Balanced Question Time panel tonight - of course not! VOL 2

[RATATTAK]

Welshbeef said:

And that's the rub of it half the population should mean have the state support but no not at all vastly spending more than Portugal way more than 2x per head why?

Can you repeat the question please

[pingu393]

For info...


There are 64.1M people in UK

23.9% are under 20
1.69M (2.6%) are unemployed
5.442M (8.5%) are public sector workers
16.6% are over 65

48.4% of the population supports the other 51.6%.



There are 5.3M people in Scotland

22.4% are under 20
171,000 (3.2%) are unemployed
530,000 (10%) are public sector workers
16.9% are over 65

If Scotland were independent 47.5% would need to support 52.5% of the population, but...



Scotland is currently enjoying economies of scale in the public sector. They don't need to worry about DVLA or any other UK-wide agencies. HM Forces numbers are not included in Scottish public sector job totals, but they are included in the UK number. I would expect the Scottish public sector to increase by between 50,000 (0.9%) and 100,000 (1.8%). If we assume the lower number and that 0.5% come from the unemployed, the numbers become...

22.4% under 20
2.7% unemployed
10.9% public sector
16.9 over 65

47.1% of the population would need to support 52.9%.

[gothatway]

pingu393 said:

...
16.6% are over 65

48.4% of the population supports the other 51.6%.
...

I'm not sure that quite gives an accurate picture. Many over-65s are still in employment and paying tax. Many are actually employing others, many are drawing down personal pensions (granted usually as well as drawing or deferring a state pension). But I don't know how those aspects should be factored in.

[pingu393]

At what level would it be unsustainable? I would have thought 50/50, but the UK seems to be doing OK.

I know that it must be much more complicated than this. After all, there are some industries that are very profitable in terms of £s profit per worker, such as the whisky industry.

[anonymous-user]

On tonights panel

Justine Greening, Douglas Carswell, Peter Coates, Isabel Oakeshott
AND
ANGELA RAYNER

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 23 February 18:34

[don'tbesilly]

techiedave said:

On tonights panel

Justine Greening, Douglas Carswell, Peter Coates, Isabel Oakeshott
AND
ANGELA RAYNER

Edited by techiedave on Thursday 23 February 18:34

Isabel Oakeshott =

[DrDeAtH]

Tonight's entertainment....

[Countdown]

pingu393 said:

For info...


There are 64.1M people in UK

23.9% are under 20
1.69M (2.6%) are unemployed
5.442M (8.5%) are public sector workers
16.6% are over 65

48.4% of the population supports the other 51.6%.

Sorry but a pet hate of mine. The Private Sector doesn't support the Public Sector. Or vice versa. In pure economic terms there is no difference between a Doctor/Nurse working for BUPA and one working for the NHS, there is no difference between a teacher working for Chavscum Comprehensive and one working for RuggerBuggers Academy etc etc etc

[Stickyfinger]

Countdown said:

Sorry but a pet hate of mine. The Private Sector doesn't support the Public Sector. Or vice versa. In pure economic terms there is no difference between a Doctor/Nurse working for BUPA and one working for the NHS, there is no difference between a teacher working for Chavscum Comprehensive and one working for RuggerBuggers Academy etc etc etc

Except that Rugger-B Academy and BUPA are often responsible for bringing in foreign students/patients and thus foreign currency. Their staff also have private pensions etc etc.

NO government worker pays TAX or pays for their Pension, it is just an accounting exercise.

[Halb]

DrDeAtH said:

Tonight's entertainment....

My own personal prediction, I'll enjoy and agree mostly with Douggy and Issy, in that order, and my bowel will be frustrated and irritated by t'others.

[Cobnapint]

Yes, moneyshot and Carswell are the only ones we're likely to get any sense out of tonight.

[Welshbeef]

Moneyshot is cliud9

[V8covin]

Local man Peter Coates is a self made billionaire and a staunch Labour voter,not to mention donor,for those who don't know him

[Stickyfinger]

V8covin said:

Local man Peter Coates is a self made billionaire and a staunch Labour voter,not to mention donor,for those who don't know him

Founder of bet365......so sucks the blood from the poor and the stupid like all bookies

[XCP]

Stickyfinger said:

Except that Rugger-B Academy and BUPA are often responsible for bringing in foreign students/patients and thus foreign currency. Their staff also have private pensions etc etc.

NO government worker pays TAX or pays for their Pension, it is just an accounting exercise.

You assume (wrongly) that government workers have only their wages to be taxed.

[Stickyfinger]

XCP said:

Stickyfinger said:

Except that Rugger-B Academy and BUPA are often responsible for bringing in foreign students/patients and thus foreign currency. Their staff also have private pensions etc etc.

NO government worker pays TAX or pays for their Pension, it is just an accounting exercise.

You assume (wrongly) that government workers have only their wages to be taxed.

Guess how many have other incomes ?.....I accept the possibility but it must be miniscule.

[XCP]

You emphasised 'NO' in your assertion. Govt workers pay VAT, IHT, CGT and numerous other taxes along with everyone else.

[anonymous-user]

XCP said:

You emphasised 'NO' in your assertion. Govt workers pay VAT, IHT, CGT and numerous other taxes along with everyone else.

Plus it seems reasonable to infer that certain posters think public sector jobs are of less value than private sector jobs.

[Stickyfinger]

desolate said:

XCP said:

You emphasised 'NO' in your assertion. Govt workers pay VAT, IHT, CGT and numerous other taxes along with everyone else.

Plus it seems reasonable to infer that certain posters think public sector jobs are of less value than private sector jobs.

You can not pay your self. If you are part of an organization that gets its money from the tax payer then you cannot be a tax payer. The system gets all its money from the TAXPAYER, so if you are the government worker then you only re-cycle real taxes paid by income generating organisations.


Well I do not : if you take social value into account. It is true if you government income into account.

[gothatway]

XCP said:

You emphasised 'NO' in your assertion. Govt workers pay VAT, IHT, CGT and numerous other taxes along with everyone else.

I suspect the point is that the source of the funds they use to pay VAT, CGT, IHT, etc. comes from taxation of the rest of the population.

desolate said:

Plus it seems reasonable to infer that certain posters think public sector jobs are of less value than private sector jobs.

For the most part they generate less wealth/GDP, though many of them do of course provide invaluable services.