Vocal Voices

So he said "those with the broadest shoulders should pay " so that will start with the politicians then will it?

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A start would be to limit MPs to one job - that of being an MP. I suppose that I could go with them having their former employment protected in a similar way to maternity leave or long-term illness, but only for one term. After that they are on their own.

It might help them concentrate on being good and efficient MPs when representing their constituents and constituencies.

I hope Keir Starmer is not going to specifically target pensioners Vic. Today we hear a rumour that the single person council tax is going to be discontinued. If this is true this will effect vulnerable single pensioners and widows - those who can least afford it. Apparently there will be a run on the pound if they don't withdraw the winter fuel allowance - or so they say. Would a better idea be to tax the £350 a day tax free allowance that members of the House of Lords can claim. Some of them turn up for lunch, have a little snooze, and then pass G0 and collect the cash. In my opinion it could be a very good place to start.

I agree about the Lords, Meds. It needs slimming down to a few hundred members - 250: at most.

There are currently 805 who can claim more in a day than pensioners (who have paid in for life) get in a week (after tax).

My next move would be to limit MPs to one job: being an MP.

BYW I am not against means-testing benefits.

medsec222 wrote:I hope Keir Starmer is not going to specifically target pensioners Vic. Today we hear a rumour that the single person council tax is going to be discontinued.

Speaking to my sister in Birmingham this evening, Medsec, it seems it's being said that the (cash-strapped and bankrupt) City Council are actively considering this measure ....
She was not a happy bunny - I think it's worth around £400 or so to her.

When Keir Starmer announced during the run up to the election that he was going to clamp down on benefits, I suspect the majority of voters drew the wrong conclusions and thought he meant benefit cheats or those on benefits who are able to work and contribute to society but prefer not to. I doubt pensioners thought they were the ones who would be targeted.

Reading through posts on-line on this subject, it seems there are many pensioners who are just a few pounds over the threshold for claiming pension credits. In my opinion these are the pensioners who will feel hardship the most. Those without enough contributions over their working lives or those without any contributions at all and who have never paid national insurance, can claim pension credit which opens the door to housing benefit, cost of living payments, council tax discount, help with dental fees, free TV licence, etc.

Having been encouraged by Governments over many years to save and pay into an occupational pension in preparation for retirement only to find those who haven't bothered end up financially better off does seem very unfair to pensioners who are on just a few pounds extra and entitled to no help at all.

Well said medsac exactly how I feel

We seem to be confusing the WFA and the single person discount for council tax.

The WFA should have been means-tested so that it reached the most in need: it still should be. It should never have been blasted out with a scatter gun and people should have to make a claim and be assessed. Many pensioners have private pensions that take them well out of the "need" bracket.

The proposed scrapping of the single person's discount is iniquitous to ALL liable single person households. It will almost be a return to the rateable value of a property from pre 1990 where it mattered not how many people lived there. Rates were based on the nominal rental value of a property That system was unfair and everyone knew it.

We then tried the Community Charge or "poll tax" and that was also unfair. Each taxpayer paid the same fixed amount regardless of income. Someone on £10,000 paid the same as someone on £100,000. It was dropped in 1991.

Now we have Council Tax. It was recognised from the outset that there were similar unfailr elements to it as with the old rates so discounts were introduced hence the single person's discount. A single person does not use up council resources that a couple or a family does; it's obvious.

An example: across the road from me is a similar property with three working adults living there. The council tax is exactly the same as mine. There are two cars, bins overflowing on collection days, so that's more than three times the recycling of my waste, and on it goes....

This one move might actually change council financing again.

One more battle to fight WM