Tax, insurance, robbing stewards of the bar.

[ExPat2B]

I'm writing this rant as I am smarting a bit from my outgoings this month.

I have paid out :

700 pounds car insurance.
500 pounds house insurance. ( required by Morgage )
176 pounds TV licence
180 quid Council Tax
215 Car Tax.
120 pounds petrol ( most of which is tax )

So 1871 pounds on nothing but mandatory taxes and insurance this month. I had to earn 3742 pounds before income Tax and National Insurance, just to get 1871 pounds in the first place.

And what do I have to show for it ? Nothing. Absoutely nothing. I suppose I can take happiness from knowing my papers are in order should the Stazi stop me or knock on my door.

I could have a Carribien Holiday for that. I could buy a V8 Jag. I could take a road trip to the Nurbergring, Spa, and drive back through the Alps staying at great hotels for that. I know what I would rather have.

Anyone else been bitten by the Tax man this month ? I know there must be some automotive tax horror stories out there to make me feel better.

[adycav]

Your house insurance seems steep.

Have you shopped around?

[SillyALFALove]

adycav said:

Your house insurance seems steep.

Have you shopped around?

Is it on a big hill?


Sorry - quiet friday in the office!

Edited by SillyALFALove on Friday 11th June 13:43

[bdgriffiths]

had:
1200 car insurance
120 car tax (6 months)
90 for a service
30 for a MOT
200 for fuel

so not as bad as you but you sound like you earn a lot more than i did when all those bills hit me

[Shmee150]

1 month, 3000 miles driven, average 16.1mpg, £1050 in fuel, you know how much is tax...

[ExPat2B]

adycav said:

Your house insurance seems steep.
Have you shopped around?

My immersion heater caught fire last year. Believe me, I have shopped hard.

[slomax]

They want to increase the university tuition fees.
enough said.
At the moment it costs around £9k per year to live away at uni in the UK. I know it was my choice, but i don't think i could afford to pay any more. People in Scotland get there course fees for free.

[Dupont666]

slomax said:

They want to increase the university tuition fees.
enough said.
At the moment it costs around £9k per year to live away at uni in the UK. I know it was my choice, but i don't think i could afford to pay any more. People in Scotland get there course fees for free.

Go to scotland then... then it will cost you 9k up there!!

I bet GB did that for his home country and decided that the rest of the UK (England) could foot the bill.

If they removed the fees, who would pay for the universities?

[marlinmunro]

And its all going to get worse, what happens when our pots are empty ?

[Dupont666]

[redacted]

[anonymous-user]

slomax said:

They want to increase the university tuition fees.
enough said.
At the moment it costs around £9k per year to live away at uni in the UK. I know it was my choice, but i don't think i could afford to pay any more. People in Scotland get there course fees for free.

I'm all for it. It will make people think about going to Uni and whether they actually need it thus reducing student numbers. It doesn't matter how much tuition costs because you pay it back afterwards and if you don't do a pointless degree you'll have no problem paying it back afterwards. IMO every tom dick and harry going to Uni is one of the main problems with this country. The current student loan deficit is something like £60 billion, a HUGE contribution to our total defecit.

The next step should be a culling of low standard universities.

Edited by MSTRBKR on Friday 11th June 13:58

[bdgriffiths]

had:
1200 car insurance
120 car tax (6 months)
90 for a service
30 for a MOT
200 for fuel

so not as bad as you but you sound like you earn a lot more than i did when all those bills hit me

[ExPat2B]

Shmee150 said:

1 month, 3000 miles driven, average 16.1mpg, £1050 in fuel, you know how much is tax...

Brutal. You have my respect.

[slomax]

MSTRBKR said:

slomax said:

They want to increase the university tuition fees.
enough said.
At the moment it costs around £9k per year to live away at uni in the UK. I know it was my choice, but i don't think i could afford to pay any more. People in Scotland get there course fees for free.

I'm all for it. It will make people think about going to Uni and whether they actually need it thus reducing student numbers. It doesn't matter how much tuition costs because you pay it back afterwards and if you don't do a pointless degree you'll have no problem paying it back afterwards. IMO every tom dick and harry going to Uni is one of the main problems with this country. The current student loan deficit is something like £60 billion, a HUGE contribution to our total defecit.

I do understand what you mean. The fact that so many people are going to uni is making the deficit larger. Fortunately companies are slowly realising that you don't need to get someone with a degree to do a good job, but more companies need to realise this and start to offer more in house training and apprenticeships. The number in "mickey mouse" degrees are ridiculous and the people that do these IMO shouldn't be at uni. People are doing their respective degrees and finding that there are absolutely no jobs that they can use their degree for as they have chosen to do something that is so specialised and limited. This makes the degree they have done pointless. If less people went to uni and instead went into companies or trades then the amount of funding could reduce in total but increase per student. This is what needs to happen. This can mean that companies will get a better workforce as they will be trained by the company for the exact role. But for some reason, companies can not see this.

[Dupont666]

slomax said:

MSTRBKR said:

slomax said:

They want to increase the university tuition fees.
enough said.
At the moment it costs around £9k per year to live away at uni in the UK. I know it was my choice, but i don't think i could afford to pay any more. People in Scotland get there course fees for free.

I'm all for it. It will make people think about going to Uni and whether they actually need it thus reducing student numbers. It doesn't matter how much tuition costs because you pay it back afterwards and if you don't do a pointless degree you'll have no problem paying it back afterwards. IMO every tom dick and harry going to Uni is one of the main problems with this country. The current student loan deficit is something like £60 billion, a HUGE contribution to our total defecit.

I do understand what you mean. The fact that so many people are going to uni is making the deficit larger. Fortunately companies are slowly realising that you don't need to get someone with a degree to do a good job, but more companies need to realise this and start to offer more in house training and apprenticeships. The number in "mickey mouse" degrees are ridiculous and the people that do these IMO shouldn't be at uni. People are doing their respective degrees and finding that there are absolutely no jobs that they can use their degree for as they have chosen to do something that is so specialised and limited. This makes the degree they have done pointless. If less people went to uni and instead went into companies or trades then the amount of funding could reduce in total but increase per student. This is what needs to happen. This can mean that companies will get a better workforce as they will be trained by the company for the exact role. But for some reason, companies can not see this.

Companies dont like training people cause it costs them money and if they get a newbie and plug £10k of courses into them (that would only be 5-6 courses) then unless there is a big clause in their contract and some handcuffs for several years, then newbie moves to job were they pay more money... hence company doesnt like training up people, or the newbie sees the handcuffs and complains about being tied down for X years.

[anonymous-user]

slomax said:

MSTRBKR said:

slomax said:

They want to increase the university tuition fees.
enough said.
At the moment it costs around £9k per year to live away at uni in the UK. I know it was my choice, but i don't think i could afford to pay any more. People in Scotland get there course fees for free.

I'm all for it. It will make people think about going to Uni and whether they actually need it thus reducing student numbers. It doesn't matter how much tuition costs because you pay it back afterwards and if you don't do a pointless degree you'll have no problem paying it back afterwards. IMO every tom dick and harry going to Uni is one of the main problems with this country. The current student loan deficit is something like £60 billion, a HUGE contribution to our total defecit.

I do understand what you mean. The fact that so many people are going to uni is making the deficit larger. Fortunately companies are slowly realising that you don't need to get someone with a degree to do a good job, but more companies need to realise this and start to offer more in house training and apprenticeships. The number in "mickey mouse" degrees are ridiculous and the people that do these IMO shouldn't be at uni. People are doing their respective degrees and finding that there are absolutely no jobs that they can use their degree for as they have chosen to do something that is so specialised and limited. This makes the degree they have done pointless. If less people went to uni and instead went into companies or trades then the amount of funding could reduce in total but increase per student. This is what needs to happen. This can mean that companies will get a better workforce as they will be trained by the company for the exact role. But for some reason, companies can not see this.

I'm not sure. I think you can still join a company at a low level and work your way up. The problem is the schools installing the idea that everyone must go to university and the idea that everyone has the right to go to university and not offering alternatives to the kids that clearly aren't cut out for a good degree. They do have the right in a way, but they need to be told it will be a fking waste of time and money to go to Southampton Solent or a similar useless establishment because all they got was 3 E's for their A Levels. I'm being harsh but this needs to be tackled harsh, everyone going to university is a serious serious problem.

[SJobson]

ExPat2B said:

I'm writing this rant as I am smarting a bit from my outgoings this month.

I have paid out :

700 pounds car insurance.
500 pounds house insurance. ( required by Morgage )
176 pounds TV licence
180 quid Council Tax
215 Car Tax.
120 pounds petrol ( most of which is tax )

So 1871 pounds on nothing but mandatory taxes and insurance this month. I had to earn 3742 pounds before income Tax and National Insurance, just to get 1871 pounds in the first place.

Some of your figures seem a bit odd - TV licence is £145.50 for the year, and they don't penalise you particularly for paying monthly so why not do that.

House insurance - many insurers don't penalise you for paying monthly again.

And do you pay 50% tax and NI on your entire earnings? No.

[slomax]

sorry to the OP, this has turned into a bit of a thread hi-jack.

[BlueMR2]

On the plus side i haven't had to pay any fuel tax and i just sorned my car as its too small for me and i don't drive it.

On the downside i haven't driven anything for over a month .