National Insurance backlash threatens serious harm to Tories
What has he done? By the time Boris Johnson realises his error in taxing poor people to pay for the rich, it will probably be too late and an expression like this won’t save him.
Could this be Boris Johnson’s ‘poll tax’ moment?
Her disastrous miscalculation that the UK’s electorate would tolerate a hugely-regressive flat-rate tax that treated the poorest wage slave the same as the richest billionaire led to Margaret Thatcher’s ejection from office in 1990.
Now, with his plan to charge working people for care services that will also serve rich people who won’t have to pay for it, it seems Boris Johnson has made the same critical blunder.
That’s why message like this are starting to appear:
Welcome to the UK where Parliament just voted by 335 to 243 to get a nurse who has to use a foodbank to pay for social care while a retired billionaire doesn’t have to.
— David Schneider (@davidschneider) September 8, 2021
And this one, referencing Priti Patel’s threat to force refugees to jump into the English Channel – potentially drowning themselves – rather than allow them onto UK soil:
https://twitter.com/RD_HaIe/status/1436030431921594373
The betrayal of so-called ‘key workers’ – the lowest-paid but vital majority who keep the UK running – is clear:
'Key workers – last year we clapped them, this year the Tories taxed them'https://t.co/xfrLgWFYAi
— Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) September 9, 2021
Already the Tories have plummeted by five points in the latest YouGov opinion poll, putting them one point behind Labour because of Boris Johnson, not Keir Starmer…
When did people start to believe polls??? 😳
The only reason for this latest poll, is to warn Spaffer not to go down the taxation road … 😒
Reality will return next week.
— MerryMichaelW ☭ 🎗 #Socialism #Equality 🇵🇸 (@MerryMichaelW) September 10, 2021
… and while some may believe the situation will return to normal as soon as something else takes people’s attention from the fact that Boris Johnson is subjecting them to an ongoing, perpetual daylight robbery, others believe the situation is more serious:
Adam Boulton – Is this tax rise going to do lasting damage to the Tories appeal to the electorate?
Otto English – I hope so, yes pic.twitter.com/GCIWZs2Ab2
— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) September 10, 2021
The real question is whether the Labour Party can capitalize on this colossal Conservative pratfall:
The number one flaw in the Tory Social Care policy is the £80,000 cap on elderly care costs.
Ordinary people don’t have that kind of money. To us it’s an eye watering sum.
The cap on social care costs should be £0.00. It should be a National care service free for all.
— Tory Fibs (@ToryFibs) September 7, 2021
The trouble is, Keir Starmer doesn’t want a National Care Service and has ditched former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s plan for one.
And here’s another suggestion that is vetoed by Starmer’s behaviour:
Why aren't Labour calling for an end to the National Insurance exemption that allows very high earners to pay much lower NI rates than ordinary workers?
Perhaps it's something to do with Keir Starmer courting £millionaire party political donors like a cat in heat?
— Another Angry Voice (@Angry_Voice) September 10, 2021
So it seems Labour isn’t about to rock the boat.
Perhaps Starmer thinks voters don’t have anywhere else to go. He’s mistaken about that.
As for the Tories: if Boris Johnson insists on ramming this unfair tax down the throats of the poor, he’ll be toast.
Tories won’t tolerate a threat to their power and if the poll dip turns into a trough – or indeed a trench – then he’ll face a strong challenge to his leadership. And he isn’t enough of a leader to face it down.
And then, history suggests, the Tories will backtrack and we’ll get a sticking-plaster tax that may even be slightly more fair – and a sticking-plaster PM who’ll be a lot worse than John Major was, back in the 1990s.
And he was dire.
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In the past the starting payment threshold was 2 per cent for low waged, for worker National Insurance contributions, before the full rate.
That was lost.
For most of the history of worker National Insurance contributions, the top waged, mostly men (and politicians), paid NOTHING in worker NI contributions above the maximum salary threshold.
Only towards the end of Brown’s Labour government did 1 per cent rate start above maximum salary threshold.
When Tory government began in 2010, it rose to a mere 2 per cent, and today it will only rise to 3 per cent, instead of the 12 per cent on the basic waged, now rising by 1.25 per cent on worker and boss each.
But NI contributions already rose on the basic waged, by the end of the SERPs opt out on 80 per cent of workers since end of SERPs from April 2016, so rose from 10 to 12 per cent, and the boss lost their 3.8 per cent rebate.
Meanwhile the lowest waged, mostly women, get nil National Insurance credits granted by government, so no chance of a state pension, too low waged to qualify for a works pensions and cannot claim statutory sick pay.
over50sparty org uk
Boris Johnson can clearly not be believed he’s a disgusting pm
What everyone seam’s’ to have missed the sneaky Torys have NOT capped social care BTW they capped the small of the two parts involved. Let me give a example my father we got into a fantastic place but it cost him his life savings 500,00 over 5 years do I brigrude it F’ NO I love my dad and wanted him comfortable. Anyhow Care is the smallest cost involved the big one that the Torys sneakily didn’t cap is accommodation! Say a month at dads home cost 1000 it was more but this is a example anyhow out of that 920 whould be accommodation. Care whould be 80 see the gotcha?
Tory scum made this big song and dance convincing everyone it has solved the issue but people will still lose these savings and houses if they have them. Seeing Dad lose everything I refuse to give the Torys money indirectly they can put me in a Awful Wearhouse private company care factory or whatever I don’t care. But please don’t assume this mess is solved until accommodation cost part of care is capped then nothing has been solved.
Only again kicked down the road and a sneaky tax that we are told will be for this! If that’s so why in x years you have to ask…?