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Tax and benefits
There is a furore (among the media at least) over the government’s plan to stop child benefit where at least one parent is a higher-rate tax payer. I think it is a progressive reform that should be welcomed. I find it hard to justify universality of benefits; those with high incomes should not be receiving cash from the state, if for no other reason than that it must be highly inefficient for the government to take money away from us in tax only to give a fraction of it back as a benefit.
I would take the principle further, and state that nobody who pays income tax should receive cash benefits, just as I think that those who live on benefits shouldn’t have to pay income tax.
Perhaps a little more awareness of how much tax we pay would help those complaining about the change to put it in perspective; for most taxpayers the child benefit they receive is dwarfed by the amount of tax that they pay. PAYE does a very good job of hiding one’s tax payments; the money doesn’t reach one’s bank account, so one doesn’t miss it.
Years of writing my own PAYE and VAT cheques has made me very conscious of exactly how much money the government takes from me. I think that as a nation we’d have a very different attitude to the level of government spending if we had to pay income tax out of our own bank accounts.
I would take the principle further, and state that nobody who pays income tax should receive cash benefits, just as I think that those who live on benefits shouldn’t have to pay income tax.
Perhaps a little more awareness of how much tax we pay would help those complaining about the change to put it in perspective; for most taxpayers the child benefit they receive is dwarfed by the amount of tax that they pay. PAYE does a very good job of hiding one’s tax payments; the money doesn’t reach one’s bank account, so one doesn’t miss it.
Years of writing my own PAYE and VAT cheques has made me very conscious of exactly how much money the government takes from me. I think that as a nation we’d have a very different attitude to the level of government spending if we had to pay income tax out of our own bank accounts.
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Because my parents made what you would call a high tax rate I could not qualify to get a student loan when I went to college. Therefore I had to work my way through college. I could not go to a University, but instead a Community College.
I would hate to see that happen to Keith. Just because people worked hard to get where they are and have more money, does not always mean that they have money free to spend. It is usually tied up in debt in some way. And usually when they do tax programmes like that it is usually the upper middle class that suffers, how is that fair?
As for people on benefits in this country, I have seen QUITE a FEW that are on them that do whatever they can to stay on them because they are to lazy or proud to work. As for the 250gbp that Keith got when he was born, that is his, not ours to be used for his education when he is older. We put money away in his account when we can. Again for his education when he is older. I know some people think of my situation with my husband and think that we have money to throw around, but the fact is we budget just like everyone else. I had to put things on hold to take the trip that I just recently took to the states. Had I not had friends and family that were able to put me up, I would not have been able to afford the trip. That is a side bar issue.
What angers me here is so many people claiming benefits and fraud the government. People could make it work to live life without being on benefits here. I see people posting about not being able to work, because they have no childcare, yet they find it when they want to goto a club or some gig. I see people claim they cant work because of some disability or depression yet they are out and about in town or at the park, or in one case I saw someone moving furniture! I have heard from woman I know that when they were in hospital giving birth they overheard another mother getting schooled by her mother NOT to put the father's name on the birth certificate so she could get more in benefits.
Personally, I think anyone on benefits should be held up to standards that the average person does when they go for a job, say random drug testing for example. Also set up programs to get people OFF benefits and help them to be self sufficient. Oh, and what about prevention programs?
Again, maybe I need to research more on the political side of things rather than base my opinions on what I have seen around where I live and people I have met. It just gets the blood boiling a little bit for me.
Sorry for going off tangent a little Toby!
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Long overdue
Indeed, at first my mother had assumed she wouldn't be eligible (my father had a well-paid job with AMI, a big US health care company, at the time) - the notion of having the government hand out welfare while it also extracts a much larger amount of money from the same pocket in tax is just absurd on so many levels.
The other proposed reforms seem very positive (as well as long overdue): capping welfare payments at a figure which is still outrageously high, and changing policies to avoid the "gap" whereby a welfare recipient can be better off staying on welfare than taking a job. It will probably take years for this to have a detectable effect overall, but it's certainly a step in the right direction. It's far from ideal - for one thing, joint tax returns would really need to be in place for this to work properly - but it's going in the right direction at least.
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Maybe you should sacrifice a little of your time on your Xbox to watch some political television instead - let me recommend The Daily Politics (weekday lunchtimes on BBC2, with an extended prog on Wednesdays to cover PMQs), and Newsnight (10.30pm every evening on BBC2). Who knows - with exposure to serious political television, maybe Keith will grow up with an interest in politics!
I am shocked.
As for TV, when I have time to watch it, much like anything else including the Xbox you think I live on, I will.
As for Lilbuff, I intend to teach him work ethic, the value of budgeting, and self reliance. Here are some things I was taught: If you dont need it, dont use it! And my favorite from my Grandma: treat every job you have with pride, as if you owned the company.
If Lilbuff has an interest in politics, religion or anything else, I hope that he fosters change that is good for everyone, not just a select few. I dont believe in discriminating those who have, just as much as I dont like it against those who dont.
If this is as touchy a subject for you as it is becoming for me and it cant be a positive discussion than maybe I will step back and say I guess we will have to agree to disagree...
Re: I am shocked.
I'm used to Kate complaining when I watch anything political on TV. At lunchtime today the conference coverage on TV was enough to encourage her to leave the room and do some laundry!
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