Budget

He may have done any of those things Frank but we cannot be sure.

However..........

He may have popped an extra cardigan on and pulled up his woolly blanket and had no heating on at all.

The seat might have remained empty thus saving the overall fuel costs of running the bus with fewer passengers and less weight.
OR
Perhaps there was a family with 16+ children waiting to get on the bus but they couldn't because they would be one seat short and your friend was using it.

He could have also walked around the city breathing in those terrible car fumes and in doing so wiped a day or two off his lifespan and therefore lost some of his pension income.

Ariadne if you're giving money away, can I have contribution to next cruise please? Or are you going to send it to Frank to pay his exorbitant taxes?

gillybob

He may have sat in the house reading the paper with his heating at a higher temperature or gone out in his car causing more carbon footprint.
He could have gone to a library only 3 miles away by car but giving him a bus ride on a seat which would have been empty is no real cost.
He also walked around the city keeping himself healthier saving the NHS money but thinking about it it may not have saved money as he may have lived and claimed his pension longer.

Frank

No Frank by giving him a free bus pass it wasn't keeping the car off the road for 2 afternoons a week, as you said he only used the bus twice a week because it was free. Presumably if he did not have the bus pass he would quite happily read his newspaper at home in his expensive house.

gangy5

People on higher incomes have paid for these benefits and have a right to them.
If they wish they could give them to charity.
With regard to the bus pass my father hardly ever used it as we tended to go to out of town shopping centres.
We did however go in to the centre of Birmingham about 3 times a year and we used the bus to avoid parking problems etc. I paid
I did speak to somebody in the library once and he had an expensive house and presumably a good pension.
He said as it was free he jumped on a bus twice a week and went for a walk around the city and then went and read his newspaper in the library before going home.
He said on most other afternoons he went somewhere in his car.
By giving him a free bus pass it was keeping a car off the road for 2 afternoons a week.

Frank

Ariadne - kind sentiments!!

It is amazing how the Tories are trying not to upset the grey vote and keep them on side. It wasn't expected I know but I wish that something had been done to recoup some of the costs of bus passes and fuel benefits. And please don't go on about the admin of this. As records are all computerised now it would be a simple operation for HMRC to provide tax information so that those who pay high tax can be identified and thus ruled out of benefits. It in wrong to pay people money or give them benefits that they don't need.

I do; they do.

Ariadne

If you want to send these people money I am sure they will welcome it.

Frank

Oh, THE HOUSE again. What about the poor, the destitute, the homeless, those who are at their absolute limits, the hungry, the sick...?

absent

It did get stated in the budget the care fees cap will apply from 2016 instead of 2017.

I just wonder how they would have got £72,000 out of my father if he had gone in to care.
He had some wealth in the house but under present rules none could be taken as I was a joint owner occupier.

Frank

I have definitely become abuser number 21. Once I have abused, I may go and hang myself. None of this has anything to do with the budget. Screech (choking self emoticon). Pleased Frank, focus on the issue.

Phoenix Have we reached Mornington Crescent yet?

I wont get the granny tax either.

Frank

Caught out by the granny tax. 65th birthday on 14th April so not chance for me. Still working and continuing to work on past the next few birthdays!

Hi FlicktyB

What I have not seen is if there are any changes on the cards in situations where a house is jointly owned and occupied by a parent and child.
It does in some ways seem strange that the child could say sell his house for whatever reason for £500,000, inherit half of the house from 1 parent worth another £500,000, the other parent then has to go in to care who has no money in cash terms and the child eventually inherits the house and keeps the £500,000 proceeds from his own house.
I thought there may be changes in this respect.
It would be difficult to cover present situations where a house is own occupied by a parent / child because offspring will claim they have spent money on the parent and property but I suppose the government could say receipts etc will have to be kept in relation to the expenditure in future and when a parent and child have been living together as of now the new rules will not apply.
I am saying living together as of now as it is possible if say the parent is now 65 no care may be needed before 2043 and the child may have spent say £50,000 on house repairs and not kept the receipts.

Frank

Do you remember a time when what the chancellor announced in the budget came into action at 6.00pm the same day or from April 6th? Now it is all, announcements that do not come into being for from one to ten years ahead.

DS & family will just miss out on help with childcare because younger GC will just be 5 by the time it comes into action.

Mostly the measures are so nuanced as to barely visible and taxpayer benefits are targeted mainly with an eye to specific business sectors, beer duty cuts will help pubs, house buying subsidies construction industry, pottery industry exempt from carbon emission taxes etc etc.

The care cap, as I have pointed out elsewhere is all smoke and mirrors, an elderly relation of mine has been in a care home for nearly 5 years but the care element of what she pays has probably still not yet breached the £75,000 barrier. You will still need to sell your house to pay for your care, its just you will be able to pay for it for a few years more before you run out of money and need to rely on social funding.

I will (almost) benefit from the budget although not for a year or two yet.

As a small business owner I note corporation tax going down by 1% but still shockingly high for a micro business.

Small businesses like ours will benefit from the abolition of the first £2000 of
job tax Employers NI.

tax allowance will be raised to £10,000 from next year meaning I will not pay any income tax

......and eventually I might benefit from the basic flat rate pension of £144 although by the time I retire we will all be working until we go out in our coffin at 90

Good prospects for house builders..