Maybe they shouldn't have bought an Ipod?
The "Ipod generation" are having a bad time of it, according to Reform.Of the average graduate's salary, which stands at £27,155, £4,608,40 now disappears in income tax, £2,432,21 in national insurance contributions, £3,043,15 in indirect taxes such as VAT, £1,493.53 in pension contributions, £1,093.95 in compulsory student loan repayments, and £618.50 in council tax.
This leaves them, excluding VAT, £16,905. Diddums. It's worth noting that if that really is a graduate's starting salary (see below), then that's a lot more than I and most graduates I knew had to spend (allowing for inflation) in 1996 after direct taxes, council tax, pension contributions and student loan repayments.
Slightly bizarrely, the report then demands (well, the Daily Mail report of the report says it does, which might not be the same thing):
Strict public spending curbs, tax cuts and more private contributions to healthcare and pensions were needed to allow resources to be redirected, he said.
Er..private pension contributions are what they say play a factor in reducing disposable income.
Update: Reading the actual report adds to the confusion. Of course new graduates don't have an average starting salary of £27k, it's an average of those aged 21-35. So it includes me! The average for new graduates is given as £14,515.
This though is puzzling, as they say the average 21-35 year graduate old has to repay £1,100 of student loans this year. Can that be right? It assumes surely that every ex-graduate aged 21-35 is paying back a student loan (at 9% over £15k)?
Labels: economics, healthcare, Yoof
posted by Matthew @ 10/30/2007 09:58:00 AM
Comments: 3
