Dropping NI but raising income tax is honestly one of the better suggestions for a long time.

Personally I'd go even further and scrap NI altogether and roll it into income tax

comment by The Welsh Xavi (U15412)
posted 7 minutes ago
I still can't wrap my head around why Tesla is worth as much as it is.

They barely ever make a profit yet their shares are worth more than the likes of Toyota, GM & Ford combined
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hoping it folds. It really helped start an important transition to electric vehicles but it's becoming more and more irrelevant.

comment by The Welsh Xavi (U15412)
posted 19 minutes ago
I still can't wrap my head around why Tesla is worth as much as it is.

They barely ever make a profit yet their shares are worth more than the likes of Toyota, GM & Ford combined
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Musk doesn’t have to have Tesla make a profit to get his big payout. He has to continue to increase its share price.

Which isn’t dependent on revenue or profits; it’s dependent on people’s belief that the share price will continue to rise.

comment by The Welsh Xavi (U15412)
posted 34 minutes ago
Dropping NI but raising income tax is honestly one of the better suggestions for a long time.

Personally I'd go even further and scrap NI altogether and roll it into income tax
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It would make sense but no one is going to introduce a base 30%ish level of Income Tax even though we would be paying the same

I’ve just read that the taxpayer is subsidising the railways to the tune of £400 a second

comment by Hector (U3606)
posted 58 minutes ago
comment by clapfreesince2003 (U22207)
posted 2 minutes ago
The IFS stated before the election that taxes would need to increase, yet Labour insisted they wouldn’t raise them. How many promises have they broken now?
.............
They haven't raised income tax, NI or VAT...yet, so no promises have been broken re tax.
They might, probably will but a political party breaking a promise isn't unique and if we're honest, it's inevitable.

Lived in London for years, never earned 50k lived alright, not flash but okay.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
They did increase employee NI. In the manifesto, they claimed they wouldn't increase NI.

comment by Boris 'Inky' Gibson (U5901)
posted 18 minutes ago
I’ve just read that the taxpayer is subsidising the railways to the tune of £400 a second
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Can't imagine there's a country in the world with a worse train system than the UK. Yes there'll be less reliable ones, yes there'll (probably) be more expensive ones but I highly doubt there's one that combines price and poor service as much as the UK.

Train travel abroad is one of my thangs, I don’t think I’ve been to a country where they are more expensive on a £/mile basis

comment by clapfreesince2003 (U22207)
posted 33 minutes ago
comment by Hector (U3606)
posted 58 minutes ago
comment by clapfreesince2003 (U22207)
posted 2 minutes ago
The IFS stated before the election that taxes would need to increase, yet Labour insisted they wouldn’t raise them. How many promises have they broken now?
.............
They haven't raised income tax, NI or VAT...yet, so no promises have been broken re tax.
They might, probably will but a political party breaking a promise isn't unique and if we're honest, it's inevitable.

Lived in London for years, never earned 50k lived alright, not flash but okay.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
They did increase employee NI. In the manifesto, they claimed they wouldn't increase NI.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"We will ensure taxes on working people are kept as low as possible. Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT."

If you're gonna quote their manifesto....

comment by Boris 'Inky' Gibson (U5901)
posted 18 minutes ago
Train travel abroad is one of my thangs, I don’t think I’ve been to a country where they are more expensive on a £/mile basis
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The privatisation myth of better and cheaper services.

comment by Boris 'Inky' Gibson (U5901)
posted 27 minutes ago
Train travel abroad is one of my thangs, I don’t think I’ve been to a country where they are more expensive on a £/mile basis
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This was close to 10 years ago now so prices will be different but I remember when I was in Barcelona you could buy an underground metro ticket for about £12 that covered you for 5 return trips within a week.

Comparing that to the tube is quite funny.

A BBC editor, Raffi Berg, is suing Owen Jones for causing him "fear, anxiety, humiliation, upset and distress”.

Hard to imagine Berg has suffered as much fear, anxiety and distress as the people of Gaza, who have endured a two-year genocide by Israel that 13 of Berg's colleagues accuse him of downplaying.

The BBC editor, who is supposed to be "impartial" on matters relating to Israel-Palestine, proudly displays on a wall at home a framed letter from Benjamin Netanyahu and a photo of himself with the UK's former Israeli ambassador.

When Jones' story broke, Berg's first reaction was to seek legal advice from the former director of UK Lawyers for Israel. Go figure!

Given the BBC's utterly craven coverage of Israel during the genocide, I can't wait to see how he makes his case.

If you're single, living in the North and earning £50,000, you’re not exactly thriving. In contrast, if you're single, living in London and earning £50,000, you’re really struggling.
-----------
Depends where in the North but £50k would see you comfortable in a fair few places.

Although I'd say the bigger issue on the whole these days if you pretty much need to be in a relationship to live comfortably. Long gone are the days where you can buy a house on one wage, unless you're earning very high.

comment by The Welsh Xavi (U15412)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by Boris 'Inky' Gibson (U5901)
posted 27 minutes ago
Train travel abroad is one of my thangs, I don’t think I’ve been to a country where they are more expensive on a £/mile basis
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This was close to 10 years ago now so prices will be different but I remember when I was in Barcelona you could buy an underground metro ticket for about £12 that covered you for 5 return trips within a week.

Comparing that to the tube is quite funny.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Australia is a rip off for many many things but even train travel here is much cheaper than the UK. It is obviously quite a different style of train system because predominantly it's city networks but here's a couple of examples.
Sydney - a network that via train and bus spans a massive area, maybe 150 miles outside of Sydney including trains, buses and ferries. I believe it's capped at £25 per week. You used to get free travel after four days, meaning on a weekend you could travel to places like the Blue Mountains for free.
Perth - All day / up and down to travel a network spanning 80 miles end to end, approx £5. £2.5 is the most expensive ticket you can get and if you get back on the train within 2 hours to return it doesn't charge you extra.
Brisbane - £0.25 per journey, even if that journey is four hours on a train!!

Public transport is about facilitating cleaner, cheaper travel for people. It's main focus should not be profits for shareholders.

comment by Two Balls, One Saka (U19684)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by The Welsh Xavi (U15412)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by Boris 'Inky' Gibson (U5901)
posted 27 minutes ago
Train travel abroad is one of my thangs, I don’t think I’ve been to a country where they are more expensive on a £/mile basis
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This was close to 10 years ago now so prices will be different but I remember when I was in Barcelona you could buy an underground metro ticket for about £12 that covered you for 5 return trips within a week.

Comparing that to the tube is quite funny.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Australia is a rip off for many many things but even train travel here is much cheaper than the UK. It is obviously quite a different style of train system because predominantly it's city networks but here's a couple of examples.
Sydney - a network that via train and bus spans a massive area, maybe 150 miles outside of Sydney including trains, buses and ferries. I believe it's capped at £25 per week. You used to get free travel after four days, meaning on a weekend you could travel to places like the Blue Mountains for free.
Perth - All day / up and down to travel a network spanning 80 miles end to end, approx £5. £2.5 is the most expensive ticket you can get and if you get back on the train within 2 hours to return it doesn't charge you extra.
Brisbane - £0.25 per journey, even if that journey is four hours on a train!!

Public transport is about facilitating cleaner, cheaper travel for people. It's main focus should not be profits for shareholders.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*When I say Brisbane, it's actually South East Queensland which is a massive area

comment by Two Balls, One Saka (U19684)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by Two Balls, One Saka (U19684)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by The Welsh Xavi (U15412)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by Boris 'Inky' Gibson (U5901)
posted 27 minutes ago
Train travel abroad is one of my thangs, I don’t think I’ve been to a country where they are more expensive on a £/mile basis
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This was close to 10 years ago now so prices will be different but I remember when I was in Barcelona you could buy an underground metro ticket for about £12 that covered you for 5 return trips within a week.

Comparing that to the tube is quite funny.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Australia is a rip off for many many things but even train travel here is much cheaper than the UK. It is obviously quite a different style of train system because predominantly it's city networks but here's a couple of examples.
Sydney - a network that via train and bus spans a massive area, maybe 150 miles outside of Sydney including trains, buses and ferries. I believe it's capped at £25 per week. You used to get free travel after four days, meaning on a weekend you could travel to places like the Blue Mountains for free.
Perth - All day / up and down to travel a network spanning 80 miles end to end, approx £5. £2.5 is the most expensive ticket you can get and if you get back on the train within 2 hours to return it doesn't charge you extra.
Brisbane - £0.25 per journey, even if that journey is four hours on a train!!

Public transport is about facilitating cleaner, cheaper travel for people. It's main focus should not be profits for shareholders.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*When I say Brisbane, it's actually South East Queensland which is a massive area
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Question for you,

At my work Aussie customers are absolutely cheap as feck and always get their calculator out to convert the AUD to the pound. Do you guys pay poverty wages or something?

comment by Michael Scofield (U11781)
posted 15 minutes ago
comment by Two Balls, One Saka (U19684)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by Two Balls, One Saka (U19684)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by The Welsh Xavi (U15412)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by Boris 'Inky' Gibson (U5901)
posted 27 minutes ago
Train travel abroad is one of my thangs, I don’t think I’ve been to a country where they are more expensive on a £/mile basis
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This was close to 10 years ago now so prices will be different but I remember when I was in Barcelona you could buy an underground metro ticket for about £12 that covered you for 5 return trips within a week.

Comparing that to the tube is quite funny.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Australia is a rip off for many many things but even train travel here is much cheaper than the UK. It is obviously quite a different style of train system because predominantly it's city networks but here's a couple of examples.
Sydney - a network that via train and bus spans a massive area, maybe 150 miles outside of Sydney including trains, buses and ferries. I believe it's capped at £25 per week. You used to get free travel after four days, meaning on a weekend you could travel to places like the Blue Mountains for free.
Perth - All day / up and down to travel a network spanning 80 miles end to end, approx £5. £2.5 is the most expensive ticket you can get and if you get back on the train within 2 hours to return it doesn't charge you extra.
Brisbane - £0.25 per journey, even if that journey is four hours on a train!!

Public transport is about facilitating cleaner, cheaper travel for people. It's main focus should not be profits for shareholders.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*When I say Brisbane, it's actually South East Queensland which is a massive area
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Question for you,

At my work Aussie customers are absolutely cheap as feck and always get their calculator out to convert the AUD to the pound. Do you guys pay poverty wages or something?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I feel like it's gone through quite a few changes in the last decade / 15 years.
A decade ish ago, compared to the UK it was high wages, higher prices too but overall someone in a lower skilled job could still enjoy a great quality of life.

Now housing is so expensive that it's similar to the UK where you could say wages are low, it's more the cost of living has risen so much.

The exchange rate between the two countries has also changed a fair bit, the pound is a lot stronger/AUD weaker so that's probably why they're doing that.

Given I've not lived in the UK for ages now I can't say with much certainty but it's still probably significantly better to earn an average income in Oz than in the UK.

Aussies are terrible tippers, worse than the Americans when they visit the UK

comment by Hector (U3606)
posted 1 hour, 40 minutes ago
comment by clapfreesince2003 (U22207)
posted 33 minutes ago
comment by Hector (U3606)
posted 58 minutes ago
comment by clapfreesince2003 (U22207)
posted 2 minutes ago
The IFS stated before the election that taxes would need to increase, yet Labour insisted they wouldn’t raise them. How many promises have they broken now?
.............
They haven't raised income tax, NI or VAT...yet, so no promises have been broken re tax.
They might, probably will but a political party breaking a promise isn't unique and if we're honest, it's inevitable.

Lived in London for years, never earned 50k lived alright, not flash but okay.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
They did increase employee NI. In the manifesto, they claimed they wouldn't increase NI.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"We will ensure taxes on working people are kept as low as possible. Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT."

If you're gonna quote their manifesto....
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What is their definition of a working person? I bet there's employers that take home less than their staff, especially in the hospitality sector.

how could any political party govern this country in the state its become since going back to the banking crisis and through the Tory austerity years without raising taxes. Everything in this country is quite literally, broken and needs repairing.

Tax the wealth and those wealthy people that was created and benefitted from this period.

comment by RB&W - Our representative on the pitch (U21434)
posted 7 minutes ago
how could any political party govern this country in the state its become since going back to the banking crisis and through the Tory austerity years without raising taxes. Everything in this country is quite literally, broken and needs repairing.

Tax the wealth and those wealthy people that was created and benefitted from this period.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Next week sees the latest round of talks on the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation.

Every working person on the surface of the planet should be aware of the potential of this project, and should be lobbying their representatives to support it as strongly as possible.

comment by EVERYTHING’S POTE! (U17054)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by RB&W - Our representative on the pitch (U21434)
posted 7 minutes ago
how could any political party govern this country in the state its become since going back to the banking crisis and through the Tory austerity years without raising taxes. Everything in this country is quite literally, broken and needs repairing.

Tax the wealth and those wealthy people that was created and benefitted from this period.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Next week sees the latest round of talks on the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation.

Every working person on the surface of the planet should be aware of the potential of this project, and should be lobbying their representatives to support it as strongly as possible.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sadly I have more faith in the UN ending all wars worldwide then getting all the states to agree on tax reform

comment by CrouchEndGooner (U13531)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by EVERYTHING’S POTE! (U17054)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by RB&W - Our representative on the pitch (U21434)
posted 7 minutes ago
how could any political party govern this country in the state its become since going back to the banking crisis and through the Tory austerity years without raising taxes. Everything in this country is quite literally, broken and needs repairing.

Tax the wealth and those wealthy people that was created and benefitted from this period.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Next week sees the latest round of talks on the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation.

Every working person on the surface of the planet should be aware of the potential of this project, and should be lobbying their representatives to support it as strongly as possible.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sadly I have more faith in the UN ending all wars worldwide then getting all the states to agree on tax reform
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Almost every one of the world’s countries, including nearly all tax havens, are supporting the programme.

IIRC, there are nine countries voting against it. And fack those nine; the rest of the world needs to press on.

comment by RB&W - Our representative on the pitch (U21434)
posted 13 minutes ago
how could any political party govern this country in the state its become since going back to the banking crisis and through the Tory austerity years without raising taxes. Everything in this country is quite literally, broken and needs repairing.

Tax the wealth and those wealthy people that was created and benefitted from this period.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tax the wealth and those wealthy people


Could you define this please and elaborate? You’re just stating an idea at the moment with no substance.

Hoe many people are you estimating? How much would you tax them? How much would it raise?

comment by clapfreesince2003 (U22207)
posted 31 minutes ago
comment by Hector (U3606)
posted 1 hour, 40 minutes ago
comment by clapfreesince2003 (U22207)
posted 33 minutes ago
comment by Hector (U3606)
posted 58 minutes ago
comment by clapfreesince2003 (U22207)
posted 2 minutes ago
The IFS stated before the election that taxes would need to increase, yet Labour insisted they wouldn’t raise them. How many promises have they broken now?
.............
They haven't raised income tax, NI or VAT...yet, so no promises have been broken re tax.
They might, probably will but a political party breaking a promise isn't unique and if we're honest, it's inevitable.

Lived in London for years, never earned 50k lived alright, not flash but okay.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
They did increase employee NI. In the manifesto, they claimed they wouldn't increase NI.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"We will ensure taxes on working people are kept as low as possible. Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT."

If you're gonna quote their manifesto....
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What is their definition of a working person? I bet there's employers that take home less than their staff, especially in the hospitality sector.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Why should I help you if you dont even acknowledge your error?