Taxes

[happy daze john in oz]

Read a bit on the net yesterday about upcoming changes in UK on April 1, and some may well say this is an April fools joke.

It centered around the increase in taxes and charges to be implimented.
Some look well beyond the rate of inflation and will make life very hard for some.

Council taxes, we call them rates her in Oz, are one that looks to be hardest hit.

Our councils are not allowed to increase beyond the rate of inflation which at present is about 1%.

But as seniors we get a discount on them as well as water, gas, electric motor registration and a few others.
How will you all go with it?

[j.sabourn]

#1. They will have 4 days to think about it if the tax year is still April the 5 th. Maybe best to just turn round and say the old one of April the 1st has been and gone , your the fool and I”m not one .this was acceptable after 1200 hrs April 1st. Tell them it is in the Magna Carta. But written In Latin. JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

As a senior John, you get no discounts on any of the services you mention, however if you are a single person living in a house or flat for more than one, you get a 25% reduction on your Council Tax (if you claim it). Now if you are on benefits, and many of us are not, then the world is your oyster (Lewis will love that bit!) you can claim another benefit, you only need to be on one to start the ball rolling (ask Brian!),You can be on benefits if the doctor certifies you are obese, which in my opinion is a self inflicted injury/condition and does nothing to encourage people to go healthy. If obese you can also claim a Blue Disability Badge to allow you to park almost anywhere for free and waddle to the Golden Arches.

However I almost forgot the most generous allowance for us oldies that once we have reached the age of 80, we receive an additional 80 pence per week on our State Pension. Our own State Pension increase in April has been nullified by the increase in our Council Tax on the 1st April, other increases in services means we are going down hill and addition have taken away our free TV licence for the over 75's. Happy Days are here again!

We also get a free eye test worth £10 every two years, you have to pay for your spectacles, . but if you're on benefits no matter what age, regardless of whether you've ever worked or not, you get free spectacles, plus prescription sunglasses

[John Cassels]

Be glad you live in the UK . My council tax has gone up by 14.4 % for this year. Have submited objection but not holding my breath.
Ordinary citizens are treated pretty horendously here . If your name is Abdullah or you are a refugee from the middle east , life
is your oyster here.

[Ivan Cloherty]

This will bring joy to your heart, may or may not be old news : Civil Servant Sir Robert Devereux responsible for increasing the State Pension age to 67 is to retire at the age of 61' He has a £1.8 million pension pot giving him a pension of £85000 per annum, plus a lumpsum payout of £245,000.

Ain't that good news!

No doubt a place in the House of Lords awaits together with its perks.

[cappy]

[QUOTE=Ivan Cloherty;370099]This will bring joy to your heart, may or may not be old news : Civil Servant Sir Robert Devereux responsible for increasing the State Pension age to 67 is to retire at the age of 61' He has a £1.8 million pension pot giving him a pension of £85000 per annum, plus a lumpsum payout of £245,000.

well i have always thought none of these civil serpents.....should have a bigger income than the average of the people they serve.....MPs the same .cappy

[Lewis McColl]

As a senior John, you get no discounts on any of the services you mention,
We also get a free eye test worth £10 every two years, you have to pay for your spectacles, . but if you're on benefits no matter what age, regardless of whether you've ever worked or not, you get free spectacles, plus prescription sunglasses

Ivan you forgot to mention the £10 Christmas bonus. What about the free bus pass. It is well worth having over here. I can get the bus at the bottom of my road and travel anywhere on the Island of Ireland for nothing. So as soon as the pandemic is under control(and the EU can get the vaccine rollout ramped up) and we can all get out and about. We will pack the weekend travel bags and jump on the Bus & Trains , Cork , Kinsale the country is our Oyster(not had one since I left France hard to come by over here)

[vic mcclymont]

Ivan, you forgot to mention that the C.S. pension is non contributory.
Vic

[j.sabourn]

#9.. I was in one of those and got nowt. JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

Ivan, you forgot to mention that the C.S. pension is non contributory.
Vic

Not awake yet C.S.Pension, remind me Vic

Yep Lewis forgot about the bus pass as hardly use it, we only have one bus an hour, last bus 1700 hours 6 days a week, no buses on a Sunday, we live 300 feet above sea level with part of it 1 in 4, luckily I have a car. We cannot use our bus passes in Wales or Scotland, but am not applying for their Passports anyway

Of course there is the winter fuel allowance, which I also forgot, but I only get 50% of that because the other half is sent to my wife at the same address, I have never worked out the logic of that, because we sit in front of the same fire. If I lived on my own I would get the full amount plus £50, again the logic defeats me, but I am getting old.