Tax over-40s for old age care, say MPs

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Northerner

Northerner

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A new tax for the over-40s in England should be introduced to help pay for elderly care for all, MPs say.

Retired people should also be made to pay it if they have lucrative pensions or investments, two influential House of Commons' committees said.

The contribution - dubbed a social care premium by MPs - could then be used to ensure everyone who needs support in their old age gets it.

It comes as ministers are considering how to reform social care.

Currently only the poorest get help towards the cost of care, whether it is provided in people's homes or in a care home.

Other people have to pay for it themselves, with one in 10 facing lifetime costs of more than £100,000.

However, increasingly people are relying on family and friends or go without care, which includes everything from help with washing and dressing to support in taking medications.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44621047
 
This should stimulate some interesting debate. I also feel they should start to look closely at the benefits that the more well-off in our society claim but really don't need but do claim because they can.
 
Fantastic - Not too long until I’m 40. must be time to get screwed tax wise because we don’t pay enough already!
 
grainger said:
Fantastic - Not too long until I’m 40. must be time to get screwed tax wise because we don’t pay enough already!
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Absolutley agree Grainger, my initial thoughts exactly,
 
A lot would depend on where they set the bar. People may recoil from the communist slogan 'To each according to his need, from each according to his ability', but it makes absolute sense to me. Some people get far too little to fulfil their needs, whilst others get more than they could ever need, hence the inequalities in society :(
 
Vince_UK said:
This should stimulate some interesting debate. I also feel they should start to look closely at the benefits that the more well-off in our society claim but really don't need but do claim because they can.
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I agree Vince...several years ago a friend who had no need of it tried to give the winter fuel payment back several times unsuccessfully...finally he & his partner donated it to a charity.
 
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Northerner said:
A lot would depend on where they set the bar. People may recoil from the communist slogan 'To each according to his need, from each according to his ability', but it makes absolute sense to me. Some people get far too little to fulfil their needs, whilst others get more than they could ever need, hence the inequalities in society :(
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Very true statement Northie
 
Northerner said:
A lot would depend on where they set the bar. People may recoil from the communist slogan 'To each according to his need, from each according to his ability', but it makes absolute sense to me. Some people get far too little to fulfil their needs, whilst others get more than they could ever need, hence the inequalities in society :(
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It's not as simple as that...we need to deal with those who 'take' more than they need too...as @Vince_UK has already pointed out.
 
Bubbsie said:
It's not as simple as that...we need to deal with those who 'take' more than they need too...as @Vince_UK has already pointed out.
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It positively infuriates me @Bubbsie when I have friends who are genuinely struggling to cope not only financially but also with day to day living. At the same time, we have some people taking what they don't really need tthen they openly boast and brag about doing it. Nauseating to be honest.
 
Vince_UK said:
It positively infuriates me @Bubbsie when I have friends who are genuinely struggling to cope not only financially but also with day to day living. At the same time, we have some people taking what they don't really need tthen they openly boast and brag about doing it. Nauseating to be honest.
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Agree unequivocally Vince.
 
The problem with means testing a benefit such as winter fuel allowance, is the cost of administering it. But if they have to give it to everyone, then balancing it out with a tax to recoup it seems a sensible option, why not make National insurance payable on investment income as well as earned income?
 
Loads of people go on at me that I could claim DLA (or whatever it is now) for my daughter. Yes, I could, and I did initially make enquiries, but the phone line was always engaged and the online application form didn't seem to work properly so after trying not very hard I gave up. The counsellor we were seeing also tried to make me apply for it and sent me all the forms, but it was such a long document that I couldn't be bothered to read it all. To be honest, we are lucky and don't need it - almost everything we need for my daughter is on prescription anyway, and I voluntarily only work part time and probably wouldn't have gone back to full time work yet anyway, just because of my daughter's age. So it's not as if we have given anything up to care for her. The only thing we don't get free are Libre sensors, and we are lucky enough to be able to afford those also; I have made enquiries about possibly getting them on prescription but it sounds like it won't be easy, so I don't know how hard I will push. Obviously if my hubby lost his job for any reason then things would be very different, but at the moment we don't need DLA and therefore it seems wrong to apply for it. And as far as Libre sensors go I'm torn, my hubby pays loads of tax (more than basic rate) so we might as well get something back from it, but then again if we are lucky enough to be able to afford them then maybe the free ones should go to someone else who might not be able to have them otherwise. So we'll see what happens on that score, if we aren't allowed them on prescription maybe it's fair enough? Although many people think I'm mad for not claiming DLA and think I should grab whatever I can, because we are "entitled" and that's what everyone else does!
 
I have a pretty good pension. It’s well over the average wage in the country. I worked for that, and paid all my taxes and National Insurance. I still pay all my taxes on that, bar National Insurance. I’m not a retired fat cat from the banking industry. I can easily self fund Libre costs.

I now get PIP, lower rate for daily care, and enhanced rate for mobility. I’m using that to open the door to Motability- I’ll be getting a road going mobility scooter in the next few days with that. I could afford the £5.5k to buy the scooter, but why should I? It’s the same as leasing a car.

I don’t think I’m fleecing anyone by receiving benefits - I’m entitled. To be honest, I just regard it it as a sort of tax rebate. I pay far more in tax each month than I get in PIP.

The same applies to care, should I ever need it. I’ll pay for it.

What you all have to ask yourselves is how come Scotland can afford to have free care, not means tested? It’s the priority that the English government has in using current tax income, there’s no need to add any more.

The other thing to remember is that income tax is only a part of the government’s tax income. There’s all the corporation tax, the VAT, petrol and booze tax to name but a few. There’s plenty of other tax the government could tweak to pay for this, leaving income tax and National Indurance alone.
 
I just fail to totally comprehend why anyone would go through all the effort etc. of claiming benefits when in reality they do not need them just because they can. That is a complete waste of Government resources and basically for me that is a moral issue.
 
It’s not a moral issue, Vince. I can’t get a blue badge without PIP mobility, or at least not easily. It opens other doors too, but that’s the way the system works, and it’s the government’s system. Libre users cheerfully claim VAT off their supplies without batting an eyelid, with PIP I can claim it on bathroom disability kit as well. And my riser recliner chair.

I wouldn’t need all that if I weren’t disabled, so I apologise for that. But I’m not a drain on society.

By the way, it was no effort at all to claim benefits. I mentioned diabetes under ‘other conditions’.
 
mikeyB said:
It’s not a moral issue, Vince. I can’t get a blue badge without PIP mobility, or at least not easily. It opens other doors too, but that’s the way the system works, and it’s the government’s system. Libre users cheerfully claim VAT off their supplies without batting an eyelid, with PIP I can claim it on bathroom disability kit as well. And my riser recliner chair.

I wouldn’t need all that if I weren’t disabled, so I apologise for that. But I’m not a drain on society.

By the way, it was no effort at all to claim benefits. I mentioned diabetes under ‘other conditions’.
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Did I mention you in particular?
I believe I was talking in general.
 
Vince has said it's a moral issue for him... its a moral issue for me too... possibly a moral issue for other posters in this thread... those are views that relate to us as individuals...everyone here is free to decide for themselves...I don't see any individual judgement or criticism here at all
 
I know it wasn’t referring to me in particular, I was just explaining my particular situation as one who doesn’t ‘need’ the benefit, so I was included in the ‘moral’ issue. For what it’s worth, I did feel a passing frisson of guilt applying for benefit, but the OT in Scotland insisted I do it to get my Stairlift and Bathroom grants. I stopped feeling guilty when I got the benefit to which I was entitled. I was worth it.

In any event, it’s not meant as income. It’s intended to cover the additional costs that come with being disabled - taxis, supermarket delivery costs and such. Nobody could live on PIP alone.
 
Nobody has asked anyone to justify their entitlement to benefits...or their decision to claim them...they simply stated their own position...I have no objection to anyone claiming what they are entitled to...morals are entirely personal to the individuals concerned.
 
Mikey, you have no need to justify it to me or anyone else for that matter. That is your individual choice whether to claim or not.


** Edited my fat finger typo..
 
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