can’t afford to drop customers Katie - you can never assume that the others will stay with you.

When you are a one person business you choose customers that are easy to work with, builders do it all the time, if you mess them about or pay late, next time you need them they will be busy.

You can’t afford to drop customers Katie - you can never assume that the others will stay with you.

It’s a difficult one. I would gladly pay more tax if (and it’s a big if) I thought it was going to be used responsibly. Unfortunately, I don’t think it would be. I’m sick of hearing about mp’s who take take take, without batting an eyelid. Using every loophole possible to get out of paying tax.
I have been an employer for over forty years and have, like most of us, paid my dues and still do. I have worked my backside off to have a good standard of living, in a very physical job. I still believe in helping those who are less fortunate and can’t bear to think of children having to do without.
Until we have a government who puts people before greed, it will never change.

Joseann

Yes, Katie590, ideal for many. Those businesses, however, don't generate a large invome, and probably just incur the basic tax rate. Once you are up to 40 - 45% tax rate, a bit of resentment starts to creep in that you are having to pay so much, but I do understand the principle. Sort of!

Taking advantage of the business allowances you can claim, if you get to the stage of declaring a tax profit of £50k + most take it easy. Drop the customers that are difficult to deal with and have a stress free life.

Yes, Katie590, ideal for many. Those businesses, however, don't generate a large invome, and probably just incur the basic tax rate. Once you are up to 40 - 45% tax rate, a bit of resentment starts to creep in that you are having to pay so much, but I do understand the principle. Sort of!

The best small business is one you can run from home with few overheads on you own, you do need a skill. One DIL does accounts and makes a lot of money, my hairdresser works from home, any kind of online business is a good prospect. They fit in well with family life too.

A mobile business is good, plumber, electrician, gardener, anything you can run from the back of a van, maybe you have a semi skilled mate but you oversee the work yourself.

The overheads and costs can, also, increase as the business expands - especially if various 'authorities' become involved, or government directives (which happened in our business).
That is very true. The problem is that after 3 or 4 years building up a successful business, you start to become a victim of your own success. You need to employ more staff, expand the premises and buy more equipment and resources. Governments don't want to make it easy for employers. This got progressively more difficult around 1998 - 2003 under a Labour government.
Ironically when we sold our business and started another in France, there seemed to be far more ways of jiggling with the accounts!

Germanshepherdsmum

Indeed. Turning a profit is not as easy as many think. Your first duty is to your employees, then you have to meet all the bills and keep the bank happy. I did well but it was the stuff of nightmares - looking after clients and ensuring the overheads were paid. Employees have the best deal, believe me. I am very pleased to have retired, have responsibility for nobody but my husband and my dog, and to be able to sleep at night.

My family at one time ran a small business.

And you are right. Turning a profit, initially, was almost impossible.

Employing the right people, too, was not easy. The business was a bit niche so that made it difficult - there's always those who are 'keen' - "oh, I'm sure I could manage that" but that doesn't always work.

The overheads and costs can, also, increase as the business expands - especially if various 'authorities' become involved, or government directives (which happened in our business).

Covid and, to a lesser extent, Brexit, ultimately, put paid to it. It has never, and will never, recover, so is being run-down.

Katie590

If you work hard it’s easy to make money,
- everyone thinks that’s an outrageous statement

What is really difficult is holding on to it, costs, wages, rent, compliance and overheads, the inexperienced always underestimate the costs

And wasteful spending once the money is in your hand - taxes paid, rent and expenses paid -- just the waste on frivolities.

Indeed. Turning a profit is not as easy as many think. Your first duty is to your employees, then you have to meet all the bills and keep the bank happy. I did well but it was the stuff of nightmares - looking after clients and ensuring the overheads were paid. Employees have the best deal, believe me. I am very pleased to have retired, have responsibility for nobody but my husband and my dog, and to be able to sleep at night.

If you work hard it’s easy to make money,
- everyone thinks that’s an outrageous statement

What is really difficult is holding on to it, costs, wages, rent, compliance and overheads, the inexperienced always underestimate the costs

I don't believe a word any politician says. If I vote it will be a spur of the moment thing. I'm likely to make up my mind as I stand there with my pencil. I would be prepared to pay more tax from my two very small occupational pensions if it was guaranteed to go to NHS/Mental Health Services but we all know it won't.

Yes, another thing many employers have to deal with is the bank. Law firms are among the many businesses that often operate on overdrafts because staff, rent and other bills have to be paid and cash flow can’t be guaranteed.

I'm sure I could have saved myself a lot of stress and worry, if I'd had a "proper job", but someone has to be an entrepreneur and a risk taker. Someone has to be the boss, someone has to take responsibility. (I remember Mr. STUFFY Lloyds Bank Business Manager reluctantly granting me a hefty loan, with the condescending words that my business acumen was non-existent!! Bl--dy cheek, it was definitely in there somewhere if he'd cared to look!)
I want a government that is supportive of innovators and entrepreneurs. A government that helps ideas grow into flourishing ventures, and a government that rewards successful businesses.
Not a government that slams taxes on everything employers work hard to achieve.
Twelve years later, I sold my successful and profitable business, and bought my château in France, rolling over any capital gains tax. Yes, another "lifestyle business" if you like, but they can be made to work, (even if that business acumen appears lacking to some!)

I couldn’t agree more.

Too many invest in businesses they don’t understand, 3 out of 4 fail within a few years, others are only really “lifestyle” businesses. Being your own boss is attractive but a lot would be far better of with a “proper job”.

Yes - as long as it goes towards improving education and retaining Teachers, the NHS and elderly care

My business was, of course, a traditional law firm. Investment in premises, IT, people - it all comes with a risk, leasehold premises being the biggest. My risk was shared with my partners, but at the end of the day our personal security was on the line.

Of course, but the same principle applies though. I have a friends and family who own their own businesses, and the vast majority of them take balanced risks, whatever the size of their business? I do also know several people who have lost their businesses, one stands out, a high risk taker, who over invested in two leisure businesses, and has just lost the second one, he went bankrupt.