Benefit payments predicted to exceed income tax revenue

[HeadingNorth 11]

No reason at all if we wish to give up any international influence and prestige that we have.

 

 

Many countries seem to manage without it. I don't understand why we are so enamoured of having any; certainly not at the price of our current defence bill, if that is what is needed to retain it.

[Cyclone 10]

Helpful, but I don't think the basic state pension is included in "benefits" is it? It comes out of national insurance money ... I'm a bit foggy on all this, since the Treasury seems to just swallow every source of government income and then send it out however it sees fit. However I'm pretty sure the basic pension is not classed as "benefits," but pension credit - the guarantee that no pensioner can have an income of less than £130 a week - may well be.

 

I can't answer that, and to be honest the answer from the government would probably change depending on which way they're spinning it at the time.

[Cyclone 10]

Many countries seem to manage without it. I don't understand why we are so enamoured of having any.

 

You don't understand why we want international influence?

 

Because it's in our interests to have it.

 

If anyone pushes Iceland around (a country with 400,000 inhabitants btw) then they get pushed, they have no recourse except asking Nato nicely to give them a hand.

 

Maybe you've not noticed, but the world isn't all full of fluffy bunnies, the wars we're involved in at the moment may not be the most well thought out, but we kinda needed an armed forces when the falklands were invaded 20 years ago, and it was bloody lucky that we won as the navy then almost wasn't up to the task.

[HeadingNorth 11]

If anyone pushes Iceland around (a country with 400,000 inhabitants btw) then they get pushed, they have no recourse except asking Nato nicely to give them a hand.

 

 

Granted; but nobody ever does. Most Western European countries contribute very little to NATO, and don't feel any need to have such a large defence budget as ours, nor to have such international prestige and influence; and they don't get pushed around either.

 

It seems to me that the chief reason we're considered a target for attack by the anti-Western forces is precisely because of our position at the high table. If we gave it up, we may be under no threat at all.

[Cyclone 10]

Isn't there a very simple solution to this!

 

Those of us in work agree to work less hours, this leads to more jobs for those out of work, this leads to a smaller welfare bill, this leads to less taxes and hey presto we are all winners!

 

You've suggested this before and had it explained why it's a nice idea but doesn't work.

 

I can't work 10 hours a week less and have someone else pick up the slack. There would be a loss of efficiency of much more than 10 hours of work a week as a new person was recruited (a lengthy process in itself) who wasn't familiar with the details of what is being done and the knock on effects of never being able to get hold of the person you need because he's on his 2 extra days off.

 

Job share only works for very simple work

 

The larger picture is also that everyone earns less and so spends less, despite the benefits cost going down, no one (including the country) is actually any better off as no more work has been introduced, all it's really done is spread the wealth a little at the cost of income tax revenue for the government.

[Aries22 10]

This subject has been around for the last thirty years to my knowledge. There is nothing new under the sun, they just keep repeating what has been said years before.

[HeadingNorth 11]

This subject has been around for the last thirty years to my knowledge.

 

That is rather the problem. It was clear forty years ago that a pensions time bomb would fall upon us one day; governments successively chose to ignore the issue, since one day was not today.

 

The last such issue was that of major nationalised industries; it was clear for decades that they were unsustainable and would bankrupt the country, but nothing was ever done about it, and any attempts that were made were rapidly and ovewhelmingly quashed. Not until after the country had gone begging to the IMF, and the system was on the point of total collapse, were we prepared to deal with the problem - and at that point, it took years of severe pain and massive unemployment before it could be dealt with.

 

The pensions time bomb should have been dealt with, at a minor cost, forty years ago. Now, it will be a major cost. If we don't deal with it, then before very much longer it will collapse entirely, and the cost will be astronomical; but the choice to put it off will no longer exist, and the cost will be paid regardless.

[Grandad.Malky 11]

The "disability car" costs the £49.10 a week you get in DLA; you can't have both. (I know; I'm waiting for my wife to be awarded DLA so that we can finally get a car and get her out and about.)

 

Where else could you get a brand new car and tax for £49.10 a week

[Cyclone 10]

£2500 a year, minus £100 for tax, £2400.

 

I expect you could get a new car on finance for £200 a month without too much difficulty.

[Grandad.Malky 11]

£200 a month doesn’t even get you the £2500 let alone the interest.

 

Not representative I know put just a sign of the real world:-

 

£66.58 per Month

nil deposit x 60 months

 

Total ammount payable: £3,995

Edited July 1, 2009 by Grandad.Malky

[HeadingNorth 11]

Where else could you get a brand new car and tax for £49.10 a week

 

The Agila that we're looking at would cost £148.90 a month from Pentagon, plus tax, plus service charges and insurance. (Insurance is likely to be low, since my wife has 20 years' no-claims.)

 

If we're awarded DLA, we'll be paying £212.76 (ish) a month, with those included. On the other hand the car will never be ours; it goes back to them after three years.

[Cyclone 10]

It gets you £2400, which is what I said after £100 for tax.

 

You can pick up the smallest new cars for about 6k at the moment;

 

But to be generous I checked out borrowing 8k over 4 years and it happens to come it at £193 a month.

Total repayment £9200 ish.

That's the real world.