Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

I am still trying to get my course (in computing) sorted from the OU, but it's the job centre that's the stumbling block. I Want to get a decent qualification and get a job for sure.

Anyway in all seriousness, I really would like things like that sorting.

Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

The reality is that there will always be people that don't work. Either because there is no work, they are bone idle or too stupid. It's not nice, but it's a fact of life.

Depriving them of the most basic necessities will achieve nothing but increase crime rates. I'm all for getting people to work, but your suggestions overshoot the mark by a considerable margin.

Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

I must say its good to see you being so constructive, being an obvious die hard fan of Labour you must have been gutted when they lost, good to see you being positive :p:

Im just hoping working tax credits stay in, we just manage to fall in to the band for support, thats £80 a month I dont want to lose.

Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

Repeal the handgun ban that cost £100 million, and reduced crimes committed with legally held handguns by 0%.

Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

I am talking about the ones who will never work as they feel that it is the right, as I said my grand parents and great grand parents would never have claimed but these people believe that it is right to claim for life.

As for crime, where do you think that a lot of these families get the money for their designer clothes and holidays in majorca or their plasma televisions, not through hard graft but maybe from someone elses hard graft.

Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

Or having 8 or 9 kids ;)

Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

What would that mean to us if they did?

Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

Let me try to be clearer. There will always be people that are out to, and successful in, abusing the system. Trying to make people jump through more and more hoops to catch out the cheats will result in a lot more genuine claimants being rejected. Believe it or not, there are people out there who would like to work but have poor skills and have been unemployed for years. They are not going to walk into a job the moment you replace their benefits with food vouchers. Once again, I'm all for getting people into work, but the reality is that there are people that are past that point, and replacing their benefits with food stamps is not going to achieve much.

Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

I am talking about the shirkers who refuse to work from cradle to the grave, most people at some time in their life are out of work through no fault of their own, I am being specific here and not including them.

Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

And my point is that if you're going to try to weed out the shirkers you will end up inadvertently punishing a lot of involuntary 'shirkers'.

Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

Not really as the is a vast difference between being out of work and looking for work compared to having no intention ever to work because our taxes pay their way, a vast difference.

Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree. I think you're going to have a lot of difficulty identifying those willing and unwilling to work amongst the long term unemployed. I don't think you'll find many takers for the food stamps and dressing people up in jute sacks (my exaggeration) either. It's degrading, on several levels, and we don't do it in a civilised society, in my humble opinion.

Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

£10,000 tax threshold increase, cracking down on benefit fraudsters and moochers

Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

I like the idea of an increase in the threshold for paying tax & £10,000 seems fair - however I'd imagine that would still be reduced by 'perks' such as company cars & private health schemes.

One thing I'd like to see is a review of 'National Insurance' contributions

- firstly any contribution should be allowed to be set against tax liability - at present, afaik, tax is based on earnings before NI contributions are taken - I'd like tax to be based on a net figure after the NI is taken.
- secondly I would like to see the abolishment of the 'upper earnings limit' for NI - and move the liability for payment on earnings above the UEL to the employee, rather than the employer, probably on a sliding scale, but offset against tax liability, as above.

Re: Your top priorities for the new coalition
 

benefit fraudsters clampdown.
i want to see those who have never worked a day in their lives kicked off the benefit system ,these spongers think its a given right to have their whole lives payed for by someone else, and a proper review of their circumstances would be nice followed by making them repay every penny they have defrauded .:mad: also a good look at job seekers cos a lot of them aren't seeking anything other than the next hand out.