Taxing State Pension

[Organgrinder]

2 hours ago, Chekhov said:

The lady doth protest too much.....

 

>>your Covid beliefs<<

 

My "Covid beliefs" are either straight forward facts or the majority view these days.

The world's response to Covid (the general suppression of society which had never been done before in the 50,000 year history of human society) was the biggest over reaction in the history of the world.

All for a virus 99% of people were surviving and which had an average age of death in the early 80s......,

Wrong thread  -  this is about taxing state pensions.

[HeHasRisen]

Any excuse to pollute threads with his Covid crap. Surprised it's been allowed to carry on unchecked for so long. 

[Mr Bloke]

2 minutes ago, HeHasRisen said:

Any excuse to pollute threads with his Covid crap. Surprised it's been allowed to carry on unchecked for so long. 

Hmmm...

If you've a concern about moderation, please contact the Help Desk!

[Anna B]

19 hours ago, HeHasRisen said:

Any excuse to pollute threads with his Covid crap. Surprised it's been allowed to carry on unchecked for so long. 

And yet the Tories constantly still include Covid as the reason for their many failures, and for taxes rising...

[FIRETHORN1]

The taxing of state pensions is deeply unfair - it punishes people who have worked and paid taxes and NI all their lives and yet rewards the lazy loafers who've lived all their lives on benefits.

 

I turn 66 in May this year and have been told recently that my state pension will be £884.80, paid every 4 weeks  - which equates to £221 a week, and £11,060.00 a year. I will have to pay the full 20% tax on my entire state pension, because I am already over the personal tax threshold , as I also receive a "final salary"  pension of just over £13k a year from my previous employer. I worked and paid taxes and NI since I was 16 years old. I also paid a chunk of my salary into my employers pension scheme. I own my own flat and the mortgage is fully paid off. I have never claimed a single penny off the state in my entire life.

 

By the same token, my old school mate, who turns 66 in April, will get exactly the same state pension as me - £884.80 every 4 weeks.   She has always lived entirely on state benefits - she has never worked a single day in her life and has never paid a single penny in tax or NI. She lives in a Council Flat & has always had her entire rent and Council Tax paid by the state

Now that we are both 66 years old, I am knackered from a lifetime of hard work and she is full of beans from a life-time of loafing. There's no reason why she couldn't work - she just chose not to - and the state has never cut her benefits - or encouraged her to find work.

Our current situation is that we will soon both be receiving our £221  a week state pension, I will pay £42 a week tax on my state pension and will get no state help at all. My old mate will pay no tax at all on her state pension. She has also been granted "pension credits" on Universal Credit.

Her entire rent will be paid

Her entire council tax will be paid

She gets £1.200 a year @cost of living payment

She gets free dental treatment

She gets free Opticians treatment a free glasses

She gets vouchers to food-banks....and even to a pet-food foodbank, so she never has to buy food for herself or even for her pet dog!

 

This all seems so very, very unfair to me. My mate just thinks I'm jealous and bitter.... and she's right about that! I'm indeed very jealous...and very bitter!

  

[El Cid]

25 minutes ago, FIRETHORN1 said:

The taxing of state pensions is deeply unfair - it punishes people who have worked and paid taxes and NI all their lives and yet rewards the lazy loafers who've lived all their lives on benefits.

 

I turn 66 in May this year and have been told recently that my state pension will be £884.80, paid every 4 weeks  - which equates to £221 a week, and £11,060.00 a year. I will have to pay the full 20% tax on my entire state pension, because I am already over the personal tax threshold , as I also receive a "final salary"  pension of just over £13k a year from my previous employer. I worked and paid taxes and NI since I was 16 years old. I also paid a chunk of my salary into my employers pension scheme. I own my own flat and the mortgage is fully paid off. I have never claimed a single penny off the state in my entire life.

 

By the same token, my old school mate, who turns 66 in April, will get exactly the same state pension as me - £884.80 every 4 weeks.   She has always lived entirely on state benefits - she has never worked a single day in her life and has never paid a single penny in tax or NI. She lives in a Council Flat & has always had her entire rent and Council Tax paid by the state

Now that we are both 66 years old, I am knackered from a lifetime of hard work and she is full of beans from a life-time of loafing. There's no reason why she couldn't work - she just chose not to - and the state has never cut her benefits - or encouraged her to find work.

Our current situation is that we will soon both be receiving our £221  a week state pension, I will pay £42 a week tax on my state pension and will get no state help at all. My old mate will pay no tax at all on her state pension. She has also been granted "pension credits" on Universal Credit.

Her entire rent will be paid

Her entire council tax will be paid

She gets £1.200 a year @cost of living payment

She gets free dental treatment

She gets free Opticians treatment a free glasses

She gets vouchers to food-banks....and even to a pet-food foodbank, so she never has to buy food for herself or even for her pet dog!

 

This all seems so very, very unfair to me. My mate just thinks I'm jealous and bitter.... and she's right about that! I'm indeed very jealous...and very bitter!

  

 I would agree, you are jealous and bitter, you are wealthy compared to myself.

Your have a good income, would you want to visit the food bank for free food, rather inconvenient, I do all my shopping at Asda.

I too have a "final salary", but even if I work to 67 it wont be as good as yours. My ex-wife has been on benefit since my daughter was 2 years old and gets more in benefits than myself.

But I wouldnt switch places, would you?

[FIRETHORN1]

No, El Cid, I wouldn't necessarily want to switch places. My resentment and bitterness is not towards my friend personally, it's towards the system, that rewards people for not working. I think your wife's case is different, because I do believe that it often makes sense for one parent not to work and to care for a child full time. It doesn't necessarily have to be the mother - a stay-at-home father can be equally beneficial at raising a child. However, both my friend and I are childless - and I do think it's morally wrong to pile benefits onto a single, childless person who is perfectly fit and able to work.  I'm quite happy for my taxes to support stay-at-home parents, or disabled people, or people who are full-time carers to a sick family member &  who are genuinely unable to work, but I balk at paying people who don't work just because they don't want to. My friend's attitude has always been "why should I use my time going to work when working fools like you can keep me in everything I need"? Maybe she has a point, but I would have felt  embarrassed to spend my whole life  leeching  off the backs of working people when I was perfectly capable of supporting myself.  Choosing to live off benefits just because you can, not because you need to, is morally indefensible. People who can work should be made to do so, or their benefits should be stopped - then surely there would be more "state" money available to increase the benefits to people who really need and deserve help?

[El Cid]

Most of the older generation have a good work ethic, so a few not working was not a problem.

That few does seem to be larger, with working from home being so easy, maybe more can be made to work. 

But with equality law, how could we make an exception for mothers. 

[crookesey]

14 hours ago, FIRETHORN1 said:

The taxing of state pensions is deeply unfair - it punishes people who have worked and paid taxes and NI all their lives and yet rewards the lazy loafers who've lived all their lives on benefits.

 

I turn 66 in May this year and have been told recently that my state pension will be £884.80, paid every 4 weeks  - which equates to £221 a week, and £11,060.00 a year. I will have to pay the full 20% tax on my entire state pension, because I am already over the personal tax threshold , as I also receive a "final salary"  pension of just over £13k a year from my previous employer. I worked and paid taxes and NI since I was 16 years old. I also paid a chunk of my salary into my employers pension scheme. I own my own flat and the mortgage is fully paid off. I have never claimed a single penny off the state in my entire life.

 

By the same token, my old school mate, who turns 66 in April, will get exactly the same state pension as me - £884.80 every 4 weeks.   She has always lived entirely on state benefits - she has never worked a single day in her life and has never paid a single penny in tax or NI. She lives in a Council Flat & has always had her entire rent and Council Tax paid by the state

Now that we are both 66 years old, I am knackered from a lifetime of hard work and she is full of beans from a life-time of loafing. There's no reason why she couldn't work - she just chose not to - and the state has never cut her benefits - or encouraged her to find work.

Our current situation is that we will soon both be receiving our £221  a week state pension, I will pay £42 a week tax on my state pension and will get no state help at all. My old mate will pay no tax at all on her state pension. She has also been granted "pension credits" on Universal Credit.

Her entire rent will be paid

Her entire council tax will be paid

She gets £1.200 a year @cost of living payment

She gets free dental treatment

She gets free Opticians treatment a free glasses

She gets vouchers to food-banks....and even to a pet-food foodbank, so she never has to buy food for herself or even for her pet dog!

 

This all seems so very, very unfair to me. My mate just thinks I'm jealous and bitter.... and she's right about that! I'm indeed very jealous...and very bitter!

  

Who said anything about the system being fair? 

[crookesey]

On 16/03/2024 at 11:11, Anna B said:

And yet the Tories constantly still include Covid as the reason for their many failures, and for taxes rising...

Something that Labour would never do, I don’t vote or support either party because of the serial hypocrisy.