The pre budget report

[PAULW]

And then there is the 2p tax added to petrol from the 1st of Dec

[shirlthegirl43]

I wonder how they work out those figures.

[sharonr]

Instead of knocking 2.5% off vat they should of done something about gas, electric and council tax. If they weren`t so expensive we would have more money to spend.
Also in my job (I empty fruit machines in pubs) I have to calulate vat on every machine I empty, so all the tickets that I use will be wrong, which means I will have to have 2 tickets for each machine ( one for before Dec 1, one for after) lots of extra work for me.

[Capsid]

well i can't see where i'll be better off capsid ....... my incapacity won't go up, and i can't afford to go out and spend loads of cash on big items to save the vat in the first place, have enough problems paying my bills .......... tobacco will go up which will wipe out anything i save on shopping (my one vice, unless you count choccie) .... I no longer have a dependent child...... so unless i give up smoking ....... how can i be any better off??

Well I did say most of us. Tobacco prices stay the same as it's offset by VAT reduction. But you won't be worse off, which could be another scenario. Have you thought about giving up smoking?

[lynda66]

Have you thought about giving up smoking?

nope ......

[beefy]

V.A.T. has been reduced but fuel duty has been increased - so what you save on VAT will be replaced by the hike in fuel prices .
Give with one hand and take twice as much with the other again.Then in a years time we all pay even more because the country is broke.
Thanks Mr Darling - may I show you your posterior and your elbow and then tell you the difference.

[SarzWix]

BBC NEWS | Business | Q&A: The PBR and you

You cynical lot. Most of us will be better off. You also get the added benefit of that extra cash going further because prices are falling.

Going by the figures quoted by the BBC, we will be better off by £2 - £3 per week. Whoop-de-woo, that's gonna go a long way when my gas & electric bills have gone up by £20 a week!

And my dad will be worse off by up to £5000 a year by 2011/12!! That's not funny, or, in my opinion, fair. Why should he pay so much more tax on money he's worked his a**e off for since he was 14? And why should he get less of a personal allowance than me? I don't get it, at all.

[NOG]

Now if you are a single parent with a child over 12 you have to find a job as you wont get income support any more. What you supposed to do in the holidays etc leave them on their own ?.

No you do what us workers do....you mange the suituation.

[Two_Sheds]

No you do what us workers do....you mange the suituation.

Is that manage or mangle - ?

[BrideXIII]

No you do what us workers do....you mange the suituation.

I would love to know how,
i am told after school clubs, thing is , the school don't do them, not after 4.15.
childminders? can't afford them, ( only get 100% for first child)
family? well they can't/won't do it
friends? well that would be fine short term, but not feasible long term.
leave them alone? it's an option that should scare the hell out of any parent these days.

the government want to create another generation of latch-key kids causing trouble out on the streets, and who will get the blame? the single parents, thats who! those same single parents, that are been forced out into a job market thats shrinking daily, with less and less support.

I WANT a job, a job i can afford to take, that i can do without jepardising my children, that wont make my family worse off, what would YOU suggest?

rant over.

[zazen999]

This is why I didn't have kids and want to move to New York.

Un/fortunately, I fell for someone with a daughter - so I get to be step mum, and we can't move.

It's all swings and roundabouts - take with one hand and dangle the promise in another. I've never known it to be different.

Aah well, at least we grow 90% of our own veg

We're having an eco christmas this year - all adult pressies have to save money or time in some way or other.

And, we are saving some on the VAT, as we're just about to order demolition work, a new back garden wall and a garden room - so the VAT drop will save enough to pay for the greenhouse.

[OverWyreGrower]

I like the way that, on the BBC website, when they mention 'Tax and NI Gains by Income for the Tax Year', that working couples without children aren't mentioned...

I think that we'll save the princely sum of £118 for the year between us. Sadly it won't cover the increase in gas we've had for the quarter though.

[Two_Sheds]

I WANT a job, a job i can afford to take, that i can do without jepardising my children, that wont make my family worse off, what would YOU suggest?

Get a wife

Seriously, Govt thinks it is possible to be a single parent and have a job at the same time, when in reality (with hidden costs eg. petrol, childcare) and the time factor (getting a 9-3 job, with all holidays off) is nigh on impossible.

We have to do the best we can for our families, with what we've got.

[HayleyB]

They've not done anything for me. No income at all and not able to claim benefits means I'm not saving anything, problem when you have your own business.

Until we have a government that actually addresses the issues of wasting money left right and centre and to the EU then this country is gonna get deeper and deeper into S**t.

[BrideXIII]

Get a wife

Seriously, Govt thinks it is possible to be a single parent and have a job at the same time, when in reality (with hidden costs eg. petrol, childcare) and the time factor (getting a 9-3 job, with all holidays off) is nigh on impossible.

We have to do the best we can for our families, with what we've got.

well i would, but i am a girl

on the benefits front, they certainly didn't waste any time, i got my letter today, just after i posted.
after a good cry, i re-read it, and basically it is another move by the gov to move the figures around, we will lose income support, we will be helped to 'apply for a different benefit if we are unable to secure paid work'. in other words they will shift us to unemployment benefit or incapacity rather than enable us to work at all.
usual rubbish.
How does that help get single parents back to work? it's practical support we need, we have always needed.