Definition of poverty?

[mr_busdriver]

Nope, and you wouldn't if it was rented eiter...

 

 

 

 

So basically if you got no kids, and you do a full time job on a low wage, your basically shafted as most of your wages will be lost in tax.

 

Accepted we all pay the same rate of tax (apart from the top earners) but 20% of 9,000 pa, is more devastating that 20% of 27,000 per annum

 

Whats to point in working for a living? how can I justify telling my offspring to bother with condoms?

[Alex C.]

at 9,000 per annum (obviously working part time), you're taxed 10% on £4000 at the moment, or £400 in tax. From April, you'll be taxed 20% on that £4,000, or £800 in tax.

 

So whilst the governments given with one hand (increased the minimum wage), those who are on it are looking at losing £500 or so of tax relief anyway

[Quagmire]

I assume that 16500 value is pre-tax?

 

1,087.01 a month

- 400 for a basic flat

- 60 for council tax

- 10 tv license

- 20 for phone and broadband

- 60 for utilities (and thats conservative nowadays I reckon)

-------

537.01 left over

 

That would be fine for a single person! Doesn't seem like poverty to me, providing travel costs are cheapish.

I guess with a bigger family it would become tough, but I think tax credits kick in then.

[Heyesey]

My income used to be under a quarter of that figure - it still would be if I lived alone - and I was well above the poverty line. At no stage have I ever been unable to keep a roof over my head, clothes on my back and food in my belly.

 

If they had a definition of poverty that wasn't utterly insane, you wouldn't get these sort of idiotic comparisons.

[Darbees]

at 9,000 per annum (obviously working part time), you're taxed 10% on £4000 at the moment, or £400 in tax. From April, you'll be taxed 20% on that £4,000, or £800 in tax.

 

So whilst the governments given with one hand (increased the minimum wage), those who are on it are looking at losing £500 or so of tax relief anyway

Not quite as bad as that because personal allowance is up (a bit).

[Slurper]

My income used to be under a quarter of that figure - it still would be if I lived alone - and I was well above the poverty line. At no stage have I ever been unable to keep a roof over my head, clothes on my back and food in my belly.

 

If they had a definition of poverty that wasn't utterly insane, you wouldn't get these sort of idiotic comparisons.

Well said - but I infer that you are not the sort of feckless wretch that would squander your income on luxuries like beer and fags before even considering rent and utilities.

 

Sadly, all too many of those exist – we should just leave them to starve, and rid our gene pool of their pollution.

[Tarquin]

at 9,000 per annum (obviously working part time), you're taxed 10% on £4000 at the moment, or £400 in tax. From April, you'll be taxed 20% on that £4,000, or £800 in tax.

 

So whilst the governments given with one hand (increased the minimum wage), those who are on it are looking at losing £500 or so of tax relief anyway

 

 

10% on £4000,I think not.Those calculations are incorrect.There are rate bands for the 10,22 & 40 tax rates

[Cyclone]

It said on the news yesterday that the poverty line is £16,500-, according to my calculations youd have to be earning about £317 a week to live above that, saying that's an 8 hour day, youd have to be earning atleast £7 an hour if you were on a 6 day week or over £6.50 if 5 days, so the minimum wage really dosent help, if you were working the maximum 48 hours on the minimum £5.52 you'd be living below the poverty line on about 260 a week, such inconsistancy allows people to be very poor, the minimum wage should be well over £6 in my opinion, what do you think?

 

Part of the problem is the way they calculate this.

 

It's as simple as taking 60% of the average income and declaring that below that it's poverty. It's a completely arbitrary measure.

[Cyclone]

10% on £4000,I think not.Those calculations are incorrect.There are rate bands for the 10,22 & 40 tax rates

 

The figures were nearly correct.

 

The current tax allowance is roughly 5225. 10% is then paid on the first 2250 above that, and 22% on the remainder (we're not looking at people who reach the 40% bracket here).

So 07/08 tax for an income of 9k would be £560.5

 

In 08/09 the allowance will be higher 5435, but the 10% band will disappear.

So on 9k tax will be, £713. An increase of £152.5

Overall burden has increased by 1.7% on this wage.

 

Of course anyone who is working full time even on minimum wage earns more than this.

[Mathom]

Real poverty exists in abundance overseas – the less well off over here just moan because others have more and they want everything for nothing.

 

So we should forget our own poorer families because some Africans are living in poverty? I've never heard anything so uber-PC on here in ages!