Readers discuss Burnham's path to PM, the solution to a declining economy and whether political parties only care about their term
Readers discuss Burnham’s path to PM, the solution to a declining economy and whether political parties only care about their term government tax wealth to solve Britain’s debt crisis.
This appears to show a very worrying naivety around tax affairs. This idea of raising taxes on the richest as the answer to all our problems is simply a nonsense. You could charge them 90 per cent and it would actually only deliver a very small amount .
The burden of tax rises actually always falls on the middle classes if you really want to raise any money. The fact is you cannot tax your way to economic growth – it simply stops spending and investment and curtails business growth and aspiration. Successful economies normally grow during periods of low taxation. France has been suffering spectacular economic decline in the past few years as their answer to every problem is to raise taxes.
I’m very worried that potential new Labour leader Andy Burnham says the UK has been ‘on the wrong path for the last 40 years’ – it sounds like a radical new agenda to please the Left of the party with more borrowing and spending and the inevitable tax rises. Well, quite. What a caring person she is.
I worked from 15 till 70, with my six years Army pension of £27 a week I get a whole £246 per week – and that’s taxed. The UK pension is already one of the lowest in Europe. Also, pensioners spend a lot of money in theand look after grandkids so their children can work. Many pensioners also – through having private pensions – still pay tax and council tax into the system.
The money spent on paying people not to work is the biggest problem as they pay no tax but will get a pension in the end. My gran was born in 1895 and died in 1990, when I was 20. I asked her once, why, as someone who had once worked ‘in service’, she voted Conservative. She said, ‘Labour will never beat capital.
’Is it my problem that the money I contribute through National Insurance is not invested by whichever government is in power, in order for the pot to grow and pay for itself – just like a billion-dollar hedge fund?is pretty much a trillionaire and I am pretty sure his money makes money without him having to do a thing. If no one is brave, or clever, enough to manage to do that, giving me my contributions back would be a start, then I could do what I want with my money.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m left of centre but please stop calling pensions ‘benefits’ or seeing them as welfare payments, when we all contribute. MetroTalk, Fri Those same young people will demand the same, or better, public services and pensions when they are older. This will then have to be paid for by yet more young people and so it goes on – it’s a giant Ponzi scheme that no government is willing to tackle.
That’s hardly surprising, though, as in a democracy, the ruling party only looks as far as the next election – there is no long-term thinking. In China, the ruling Communist Party, safe in the knowledge that it will be in power for years to come, issue ten and 25-year plans and act accordingly. What do we do? Prop up British Steel – an industry that is never going to be profitable – by nationalising it.
The loss falls on the taxpayer but it might keep some votes at the next election. China also in the past determined it needed to curb the population and acted accordingly. Here we’ve encouraged, through child benefit, people to have more children when we can’t even house or employ those adults we already have – and that’s even before AI cuts through the job market.
The day is fast approaching, though, when governments will be forced to make longer-term decisions as the short-term choices they’ve made are unsustainable. Readers weigh in on Sharon Osbourne's support of Tommy Robinson I don’t know if that’s true as it also means a bigger welfare bill and that large workforce will one day be pensioners.
We don’t need people to breed like rabbits to pay for these things because what matters is not the size of the population but what proportion of them are paying tax. Get your favourite puzzles when they are ready to play on the website sent directly to you every day and track your daily streak! James GoldmanUK Getaway
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