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UK Politics: No Bully XL for you


Maltaran
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66903749

Not a surprise in the slightest. This is what we should have done to protect our pay and pensions. No more carrying guns, no more public order policing football, no more driving.

Just turn up, put your uniform on and go out walking. It's striking but still getting paid. 

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It's right for those officers to step back from armed duty if they have concerns that they might be vulnerable to being charged. There is a whole other question about why they might be charged and whether the charges in this case are justified.

They do indeed have 'weighty responsibilities' but I might have hoped they'd have considered that before taking the job.

Anyway, the latest Sunak wheeze is to float the idea of abolishing inheritance tax, an unfunded tax cut which will disproportionately benefit the better off and do nothing at all for people on benefits, renters, the low paid, etc. Who will all then be told there's no money to help them, sorry.

I recall saying at the time of the Sunak/Truss leadership contest that although he was better than Truss, we should not be fooled into thinking Sunak was a moderate. He's spent the week proving me right.

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Removing inheritance tax is the exact opposite thing that Sunak should be doing, it’s pandering to small element of his voter base and basically screwing anyone who’s parents don’t own a house. 
 

I mean the other part is that most people who are liable to pay inheritance tax spend a lot of energy avoiding it and making sure it’s a bare minimum for them. 

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There is a balance to be had with inheritance tax.  Yes it would be fair if it was set to 100% but this would just lead to the vast majority of people not saving enough for their old age. and give us greater problems in the long run.  Plus the rich would still avoid paying most of it by transerefing their wealth out of the country or into corperations.

 

also with todays house prices and inflation I do think the current levels need to be raised   I am not sure where I would set them though.  probabby everything over £1m tax at 50%  over £2m tax at 75%  and maybe £over 3m  90%   then tripple lock it.  then lock these rates to increase / decrease with state pensions. (so right now tripple locked)

 

Alternatvly set the tax bars lower but exclude the main residance.

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17 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

Part of Rishi's gamble is that seemingly way more people think they're going to pay inheritance tax than actually do. 

 

Still idiotic though.

Its set at £325K   or £500k if left to your children.  the average house price in the UK is just under 300K  but thats the average.  in london its £526k

 

If you live in London or the surrounding countys and own your home outright there is a good chance you will be paying inheritance tax.  (especially if you have climed the property ladder a couple of times) You might not be paying much.  

 

My current home is a 4 bed (so a bit bigger than an average house) and worth nearly 800k  I totally will be paying ingeriance tax but then I don't care as I don't don't really have anyone to leave everything too.  My previous house a 3 small bed semi and very much an average starter family house in the burbs.  we sold that for £400k

 

So yeah older people who live close to london thus in Tory heartlands and much more likely to pay some inheritance tax than those in the rest of the country or even in the Red wall (turned blue by Boris) area.  He might actually win some support from those voters if he raised the limits but not from eliminating them.  but Richie really wants to remove inheriantance tax cos he doesn't want to dilute the wealth of the super rich families.

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I'm really supprised its just 4% although thats probably cos of where I live and work.   5 years ago I'd have belived it without question but the way house prices have gone up have pushed so many more into inheriantance tax at least where I live.

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1 hour ago, Pebble thats Stubby said:

also with todays house prices and inflation I do think the current levels need to be raised   I am not sure where I would set them though.  probabby everything over £1m tax at 50%  over £2m tax at 75%  and maybe £over 3m  90%   then tripple lock it.  then lock these rates to increase / decrease with state pensions. (so right now tripple locked)

Your home is partially exempt from inheritance tax. Also a couple's inheritance tax thresholds can be combined. It is a bit complex but in basically the first £1m a couple leave to their children is generally already tax free. And there are some dodges available to push that threshold up further.

Inheritance tax is a typical right wing con. They whip up anger over it amongst people who are unlikely to pay very much, if any, as a cover for giving the wealthy further tax breaks. (I suppose it works especially well in this case as people are dead by the time the inheritance tax rate of their estates is actually calculated.) And they are successful enough that Sunak apparently thinks scrapping it entirely would be popular.

I agree that the ultra rich avoid it, and that other ways would need to be found to target their wealth, but lets not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

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23 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

According to the government itself, it's round about 4% of estates that pay the tax. That's not nothing, of course, but it's not an issue that's going to affect the vast majority of people. It gives the impression of being a much wider issue than it is, and he knows that.

 

And of those 4%, I wonder how many pay a significant amount? For example, children inheriting 1.2M from their parents will have to pay 90K in tax, 13%, which does not exactly feel onerous.

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11 minutes ago, A wilding said:

Your home is partially exempt from inheritance tax. Also a couple's inheritance tax thresholds can be combined. It is a bit complex but in basically the first £1m a couple leave to their children is generally already tax free. And there are some dodges available to push that threshold up further.

Inheritance tax is a typical right wing con. They whip up anger over it amongst people who are unlikely to pay very much, if any, as a cover for giving the wealthy further tax breaks. (I suppose it works especially well in this case as people are dead by the time the inheritance tax rate of their estates is actually calculated.) And they are successful enough that Sunak apparently thinks scrapping it entirely would be popular.

I agree that the ultra rich avoid it, and that other ways would need to be found to target their wealth, but lets not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

I did not realise the home is partially exempt or inheritance allowances can be combined for couples.   (I thought it was all from last surviving of the couple.  That makes todays set level much more suitable.  (not really looked into it myself as I said before I don't have kids or any neice/nephews to leave anything too  - thus we indend to spend everything and do some equity release on our property  we want to be looked after really well in our nursing home)

 

Sunuks plan really is aimed to make it easier for those with 40m plus eastates.

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5 hours ago, mormont said:

They do indeed have 'weighty responsibilities' but I might have hoped they'd have considered that before taking the job.

Yeah, and so do bus drivers. And if a bus driver, whilst being negligent, mounts the pavement and kills someone, then they'll probably go to prison.

Not quite sure why the police should be any different. 

Edited by Spockydog
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48 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

Yeah, and so do bus drivers. And if a bus driver, whilst being negligent, mounts the pavement and kills someone, then they'll probably go to prison.

They probably won’t be charged with murder though.

We don’t know many specific details at the moment about this case but that stands out as a bit odd.

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3 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Part of Rishi's gamble is that seemingly way more people think they're going to pay inheritance tax than actually do. 

 

Still idiotic though.

I'm curious, part of the reason conservatives in the US support tax cuts for the wealthy is because they think one day they'll be rich even if there's realistically no way they'll benefit from them. Is this mindset shared by conservatives in the UK?

 

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5 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

They probably won’t be charged with murder though.

We don’t know many specific details at the moment about this case but that stands out as a bit odd.

I mean, we know he shot an unarmed man through the windscreen of a car. 

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3 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

I mean, we know he shot an unarmed man through the windscreen of a car. 

Who was in a car that had been involved in a firearms incident and drove at officers. Don't leave basics out. 

None of us know the specifics, and there must be something there for a charge, but your bus driver analogy is fucking pathetic. 

Also, board up your windows when the not guilty verdict comes in. I predict a (big) riot. 

Edited by BigFatCoward
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1 minute ago, Spockydog said:

I mean, we know he shot an unarmed man through the windscreen of a car. 

And we know that the car was apparently involved in a firearms incident and the police probably had some reason to expect the driver to be armed. That doesn’t necessarily justify shooting the driver obviously but it’s not a neutral situation either.

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6 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

Ah, okay. Wasn't aware of the context. 

Clearly there is something off because of the charge. But it also might be a bit of a Couzens, Paddick revenge (unconscious bias, not deliberate). 

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