Tax Cuts

Would rather have better services than pie in the sky tax cuts.

Latest I read was that no tax cut proposed. Cut in NI was being looked at but, nothing confirmed from what I have seen in the media.

PPS. I pay income tax on my pensions. If the income tax threshold were increased, I would pay less income tax, so presumably my housing benefit would decrease.

PS. I pay full council tax (minus the 25% reduction for single occupancy).

Cossy

growstuff

I don't know Maizie. People in rented accommodation will see a temporary boost in Housing Benefit (already declared) because the Local Housing Benefit is to be readjusted, but I wouldn't mind betting that will be an excuse for landlords to increase rents.

Private renters receiving HB already have to pay quite high top ups.

I know. I'm a private renter, but I'm amazingly lucky because the landlord has only put up the rent once (£50) in ten years. I know he could get more if I moved, but he'd have to redecorate and buy new carpets (fair wear and tear).

I also claim Housing Benefit. At the moment, the Local Housing Allowance doesn't cover the full rent, but it will after the increase. I don't know how much better off I'll be because my income (pensions) are increasing too.

I think more unscrupulous landlords will use the increase in Housing Benefit to increase rents, so tenants will once again be playing "catch up".

yaiyai

I certainly do think council tax needs reform. Where I live we have a situation where modest detached houses built circa 1970 have , in many,cases, more than tripled in size due to extending sidewards and backwards using up most of garden. Living in these houses are as many as six adults plus children. Is this fair? Not contributing to council coffers. No wonder councils are struggling.

They tried that once remember the Poll tax that went down well

The Tories are touting tax cuts because they see it as a vote winner. But what kind of country and society do we want? After 15 years of austerity and cuts our public services are on their knees. Do we want our schools, NHS etc to just go on getting worse with the most vulnerable going to the wall? I'd hope that we are a more compassionate society than that. Rather than handing out tax cuts the Government should look at closing tax loopholes, such as offshore accounts - a vain hope as they are always going to look after their own. But I'd like to believe that the electorate are too savvy to be bought off with simplistic bribes. I hope the electorate will look at the bigger picture and and the kind of society we want for the future because at the moment it's not looking pretty.

What cuts would be welcome by the public I wonder?

Only increasing the personal allowance.

I certainly do think council tax needs reform. Where I live we have a situation where modest detached houses built circa 1970 have , in many,cases, more than tripled in size due to extending sidewards and backwards using up most of garden. Living in these houses are as many as six adults plus children. Is this fair? Not contributing to council coffers. No wonder councils are struggling.

growstuff

I don't know Maizie. People in rented accommodation will see a temporary boost in Housing Benefit (already declared) because the Local Housing Benefit is to be readjusted, but I wouldn't mind betting that will be an excuse for landlords to increase rents.

Private renters receiving HB already have to pay quite high top ups.

Susie42

I would like to see the Personal Allowance increased at least for pensioners and the low paid. It appears that the state pension for my husband and I will be more than the personal allowance so we will be paying more tax on our occupational pensions in the next tax year.

Same here, once I am eligible for my state pension in December this year, when I turn 66, I then will have to pay tax.

The personal allowance freeze should be removed and increased! It benefits low earners.

Council tax does need reform. There should be at least two more bands. The inflation in property value, particularly in London and the south-east, has produced a situation whereby houses sold for multi-millions incur relatively low council tax.
Already council taxes from richer areas are partly vired to poorer areas. A reform producing higher rates of council tax would help with "levelling up".
Would the house-holders with valuable properties vote for this? Probably noymt, but others should as it would benefit them with better public services.

I would like to see the Personal Allowance increased at least for pensioners and the low paid. It appears that the state pension for my husband and I will be more than the personal allowance so we will be paying more tax on our occupational pensions in the next tax year.

It's just more Tory bribery to get votes. I think many people are fed up with the government and will ignore this kind of short term blandishment.

I get my state pension plus a occupational pension, I pay tax on the occupational part. I do not mind, but would like to see the personal allowance increased.

I, puzzled, winterwhite. You haven't said anything about low earners?

I do agree with you about council tax, but I think it wouldn't be at all popular.

The pips can squeak all they like about IHT. It's not as though their heirs are left penniless...

Thanks, ronib, I've been trying to make this point up and down this thread but less successfully than you.!Taxing 'unearned' wealth acquired from e.g increases in house prices seems fair enough to me and doesn't deserve to be resented outright.

Another point to consider is that a lot of jobs do not pay a fair living wage. Not much has been said about this.

.Surely a careing society wants to pay its way?

I think part of the problem, paddyann54 is that we haven't really made up our minds that we are a 'caring society'. Or even that we are a 'society'.

And that there's no real agreement on what constitutes 'caring'.

The Victorians thought they were being 'caring' when they sought to rectify the 'moral degeneracy' of the poor who were dependent on poor relief by forcing them into institutions where conditions were so harsh that they would be forced to find employment to escape them. An attitude which has lingered well into this century with cutting benefits so as to 'make work pay'. Also with the demonisation of 'benefit scroungers'; still much in evidence.

Thatcher's idea had been that tax reductions would encourage people to work harder.

Such irony coming from a woman who managed to 'better herself' by marrying a millionaire. Perhaps she had to work hard to snare him..

Can you imagine the resources that would be required to revalue properties and deal with the inevitable appeals? A lot of older people with little cash live in the big old family home they bought many decades ago. How would they pay?

The major part of Buckingham Palace pays business rates.

GSM, by reforming council tax I mean restructuring. I read last week somewhere that Buckingham Palace pays less than a 3 bedroom semi in Blackpool. Maybe because not classified as a dwelling or something?
I think most local govt services are funded through CT and it hasn’t been re-evaluated since it was introduced. In particular, suggestions for adding a further band or two above H, to encompass e.g modern gated mansions with grounds large enough for swimming pools are always shouted down, so that in order to raise the amount required for basic services too heavy a load is placed on the occupants of less expensive houses who can least afford it.

When Thatcher reduced the higher rate of income tax from 83% to 60% a Telegraph columnist thanked her but said it wasn't going to encourage him or his friends to work any harder. They would just sit back and enjoy it. I think it was Peregrine Worsthorne who was deputy editor when she came to power. Thatcher's idea had been that tax reductions would encourage people to work harder.

I think council tax reform is long overdue - it is a very regressive tax, a was always meant to be temporary - even if the aim is revenue neutral rather than raising more money.

Ideally, I’d like to see it abolished and replaced with something better, but in the interim, increasing the number of council tax bands to at least 12, alongside a revaluation of properties for tax purposes, with a commitment to regular revaluations would produce a more equitable system.

There is also scope for a land value tax on derelict and underused land and buildings to sit alongside those changes, to discourage both land banking and owners allowing property to sit empty/fall to pieces while the land value continues to increase.

paddyann54

I'm on the higher tax band in Scotland ,I am happy to pay it when it means that theres a payment for all children to alleviate poverty,slightly higher pay for public sector workers,free bus travel for students and low paid workers up to 22 years old and a lot more.I dont know anyone who has a complaint about the new tax system here ,most people DONT pay any more ,some actually pay less and the under £1000 extra a year I pay appears to be helpful . they are welcome to have it .Surely a careing society wants to pay its way?

Absolutely! Well said

Sorry !! That should read “NOT the time to cut taxes!”