Care homes
Why is it
such an 'injustice' that one has to sell one's house in order to live in a care home?
If only 1/5 people have to do this I can see why it is annoying. But maybe that's because they have lived longer.
I find it a little strange that houses have become so untouchable. Under current Tory plans no-one will have to sell their house to fund private residential care, then when you die the government won't take any of the money back in inheritance tax. This seems rather odd to say the least.
The specific plan seems a little weird too. If people can voluntarily pay £8,000 at age 65 and this is enough - given it's only 1 in 5 - to fund free residential care, then why aren't private insurers offering the service? It's not as if the government scheme works because of universality, as it's voluntary. From what I've seen it just seems an extension of government into an area which is unneeded (which is not necessarily true of a 100% service).
Labels: healthcare
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
