The "debate" thread

[Dum-Dum]

£35k hits the 40% tax band doesn't it though?

It does indeed, up till the end of the month the limit is £34,371 then from April 2013 it drops to £32,011 which means ill be just under £500 a year worse off as will all of us that pay higher rate tax.

No don't think so, Niall wasn't far off with his original guess, out by about £140 actually

Ouch, I really do get shafted on tax and pension payments.

I earn about 35k pa and my monthly basic take home is only 1900 so theres no way 25 gives a take home of 1800

Forgive my ignorance, but aren't you a PCSO? When did they start earning 35K a year?

Firstly no I'm a Police Officer and have been for about a year.

However the highest earning PCSOs do earn over £35k a year. I was on just under £30k but on the lower rate of London weighting and a lower shift allowance than some get. The top PCSO basic salary is £25k or so plus £3500 London weighting then 25% shift allowance gives the best part of £36k pa

[Poodle]

There isn't a single civil servant that gets shafted by anything, they all have remuneration packages at least 20% above their private peers, usually more. But anyway, thats not the subject here

Imho this country needs rehashing from the bottom up tbh, all the way to the top. I could bang on for days about it, but i'll stick to what I consider to be the three main issues for now.

Firstly, the education system. The focus is almost entirely on "academic" subjects and achievement, which is odd considering most employers will place much greater importance on vocational experience. University has its place, but as others have said, it should be pursued by the select few. I dont agree those select few should only be the ones who can afford it though, the notion of exclusion from education by cost harks back to victorian times, do we really want to regress 100 years? Which incidentally also goes for calls to return industry to Britain, everything else has moved on, we should too. Also, the current method of assessment is completely unfit for purpose, exams dot test knowledge and understanding, it only tests memory. Coursework is a better way to do it, but still far from ideal, plus that fuckwit Gove is determined to do away with coursework anyway.

Which brings me quite neatly to my next major gripe - governance. The government is supposed to be represantative of the people, but most of them have never had a real job and live in a different world, funded by expenses and goodwill. What happens when they disgrace themselves in one department, disciplinary, loss of bonuses, sacking? No they're shifted sideways into another department, usually completely unrelated. In what world does the transport secretary have something significant to bring to leading the NHS? MPs should have a real job for a minimum of ten years, something actually relevant to the department they're going in to.

Finally is the penal system. There is no disincentive to not commit a crime as far as I can tell, prison is more like a holiday camp than a punishment. I am in what I would call a comfortable position, okay id like a bit more money and time off, but who wouldn't? Yet somehow, i'd actually be better of in prison - I dont have a games console or tv or a gym, I have to pay my own bills, I dont get a minimum of x hours a day outside, I dont have access to free psychiatric and health care, but I give a damn sight more back to society. Makes no sense...

[ginge191]

To chuck it in the mix, national debt increases with the recent budget with a decrease corporation tax to 20%..