General Election 4th July ...

Starmer also wriggling about council tax bands this morning.

I am getting fed up with this campaign more than most. It is clear to most we need to raise more money. Improving economy is not guaranteed and any new govt will have the same challenges. Raising taxes is inevitable, and not to be scared of in my opinion. Just be honest now, not apologetic in 18 months.

 

I was referring to the arsey posts above yours, FellTop

 

Glad someone else sees it the same as I do. Might as well be honest now and as long as any tax rises are fair across all incomes, then so be it.

I appreciate how fortunate i am to be reasonably well paid for my job, i expect to have to contribute a bit more to help out those who are less fortunate. Is it terrible if i have to pay an extra £100 a month in taxes if it means services for everyone are improved?

 

Taxing you more on what you make now is regressive. At the top end it will just encourage avoidance, because they'll not be able to resist an extra 'ideology tax' for anyone who's making good money.

Increasing the tax take by facilitating an increase in wages for everyone and therefore tax paid on those wages would be better. How that's done, not my area of expertise, but squeezing the middle earners who are reasonably well paid even more is storing up trouble.

 

Exactly this mate. Some clarity to ease concerns instead of contradicting each other would help settle a lot of votes imo. The last poll I seen on the news said something like 40% were still undecided on who to vote for, they really need to nail this down but unfortunately I don’t think there’ll be much change whether we have a red or blue govt. Fingers crossed I’m wrong but as much as I agree with some labour policies/changes I worry about the financials.

 

Those at the top need stricter rules in place and harsh penalties for breaking / playing the rules. Start at the top and work down

 

I always remember being taught the difference between tax avoidance and evasion. Evasion is the illegal one. This will sound naieve but some avoidance opportunity is probably healthy in a system, at least where that leads to greatsd levels of inward investment. I dont know what the cost of evasion is to the economy, but I do wonder if we cant do more in that space.

 

I get the sentiment mate but I’m getting a decent bonus this month and losing pretty much half of it to tax. If I work any overtime I lose half of it to tax and NI therefore I just end up not working and I’m by no means wealthy at all. I’m a working class bloke who completed an apprenticeship to be where I am now.

We get hammered whilst labour are proposing to raise the minimum wage yet again, remove the age discrepancy etc so you’re going to have 18 year olds working at McDonalds on £15 an hour if they get their way. How in any way, shape or form is that logical?

The only thing that’ll happen is everyone’s prices will go through the roof. Tradesmen will double their hourly rate. Who is going to work in a factory for £18 an hour when they can go and serve coffee at Costa for £15 an hour?

 

The only reason I’m getting an electric vehicle.

 

Have to admit I have pondered the same. But I like cars too much to buy a dodgem

 

Got another car that I use for that exact reason! Just a financial decision more than anything definitely not because I want one more than an ICE. She drives around with the range showing —— at the minute and says “I do this all the time don’t worry” so god knows how it’ll go!

 

Tradesmen rates have increased massively already as their is a skilled labour shortage especially in the Construction Industry.

 

Don't do it.

 

I'd love an electric car - my work has a decent scheme as well. But the infrastructure just isn't there if you want to go anywhere other than big city to big city via motorway.

 

The people who do it are not skint and usually masters at wrangling, that's not mentioning being lawyer'd up and/or being involved with companies who lobby and fund political parties/issues etc

 

To be fair to Labour they have been banging the drum on an upskilling strategy which you'd assume could include partially funded apprenticeships leading to more tradesmen.

 

We rarely go on long motorway journeys tbh but went to Southampton a few weeks ago and every time we stopped at a services there seemed to be a fair amount of chargers not being used. I’m fortunate enough to have a home charger installed by work and my partners place of work has them too otherwise I’d not be getting one

 

I'd love to give out more apprenticeships, but finding the right people to do it is a task in itself.

In my area of construction (flat roofing and cladding) getting young people to even be interested in it is proving incredibly challenging

 

This is why I think the change required is actually much bigger than most people realise. We need a cultural shift not simply a new economic plan. The poorest people in the country are the most obese (disease of luxury), the poorest people wear fashion brands and have an iphone, you might say what has that got to do with anything but it demonstrates the sort of inverted nature of our culture.

I could go on but I think we'd be derailing the thread.

 

The exact same people who will be offering to pour money into Labour back pockets from next month onwards. Which of course they wont accept.....