O/T Budget.....new threshold for NI

Let me start by saying this is not a personal moan as although retired we are not rich but have sufficient to maintain a reasonable standard of living. However....

...some of the hardest hit people given increases in food, heating etc are pensioners at retirement age and do not pay NI so will receive no benefit from this announcement. Whilst low paid workers with families are important and will get some relief from the huge increase in living costs, there appears to have been no mention of the plight of those pensioners without an additional occupational pension struggling to make ends meet.

 

I think you're seeing it the wrong way round. Don't forget that the NI rate is being increased, so whilst the threshold is being raised, the vast majority of workers are still going to see an increase in NI contributions which pensioners and those living off rental incomes are shielded from.

So overall by raising NI we see again, like every Tory policy ever, benefits to those who have unearned income against those who have earned income.

The cosseted baby boomer generation who cashed in on the sale of public assets in the 1980s and have seen their assets multiply 20fold in that period are yet again shielded from all the difficulties that young people face.

Like yours it's not a personal moan - as I'm somewhere in between age wise - but yet again it's just more burden on young workers and more benefit to the baby boomer generation.

 

So we are still raising ni by 1.25 % but then cutting taxes by 1% ? What's the point . Their both the same thing , they both go into the same pot . As for the 5p off a litre of fuel , should prices continue to rise then I doubt 5p is going to make much difference . I would nt be surprised if we are well over £2 by the end of the year .

 

Well, the tax cut is mañana- and also as I explained it benefits the older generation over workers as the NI wont apply to rental or pensions income but they will get the income tax cut.

 

They need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and stop buying avocado on toast and iPhones.

 

Whilst NI is increasing, they have tbf introduced a higher "starting point" of paying it.

Should help the lowest paid at least.

I do laugh at the 5p petrol though.

That 5p cut is less than what they have been taking in through higher prices at the pump and vat etc by some distance. So he is still on pocket so to speak.

And that's of course if the 5p is literally taken off the pump price. As we all know, it won't be

 

As an aside - i think we can all agree it would be a massive help for everyone through the cost of living crisis, if we were to give every man, woman and child the £6k per head we spunked on useless measures during the last2 years.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9309/

 

[QUOTE="nezbfc, post: 2925641, member: 6778"
And that's of course if the 5p is literally taken off the pump price. As we all know, it won't be[/QUOTE]

Well I’ve just taken a picture of the pump prices at my local Asda and it’s 158.7 for unleaded and 170.7 for diesel. I’ll have a look tomorrow to see where it is

 

Opposition parties with more than X number of MP's should all be forced to release a shadow budget etc.

It's all too easy in opposition just to criticise measures by whoever is in government. So regardless of which party governs, the public get to pick the bones out of all options. It would certainly help people when it comes to election time.

Opposition parties get it too easy in terms of promising the earth with no foundation. Labour do it, the Torys did it when Labour were in power, even the fib dems do it even though they are on a monster raving looney level as a party.

It would certainly drive debate.. At present time, I want to hear from the shadow chancellor what Labour would do to help the public in this cost of living increase etc. What I don't want to hear is just criticism of what the chancellor puts forward without hearing the alternatives...

To be honest it's a difficult one to tackle.. Maybe remove VAT from energy bills, stop the rise in NI for the time being and a windfall tax on the likes of BP, Shell etc.

 

Well I’ve just taken a picture of the pump prices at my local Asda and it’s 158.7 for unleaded and 170.7 for diesel. I’ll have a look tomorrow to see where it is[/QUOTE]

It's crazy. I challenged a petrol station owner when he upped his prices from the following day. He said they have to because the wholesale price had just increased again. but I questioned how does that effect the current batch that he is selling because he bought that at the lower rate. No answer to it.

Like you say I doubt we will see a difference or just for publicity it will be in place for a couple of days and creep back up, blaming the wholesale price again.

 

I worked for 49 years. Pulled myself up by my bootstraps through evening classes and the OU. Gladly paid a very large amount of income tax and NI. Started paying into occupational pension schemes when I was 16, and continued to do so throughout my working life. Together with the woman I’ve been married to for 44 years, we scrimped and scraped to bring two lads up; never did anything daft so we could pay the bills and always followed the rules. But yes, our cosseted generation are entirely to blame for everything.

 

The 5p cut in petrol duty is well affordable as petrol prices have gone up by about 40p a litre over the past couple of months. The government takes 1p in every 5p we spend on petrol as VAT. thus they are getting an extra 8p per litre from VAT. The chancellor giveth and the chancellor taketh away.

btw a 5p cut in duty should mean a 6p cut in price at the pumps. VAT is charged after fuel duty.

Like many Tory gifts it amounts to very little.

 

Just picking up on this and it seems a very tokenist posturing exercise.

When you stack all increases up and then potentially factor in a huge step up at the next energy price cap, those on the lowest incomes and benefits are really going to struggle.

 

spot on!

 

I don't doubt it was tough and you had to work hard for it. But then think of all the many benefits you enjoyed not available to today's equivalent of your 16 year old self.

Pensions that end up paying multiples of what was actually paid in - a luxury young people will never know
The ability to retire in your mid 60s - a luxury young people will never know
Free higher education - a luxury young people will never know
Universal family allowance - a luxury young people will never know
The ability to buy a house for just 3.5x average UK earnings (it's now over 6x) - a luxury young people will never know.
Practically zero unemployment through the 60s and most of the 70s meaning you could walk into a job with virtually no qualifications - a luxury young people will never know.

The point isn't that you didn't have to work hard. It's how much tougher it is for young people nowadays.

 

Same here. Boils my piss this boomer insult. Worked my nackers off for 50 years. Didn't have a pot to piss in most of my life but eventually pulled things around and after the mortgage was paid off and kids left home, started to enjoy the fruits of my labour. Inherited nothing from my parents so it's all my own work. Lots of my mates died before they had chance to enjoy their pension. This "Want it all now" generation need to realise it wasn't easy for their parents at the same age and given time, they too will be richer, inheriting the boomers houses and savings. Just no need for the jealousy.

 

Clueless.

 

This is what they want. Divide and conquer. Whether it be age, colour, sexuality, religion, I could go on.

Young people are getting shafted by this government. Some older people are too. As a 40 year old who is about half way through his 50 years of grafting my knackers off I’ve come to terms with the fact the state pension simply won’t exist by the time I get to what’s now classed as a pensionable age.

Infact if I get the luxury of retiring at all it’ll be at a fairly ripe old age I reckon. My 9 year old son, unless he’s immensely talented at something or very lucky, will die working.

So I understand some of the jealousy on the part of the young uns. But everyone is blaming the wrong people while the bunch of lovely people in Westminster / Press / Banking are hiding away and having a right old giggle at ALL OF US.

 

Good reply, much better than " clueless".
I agree with most of what you're saying.

 

I suppose I'm a 'boomer'. I'm grateful for my standing of living, although it was not entirely without effort on my (+ Lady Kaht's) part. We have attempted to enable our kids to benefit from our position rather than them having to wait for when we are no longer around.

What I would say is that I can see no justifiable reason why NI should not be paid on pension income. That would adversely affect us, but it would be fair. You don't cease to draw on the benefits of what NI provides as you get older - if anything, you have more call on them. This does of course assume that NI is actually channeled into what it was designed to support. Some of the other entitlements for those reliant on pension income are poorly-targeted. Not all pensioners are poor, and those who have only the basic state pension ought not to be penalized. But get on a plane to the Canaries at this time of year and you can't but notice the demographic.

The generations below have both advantages and disadvantages, but I don't have much sympathy with the "we've worked all our lives" brigade. I think that more intelligent attention ought to be paid to the question of inter-generational fairness. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to win votes.