UK budget changes to be the same here?

[WTF]

8 minutes ago, Gladys said:

Agree with the need to simplify tax, 100%.  The issue is it is used as a tool in economic engineering as much as a way to raise revenue. 

we just need new tools then.

[Gladys]

10 minutes ago, WTF said:

we just need new tools then.

Not sure there are many alternatives available. 

[Banker]

4 hours ago, WTF said:

as both tax and NI are based on income i don't see why we need both , just tax at what ever level the tax and NI add up to and call it living tax or something.  it can't be too difficult,  no tax below 10k ,   10k - 15k  20%  ,  15k - 20k 25% ,  pick numbers that equate to what folks are paying now so it simplifies things for people and streamlines the admin .

But the issue with NI is that the it’s only payable on income over lower limit upto £823 pw at 11% & then 1% over. Therefore low/middle income earners pay a higher % than the high earners.

The upper limits need raising substantially & the second rate upping to say 3/4% 

[John Wright]

@doc.fixit @Happier diner  @The Bastard @forestboy

ANEK ship all sorts on the car deck. 

Donkeys at Keramoti. Not sure about the solas stuff for them.

Snapped en route to Thassos.

 

[finlo]

On 11/18/2022 at 1:47 PM, The Bastard said:

Not true though, They don't explode like petrol tankers, 

 

[The Bastard]

3 hours ago, finlo said:

 

 

Just a minor point : that's not actually an electric vehicle, so you've been hoisted by your own bus-shaped petard. You might as well have posted a picture of the Hindenburg, that would have been just as accurate.

That's a fire in a diesel-and-methane-powered bus, on the SP344 road outside Ponte della Pietra in Puglia, Italy.

It even says on the front of the vehicle "io vado a metano" ("I'm running on methane") which is a bit of a giveaway. 

[Gladys]

3 minutes ago, The Bastard said:

 

Just a minor point : that's not actually an electric vehicle, so you've been hoisted by your own bus-shaped petard. You might as well have posted a picture of the Hindenburg, that would have been just as accurate.

That's a fire in a diesel-and-methane-powered bus, on the SP344 road outside Ponte della Pietra in Puglia, Italy.

It even says on the front of the vehicle "io vado a metano" ("I'm running on methane") which is a bit of a giveaway. 

Thats what happens when you light your farts. 

[The Bastard]

8 minutes ago, Gladys said:

Thats what happens when you light your farts. 

That's why I never light them on the bus.

[Cambon]

On 11/18/2022 at 1:47 PM, The Bastard said:

Not true though, They don't explode like petrol tankers, they burn slowly for a long interval. As previously noted, petrol cars have already caused a number of vehicle transporters to go on fire and sink, so it's not a new deal.

Ok. I tell you what. Get yourself a LiPo battery for a RC car and set a fire around it. Ten minutes later, then tell me it did not explode. A good while later, it will still be burning/smouldering. It will still be capable of setting paper, fabric, etc. on fire. Now, imagine that 1000 times worse. 

[Cambon]

6 hours ago, Banker said:

But the issue with NI is that the it’s only payable on income over lower limit upto £823 pw at 11% & then 1% over. Therefore low/middle income earners pay a higher % than the high earners.

The upper limits need raising substantially & the second rate upping to say 3/4% 

The other thing is all these pensioners who go back to work whilst claiming their pensions don't pay NI. THEY SHOULD  !!! 

[Gladys]

9 minutes ago, The Bastard said:

That's why I never light them on the bus.

No, neither do I. 

[Banker]

7 minutes ago, Cambon said:

The other thing is all these pensioners who go back to work whilst claiming their pensions don't pay NI. THEY SHOULD  !!! 

Totally agree!!

[The Bastard]

47 minutes ago, Cambon said:

Ok. I tell you what. Get yourself a LiPo battery for a RC car and set a fire around it. Ten minutes later, then tell me it did not explode. A good while later, it will still be burning/smouldering. It will still be capable of setting paper, fabric, etc. on fire. Now, imagine that 1000 times worse. 

That's comparing apples with oranges though. When they make Teslas they don't just start by scaling up RC cars, bunging in an enormous shiny plastic LiPo packet battery behind the front seats. For a start, the lack of windows and 40 foot aerial would be a nightmare in car washes, and the suspension articulation would be a bit excessive for the school run, even after you consider how difficult reverse parking would be when the AA batteries in your remote controller go flat. Like the rest of the vehicle, the battery packs are specifically engineered for EVs, with safety features inbuilt.

I posted a video earlier of a Tesla fire. That particular scenario wasn't "1000 times worse" than a child's toy going pop. The battery didn't immediately explode, there was no detonation similar to running into the back of a Pinto.

Notably Richard Hammond wasn't blown to smithereens during his electric car crash, where the battery was compromised in the crash. 

Unless the engineering is horrifically bad, like some of the early attempts in China, vehicle EV battery fires are certainly a danger, and present a different set of challenges to fire crews, but evidence suggests that they are not immediately explosive like a petrol vehicle, methane bus (see above) or petrol tanker. I'd hazard a guess that petrol fires are a lot more dangerous to vehicle occupants than an EV fire.

Edited November 19, 2022 by The Bastard

[Anyone]

What should happen is NI is abolished to be be replaced by an income tax rate of say 30%. There should then be a payroll tax to pick up the old employers NIC. But it won’t happen because whichever politician who does that will get bombed out at the next election. So bugger all will happen on that front.

The other thing is the tax cap. Really , are we that desperate. And how many have actually relocated because of it. I suspect most were already here and loving it. Those who come because of it are unlikely to to have altruistic tendencies.

 

[John Wright]

4 hours ago, Anyone said:

What should happen is NI is abolished to be be replaced by an income tax rate of say 30%. There should then be a payroll tax to pick up the old employers NIC. But it won’t happen because whichever politician who does that will get bombed out at the next election. So bugger all will happen on that front.

The other thing is the tax cap. Really , are we that desperate. And how many have actually relocated because of it. I suspect most were already here and loving it. Those who come because of it are unlikely to to have altruistic tendencies.

 

I think it’s better to keep NI and it’s link to state pension funding , and perceived links to other benefits and health/social care, separate.

Have an NI tax free allowance, as now, but no upper ceiling. Introduce elimination of ceiling over 5 years. Set at 10% each for employers and employees.

Self employed and dividends to suffer NI at 10%, with self employed to pay an increased fixed weekly sum.

Apply NI to pensioners.