Here comes the tax rises

On a related note…

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...cy-guru-s-home

Kemi Badenoch is running her Tory leadership campaign from the house of a wealthy donor, despite the Conservative Party’s criticism of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer for using a top Labour fund-raiser’s flat during the general election campaign.

The former business secretary is using the London property of Neil Record, a veteran of the City’s currency-trading scene, as a base of operations during her bid to become leader, Record told Bloomberg.

She hasn’t yet declared the support on the financial interests register for Members of Parliament, although she has logged one £10,000 ($13,300) gift from him. A spokesman for Badenoch suggested she had done nothing wrong.

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Hugh

On a related note…

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...cy-guru-s-home

words fail me

Originally Posted by papa smurf

words fail me

Thought they might…

(For the hard of thinking, the difference is that one declared it in the Register of Members Interests, the other didn’t…)

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Thought they might…

(For the hard of thinking, the difference is that one declared it in the Register of Members Interests, the other didn’t…)

I'm shure your friends will appreciate the gesture

[Pierre]

https://news.sky.com/story/chancello...warns-13231148


Tax and spend, tax and spend.

A leopard never changes its spots.

All those virtue signalling muppets people that say “ I don’t mind paying more tax as long as it means - nhs/ services/ insert whatever - works”

Well, it looks like you’ll get your chance.

They can’t go after the rich, they can’t go after the poor. Watch out middle income U.K., they’ll come for you, and don’t think that they’re done with pensioners yet…………..

---------- Post added at 08:30 ---------- Previous post was at 08:24 ----------

And in other news………

https://news.sky.com/story/yvette-co...scort-13231041


You never get something for nothing [quote]The Met were reportedly reluctant to sign it off as a blue-light escort is typically reserved for senior members of the Royal Family and high-level politicians, as it comes at huge expense to the taxpayer
[\quote]

Ms Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan spoke to the Metropolitan Police to encourage them to give the megastar a "VVIP escort" through London for her Wembley Stadium concerts.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by Pierre

https://news.sky.com/story/chancello...warns-13231148


Tax and spend, tax and spend.

A leopard never changes its spots.

All those virtue signalling muppets people that say “ I don’t mind paying more tax as long as it means - nhs/ services/ insert whatever - works”

Well, it looks like you’ll get your chance.

They can’t go after the rich, they can’t go after the poor. Watch out middle income U.K., they’ll come for you, and don’t think that they’re done with pensioners yet…………..

In addition to the tax increases the workers are going to see, there's also a lot of incompetence and micro management going on behind the scenes.

All government departments have had their spending limit approvals slashed from £2m to £50k, that means that any expenditure even if it's inside an existing budget needs cabinet office approval.

I am told that the system has ground to a halt and that the delays are currently running at 16 weeks for approvals. The knock on effect from this will be projects not approved in time to spend the money before the end of the financial year, meaning they will lose the budget so the work wont get done.

Contract renewal for individuals like myself has been on hold, they have now drip-fed a small contract through after a 10 week delay. Additionally they are trying to cut the number of consultants and rates they are paying consultants, which has already meant that some have walked to take a contract elsewhere.

In my case I have requested a contract for 2.5 days a week, as the engineering lead as part of a small team they say I am critical to the project. I suppose there are some that will think they are saving money by cutting consultant rates and not employing their services for 10 weeks.

The project I am working on is to fix a problem that is currently estimated to be costing you and me (assuming you pay tax) over £1M for every working day until the problem is fixed. If it wasn't taxpayers money I would be laughing at how much the incompetence is costing.

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by Escapee

In addition to the tax increases the workers are going to see, there's also a lot of incompetence and micro management going on behind the scenes.

All government departments have had their spending limit approvals slashed from £2m to £50k, that means that any expenditure even if it's inside an existing budget needs cabinet office approval.

I am told that the system has ground to a halt and that the delays are currently running at 16 weeks for approvals. The knock on effect from this will be projects not approved in time to spend the money before the end of the financial year, meaning they will lose the budget so the work wont get done.

Contract renewal for individuals like myself has been on hold, they have now drip-fed a small contract through after a 10 week delay. Additionally they are trying to cut the number of consultants and rates they are paying consultants, which has already meant that some have walked to take a contract elsewhere.

In my case I have requested a contract for 2.5 days a week, as the engineering lead as part of a small team they say I am critical to the project. I suppose there are some that will think they are saving money by cutting consultant rates and not employing their services for 10 weeks.

The project I am working on is to fix a problem that is currently estimated to be costing you and me (assuming you pay tax) over £1M for every working day until the problem is fixed. If it wasn't taxpayers money I would be laughing at how much the incompetence is costing.

Can't comment on you but in the past found consultants a costly solution.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by Itshim

Can't comment on you but in the past found consultants a costly solution.

Consultants are not the answer to every problem, but they can save much more money than they cost but you do however need to employ the right one.

I suppose if you are not going to use consultants to deal with a particular issue requiring specific skills, the other option is to hire and fire when the work is done and the specific skill is no longer required. (Too late Labour is closing that loophole allegedly)

Consultants can be the only solution as the civil service seems to be generally very short of technical expertise. The civil service has some departments with very clever people, but they struggle to fill these sorts of posts and to retain, as the excellent benefits such as workload and pension are generally not enough to overcome the low pay.

If you are tasking a large company to undertake a small package of a week or so of investigative work followed by a report, you are not going to get much change out of £50k. If you are employing a consultant who knows his subject, you don't need to avoid many such unnecessary activities for him to save you money. Prime contractors are more than happy to undertake any work a civil servant tasks them with, whether necessary or not.

[Pierre]

Car tax for EVs……….it was never about saving the planet

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vehicle-...sions-vehicles

£190. Honeymoon’s over. Pay more if your cars worth more than £40,000

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Car tax for EVs……….it was never about saving the planet

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vehicle-...sions-vehicles

£190. Honeymoon’s over. Pay more if your cars worth more than £40,000

That's not new or unexpected. It was mentioned a year or two ago that come 2025 there would be some for of car tax on EVs.

In fact that article was published on April 9th. So it's not a Labour thing but a legacy of our Tory overlords.

Originally Posted by Pierre

Car tax for EVs……….it was never about saving the planet

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vehicle-...sions-vehicles

£190. Honeymoon’s over. Pay more if your cars worth more than £40,000

Tax incentives are what they are. In the case of EVs they absolutely were about ‘saving the planet’ as that was the stated policy aim. Whether you believe the policy was effective is neither here nor there. Chancellors don’t give out tax discounts for no reason.

It is also the case that tax incentives designed to drive a change in consumer behaviour or kick-start a new product/market/service will come to an end when the benefit of doing so is outweighed by the need to collect the tax. This isn’t the first such ‘pump-priming’ tax incentive to come to an end and it won’t be the last.

[Taf]

I have a nasty feeling that small, personal import packages from the likes of Temu are going to get hammered with import taxes and VAT. Also vaping will get a massive "vice tax" dropped on it, whilst disposable vape devices will be banned. And those that consume alcohol and tobacco will get hammered yet again.

[Kursk]

Originally Posted by Taf

I have a nasty feeling that small, personal import packages from the likes of Temu are going to get hammered with import taxes and VAT. Also vaping will get a massive "vice tax" dropped on it, whilst disposable vape devices will be banned. And those that consume alcohol and tobacco will get hammered yet again.

It's not the vaping, drinking or smoking that is of concern to me. It's the heating and eating for those who are already struggling.

[Taf]

Originally Posted by Kursk

It's not the vaping, drinking or smoking that is of concern to me. It's the heating and eating for those who are already struggling.

To me, it always seems to be those that are smoking and drinking that attend food banks the most often, with their big dogs and electric bikes.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Taf

To me, it always seems to be those that are smoking and drinking that attend food banks the most often, with their big dogs and electric bikes.

Bit of a huge generalisation there.