• The forum upgrades are now largely complete.
    Please read this thread for more details.
    New user registrations are currently disabled.

Discounts for OAPs

42 said:
You need to consider what money is & how its created. Its basically a government created iou that facilitates trade.

The wealthier you are, the less that gets spend on consumption (which is then clawed back from government in tax), and more spent on asset accumulation. Those assets then generate more income & essentially grow exponentially.

Fundamentally you need a system that has an element of wealth distribution built in otherwise the capitalist democracy fails & you end up with an inheritocracy and possibly even fuedalism.

And what were seeing now is a result of not enough being done on the redistribution front.
Click to expand...
That’s actually a more eloquent way of saying what my mate has for years, slavery went from chains and physical ownership to financial assets
 

Gentwo said:
That’s actually a more eloquent way of saying what my mate has for years, slavery went from chains and physical ownership to financial assets
Click to expand...

Its exactly that. Musk didn't buy twitter to liberate free speech, it was so he can control the narrative. And when you control the narrative, you control the people
 
Frijj said:
The exact kind of attitude that has led to the unhealthy veneration of OAPs as some kind of saintly cohort who had better values and worked so much harder.

Fuck the triple lock, fuck the free bus pass, fuck the free prescriptions - scrap the lot
Click to expand...
How the fuck did you fail to become a copper. You would make a magnificent one what with your levels of hatred 😀
 
spitfire said:
How the fuck did you fail to become a copper. You would make a magnificent one what with your levels of hatred 😀
Click to expand...
I don’t hate pensioners, I just don’t agree with all the handouts they get.

Young people (not me, my hairline and knee joints can attest) are being failed by a society that is set up for people who have already lived their life
 
Frijj said:
The exact kind of attitude that has led to the unhealthy veneration of OAPs as some kind of saintly cohort who had better values and worked so much harder.

Fuck the triple lock, fuck the free bus pass, fuck the free prescriptions - scrap the lot
Click to expand...
Do you have relatives in the over 66 age group?
 
Gentwo said:
Don’t get me started on inheritance tax.

Backwards that you worked, were taxed on your wages, contributed to your pension and the government took their cut from that.
Why should the same money that’s already been taxed be taxed a final time because you’ve hit a threshold of assets.
You’re just taking money from grieving families at that point.

I understand the point of it but it’s always seemed in bad faith to have a parent die, have property and money assets over say £350k.
For the government to come along and go ‘sorry for your loss, anyway we’re taking 40% of that’
Click to expand...
It's a form of income for the recipient, so why not tax it? The money in you pocket after taxes will mostly get taxed when you spend it. Go out for a meal, some of that is VAT. Then some of it is taxed on company profits, some taxed as employer NI contributions and plenty then used to pay the bills - which will get taxed on the recipients end, and of course staff wages, which get taxed. Really don't know why people seem to think their money only gets taxed once.
 
Gentwo said:
I suppose so but it still but my uncle when he died had a house worth £400k and loads more in various banks, investment platforms etc.
Then pensions, death in service benefits after he died.
Sudden death so didn’t have the time to untangle all of that.
Paid out most in inheritance tax and his lass and son got was left

My grandad on the other hand was tighter than two coats of paint, had a modest house, just over £130k value and I don’t think he spent anything since 1974.
Had about 15 grand in the bank, everything paid out in full for funerals in advance, but had 3 big safes in the house rammed with cash, had it falling out of cupboards and old drawers, my dad is still adamant they probably missed some somewhere.
He used to complain to my dad he was getting sent money every week and didn’t need it so just put it in the safe because he didn’t need it.

Pulled out daft amounts in the hundred thousands once it was all counted easily about £400k +

Paid nothing as he didn’t trust banks and because we couldn’t work out where it had come from.
Which again didn’t sit right with me either.

Swings and roundabouts I suppose but It’s never sat right with me that whatever you earn in your lifetime the government can take in what amounts to a tax on dying and having money, reinforces that fiddling the system to avoid it and hiding money is the way to avoid it, which is equally as murky and morally wrong as the government just taking it to begin, modern problems, modern solutions.
Click to expand...
The only bit that people should struggle with is the property price rises and where a modest flat in some cities will be over the threshold. Unless me and the wife get hit by a bus tomorrow, the bairn will be comfortable as we are in the throes of getting our affairs in order now.
We only have the one bairn so she will get as much now as we can so that it doesn’t all land in one Lump when she’s possible not in need of it by then. She’s 26 with her own place and her mortgage will be paid of in the next few years all being well.
We sold my mam and dad’s place a couple of years ago and that missed our generation and went to her for her deposit as we didn’t need it. My mam and dads did the same to us when we were younger and more in need. Trust funds work , but gifts work too if the people you gift are not going to piss it up the wall.
 
I can think of free prescriptions and a bus pass. And winter fuel allowance.

And I can separately offer potential explanations: why it’s beneficial to society as a whole, not to render the aging population in worse health or penury at a time when the medication they need has significantly increased. I can understand why using public transport, rather than requirement to walk or drive at a point in life when both are more challenging and hazardous to health. Plus maybe keeping warm is preferable to the aforementioned costs to the health service of ill health or more serious requirements due to poverty. There’s all that plus probably some more.

Any road up; means testing might be an argument. But I’m struggling to think of anything else apart from entry to a cinema, especially at times of day when there’s no fucker else there, pensioners portions for cheaper rates - rather than uneaten food because I eat less - and maybe cheaper haircuts - cos it takes five minutes. None of which is disadvantaging other taxpayers or ‘working families’ cis it’s all private enterprises.

And it galls me a bit to think there’s potentially a generation that begrudges me the things that didn’t even cross my mind when I, as a taxpayer, was contributing towards, for the wellbeing of my grandparents.

So I suppose you should be careful what you wish for. Because if you get it, in this case, some elements of your elderly existence are going to be a tiny bit more difficult - but more importantly - you’ll have been sent a very strong message by your children and their generation that maybe you should just fuck off and die. Literally.

(Not referring to anyone personally. )
 
Last edited:
PJH said:
It's a form of income for the recipient, so why not tax it? The money in you pocket after taxes will mostly get taxed when you spend it. Go out for a meal, some of that is VAT. Then some of it is taxed on company profits, some taxed as employer NI contributions and plenty then used to pay the bills - which will get taxed on the recipients end, and of course staff wages, which get taxed. Really don't know why people seem to think their money only gets taxed once.
Click to expand...

And the thing is, the double taxation thing that usually gets trotted out with inheritance tax but large proportion of inheritance is house price inflation which is complete untaxed capital gains. Then pensions which are only now being brought into estates & again, pension pots are deferred pay which is untaxed until its drawndown. Stuff like beer, tabs & petrol are genuinely double taxed as you pay VAT on the duty.

I think itd be better if they changed the tax liability away from the estate to the recipient, which might change people's mentality over it.
 
Last edited:
Dennis said:
So all the pensioners on here are minted but love their handouts I see
Click to expand...
Name them.

Seriously, I’m struggling to understand exactly which state ‘handouts’ I’m supposed to ‘love’

(PS: I’m certainly not ‘minted’ either)
 
Last edited:
Cee Jay said:
Sort of linked but I'm amazed you get free prescriptions at 60...even if you're working.

Only heard that recently. Must cost a fortune
Click to expand...
Didn't know that and as someone approaching that number I look forward to my £10 a month saving. They are already free for all in the rest of the UK of course
 
John Steed said:
Is that only when it's used in reference to the elderly? Or do you "hate" that term wherever it's used and for any groups of people?

"Nearly half of all pensioners over State Pension age in the UK (about 45%) are living with a disability. Furthermore, 2 million older adults (roughly 15% of the over-65 population) have unmet care and support needs, and a staggering 67% of those aged 65 to 74 with clinically significant mental health symptoms go completely untreated.

The likelihood of a long-term illness increases substantially with age: About 40% of people in their 70s and nearly 70% of those aged 80 and over live with a disability.Around 500,000 pensioners have difficulty walking across a room, and 600,000 need assistance getting in and out of bed.Conditions like sight and hearing loss affect the majority of the "oldest old"—for instance, half of people over 90 live with sight loss".
Click to expand...
Trendy to hate the old and vulnerable among some sections of society these days. Particularly since Brexit. They want them dead for voting the "wrong" way. Ironically it's the smug, middle class, tick tock lot that are in comparison very well off, that hate them the most.
 
Sandboy said:
Didn't know that and as someone approaching that number I look forward to my £10 a month saving. They are already free for all in the rest of the UK of course
Click to expand...
Me as well, that’s why someone flippantly said they will be free next year.

Asked do you not mean when retired but no it’s regardless of working or not :eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top