So, the personal allowance is to rise to £10k.
This means that the Living Wage should fall. For the Living Wage is a pre-tax wage: obviously, if taxes fall on such low wages then the amount that is needed to live that decent life also falls.
Hands up everyone who thinks that they will lower that Living Wage then?
Quite.
That’s part of the problem when you then tell them that benefits have risen. Because there are no hard and fast facts to say that benefits have risen by x% or
Ironic that the UK’s leading campaigner for tax justice, Richard Murphy, may just have been caught by an anti avoidance measure which will increase his tax bill dramatically. Fingers crossed he’s considered an employee of Tax Research LLP rather than a partner.
“Hands up everyone who thinks that they will lower that Living Wage then?”
By my count the vote went 30-3.
They reassess it on an annual basis, and yes, the increased personal tax allowance from April 2014 will exert a downward pressure on the living wage uprating which will be announced in November 2014.
Given they make the calculation public (http://www.london.gov.uk/publication/fairer-london-2012-living-wage-london) and explicitly mention that every year, I’m not sure how you can expect anything else.
By my count the vote went 30-3.
Mine too. Although halfway through the ballot period, when we stopped for a rest, it was a lot closer. Only when everyone reconvened was the contest shown to be incredibly one-sided.