Do they think we are stupid?

Britain is on track to have 42% of GDP taxation rates - higher than the 37% during the second world war. The current position is the top 1% of earners pay 28% of all tax.  The top 10% of earners pay 60% of all tax and the bottom 50% pay typically less than 10% of all tax.  However measurement drives behaviour and hence we have seen an exodus of the rich leaving for low tax countries like Italy.  This exodus is still happening. I personally suspect Sweden will become popular as a low tax country when the UK taxation rates have surpassed Sweden. When the rich leave they stop paying tax and that pushes the burden downwards onto the middle classes. The middle classes also are not willingly paying all this additional tax.  Pension contributions have increased to reduce taxation.  They are electing to work say 4 days per week rather than 5 since there is now a  marginal impact of doing so. U turn Starmer can't get spending under control. Squirmer has retreated on...

 Britain's welfare state cost has become bloated and unsustainable. There are now 3.9 Million people claiming PIP (Personal Independence Payments) compared to 1.1 Million a decade ago in 2016.   A friend of mine with Parkinson's failed the PIP assessment - she cannot work, cannot control the left side of her body, can't drive, can't dress herself, struggles with basic tasks like cooking etc but is ineligible but another friend's sister gets PIP and a mobility car because of her "bad back".  The system seems to be grossly exploited or at best unfairly allocated.  I'm half tempted to tell my friend with Parkinson's to tell the PIP assessors that she has a "bad back" due to being unable to control half her body - maybe she might get it.  Being on benefits insulates you from inflation. This week, the standard UC allowance rose by 6.2 per cent - nearly 2x last year's inflation and there's a wealth of "freebie" benefits which ...

 We are now in a new fiscal year and the new state pension for OAPs comes into effect.  Many pensioners will now suddenly find they are now paying tax on their pension. Labour has had to resort to taxing pensioners as taxing the rich hasnt worked - they have simply moved to Italy or other tax friendly countries. Last year the state pension was £230.25 per week or £11,973. From April 2026 the state pension has increased by a 4.8% to £241.30 or £12,547.60 per year. The tax free personal allowance has been frozen at £12,570 since April 2021 and Rachel has generously frozen it until April 2031.  A decade of fiscal drag where inflation will erode the earning parity. The pension has increased by 4.8% as a result of the triple lock despite CPI inflation being 3.4%. The reason it has increased so much is the aspiration to ensure our pensioners income keeps pace with wage inflation.  This large increase has been triggered by high wage growth however wage growth in the wealth ...