The one I would mainly question is "A tax based on the value of your property". Our house is now valued at about 6 times what it was when we bought it, but our income is probably lower now as I am a pensioner and my wife only works part time. Is the suggestoin that we pay 6 times more tax in real terms?
Or sell it. The argument is that people who have assets but don't want to realise them are expecting those with no assets to subsidise them.
Yes it turned out badly, which to me is somewhat ironic considering it would seem to be a fairer way of charging for services. 4 adults in a property generally make more use of services than 2, so why shouldn't the cost be per capita?
Because 2 people living in a mansion would pay the same as two people living in a bedsit. If you don't relate it to 'worth' then people in big houses benefit, which, not unreasonably, is seen as unfair.
Sell it? I'm referring to the house we live in which is not a huge mansion, it's a 1930 semi. Where do we live if we sell the house?
The size of property is pretty much irrelevant when discussing the usage of things like services provided by councils and similar bodies. It is those items that the so called 'poll tax', in reality a community charge i.e. a charge paid by everybody in the community was intended to pay for. At one time there were 5 working adults living in my sister-in-law's house and they were paying less in rates/council tax (call it what you will) than my mother and disabled brother. How is that fair?
And I blame percentages too ... percentage wage rises have caused a lot of inequity ...
if the folk who work on the shop floor and earn £20,000 pa and the managing director on maybe £150,000 pa all get a percentage wage increase of 3% the gap between them gets bigger. Totally wrong IMHO
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Here in Jersey we have a ring fenced fund for social security purposes. This find currently stands at £2,314m for a population of approx. 110000. This fund is invested and in 2020 returned £165 million into the fund. Its ring fenced and cant be used for anything else, although the government have just been caught out raiding it to buy new IT equipment for the hospital which should be coming from general revenue. There's an ongoing argument on this one.
We also have a separate long term care fund (LTC) which we all have to pay into as laid out below. Like the UK there's also a raid on homeowners should they find they need to go into a home. If you have assets of more than £40019 you have to pay £58,000 for the care or if you both have to go in to a home its £87,000.
The LTC is also a separate ring fenced fund. A quote form the Government LTC page below.
"How the long-term care (LTC) scheme works
If you need long-term care, you'll be able to claim the LTC benefit once your assessed care costs have reached a cap of £58,230 for a single person or £87,350 for a couple.
If you move into a care home, you will be responsible for paying the home's non-care costs (accommodation and day-to-day living expenses). This contribution is referred to as the co-payment.
If you receive care in your own home, you will not need to pay a co-payment, as you will already be meeting your day to day living costs.
If you can't afford your share of the care or non-care costs, you will be able to apply for extra help through means testing or an LTC property loan."
Household
Income
Long-term care contribution in 2020
% of total income
Single
£15,900
£0
0%
Single
£17,000
£21.45
0.13%
Single
£30,000
£274.95
0.91%
Single
£40,000
£469.95
1.17%
Single
£70,000
£1,050
1.5%
Married / civil partnership*
£31,800
£0
0%
Married / civil partnership*
£35,000
£62.40
0.18%
Married / civil partnership*
£50,000
£354.90
0.71%
Married / civil partnership*
£70,000
£744.90
1.06%
Married / civil partnership*
£140,000
£2,100
1.5%
Thought this might give some insight into how it works here. Not sure this is entirely a fair scheme , but it is what it is.
'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.
@Dovefromabove Isn't it proportionally the same? If you take £150k as 7.5 times £20k, and add whatever percentage to both, the proportion stays the same. So if you were happy that someone was being paid 10 times (or whatever number) the other person before, why baulk after? If you're trying to get the wage difference reduced, then that's a different matter.
But proportions aren't the point ... the cost of paying for one's necessities doesn't rise proportionately the richer you are ... what percentage pay increases have done is to make the rich even richer and increase the difficulties the poor face when trying to improve their lot.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It depends what you're trying to achieve surely? I pay a more than b because (presumably) the value of their work is more. There is then already disparity isn't there - a dispairty that was intentionally created? As soon as you pay someone more than someone else that gap exists. It does not exist because of living costs. It is how businesses value people/roles.
If you are then giving your staff a pay increase in line with living cost rises, why can't you then apply a percentage? IE if living costs have gone up by 10%, then person a and b both get 10%. Obviously, the more money someone has, the less the direct impact of cost of living rises - but they still hit those people. You could say '...well b already gets less than a, so we'll give b more...', but at what point do you then stop doing that? The gap was created intentionally, so why erode it - and if you do erode it, at what point do you stop?
To me, what you should do as a business is work on those factors and get the balance right. So a = b * 1.5 - and if you imagine a pyramid of people/roles in your company - what is that factor between the poorest and best paid people? I think that should be published for each company.
Maybe we should review how we value work and workers, I see a council in South London is having to burn its recycling due to lack of binmen, guess they can't afford to live in the area and don't see it worth a commute when hgv drivers are now of some value. Can't see social chaos if there was suddenly a shortage of accountants! Well not for the normal folk anyway! ..... and then of course there's nurses.... maybe review the value of their work too
Maybe the percentage rise should only be paid to the part of the salary that is below the average salary paid to that firm's employees? Just a thought.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Posts
if the folk who work on the shop floor and earn £20,000 pa and the managing director on maybe £150,000 pa all get a percentage wage increase of 3% the gap between them gets bigger. Totally wrong IMHO
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
We also have a separate long term care fund (LTC) which we all have to pay into as laid out below. Like the UK there's also a raid on homeowners should they find they need to go into a home. If you have assets of more than £40019 you have to pay £58,000 for the care or if you both have to go in to a home its £87,000.
The LTC is also a separate ring fenced fund. A quote form the Government LTC page below.
"How the long-term care (LTC) scheme works
'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.
George Bernard Shaw'
Isn't it proportionally the same? If you take £150k as 7.5 times £20k, and add whatever percentage to both, the proportion stays the same. So if you were happy that someone was being paid 10 times (or whatever number) the other person before, why baulk after? If you're trying to get the wage difference reduced, then that's a different matter.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Can't see social chaos if there was suddenly a shortage of accountants! Well not for the normal folk anyway!
..... and then of course there's nurses.... maybe review the value of their work too
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.