Social Care
#11
I haven’t got a problem with paying a little more per se…. As long as the money is actually going to help people and not being wasted/stuffed into pockets of government “friends”.
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#12
(09-06-2021, 04:48 PM)Duffers Wrote: I haven’t got a problem with paying a little more per se…. As long as the money is actually going to help people and not being wasted/stuffed into pockets of government “friends”.

Paying more is fine but it has to be proportionate and fair this seems like a tax on the young and poorly paid to foot the bill. From Torsten Bell…

- the landlord with hundreds of properties pays exactly zero pence, while workers foot the bill
- the 66 year old on £50k pays nothing, the 25 year old on £20k coughs up £100
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#13
(09-06-2021, 04:48 PM)Duffers Wrote: I haven’t got a problem with paying a little more per se…. As long as the money is actually going to help people and not being wasted/stuffed into pockets of government “friends”.

Paying more is fine, disproportionately increasing tax on workers is not the way to do it.
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#14
Perhaps what we need is a coalescence of visionary politicians - traditional party allegiances set aside - to recognise that we are caught up in what amounts to an almost perfect socio-economic storm - Covid, Brexit and its ramifications, the deepening malaise of health and social care and now the wounded pride and reputational damage inflicted by the debacle of Afghanistan. On so many levels there are compelling arguments for setting aside any belief that we can simply carry on as we have with just another round of minor tweaking at the periphery. This could be one of those watershed moments when things are so overwhelmingly shit as to create an opportunity.

For all the bluster and conceit about punching above our weight and still being a major player on the world stage, those are more representative of our own continuing delusions and refusal to accept the new realities - the declining influence of the west; the apparently irresistible rise of China; the re-establishment of a Russian sphere of influence and control - than they are on any basis in reality. The money to refurbish the Trident submarines is as good as spent already; a massive investment probably as much with a view to 'keeping a seat at the top table' as it is for any other strategic benefit. A top table with what relevance exactly? We are skint and by no means alone in that: it might finally be time to reconcile ourselves to the fact that we no longer have the wherewithal to continue perpetuating illusions and vanity. 

If this sounds like retrenchment and insularity, maybe that's what it amounts to; I just see it as confronting realities which some will find unpalatable but which aren't going away. The US seems set on a path of withdrawal and introspection - one of the few areas of common ground between Republicans and Democrats; that being the case, where does it leave us? The 'special relationship', the 'Atlantic Bridge' were always heavily tilted in one direction and, like The British Empire, are probably soon to be consigned to history. If we can just grasp all of this - and make a bit more sense of it than I've managed to do here* - we might just find that out of adversity comes opportunity.

* It might have been better to have a couple of bottles of Leffe first, which is what I'm about to do now.
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#15
(09-06-2021, 05:47 PM)Borin' Baggie Wrote:
(09-06-2021, 04:48 PM)Duffers Wrote: I haven’t got a problem with paying a little more per se…. As long as the money is actually going to help people and not being wasted/stuffed into pockets of government “friends”.

Paying more is fine, disproportionately increasing tax on workers is not the way to do it.

Precisely.
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#16
Reading back now, my post above unravelled a bit into incoherence. Where I was trying to go with it was to pose the question of whether we should front up to our post-colonial, post world-player reality and, on that basis, reassess government revenue raising and expenditure in its entirety? This is what we can realistically generate from taxation, these are the options regarding how it can be defrayed, the latter inevitably exceeding the former and necessitating choices.

Do it looking forwards, rather than back and with nothing discounted. Among other things it might impact on whether the union can be preserved, which matters to some less than others but is an issue which isn't going away.
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#17
Sunak's opinion piece in the Times today saying that increasing NI over income tax is fairer is the dumbest thing I've ever read and I'd expect better from a Chancellor of the Exchequer, even those who are completely out of their depth. I sincerely hope he doesn't believe what he wrote otherwise this country is fucked.
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#18
(09-08-2021, 07:57 AM)Borin' Baggie Wrote: Sunak's opinion piece in the Times today saying that increasing NI over income tax is fairer is the dumbest thing I've ever read and I'd expect better from a Chancellor of the Exchequer, even those who are completely out of their depth. I sincerely hope he doesn't believe what he wrote otherwise this country is fucked.

Generally I like Sunak, but I've not read that, and if that is his opinion he's dropped in my estimation.
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#19
(09-08-2021, 08:02 AM)Birdman1811 Wrote:
(09-08-2021, 07:57 AM)Borin' Baggie Wrote: Sunak's opinion piece in the Times today saying that increasing NI over income tax is fairer is the dumbest thing I've ever read and I'd expect better from a Chancellor of the Exchequer, even those who are completely out of their depth. I sincerely hope he doesn't believe what he wrote otherwise this country is fucked.

Generally I like Sunak, but I've not read that, and if that is his opinion he's dropped in my estimation.

Crikey! Wtf is there to like?
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#20
(09-08-2021, 08:02 AM)Birdman1811 Wrote:
(09-08-2021, 07:57 AM)Borin' Baggie Wrote: Sunak's opinion piece in the Times today saying that increasing NI over income tax is fairer is the dumbest thing I've ever read and I'd expect better from a Chancellor of the Exchequer, even those who are completely out of their depth. I sincerely hope he doesn't believe what he wrote otherwise this country is fucked.

Generally I like Sunak, but I've not read that, and if that is his opinion he's dropped in my estimation.

"And the only way to raise such significant sums is from income tax, VAT or national insurance contributions (NICs). We believe NICs is the fairest and most progressive approach." - from the horse's mouth.

If that is his actual opinion and not just a PR push from the government then I do not trust that man to be in charge of the Treasury.
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