Hello Mr Dale,
I read and enjoy your web page every day. Just a comment on the Budget. I am a retired BT field engineer (62) on a BT pension of just over £9000. At a rough calculation the abolition of the 10p Income tax band will make me about £180 pa the poorer when it is scrapped. One of many reasons I will be voting Conservative at the next Election and any more I live see after that.
A R
I'm in a similar position. So much for the Labour Party helping the poor - helping them out of their money more like.
ReplyDeleteHmmm he may have always voted conservative anyway, he doesn't say he didn't
ReplyDeleteanon 2.47
ReplyDeletehe may have always voted conservative...
That's it, keep clutching at straws - the way that Brown keeps clutching at bogies....
I am also a pensioner and remember well what Mrs. Thatcher did to the old age pensions when that lady was in power,and I will be voting Labour at the next election.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI'm in a similar position. So much for the Labour Party helping the poor
Whatever you do don't mention the Poll Tax,they may have forgotten about it.
Dear Mr Dale,
ReplyDeleteI set up my own small business at the end of last year. Having fought through all the various bits of red tape I went on a HMRC course the day of the budget. During the course the experts told me I didnt need to submit an end of year return. At the same time I learned Mr Brown was screwing me with his raid on small businesses.
A day later I got a call from HMRC confirming I didnt need to fill in a return - as I had questioned them as to why they thought that.
An hour later I was called and apologised to as the so called experts had it all wrong.
If HMRC dont even know what advice to give because the tax sytem is so complex what hope for the rest of us.
This gives me yet more reason to vote Tory!
And as for you Mike - I dont see the Government doing anything to reduce Council tax?
ReplyDeleteAnd having been brought up in a single parent family with one wage earner in a detached house next to a semi with 3 wage earners the rates were such a fair tax werent they!
Good grief!
I suppose he isn't grateful for the increase of his non taxable allowance that more than offsets his loss?
ReplyDeleteFunny you don't mention the £500 a year you will be better off by when you reach 65 as a result of the increase in the age allowances announced in the Budget. Or the extra tax credits, allowances, minimum guaranteed pension, heating allowances, 5% VAT on fuel that you are also entitled to because of the Labour Government. Remember when the Tories left power that pensioners were taxed on earnings above £5,200. Only a stupid old fool would say that pensioners were treated better under the Tories.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Sheppard said...
ReplyDeleteAnd as for you Mike - I don't see the Government doing anything to reduce Council tax?
I said don't mention the poll tax,no problem with the council tax as folks like myself on a low income,thanks to Mrs. Thatchers policy on the old age pension, don't have to pay it.
Trouble is the conservative fan base who post here are too young to remember why they are no longer in power,we didn't want you anymore you know.You were not liked and we voted you out.
ReplyDeleteTrouble is the labour fan base who post here are too young to remember mighty union leaders, beer and sandwiches at no. 10, unburied bodies, hospital porters doing the surgery, Frank Alaun, composite three at the TUC, sleeping bags on the car production lines, fraternity with the Soviet Union. We didn't want you anymore you know.You were not liked and we voted you out. [I didn't make all of this up]
ReplyDeleteCouncil tax where I live is £20 a year. We get three garbage pick-ups a week - two for household waste and the other for recyclables. We pay separately for this excellent, dependable service at the rate of £1 a month. The streets are clean, the drainage is good - no flooding even during very heavy rain.
ReplyDeletefr said...
ReplyDeleteThe voters saw it differently and we did not like what we saw and we did indeed vote you out,three times we voted you out you know,three times soon to be four.
verity said...
ReplyDeleteCouncil tax where I live is
Hi verity see you have stopped using those very long words you like so much,well done so pleased you took my advice.
mike - I have absolutely no idea who you are, but you sound like a silly little prat. You also sound very angry. Don't waste your time addressing me directly again, because I won't react. Scat! Shoo!
ReplyDeleteDear everyone,
ReplyDeleteI hate the Labour and Conservative parties because I have lived through both party's attempts to run Britain, and they were both rubbish.
I shall be directing my vote elsewhere.
Allan
Verity,
ReplyDeleteIs property in Mexico expensive?
A.
Verity said...
ReplyDeletemike - I have absolutely no idea who you are...
But you must remember me only the other day you reprimanded me for a posting I made about your American friend,I in return used the American word "shucks" in a comment as a gesture of friendship,remember me now ? I pointed out that your postings tended to be very boring and that you used very,very long words to show what a clever person you were,surely that must ring a bell,no ?
Mike
ReplyDeleteThe problem with most of the commentators here is not that they are too young to remember why they are no longer still in power - the problem with most of them is that they worshipped Mrs T during their formative years when everyone else was into the opposite sex/football/band/whatever and they still cannot accept that she did anything wrong when she treated the British economy as though it was one of the chemistry sets she should have stuck to.
If this isn't true - I defy each and everyone of them to list 3 things which were bad about the Thatcherism and which should never be repeated.(fr - I'm quite happy to repent about unburied bodies, Soviet fraternity and Frank Allaun)
The Labour Party moved on - and hallelujah there appears to be the first glimmerings of some progress in political thinking in the Conservative Party
If the retired BT engineer has only an income of £9000 a year, and has to pay tax on that, and has just had his tax raised, which is what seems to be the case, then every Labour party activist, or supporter should hang their head in shame.
ReplyDeleteThere can be no justification for taxing at such a low income level and the only explanation for this is to force those with low incomes to submit themselves to the means test and become clients of the state.
Well said, HG!
ReplyDeleteverity said...
ReplyDeleteWell said, HG!
crikey now that's what I call an economical posting.
The sight of the massed ranks of labour back benchers cheering a tax rise for the poorest surely means that traditional party politics of the last 100 years or so is at an end. We have returned to the late 18th century world of "ins" and "outs".
ReplyDeleteDismissing the worries of Tory-voting pensioners was, of course, pioneered by Gordon's acolyte-in-chief Shiti Vadera - "grannies losing their blouses"
ReplyDeleteI suspect I will not be affected one way or the other, but still think it is an awful budget. How can Brown describe it as "neutral" when by his own figures the tax take is going to go above 40% GDP once it has all taken effect?
ReplyDeleteI still think the Poll Tax made a lot of sense in many ways. Use more, pay more.
ReplyDeleteThe Poll Tax was an excellent idea. But by the time it was proposed, an immense client state had already been established and people were under the impression that asking them to pay for services was somehow "not fair" or "against the poor".
ReplyDeleteIt would have been more just than the present system.
Thats a piss poor pension for a BT engineer, Bt pensions, (under the final salary scheme) certainly for a man of 62, were calculated in 60ths. if he did 25/30 years, most did, he would be on twice that, at least. Sounds fishy to me!!
ReplyDeleteAnon
ReplyDeleteHow do you know how long he was a BT engineer for?
You don't need to fill in a tax return, Jonathan?
ReplyDeleteJust try it then and see what happens.
3 things that were a disater under Thatcher:
Margaret(cat A)
Dennis
Mark
Carol
Norman (sectioned)
Jeffrey(open prison)
Jonathon(open prison)
John(selwyn/burger king(NSPCC)
John(Knott)(cat A)
John(Major)(HMP)
need I go on?
Gary
verity said...
ReplyDeleteThe Poll Tax was an excellent idea.
That's the kind of posting we appreciate,more please.
Gary Elsby said...
You don't need to fill in a tax return, Jonathan?
Gosh they really were a bit of a disaster were they not,I had forgotten about the mad cow disease,keep them coming posters,the more Maggie and co. disasters the better.Perhaps Iain could offer a prize ?
Yak40 said...
I still think the Poll Tax made a lot of sense.
Appreciated more please.
Achilles - I'm sorry; I didn't see your comment at first reading.
ReplyDeleteProperty in Mexico. No. It's not expensive. Roughly on a level with Portugal. Some of the capital cities of states that are governed by conservatives are very well run and are simply lovely. Lots of supermarkets and malls on the outskirts, though.
Has Mike not realised that Mrs Thatcher retired 17 years ago? So anything she got wrong is unlikely to be repeated. Whereas Brown (although he has been bunging the economy for 10 years) is quite likely to be around at the next General Election (but not much beyond!)
ReplyDeleteDoris Bonkers
Some posters here (and commentators elsewhere) are apparently confused about what 'pensions' and 'pensioners' are. NuLab likes to refer airily to 'pensioners' when in fact they mean people over 65. But there are many, many employees in the position AR is in - a professional doing a specialised job, made redundant with a discounted company pension, and who at the age of 55, 58, 59, 60 or 61 has a decreasing chance of getting another job. And no help from the government.
ReplyDelete'Tory-boys' (you don't seem to be doing much growing up yourself, btw, judging by the arrogant and complacent tone of your posts here):
Your NuLab paradise does not extend to the younger workers, or those who are pensioned off early. Such people as AR do not qualify for tax credits, nor is it any practical use to tell someone to 'look forward' to becoming 65. Do the sums yourself. The calculation AR has made takes the increase in the personal allowance into consideration, and I bet you won't be trying to live on the pittance of the 'minimum guaranteed pension', which is a) by no means guaranteed, and is
b) available only from age 65.
In AR's position, at his age, there are no 'minimum guaranteed pensions', nor are there any other special allowances available. He is in line for no benefits, no help at all. If he turns up at an employment office, they'll just laugh. Nor can I see how he (or anyone else with a low income paying today's exhorbitant fuel bills) is helped by paying 'only' (huh!) 5% VAT on fuel (which is a reduced VAT rate negotiated between the EC and the Tory government in the 1980s, btw, nothing to do with Labour, and nothing for any government to be proud of).
And now AR will be taxed on a major part of his income at TWICE the previous rate - 20% instead of 10%.
This is not an accident - NuLab knows these people have no clout, no union, no party to protect them. (I shouldn't think a pension of £9000 a year registers much on Ming's or Cameron's radar either, btw. Their pensions - like Brown's - will be paid by the future taxpayer.)
Any increases for the poorly paid or early-retired are in any case completely wiped out by the massive double-digit inflationary rises in fuel and council tax bills since 1998.
But for you, 'Tbngu', anyone who points out the sheer unfairness of this, is just - now what was your delightful phrase?, ah yes - 'Only a stupid old fool.'
It is exactly as Hatfield Girl said - NuLab wants everyone to become means-tested clients of the state. The irony is that this particular group of workers made redundant in their late 50s with a small pension will get nothing back from the state, however many means-tests they submit to.
They deserve our respect. Keeping going on 9K a year before tax, without any further housing or financial benefits, sounds pretty heroic to me.