Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
with the budget coming around again,i can predict that smokers,drinkers and moterists will be hit hard again.along with pensioners and the vunarable.
my predictions are as follows,
tobbaco produts [fags,hand rolling tobbaco,cigers etc]up by 15/20 pence.
wine,beers and spirits up bu 10/15pence.
petrol up by 5 pence.
pensions and other benifits up by 2% instead of 5.2%.
probabley more stealth tax some where along the line.
what do other forum members prdictions on will go up or evan down?,
over to you.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Nothing will go down Brian - apart from your standard of living. But whose fault is it, that's the question ?
Roger
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
The State Pension now has the 'triple lock' and your suggestion is outside those provisions Brian.
Other benefits, other than long-term incapacity, should indeed be increased by less than inflation.
Yes - they should 'hit' tobacco and cigarette products.
Alcohol though they need to take some care over given how difficult it is for the licencing trade. Hitting cheap supermarket beer would be good though and those dreadful alcopops.
Petrol - hopefully not.
What is more important though are the measures that will help boost the economy..
... accelerating the cuts to Corporation Tax to boost growth
... getting rid of the 50p tax rate to boost growth and increase HMRC revenues from the highest paid
... accelerating the attack on the deficit through some extra spending cuts
... a big drive to chop out massive swathes of red tape - real action needed to help businesses
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
roger,in answer to whos fault it is,consecative goverments negativaty over the 40 years or so.
barryw,petrol prices are bound to rise,if osbourne slaps the predicted 3p a liter garages will slap that on plus 2p for themselfs plus crude prices as well,so you could see in theroy petrol hovering around 1.50p a liter.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
I thought this was about the budget Brian, crude prices and retailers/producers margins are nothing to do with the budget. Yes he may put 3p extra duty on petrol but I am saying that I hope he will decide not to.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
barryw,just an example of what could happen if osbourne go's through with a 3p increase.
to be honest barry i am forward to a negative budget again,good for the soul but nothing else,but on the up side a good talking point/moan.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
I cant see Osborne going for an adjustment to the 50p tax rate. Although... heaven knows he is being lobbied enough. But of course those doing the lobbying are already on the 50p tax rate and pleading poverty, pleading no will to invest, pleading stymied growth.
But despite all the suggestions that a cut in this rate will stimulate the economy and all that, which many doubt, but apart from whether thats the case or not...public opinion wont like it...not in the aftermath of the banker bonuses debacle. So it would take a very confident government to do it.
Last week Francois Hollande, the French Socialist candidate in the election over there, put forward a plan for a 75% charge on the rich. I think the figure where it kicks in is higher over there but the idea got a resounding thumpsup from the population as Hollande saw a huge surge in the polls. So its a sure fire winner with voters.
Thats what you call sticking your toe in the water to gauge the temperature. Looks like the water is nicely tepid there and here for a continuation of the higher tax rate.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
What you are saying is totally wrong PaulB. No-one is pleading poverty who is hit by that rate in any sense - you need to look at what is actually being said.
Many of those lobbying for the 50p rate to go and that includes me, are not taxed at that rate but we see the serious damage it is doing to the economy and how that will compound up. The evidence is overwhelming and no-one has produced any data to challenge that mass of evidence. The application of logic alone demonstrates that. It is the poor who will pay the price for the 50p rate, not those taxed at that rate. This tax rate was only set by Brown as a cynical political trap showing how he placed politics before what was best for the country.
Yes - we need a confident and bold government to do what is right to get us out of the mess and not suck up to the ill-informed envious bigotry of the left. Leadership is needed on this.
I wish Hollande a lot of luck as it gives us a chance to attract more wealthier people to the UK where they can boost our coffers and invest here. First though we need to get our max rate back to 40p, at the most, so they come here and don't go elsewhere. Hollande will just drive the French economy even more into the ground. Pandering to base motives for votes and encouraging economic ignorance does not mend a sick economy.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
dave's political savvy will ensure that the top rate of tax stays as it is, the boost to the french candidates popularity will not have passed unnoticed.
to do so when tax credits for working people are being slashed would be political suicide as well as morally wrong.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
But what about the damage it is doing Howard? As I said, the poor may not know it but they are the ones paying the price for that top rate. I would prefer the government to do the right thing for the economy, do it and argue the case for it. That's leadership and its what we need not focus group policy making.
Guest 683- Registered: 11 Feb 2009
- Posts: 1,052
Leadership? From a Prime Minister with a background in PR and a Cabinet stuffed full of millionaires?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's the way you tell 'em, Barry
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
talking of benifits/tax credits,last night on the news they where talking about child benifit or the lack of it for people earning 42 k plus,one female with a double barrel name reckens that her child benifit is stopped she would be in dire straits as would not have enough money to feed the kids etc,when i got off the floor from laughing i thought how vain was she.she needs a year on about 15k a year to see how she copes with less money.in short if i can live on less tha 10k a year she can.
conclesion is she is living beyoned her means.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Brian - people usually live to their means and a sudden reduction in income causes problems with that. This is true whatever income you have. That is not, by the way, an argument not to remove child benefit, just a statement of fact.
Guest 671- Registered: 4 May 2008
- Posts: 2,095
A statement of fact from me, our total amount of benefits(my wife is disabled) are going up in April by around £8.
Water rates are going up by £10.
BarryW.
Why "Other benefits, other than long-term incapacity, should indeed be increased by less than inflation."?
"My New Year's Resolution, is to try and emulate Marek's level of chilled out, thoughtfulness and humour towards other forumites and not lose my decorum"
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
To gradually reduce the dependency culture Gary. When people working are on pay freezes or on reduced incomes it would be wrong to carry on increasing all benefits.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
I see the Libdems are capitulating once again, this time in the shape of slithery slip-sliding Vince Cable who now seems to be giving way on the 50p tax rate issue. The Libdems huff and puff like nobody's business...they keep bashing on about the need for a wealth tax but now are relinguishing all hope and support for the 50p rate....which strikes me as a contradiction in terms.
The creation of some kind of wealth tax is on the cards and they are having "complex negotiations" before the budget as to what it might be..says Vince. Talk about making your policies up on the back of a fag packet while riding on the no 11 bus. The Budget is a short while away 21 March and they are all still negotiating. There is nothing like clear and precise leadership and this is nothing like it. Everything is a compromise, everything decided by a kind of committee. Remember what they said about the poor camel...the camel was a horse designed by a committee!!
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
If they are giving way on the 50p then all to the good but more taxes is not the answer and certainly not some crazy wealth tax.
Guest 671- Registered: 4 May 2008
- Posts: 2,095
My wife is dependant on 10+ different drugs per day and me as her carer, plus much more, just to keep her mobile for some periods of time throughout the year. Both of us would be the happiest people in the world if she was not disabled and we could both go back to work and what you refuse to understand is that there is far more genuine people like us that are not part of your Benefit Dependency culture by choice.
In the last two years my wife has had her travel tokens removed, had her funding for Tai-chi (therapy) removed, given up swimming(therapy) due to cost.
We no longer visit various towns in Kent on Saturdays for a day out shopping or visit Deal town on a daily basis, when my wife is able to, because of fuel costs, both of these activiities were for pleasure but were also for exercise for my wife.
We have both stopped smoking and rarely socialise. Holidays are awkward because of my wife's condition but we only book cheap midweek or weekend breaks through the newspapers now, due to cost.
BarryW's statement is entirely true.
"People usually live to their means and a sudden reduction in income causes problems with that"
This rise in water rates has left us £2 short already; add that to the inevitable increases in electricity, gas, fuel and food,along with the cutbacks that we have already had to make, I can now rest easy because according to Barryw, its all GB's fault for introducing the 50p tax rate and when DC removes it, we will be better off.
Thank goodness, a light at the end of a tunnel.
"My New Year's Resolution, is to try and emulate Marek's level of chilled out, thoughtfulness and humour towards other forumites and not lose my decorum"
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Gary - removing the 50p rate will help get rid of the deficit more quickly by improving the level of tax collected and helping growth. That means longer term less cuts.
We are all having it tough - my end of year is due shortly and my turnover is projected to be down around £6,000 thanks to the markets and because business costs do not fall that and more will come off my bottom line, in other words what I can pay myself. I will nevertheless be giving my administrator a pay rise, again further reducing my own income to pay it.
So please do not start crying about how badly off you are. We are all finding it tough, specially those of us in small businesses who are last in line for what is left after paying everyone else.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
seems to me that people like gary and his wife are suffering the most as there may be nothing left to cut back on.
i take the point that someone on 42 grand lives up to their means but there must be a lot of things they could cut back on before they start worrying about basics such as their utility bills.