Budget 2017 - No spending sprees

[Dorkins]

1 hour ago, nothernsoul said:

Grammar schools like the fact you need tutoring to get in. Kill two birds with one stone, select both the child and the parent. My friend works at a girls grammar. First thing they do with the new year 7 is get them to sit a CAT test to stream them, in order to separate the more able and those with less ability who have been intensley tutored to pass the eleven plus. According to my friend a lot of the latter group eventually struggle once the tutoring boost wears off.  If the primary purpose of selection was innate intellectual merit, you might ask why they dont do an IQ test instead of the eleven plus?

 

You can also tutor for IQ tests.

[Democorruptcy]

Hammond must be rubbing his hands....

Blackrock pay Osbanker £650,000 a year for one day a week

 

[nothernsoul]

Rather than just being a legacy of feudalism I suspect the privileged position of property over other asset classes is more recent. Wasnt there a much larger percentage of the population who were small investors before the war? At this time the majority of the population would also have rented. Now that everybody has all their debt inflated eggs in the property basket no wonder everything else, savings, shares, earning a wage is clobbered instead.

[Tempus]

37 minutes ago, Democorruptcy said:

Hammond must be rubbing his hands....

Blackrock pay Osbanker £650,000 a year for one day a week

 

And there's plenty more for George http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/228720-george-osborne-off-to-blackrock-fund-manager/&do=findComment&comment=1103205378

 

Speeches for up to £80,000 for 2 hours work. It's astonishing. He is getting one hell of a reward. 

[billybong]

1 hour ago, Democorruptcy said:

Hammond must be rubbing his hands....

Blackrock pay Osbanker £650,000 a year for one day a week

 

Well dodgy.

[tyres]

1 hour ago, LiveinHope said:

In the '70s, I failed the 11+ and passed the 12+ a year later. Vastly different exams then, the 11+ was all about which shape or word is the odd one out, the 12+ was about the area of a triangle or how fast a car went, which made much more sense.

Noam Chomsky on the Dangers of Standardized Testing

Quote

“The assessment itself is completely artificial. It’s not ranking teachers in accordance with their ability to help develop children who will reach their potential, explore their creative interests. Those things you’re not testing.. it’s a rank that’s mostly meaningless. And the very ranking itself is harmful. It’s turning us into individuals who devote our lives to achieving a rank. Not into doing things that are valuable and important.”

“You take what is happening in education. Right now, in recent years, there’s a strong tendency to require assessment of children and teachers so that you have to teach to tests. And the test determines what happens to the child and what happens to the teacher.

That’s guaranteed to destroy any meaningful educational process. It means the teacher cannot be creative, imaginative, pay attention to individual students’ needs. The student can’t pursue things, maybe some kid is interested in something, can’t do it because you got to memorize something for this test tomorrow. And the teacher’s future depends on it, as well as the student.

 

[Muddlehead]

3 hours ago, BuyToLeech said:

As a first time buyer, stamp duty doesn't directly affect you.  Yes, it reduces what you can pay, but since it reduces what everyone can pay, this pulls prices down.

Sinply lowering stamp duty just pushes up prices. 

Its not a great tax, but it should be replaced with another land tax rather than just being scrapped. 

Stamp duty is bad for buyers as the amount you pay on the stamp duty is a transaction cost which you won't recoup when you sell. The only exception is if you expect never to sell. 

[One-percent]

2 hours ago, nothernsoul said:

Grammar schools like the fact you need tutoring to get in. Kill two birds with one stone, select both the child and the parent. My friend works at a girls grammar. First thing they do with the new year 7 is get them to sit a CAT test to stream them, in order to separate the more able and those with less ability who have been intensley tutored to pass the eleven plus. According to my friend a lot of the latter group eventually struggle once the tutoring boost wears off.  If the primary purpose of selection was innate intellectual merit, you might ask why they dont do an IQ test instead of the eleven plus?

 

Agree completely with your point regarding the wearing off of the effect of tutoring.  Anecdotal I know, but using my own offspring as case studies, many in their primary school were privately tutored. I didn't do this as I really don't believe in it.  A child / person willl find their own academic 'level' given support and encouragement. 

My observations suggest that there are two negative outcome to hothousing kids.  First, as you rightly point out, the effect wears off.  At some point they have to stand on their own two feet. At this point, if there is not an innate ability, they fall over.  I've seen this a lot and there is research that suggests at university, children from comprehensive schools, who are less likely to have been trained for certain exams, fair much better than their counterparts from grammar and fee paying school, who will more generally have been coached.  

Howver, I don't agree with your suggestion that IQ tests would be a better selector.  The eleven plus was largely an IQ test and has been shown to be heavily skewed in facvour of middle class children.   

[tygar2]

3 hours ago, Digsby said:

Good to hear the Chancellor is not - ahem - budging on the BTL mortgage interest relief.

So for the rest of the month, lots of potential uncertainty: expected US IR rise, US debt ceiling suspension ending, Dutch elections on the same day, then Article 50.

At the end of the month, the letting agents fees end during April and May, lots of last year's BTL stampeders tenancy agreements ending, many of whom were possibly unaware of the tax changes are the time, facing renewal fees they were unaware of at the time.

Could we see increased buyer jitters coinciding with increased pressure to sell? I think it's a distinct possibility.

Love it!

[mrtickle]

4 hours ago, fru-gal said:

Not in this budget but from April, tax credits will only pay out for 2 children (not retrospective so those that already have 3 or more will still get tax credits).

Just 23 days left.

Keep an eye on how many births are induced at the end of this month, in an attempt to get those kids in under the wire.

 

[Hullabaloo82]

7 hours ago, Dyson Fury said:

section 3.40 in the pdf, section 4.9 in the html version:

"Tax simplification – Following consultation, the government will increase the cash basis entry threshold to £150,000, and exit threshold to £300,000, and will extend the use of the cash basis to unincorporated landlords."

What does this mean?

In theory very little. 

The accruals basis means recognising all revenue and expenditure at the point they are incurred not when you receive the cash. This prevents people artificially putting off receiving or making payments to artificially understate revenues for tax purposes or overstate profit to 'window dress' your business  (see Tesco). 

Cash accounting is simply declaring income when you get the cash or expenditure when you pay a bill. In theory this cuts back on red tape for businesses as they no longer need to pay an accountant to prepare their accounts in practise it's a license to take the piss; putting off sales to stay under a threshold, charging the full cost of new vehicles etc every year to reduce tax.

Landlords though ought mostly to be receiving and paying 12 equal amounts in cash so this shouldn't really make a huge difference beyond there no longer being a need to make a minor (and often arbitrary if rent and mortgage stay the same) adjustment at the year end. 

Guess there may be scope to muck about with maintenance costs but very hard to see much benefit in it beyond no longer needing an accountant to do the books. 

Not sure how capital allowances fit in with cash accounting though. Could bean advantage there if buying a house?

[Tapori]

9 hours ago, zugzwang said:

Millionaire property developer Hammond laughing as Corbyn describes the plight of the young and their housing circumstances.

The last throes of a dying media is that they don't cover real issues.

 

[The Knimbies who say No]

50 minutes ago, hotairmail said:

Re hitting the self employed, I think a key thing that has been missed by commentators is that being an employee will become more attractive and therefore easier for businesses to attract staff on a level playing field.

Indeed, it may go some way to reducing the explosion in unnecessary self employment in so many fields.

Depends if businesses are interested in employing permanent employees. Some of the poorest employment behaviour has been from firms actively punting risks and costs onto those who are in all but name permanent employees. I find it questionable that the basic motivation to continue doing this is undermined by today's announcement.

Working against that is the extent to which being self employed unlocks the welfare system in a way which would be unavailable to a permanent employee on similar money or in a similar role. Might be partly about control of hours worked in addition to any means testing which determines the path of least resistance for those who might be entitled to substantial payouts, for now at least. Over to durhamborn.....

 

Edit just to add the median self employed wage in the UK is circa £10,500 , basically poverty on wheels on the face of it. But I suspect that is not the whole story, and if not then the benefit system slash and burn Osborne baulked at is to happen in the face of a (growing) cohort of self employed people nominally earning very little. Is there the available work to enable all the part time workers among the self employed to just magically up their hours if tax credits are substantially reduced..?

Edited March 8, 2017 by The Knimbies who say No

[CunningPlan]

As a self employed person I have no real beef with this. It is pennies compared to the other legal ways we have to reduce our tax bill. It would be wise to keep under the radar and not complain about it too loudly (a lesson poverty118ers could learn from) 

[CunningPlan]

To add, just seen the guy from Blackrock on newsnight saying that more and more people are choosing to be self employed. I would dispute this. More people are being forced to be self employed. 

[ChewingGrass]

1 minute ago, CunningPlan said:

To add, just seen the guy from Blackrock on newsnight saying that more and more people are choosing to be self employed. I would dispute this. More people are being forced to be self employed. 

Being self-employed is quite often the quickest way to get a decent job especially if you are skilled. British companies are useless at recruiting for staff roles and many people cannot wait 3 months to complete the process.

The biggest advantage of being self employed for me is the knowledge that I can up sticks and leave in a week if they piss me off rather than serving 3 months notice, this means that if you are good at what you do you get left alone.

The other big plus is No ISO9001 ******** staff appraisal proceedures.

The downside is the ******** and harrasment of running your affairs correctly and having a coherent plan for the future.

Bear in mind that most non-govermental organisations couldn't give a stuff about your financial future which is why most company pension schemes are inadequately funded.

 

[Tapori]

5 hours ago, Fairyland said:

Yes, many parents(professionals doctors, engineers, scientists) who gambled with the first child gave up tutoring the second admitting they have underestimated tutoring. I completely oppose this but this is a reality at least in London/Southeast. Check how many children sit entrance exams for : QE boys, Henrietta Barnet girls, Tiffins boys and girls, Kendrick girls, Reading Boys. How many places, how the children are trained and how much it costs.

BTW £3,000 is per year. Some kids are tutored for 3 years.

I completely agree things should be based on merit and not parents' ability to pay. But real life is very different.

 

Never have I seen this country's tragic class divide more than when I gained a bursary.

I understand every parent wants what is best for their children; I don't begrudge them or their children (Who are some of my best friends) that intention. 

The issue is the absolute disdain the government system has for children who will only every have any chance of progressing, through our tax-payer funded state system. I am telling you anecdotally, that most of our private schools are filled with mediocre if not outright dopey *****s who have simply been taught how to pass exams, speak well and know how to jump through hoops. Spoonfed, if you will. From Prep-school onwards. T'was ever thus.

Put most of my mates from my estate in that environment and they too would excel; Therein lies my own desire to see all private education eliminated; Let's see how bright Henrietta and Oliver are when there is a level playing field at school level, where they have to compete with "Malcom In the Middle" type kids, in the same schools with the same resources. 

We can't have that now can we?

[CunningPlan]

2 minutes ago, ChewingGrass said:

Being self-employed is quite often the quickest way to get a decent job especially if you are skilled. British companies are useless at recruiting for staff roles and many people cannot wait 3 months to complete the process.

The biggest advantage of being self employed for me is the knowledge that I can up sticks and leave in a week if they piss me off rather than serving 3 months notice, this means that if you are good at what you do you get left alone.

The other big plus is No ISO9001 ******** staff appraisal proceedures.

The downside is the ******** and harrasment of running your affairs correctly and having a coherent plan for the future.

Bear in mind that most non-govermental organisations couldn't give a stuff about your financial future which is why most company pension schemes are inadequately funded.

 

I think you are talking the contracting kind of self employed. I am more concerned about the courier driver / Pimlico plumber ' self employed'

[Dorkins]

1 hour ago, mrtickle said:

Just 23 days left.

Keep an eye on how many births are induced at the end of this month, in an attempt to get those kids in under the wire.

 

That's insane. Only a doctor can prescribe an induction. You can't just waltz into a hospital and order them to do it.

[Tapori]

4 hours ago, nothernsoul said:

Grammar schools like the fact you need tutoring to get in. Kill two birds with one stone, select both the child and the parent. My friend works at a girls grammar. First thing they do with the new year 7 is get them to sit a CAT test to stream them, in order to separate the more able and those with less ability who have been intensley tutored to pass the eleven plus. According to my friend a lot of the latter group eventually struggle once the tutoring boost wears off.  If the primary purpose of selection was innate intellectual merit, you might ask why they dont do an IQ test instead of the eleven plus?

 

It's possibly more sinister that that; If you take a bright kid from a disadvantaged background, you remove any chance of that kid ever rising to challenge a system that has contributed to his disenfranchisement in the first place.

If the kid mixes and is filtered by a system created to churn out future leaders who think only within a set of ideals, he won't ever try to revolutionize the system.

It;s a bit like when Chelsea FC started buying up all the young talent so their immediate rivals couldn;t have them!

Here's a genius idea; Why not make all schools like Grammar schools which already have their fair share of C and D grade students!

 

[CunningPlan]

No one seems to be discussing T Levels. On face value this seems to be a good plan. Makes a straight choice after gcse of Academic level or Technical level. I think the alternatives have been confusing to kids and employers for years and this may well help people make a better choice. Or maybe I am just out of touch?

[Errol]

5 minutes ago, Tapori said:

 Therein lies my own desire to see all private education eliminated; Let's see how bright Henrietta and Oliver are when there is a level playing field at school level, where they have to compete with "Malcom In the Middle" type kids, in the same schools with the same resources. 

We can't have that now can we?

Wouldn't work anyway - unless you plan on banning all private tuition, all private lessons of any kind, any extra-curricular activities etc etc.

Ban private schools and all the same people will continue to spend thousands on private tutors, private music lessons, private tennis/sport lessons, expensive books, expensive musical instruments, horse-riding, cultural activities etc etc.

Only some form of horrendous communist/police state system would achieve the objective you aim for.

[CunningPlan]

2 minutes ago, Tapori said:

It's possibly more sinister that that; If you take a bright kid from a disadvantaged background, you remove any chance of that kid ever rising to challenge a system that has contributed to his disenfranchisement in the first place.

If the kid mixes and is filtered by a system created to churn out future leaders who think only within a set of ideals, he won't ever try to revolutionize the system.

It;s a bit like when Chelsea FC started buying up all the young talent so their immediate rivals couldn;t have them!

Here's a genius idea; Why not make all schools like Grammar schools which already have their fair share of C and D grade students!

 

Fair point. Take all those capable of independent thought and reprogramme them to follow the system. Cunning.

[Tapori]

10 minutes ago, Errol said:

Wouldn't work anyway - unless you plan on banning all private tuition, all private lessons of any kind, any extra-curricular activities etc etc.

Ban private schools and all the same people will continue to spend thousands on private tutors, private music lessons, private tennis/sport lessons, expensive books, expensive musical instruments, horse-riding, cultural activities etc etc.

Only some form of horrendous communist/police state system would achieve the objective you aim for.

Nah, not at all. Of course it would work a great deal. you remove the other reason that social segregation is practiced; Networks.

You can go to all the private clubs outside of school you want; In school, with the right setup, you can't  prevent children forming friendships across lines. 2 different children from differing backgrounds who are into Chess, or Aviation will bond and grow. You would simply mix the children through random selection of entrants in any given catchment area. Mix it up.

Have the private tuition; go ahead. Have  private clubs. go ahead. Kids still will befriend one another.

But the private tutored kids won't be able to hide day in day out in their safe-spaces. At school everyday, they will have to mix and compete. And some will do well and some will not. But the merit will be better.

Parents can be governors on the board of the school. If you as a sharp-elbowed parent want to enact changes, then fine - It will raise the standards for all the kids, not just little Henry. Bless.

But don't deny those children at school such help either. Don't deny them sports facilities. Don't deny them excellent teachers or small class sizes. 

No police state and no communism; Just as fair as possible.

 

[EssKay]

What a crock of shite - yet another budget that picks the easy targets (self employed this time round) and rewards the groups that actually should be targeted (corporations and pensioners).

 

Did anyone spot this gem by the way:

Quote

Those looking to move a UK pension offshore face a 25 per cent tax charge under a dramatic crackdown on pension transfers. The tax charge, announced in the Budget, will apply to individuals requesting transfers to qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes (Qrops) on or after March 9 2017, the government said.

 

So basically locking in Defined Contribution pension savings so they are open to a future raid on those savings by the government. Defined Benefit schemes and pensioners currently drawing a pension naturally unaffected