Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugh
Arthur, I am sorry to hear about your son's predicament, but I must pick you up on one of your points...
The so-called "bedroom tax" is actually a reduction in Housing Benefit for over-occupation (for example, if there are two people, say mother and son, living in a three-bedroomed accommodation, they will have their Housing Benefit reduced).
I don't know many people with pots of money living in five/six bedroomed houses who get Housing Benefit - I am willing to be proven wrong, though....
btw, I live in a four bedroomed home, and was paying £950 per month on a mortgage and another £160 per month in Council Tax, and received no reduction, so how I was paying the same Bedroom Tax as someone living in Council/Social Housing confuses me...
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Hugh you misunderstood, Arthur said the rich do not pay their "fair share of taxes", he said that rich pay more or less the same amount of tax (not "bedroom tax") as the poor.
Hugh, I am in the same position like you and our bills, Council tax, water rates etc are huge and we get no reduction. I do not like it
One can say that the "rich" have been squeezed too, for example the Life time Allowance for pensions has been slashed down to 1,250,000 pounds (of which 40% contributed by the taxpayer, nice!), it bloody hurts. The price of a flat in London is over half a million and the stamp duty is/was 15K or so, it bloody hurts.
But on the other hand, for example, the combo of sub-standard school provision and high University fees harms the future of intelligent kids unluky to be born poor. As Arthur said poverty hurts....
To me the problem is corporations do not pay tax and the "benefits" for the rich (expenses, slash funds, bonuses, non-taxable perks, you know what mean). HSBC, DBS, Barclays help the rich with tax advice (or you may call it avoidance).
My favorite, "Corporate hospitality", it pays for all those bloody expensive restaurant bills and plonk....