The party of taxation - Here we go hitting pensioners again!

Yes it’s a bit strange that Starmer assumes that landlords don’t work. There’s a fair amount of admin and upkeep on properties as well as the need to keep rentals in full occupancy. Also there’s the small detail of how hard landlords worked to invest in a property portfolio too.
I think Starmer’s confused. Is he planning on a property slump when thousands of rentals are put up for sale? Does he have an end game? Or will landlords just keep increasing rent?

No surprises here. I’ve never thought Labour were a Party that cares about older people. I suspect they think many of them vote Conservative anyway.

Yes, I knew a personal trainer in his thirties who was renting out his flat, living very frugally and saving to buy another property to provide some form of pension because he realised personal training is a precarious job with poor pension prospects. He certainly worked very hard.

As any income and savings of pensioners are eroded, we shall soon all be eligible to claim Pension Credit, and then we'll get the winter fuel allowance as well.

Is this an economic cycle?

And.....yes, its fresh out of the Daily Mail headlines today.
Let's wait for the actual budget for those all so crucial details.

Generally speaking, the increases needed for the NHS and other facilities we all use, unless you have private health insurance, cannot be conjured out of the ether.

How do posters think we should raise the money?

Exactly wyllow sone very short memories

I have just remembered Jas Athwal, Labour MP for Ilford South since 2024, described by Wikipedia as the largest Landlord in the House of Commons, owning 15 flats:
Athwal is a professional slum landlord. He has described himself as a "renter's champion", and says he will not rent to tenants in receipt of housing benefit "to avoid conflicts of interest with his (former )role as the local council leader.
In August 2024 the BBC reported that Athwal "rents out flats with black mould and ant infestations.
Coincidentally Athwal replaced the former deselected MP, Sam Tarry, also Angela Rayner's erstwhile lover who spent a cosy week with her in the American apartment provided courtesy of Lord Alli. Another landlord who doesn't work?

Nothing especially new, we knew that extra regulations were on the way and that CGT is likely to increase, that will cause the sale value of rental properties to fall. If values fall then there will be less CGT, BUT many rentals will be refurbished for sale to residential buyers, there won’t be enough it impact the residential market.

We can also expect taxation of those with wealth - including pensioners will be taxed more, it will be done in various ways and will be significant.

ferry23

As any income and savings of pensioners are eroded, we shall soon all be eligible to claim Pension Credit, and then we'll get the winter fuel allowance as well.

Is this an economic cycle?

😁

It could be a shot in the foot then, if it happens!

ferry23

As any income and savings of pensioners are eroded, we shall soon all be eligible to claim Pension Credit, and then we'll get the winter fuel allowance as well.

Is this an economic cycle?

No, it's an overdramatised representation.

We need the details to debate as to whats sensible/fair.

problem is, it seems to me, we seem to be a country where we come down heavily on governments who fail to provide an adequate health/care services day after day: so many GN posts on difficulties getting help

but when it comes to paying for them, grumble again.

I agree with Wyllow3. The country is in a financial crisis we all will need to make contributions!

I don’t think for one minute this country is in a financial crisis …yet. It’s a very inefficiently run country and I see no signs of any improvement. If this country is at rock bottom then why is Rachel Reeves rewriting the borrowing rules? It’s all a gamble?

Like the train drivers, the junior doctors and the tube drivers?
More productivity such as longer hours would be more beneficial.
The point about not touching pensioners is that they have no opportunity of earning money to supplement or replace their income.
I don't grumble about the NHS. I do criticise the performance of some of its employees.

Lee Anderson (not a fan btw) said that road workers with calloused hands had bought shares in the company they worked for. By the latest definition they are not classed as “working people “.

road workers with calloused hands??
Good grief!

Squeeze more productivity out of junior doctors? Just how many more hours do you expect them to work? Thank goodness the claims were settled and the strikes over going into winter.

Changing the way our institutions work is a worthy aim, the trouble is how to change them in crisis - schools, prisons, hospitals.
Major reforms have to be thought through very carefully under crisis circumstances as disrupting work for example in the health service for "yet another re-organisation" inevitably hits those receiving care.

ronib

I don’t think for one minute this country is in a financial crisis …yet. It’s a very inefficiently run country and I see no signs of any improvement. If this country is at rock bottom then why is Rachel Reeves rewriting the borrowing rules? It’s all a gamble?

Moving the goalposts, we will see what she decides to spend the extra borrowing on, if it’s sustainable growth that we can see the benefits in the medium term - 5-10yrs that will be good. If it’s seen as chasing long term goals that might return sometime never sterling will fall?

What point is Lee A trying to make? John Lewis employees technically are a type of shareholder.

fartooold How about the folk who caused the mess and their mates who all benefited along the way making retribution.? I didn.t cause it I didn.t hand over billions to friends or indeed take a decent wage and ramp it up with expenses and "donations " I didn,t allow energy companies to make excessive profits and some CEO.s to "earn " £30,000 A DAY so why am I and people I know who have lived by the rules all our lives become the scapegoats for bad management ,greed and crooked behaviour by our ELECTED representatives? And WHY aren,t the people who voted for these eegits all out on the streets protesting?

I agree paddyann

The "little people" are easy to target, though.

Shropshirelass, why do you say that Labour is hitting pensioners again?
It looks as if most people of all ages are going to be paying more tax to fund the public services on which we rely.
I'm 79, but I'm well aware that the Conservatives pandered to pensioners, partly because they are more likely to be conservative and Conservative, partly because a high proportion actually vote.

Ironically, I've paid into a private health scheme for most of my life, but never made use of it. I've now had to cancel it because, being on my own, with higher energy bills looming, plus the possibility of no Council Tax discount for those living on their own , amongst other things, I cannot afford the payments, thanks to the Labour government.
So all the money that went into the health insurance pot has been wasted, and would have done much better in a savings account.

paddyann54

fartooold How about the folk who caused the mess and their mates who all benefited along the way making retribution.? I didn.t cause it I didn.t hand over billions to friends or indeed take a decent wage and ramp it up with expenses and "donations " I didn,t allow energy companies to make excessive profits and some CEO.s to "earn " £30,000 A DAY so why am I and people I know who have lived by the rules all our lives become the scapegoats for bad management ,greed and crooked behaviour by our ELECTED representatives? And WHY aren,t the people who voted for these eegits all out on the streets protesting?

Yup! Same the whole world over, sadly.

rowyn

Ironically, I've paid into a private health scheme for most of my life, but never made use of it. I've now had to cancel it because, being on my own, with higher energy bills looming, plus the possibility of no Council Tax discount for those living on their own , amongst other things, I cannot afford the payments, thanks to the Labour government.
So all the money that went into the health insurance pot has been wasted, and would have done much better in a savings account.

The rumour about council tax discount was quashed following a report in the Telegraph in late September.

There have been so many rumours this summer that this or that would be hit and the government wouldn't de facto announce the whole budget in advance, however it was felt people needed reassurance

"Reeves won’t scrap single person council tax discount
Treasury confirms Chancellor will not end scheme, claimed by four million pensioners, that gives 25 per cent off for those living alone"

Telegraph 22nd September
www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/09/22/rachel-reeves-budget-single-person-council-tax-discount/