But lets be honest, there would be a lot more 18 year olds who'd not know any different (having never paid tax before) who just want to put there money towards fun things. The point still stands, whether theyre buying vapes, playstations or going into town on a Saturday night, its still money back into the economy and actually more spread out than just sticking into a down payment on a house which doesnt help the economy as such as its tied up in savings 
Previous Message
…in a PlayStation 2, complete with tiger woods golf and pro-evo.
They were the days. Previous Message
I don't know any students who bought a sound system with their loan, for example. Previous Message
As many older ones on here will know, 20+ years ago I was that student who was on here, hence many would put "morning" as a joke that all we did was sleep...I dont recall ever telling them to stop making stupid comments as it was obviously a joke
Fact is, many people I was at uni with will tell you how hard paying that student loan off was over the following years. Many will also jest how much of it was just "pissed up the wall", because guess what, they were out ALL the time
Did they spend 90% of the loan on drinking, well obviously not as we had to buy books and pay rent. Did pretty much the rest of the money get spent on going out as much as possible during the first 2 years, yes it did. And if your kids didnt go out drinking whilst at Uni, then either theyre lying or incredibly boring, and you can accept that as another stupid comment or not Previous Message
Try telling that to my kids who all worked low wage jobs whilst at Uni to support themselves. All now incurring an extra 9% tax on a loan which increases by more than inflation every year. This at a time they want to buy a property, settle down and have kids. To most that is a pipe dream.
So before you make stupid comments get your facts right. Previous Message
Its like giving Students their loans, 90% of it ends up on getting hammered at the weekend (then again, I guess thats paying into hospitality)
And the other issue would be when you start it, there will be a year above them who would be fuming Previous Message
I was reading recently about a Canadian economist who proposed a different tax system.
Essentially, allowing people to pay no tax, on the first 200k canadian dollars they earn.
So someone on 25k a year, would pay no income tax until year 8/9 of employment.
Someone on 80k a year, would get 2 and a half years, tax free so to speak.
The idea, to money in the hands of the young, to give them a financial lift when they need it, help them 'move out' get houses or rent etc.
Its an interesting idea.
Imagine in the uk, the first 100k you earn, is income tax free, the second 100k is taxed at 10% (getting you used to the system) then after that you are in the system as normal - but potentially with a house, or some savings. Oh and the threshold for paying tax is scrapped, if you are in this system, then once you start paying tax, you pay it on all income, no 12k tax free buffer etc.
Money in the hands of the young, who are then likely to go out and spend it (thus through VAT etc you get a fair chunk of tax anyway) but also need it.
I'm no economist, I dont know practically how much such a change would cost, obviously a fair bit initially. But theoretically, would it be bad?
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on November 1, 2024, 11:31 am, in reply to "