Election Year or Fear!

[Geoff Parkstone]

My kids' school specialised in Nepalese for historical reasons I never fully understood - its not that they were good at rugger. But on average only about 5-6% of fee paying students come from overseas - and the imposition of Vat will reduce that I imagine. An all to rare example of labour reducing (albeit temporary) immigration. I think that 5-6% may include kids of Brits posted abroad and paid for by foreign employer.

[ramAnag]

I'm not sure where the discussion on fee-paying schools is going or what achievable point is being made - for as long as there is a free market, and assuming the administration in power at any time dont impose further taxes, tarrifs or laws, those with spare cash will exercise free will and invest in their children's education rather than one or more of a limitless list of alternatives.

I doubt it’s going anywhere other than to provoke an, on this occasion, largely pleasantly polite exchange of views.

From my point of view I suppose it’s just symptomatic of what, imo, is wrong with society. The gap between the haves and the have nots has grown too large. That doesn’t really matter so much where things like cars, holidays, houses and clothes are the issue, but - again imo - it matters more where health, education and social care are concerned.

I don’t pretend to have the answer, but the question is, do we want to live in a society where the die is already largely cast from cradle to grave as far as achievement, health and provision for long term care are concerned, or is there a fairer alternative?

[Geoff Parkstone]

No idea why you’d say that, but if you ask Google, William Hill or the BBC you’ll get much the same answer and my guess is it’ll be a woman, with Jayne Turton the current favourite.

I doubt it’s going anywhere other than to provoke an, on this occasion, largely pleasantly polite exchange of views.

From my point of view I suppose it’s just symptomatic of what, imo, is wrong with society. The gap between the haves and the have nots has grown too large. That doesn’t really matter so much where things like cars, holidays, houses and clothes are the issue, but - again imo - it matters more where health, education and social care are concerned.

I don’t pretend to have the answer, but the question is, do we want to live in a society where the die is already largely cast from cradle to grave as far as achievement, health and provision for long term care are concerned, or is there a fairer alternative?

So do you think you had a privileged upbringing and/or do you feel you have underachieved?

Personally I didn't and I don't. People can overcome disadvantages of birth (or waste advantages) if they want to and put effort in. Not everyone I accept, but if everyone did where would the next generation of "unskilled workers" - who are critical to society functioning - come from (see COVID).

Your fatalistic view of no hope is really rather depressing - it rather denies the value of the role you had in pre retirement life

[ramAnag]

So do you think you had a privileged upbringing and/or do you feel you have underachieved?

Personally I didn't and I don't. People can overcome disadvantages of birth (or waste advantages) if they want to and put effort in. Not everyone I accept, but if everyone did where would the next generation of "unskilled workers" - who are critical to society functioning - come from (see COVID).

Your fatalistic view of no hope is really rather depressing - it rather denies the value of the role you had in pre retirement life

Not about me, or you, GP and of course people can overcome disadvantages of birth. I’m not really being fatalistic, but there are areas of both social advantage and disadvantage that we might be wise to address.

[Andy_Faber]

do we want to live in a society where the die is already largely cast from cradle to grave as far as achievement, health and provision for long term care are concerned, or is there a fairer alternative?

There are lots of different perspectives on what 'fair' is rA. I don't think even we few here would come to any sort of agreement about what fair is in this context if we rattled on til next season. What definitely wouldn't be fair though would be to deny 'hard working parents' their choice to invest in their children

[swaledale]

My kids' school specialised in Nepalese for historical reasons I never fully understood - its not that they were good at rugger. But on average only about 5-6% of fee paying students come from overseas - and the imposition of Vat will reduce that I imagine. An all to rare example of labour reducing (albeit temporary) immigration. I think that 5-6% may include kids of Brits posted abroad and paid for by foreign employer.

In the interests of accuracy following a boom and bust in migration levels under the previous government, net migration to the UK dropped to pre-Brexit levels of around 200,000 in the year ending June 2025, according to new estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

Net migration—the number of people arriving long term minus the number leaving—fell to 204,000 in the year ending June 2025. This was a decline of 720,000 over the previous two years, from a peak of over 900,000. The decline was driven primarily by a 662,000 drop in non-EU net migration, although small declines in EU and British net migration also contributed.

After all you wouldn't want to be known expressing views that are demonstrably false, would you?

[Ram Pant]

When talking about fair taxation, should standard income tax rates be applied to dividends received through share ownership?

The Income Tax Bands
Any income you earn above your Personal Allowance is taxed according to these bands:

Basic Rate: From ?12,571 to ?50,270. You pay 20% tax on this portion.
Higher Rate: From ?50,271 to ?125,140. You pay 40% tax on this portion.
Additional Rate: Any income over ?125,140. You pay 45% tax on this portion.

Dividend Tax Rates and Bands
Dividend tax is calculated based on your overall taxable income, which includes both salary and dividends. The tax rates for dividends are lower than regular income tax rates, providing a tax-efficient way to pay yourself. The dividend tax bands are as follows:

Basic Rate: 8.75% on dividends over ?500
Higher Rate: 33.75% on dividends falling within this range
Additional Rate: 39.35% on dividends above ?125,140

Dividends are income, aren't they? Simply add dividend income to income earned through work and pay the tax.

[Andy_Faber]

When talking about fair taxation, should standard income tax rates be applied to dividends received through share ownership?

The Income Tax Bands
Any income you earn above your Personal Allowance is taxed according to these bands:

Basic Rate: From ?12,571 to ?50,270. You pay 20% tax on this portion.
Higher Rate: From ?50,271 to ?125,140. You pay 40% tax on this portion.
Additional Rate: Any income over ?125,140. You pay 45% tax on this portion.

Dividend Tax Rates and Bands
Dividend tax is calculated based on your overall taxable income, which includes both salary and dividends. The tax rates for dividends are lower than regular income tax rates, providing a tax-efficient way to pay yourself. The dividend tax bands are as follows:

Basic Rate: 8.75% on dividends over ?500
Higher Rate: 33.75% on dividends falling within this range
Additional Rate: 39.35% on dividends above ?125,140

Dividends are income, aren't they? Simply add dividend income to income earned through work and pay the tax.

From the small business owner perspective I?ve always seen this as a reward for effort/risk of, say, the honest hard working electrician or tree surgeon. You could say that doesn?t apply in every case but I?d counter by saying that?s true for all taxes and allowances, there?s always anomalies

NB that?s a dispassionate view, I?m not a small business owner/shareholder, and I?m guessing my perspective isn?t that of HMG, I don?t know their logic

[ramAnag]

What definitely wouldn't be fair though would be to deny 'hard working parents' their choice to invest in their children

…and yet that’s exactly what we do, AF. Not in the way you’re thinking of, but there are lots of ‘hard working’ but poorly paid parents who stand no chance of being able to afford the fees we’ve spoken of and can’t invest in their children’s education/future because they are based in the catchment area of a state school which suffers from lack of funding.

[Geoff Parkstone]

Simple answer - no. It's an income out of already taxed (effectively at BR) income - Corporation Tax has been paid on it already and the dividend is not tax deductible in the corporation tax calculation. The dividend tax that there is is substitute employers NI - it was created to avoid circumvention of erni by remunerating owners by dividend not salary.