derek pringle Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Hi, The gov't can reform to low taxes, they can impose low welfare, but does anybody think that employers are straining to pay high wages. Please don't tell me the Living Wage is a high wage. I am ashamed as a life long workers representative that I hear a Conservative Gov't being the ones to champion any increase in base pay. What will Cameron and Osbornes reaction be if the trade unions called a national strike to force ALL employees to pay large increases immediately. A 5% increase at the moment would be 10 or more times inflation- when have companies readily agreed to such rises. I just fear that the Living Wage will become max wage offered in years to come, not for every job obviously. rant over derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 See what you mean derek. These highly trained ( but not very plausible ) PR men who are currently running the country claim they are going to create a " low tax, high wage economy ". ( ....and presumably some people will swallow it ) It is in their power to create low taxes - but I'd like to hear details of how they are going to create high wages. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 malc d - 2015-10-28 10:52 AM It is in their power to create low taxes ;-) They haven't though have they. Sure they have raised the income tax thresholds - which benefits high earners most because they get the threshold increase at the higher rate. But they have shifted income tax on to stealth taxes like VAT, Insurance Premium Tax, Fuel Tax etc which hit the poorest hardest - those who are below the threshold for income tax still have to pay these taxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 derek pringle - 2015-10-28 9:52 AM Conservative Gov't being the ones to champion any increase in base pay. Its been forced on to them because they have forced up housing costs higher than wages, leaving the taxpayer to make up the difference with housing benefits & tax credits. So employers who pay good wages are being taxed to subsidise their competitors paying low wages. Now Gideon has got the wind up about the Labour Party electing a popular left wing leader, and so is trying to present himself as champion of the working class *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 I've long thought tax credits were a stupid idea, as they allow big business to pay peanuts by getting the taxpayer to top up their staffs wages *-) .......... Even I would qualify for tax credits based on my income, but I can't because of the low hours I work :D ...... No doubt if big business was restricted to using home grown labour then they'd be forced to raise their wages, but as long as they've just got to whistle and a horde of Eastern Europeans will turn up, they'll have no incentive to change :-| .......... So we end up with the double wammy of funding our own home grown unemployed, and the tax credits of the foreigners who have taken the jobs they could do :-S .......... Or rather "you" taxpayers are funding them B-) ......... I'm a conscientious objector :D ........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Benefit claimants are traditionally portrayed as workshy scroungers, but the fact is that many are hard working but their wages just don't cover their housing costs. The average house price in Oxford is now 16 times the average wage!!! By restricting housing supply through planning constraints, and throwing taxpayers money at the supply through Osborne's obsessive housing market interventions, he has created a disconnect between wages and housing costs that can't be solved without vast amounts of housing benefit and tax credits the country can't afford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 ...I do have a bit of a problem with a political stance that is seemingly based on the twin conceptual pillars that giving the poor less will make them (want to) work harder, whilst giving the rich more will make them (want to) work harder. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 I can never understand how they make sure that any help given to " hard working " people doesn't also benefit working people who aren't working hard. (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek pringle Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 Hi, It seems to me that when the cost of employing people goes up the first thing an employer will do is cut staff numbers. The number of times when negotiating an increase for staff I have heard Companies threaten that if the increase was to be met then there would inevitably be a consequence in "headcount". Cheers Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Robinhood - 2015-10-28 7:33 PM ...I do have a bit of a problem with a political stance that is seemingly based on the twin conceptual pillars that giving the poor less will make them (want to) work harder, whilst giving the rich more will make them (want to) work harder. ;-) Osborne's obsessive housing market interventions to inflate property prices has given most to rich landlords who have probably inherited it all and don't really work at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford60 Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Hi All, Slavery was outlawed in this country a couple of hundred years ago. However, some employers and politions are still strongly in favour of it. They know they can't get away with paying nothing,( unless you're from Saudi), so they elect to pay as little as possible in wages, tax, nat. ins. and pensions. No government has ever changed this. Does anyone believe D.C. and cronies want to change the status quo. They need the imigrants and the E.U. to maintain their, nose in the trough, lifestyles and they get away with it by denegrating the British working man. "We need Polish builders because British builders are lazy and expensive". If anyone thinks that D.C. is going to negotiate a new deal with the E.U. that benifits the ordinary man, dream on. Rant over, Ian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 clifford60 - 2015-10-29 1:59 PM Does anyone believe D.C. and cronies want to change the status quo. . They have already abandoned their free market capitalist principles by bailing out banks instead of letting them go bust, and by restricting the supply of housing and stoking up demand by subsidizing house prices through 'Help to Buy' etc' Now it has reached the stage where wages won't cover rent, and the taxpayer cannot afford to keep making up the increasing difference, they are even asking employers to pay their workers more. Despite what they say, it appears there is nothing they won't do to inflate house prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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