Coronavirus Impact

[Scoobz1]

What are the options to cut a deficit and reduce debt?
VAT
Income tax
National insurance
Cuts in public services
What else?

From what I recall, pension contributions are made before tax and NI.
Tax but not NI is payable on pension income.
One simple way to raise revenue would seem to be to charge NI on pension income.
This time next year we should be free of EU restrictions on VAT bands. Could we see a proliferation of VAT bands, perhaps more foods, like cake and tortilla chips, with VAT? An even higher rate of VAT on super luxury items like private aeroplanes?
Gift taxes to close loopholes in intergenerational wealth transfer?

What other ways could government pluck the goose with the minimum amount of squealing?

National insurance on pension receipts - for something you already paid for or wont get as you have to be working / younger to benefit from ! It is there to pay for pensions.

National Insurance: introduction

National Insurance - your National Insurance number, how much you pay, National Insurance rates and classes, check your contributions record.

www.gov.uk

VED, new vehicles (perhaps drop the threshold to £30K ; fuel tax (don't pass on the benefits of oil price decreases); bicycle tax (for road usage - fishermen pay for a rod licence and even aero-modelers require a licence now and have to pay a yearly fee for using the air); inheritance tax (lower thresholds stop the use of trusts ); stamp duty particularly on higher value houses or those purchased by foreign nationals ; partial payment of NHS costs where the recipient/ patient can afford it ( say 25% up to a maximum of £X0000 - paid as a lump sum or collected from salary at source - perhaps where the problem could have been avoided by different lifestyle choices - tricky - but would encourage people to look after themselves better); foreign / holiday travel (not generally environmentally or economically friendly); duty on alcohol (particularly at supermarkets / off licences - to level the playing field for pubs which were struggling anyway prior to all this ); wider roll-out of congestion charges ; child benefit being completely means tested and limited to the first say 2 children); increase the state pension age again

The two I would favour if i had a choice: is the correct taxation of multinationals (especially US companies - Amazon; Google; Starbucks - who all get away with murder when it comes to tax which results in unfair competition) and the other, which isn't a tax at all, but would arguably raise vast amounts for the state and help reduce criminality significantly at the same time is abolishing "cash payments" / cash.

In this day and age it is possible for everyone to have a bank account, for benefits etc. to paid into them and for those accounts to be used for all payments (a few meters etc. might need to be adapted) . This would help eliminate the black market and ensure taxes get paid where they are due !

 

[pjm-84]

Nope I don't work for them! I don't proclaim that they are perfect but can only go on my experience plus what I take from them for my fleet of 39 cars. We ditched BMW for Audi and VW on our fleet in 2014 and car for car the Audis have been much better. Most of our cars do 100k over 4 years. Ask a policeman which car they'd take on traffic the V6 A6 orthe BMW and in my experience to a man they'd all take the Audi too. BMW 15 years plus ago were a great machine but there's not a range I'd take now.

Different time period. That might explain it. Had my Audi 2003 to 2008. Stopped buying BMWs in 2010. Just too nickable.

 

[Jay gas]

Thought sexy Sue was back, for a moment!

You was hoping she was back

 

[Wongo]

Can anyone explain that today someone can fly in from New York, have no screening whatsoever, yet I can't travel 3 miles to see my elderly mum, keeping my distance and wearing a facemask each???

 

[pjm-84]

mber

Not to mention the all that Avocado on toast, cutting out this alone could solve their problems.

My lucky postwar gilded generation is the one being protected at the cost of everything else. Born into a brand new NHS, gifted free university education and jobs in a hugely expanding white-collar sector, we benefited from fine pensions and the mighty windfall of outrageously inflating property values for homes bought originally for a modest price.

I must have missed that. I remember poverty, only having a gas fire in the front room and oddly only receiving an orange and book one Christmas when I was 7 or 8. An orange...... Also remember ice on the inside of the bedroom window in the winter and no curtains although I suspect there were nets. I remember wearing shorts to school in winter because that was the uniform. I remember power cuts and strikes.

Never went to University but was offered a University place in the USA due to my rowing, which I turned down. I remember only a few in my A stream 30+ class going to University after A levels. I remember rowing training 40hrs a week for some place called "Soul 88" which seemed a long way off in 1986 and had to get a job as only Redgrave had a small amount of funding and could train full time. I remember being so tired from the training that I would struggle to cycle the 12miles home afterwards and then just sleep. I remember losing out on the chance of becoming a world champion (the four I left promoted a B member to my position and became U23 WCs 6 months later)

I remember Garry Herbert who was our last resort cox (world champion / Olympic champion and MBE)

I remember buying my first house and then having to pay 15.75% interest rate.

Yep I missed the gilded generation and it appears my parents did as well.

 

[Joker 1299]

You was hoping she was back

Not really, no.

 

[Lightning]

mber

I must have missed that. I remember poverty, only having a gas fire in the front room and oddly only receiving an orange and book one Christmas when I was 7 or 8. An orange...... Also remember ice on the inside of the bedroom window in the winter and no curtains although I suspect there were nets. I remember wearing shorts to school in winter because that was the uniform. I remember power cuts and strikes.

Never went to University but was offered a University place in the USA due to my rowing, which I turned down. I remember only a few in my A stream 30+ class going to University after A levels. I remember rowing training 40hrs a week for some place called "Soul 88" which seemed a long way off in 1986 and had to get a job as only Redgrave had a small amount of funding and could train full time. I remember being so tired from the training that I would struggle to cycle the 12miles home afterwards and then just sleep. I remember losing out on the chance of becoming a world champion (the four I left promoted a B member to my position and became U23 WCs 6 months later)

I remember Garry Herbert who was our last resort cox (world champion / Olympic champion and MBE)

I remember buying my first house and then having to pay 15.75% interest rate.

Yep I missed the gilded generation and it appears my parents did as well.

OK Boomer

 

[pjm-84]

On the plus side I remember holding an Oxford 8+ at bay during filming and DT calling for a push through, thinking it would be easy, to thowing all his toys out of the pram, calling quits to the filming and 8 members of an Oxford crew turning around to see a 2- in front of them.

 

[pjm-84]

Nope.... Generation X

 

[HB19]

It’s an interesting discussion with care homes! Generally they charge an aweful lot of money to provide the care! The private care homes dont do it for nothing, they do it for profit, it’s a business. As such said businesses have a duty to ensure they have enough stocks of what they need! So choice, PPE stocks in store or profit dividend for shareholders. In that case why is it Govt failing ? Something to think about.
A bit like well run hospital trusts have what they need, poorly run trusts are the ones now running around trying to put the blame elsewhere.
JG is right though, we thought last few years of austerity were tight, next few years are going to be very hard

It is perhaps worth noting that there is a big difference between a care home and a nursing home (some providers do both jobs on one site but some only operate in one of these areas of care). Providers of nursing homes might be more likely to have small stocks of PPE commensurate with their normal levels of use, and maybe a bit extra in the store cupboard just in case but PPE usage is not a common feature of everyday care provision outside of a clinical setting.
Then, because of the global high demand it very quickly became almost impossible to buy PPE as suppliers were inundated with orders from everywhere while battling their own issues of supply of raw materials and the availability of labour - hence the NHS shortages we have heard so much about.
In this climate therefore, it seems totally unreasonable to expect care home providers to have PPE available and to use this as a measure of their quality. I am not saying they shouldn’t have it, I am saying they will have struggled to get the resources because there is a global shortage and the priority so far has been the NHS front line staff, who still don’t have enough.
And in my view the government does have to take some responsibility for the lack of PPE. They have had opportunities to open the channels for sourcing PPE equipment for the UK market and they have had many offers from garment and other manufacturers to redeploy their business for PPE manufacture ... but they dithered and lost time .. and are still dithering and still losing time .. and now we need PPE for bus drivers ... for supermarket workers .. for community nurses ... for dentists .. vets ... will we need it for teachers when they open the schools ... for hairdressers ...
Ans yes, this kind of large scale supply needs government intervention ... small scale operators and volunteers have stepped into the breech and that’s great but this needs more than that for the long term.

 

[Lightning]

Nope.... Generation X

Well, the article isn’t about you or your generation then. I too am Gen X. I think we fall in between the gilded generation, and the completely screwed generation.

 

[willwander]

What are the options to cut a deficit and reduce debt?

VAT
Income tax
National insurance
Cuts in public services

What else?



From what I recall, pension contributions are made before tax and NI.

Tax but not NI is payable on pension income.

One simple way to raise revenue would seem to be to charge NI on pension income.

This time next year we should be free of EU restrictions on VAT bands. Could we see a proliferation of VAT bands, perhaps more foods, like cake and tortilla chips, with VAT? An even higher rate of VAT on super luxury items like private aeroplanes?

Gift taxes to close loopholes in intergenerational wealth transfer?

What other ways could government pluck the goose with the minimum amount of squealing?

Pensions will be raided
Tax relief on pension contributions reduced
Fuel taxes, especially given recent drop in fuel prices, also environmental concerns.
more stealth taxes

 

[Mickyb123]

And as mentioned on another thread, hospitals have there own procurement set up, why did they not pre plan?
funny thing though, company I work for, private company, sourced the PPE we require, didn’t go shouting at the Govt or trying to place blame. We have stocks we need for what we do, why? decent management
So PPE for Sainsbury’s and other shops, nothing to do with Govt, dig into profits and buy it. Same can be said for folks like TFL, Dentists etc.
As stated in this post earlier, why didn’t the govt have a stock sat in a warehouse, same can be said for every private care home, private nursing home, bus company, supermarket why did they not pre plan and have stocks of PPE in preparation?

 

[Mickyb123]

Providers of nursing homes might be more likely to have small stocks of PPE commensurate with their normal levels of use, and maybe a bit extra in the store cupboard just in case but PPE usage is not a common feature of everyday care provision outside of a clinical setting.

So the user sensibly maintains levels commensurate with normal levels of use, but the Govt are wrong for doing the same thing, interesting view.

 

[Jodalo]

And as mentioned on another thread, hospitals have there own procurement set up, why did they not pre plan?
funny thing though, company I work for, private company, sourced the PPE we require, didn’t go shouting at the Govt or trying to place blame. We have stocks we need for what we do, why? decent management
So PPE for Sainsbury’s and other shops, nothing to do with Govt, dig into profits and buy it. Same can be said for folks like TFL, Dentists etc.
As stated in this post earlier, why didn’t the govt have a stock sat in a warehouse, same can be said for every private care home, private nursing home, bus company, supermarket why did they not pre plan and have stocks of PPE in preparation?

Because a lot of this equipment has ‘use before’ dates and it’s impossible to plan for a Pandemic for that reason. Without continually disposing of vast quantities of equipment and replenishing your stocks.

 

[Mickyb123]

Whey hey we eventually get there.
So how on earth can people criticise the Govt for not having an endless supply of PPE for the outcome that may or may not happen.
The whole point is enough folk on here and in the press are finger pointing, the Govt are shocking for not being prepared, and now it’s shocking that stocks are short because the whole world wants it, all the Govt fault.
So what you are actually saying is no organisation can afford to continuously keep massive stocks of degradable items? That includes Govts, despite some others thoughts.

 

[Mickyb123]

It’s impossible to plan for a Pandemic for that reason!

interesting comment

 

[Lightning]

Whey hey we eventually get there.
So how on earth can people criticise the Govt for not having an endless supply of PPE for the outcome that may or may not happen.
The whole point is enough folk on here and in the press are finger pointing, the Govt are shocking for not being prepared, and now it’s shocking that stocks are short because the whole world wants it, all the Govt fault.
So what you are actually saying is no organisation can afford to continuously keep massive stocks of degradable items? That includes Govts, despite some others thoughts.

Finland does.

 

[T6 CFO]

A quite pointed remark from the manager of a clothing factory the other day suggested the NHS might like to order from them in the future rather than from abroad.

Mike

 

[T6 CFO]

Finland does.

I believe that was discussed elsewhere and they had specific issues in relation to there proximity to Russia.

Mike

 

[Jay gas]

Finland does.

Finland planned for an invasion having stock for a pandemic is a by product for some of those stockpiled items

 

[Jodalo]

Whey hey we eventually get there.
So how on earth can people criticise the Govt for not having an endless supply of PPE for the outcome that may or may not happen.
The whole point is enough folk on here and in the press are finger pointing, the Govt are shocking for not being prepared, and now it’s shocking that stocks are short because the whole world wants it, all the Govt fault.
So what you are actually saying is no organisation can afford to continuously keep massive stocks of degradable items? That includes Govts, despite some others thoughts.

What I am saying is that if you are solely relying on stocks of ‘age sensitive’ equipment, you must generally replenish your stocks as and when that stock becomes unusable. One other solution would be to have makers/suppliers on tap and geared up to produce vast quantities at a moments notice.

 

[Jay gas]

What I am saying is that if you are solely relying on stocks of ‘age sensitive’ equipment, you must generally replenish your stocks as and when that stock becomes unusable. One other solution would be to have makers/suppliers on tap and geared up to produce vast quantities at a moments notice.

We are now a service based economy and not so much of a manufacturing economy not so easy to manufacture the high number of ppe items from a service economy when we have moved all of our manufacturing overseas due to cost implications

 

[Lightning]

I believe that was discussed elsewhere and they had specific issues in relation to there proximity to Russia.

Mike

The Cold War ended 30 years ago. Finland chose to maintain their reserves, probably because of their experience, no other country chose to do this, but they could have chosen to. It was not luck, it was planning. A pandemic is a known risk, terrorism is another, environmental disaster another. The government is responsible for keeping us safe, its their main job, and they could choose to plan accordingly.

 

[Mickyb123]

And what else do you hold stocks of and replenish? In hindsight it’s PPE but what other future threats? You cannot plan for everything, only for what you realistically think may happen, as in Finland! They hold high stocks and replenish stocks for what reason? Not a viral pandemic that’s for sure. So one country in the world were in this case lucky.