still_learning

Done some stuff, still learning more, bits drop off the end

Same @ name on Gettr

[still_learning @2still_learning]

Circuit Breaker Benefits Overstated

Following the leak of the SPI-M model to the media, a number of people have focussed on the claim that is could save "up to" 107,000 lives

This is a flawed conclusion. The most obvious and major flaw is that the model stops at 31/12/2020....

[still_learning @2still_learning]

@KathrynPorter26 @7Kiwi Should I be contemplating how many joules are in a gherkin?

[still_learning @2still_learning]

@7Kiwi How apt, when the public finances are in such a pickle

[أبو عمّار @MaajidNawaz]

LABOUR TAX RAIDS ON BANK ACCOUNTS:
“It gets worse, folks, unfortunately. On your screens right now, you see a post by ours that says ‘Breaking’. And this is a screen grab from HMRC. I’m going to blow this up on your screen so you can see it yourselves, where this quote has been pulled by me directly, personally, from HMRC’s website. This is not fake. This is a real screen grab from the ‘Gov. UK’ Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) website. We’ve written: 'Breaking, updated HMRC guidance. Tax collectors will break into your property to seize your valuables without a warrant’. There on the screen, you can see the link to the HMRC website. And unfortunately, just going to read it for you now, because again, to reiterate, this is a real image from HMRC. This is an update on their real website that I personally grabbed. What did they say? They said: ‘Although the possessions can only be listed’, your possessions ‘can only be listed, by an HMRC officer, they can be collected by private auctioneers employed by us’. The key line in highlight. ‘Whoever is collecting the goods can use a locksmith to enter premises to remove the goods if necessary. They do not need a warrant from the courts or to give in any notice to you first'. So this bunch of maniacs in power seek to empower HMRC to be able to take taxes directly from your bank account. Meanwhile, from business properties, if small family businesses find themselves unable to pay their taxes and are struggling, they seek to empower HMRC to enter your property, even using a locksmith without a warrant, to seize your goods, and they don’t need to give you any notice that they’re about to do this.” Maajid Nawaz for WARRIOR CREED

[still_learning @2still_learning]

@BurnsideWasTosh and their objective is to ensure we are all paupers

[still_learning @2still_learning]

@DickieDogfather @JMcMurdockMP That's only a part, and ignores interest rates which were much higher

The tax burden is the biggest issue, you see two employees pay more tax & also a greater supply of labour reduces the price

[still_learning @2still_learning]

@LoftusSteve I have have brief exchanges with 2 work colleagues over the past two days. One declared her loathing for a neighbour with a Teal painted house & a Union flag.

The other, in response to my comment that an election is confirmed commented that greens were closest to her values 🤦

[still_learning @2still_learning]

@andyoattes A budget delivered by a not very nice Dobby

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

Look at this, stashed away on page 118 of the budget...

The Government is implementing visa salary requirement changes from spring 2027 that will reduce 'occupation-specific minimum salary thresholds from the median to the 25th percentile of wages'.

In short, making it FAR easier for firms to hire migrants.

Why are they lowering barriers to overseas workers instead of training British men and women?

British people do not want more immigration.

At all.

[still_learning @2still_learning]

@StuartMaggs I didn't miss it !

They can't wait to spend other peoples money and are taking it from the self employed with no interest cost instead of the bond markets

The objective is to have everyone on PAYE, with schedule E type deductions

[Stuart @StuartMaggs]

The hidden tax measure in the Budget is huge for people paying tax under self-assessment - sole traders, partners, landlords, retired investors.

For 6th April 2028-29, you currently pay 50% of your income tax late in the tax year in question (in January 2029), 50% just after the year end (in July 2029) with any make-up payment in January 2030.

Under the new proposals you will pay your tax perhaps monthly or quarterly (TBC) from April 2029 onwards. A rough analysis suggests the impact is to draw about 50% of your tax bill forward, a huge cashflow boost to HMRC and a significant funding issue for the self-employed.

The Treasury recognises this, and expects to raise £1.3bn of additional tax in 29/30 as a result of this change.

The cashflow impact of the accelerated charge will send some businesses to the wall.

[Michael Reiners @MCRReiners]

There is a lesson to be learned about the manner in which invasions of privacy are policed in Britain. The ability to investigate and publish is unevenly distributed.

To sanctify a doxxing as beyond the reproach of the criminal law and justifiably in the public interest, you require a United Kingdom Press Card Authority (UKPCA) issued card or be a member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) – it is then, of course, journalism. Some of the greatest serial offenders when it comes to doxxing are protected by this privilege, Hope No Hate among them.

I wrote on the subject of this precise double standard by design – particularly as it applies here on X – in @ReinersProject here: https://t.co/pLGtWySNLr

[still_learning @2still_learning]

@CutMyTaxUK These charges are only paid by individual taxpayers as it's income tax

Not by corporates, CT

Just a further attack on the private rental sector, that was started by disallowing deduction of interest costs 10 years ago so that Lloyds & Blackrock etc could dominate the market

[Cut My Tax @CutMyTaxUK]

The core aim of Labour think tanks like Torsten Bell's Resolution Foundation to apply National Insurance to savings and rental income is being accomplished by stealth.

But to do it all in one go was seen as too politically difficult, so Labour is increasing the tax rate on this income by 2% a year. In a couple of years they'll have got this supplementary tax rate up to 8%, matching the standard rate of employee NI. But of course the more you tax something, the less you get of it. As the OBR has confirmed this means fewer rental properties and higher rents. It will also mean fewer savings.

The OBR noted that the rental income tax hike risks “leading to a steady rise in rents through two effects":

“First, potential landlords are less likely to enter the market, reducing long-run rental supply, which risks a steady long-term rise in rents if demand outstrips supply – which we think is more likely than not".

“Second, landlords are likely to pass on more of these costs to renters in the long-run through a combination of some current landlords leaving, thereby giving more price setting power to remaining landlords, and greater long-run flexibility to raise rents.”

The left hates savers and landlords but the economy needs both of them. It's really sad that the left's prejudice continues to direct Labour budgets.
1/2

[TaxWatch @taxwatch]

HMRC has quietly withdrawn the data that is reportedly driving one of the Chancellor's key decisions tomorrow on taxing the wealthy. Hardly anyone seems to have noticed. 🧵

[Kathryn Porter @KathrynPorter26]

So there we have it. Probably the highest day ever in the BM at over £52 million

The final number tends to be a bit higher than the trading figure reported by LCP

This is what Connect & Manage has done... We spent £52 million because we had to throw away wind in Scotland that we built despite knowing we can't use it

Plus NESO not curtailing it before the DA auction meaning instead of gas plant self dispatching it has to be bid on in the BM

@Miatsf @mgshanks @AndrewBowie_MP @ClaireCoutinho @harrietc @ColinMoynihanUK @drlukeevans @ashley7fox @TiceRichard @cmackinlay @DavidGHFrost @mattwridley @Iromg @AllisonPearson @MerrynSW @EdConwaySky @afneil @mattotele @jonathan_leake @julietsamuel @energygovuk

[The Fox 👤 @TheFox89688362]

Scrapped low-traffic neighbourhood ‘failed to reduce congestion’

Report says London scheme that led to motorists being fined £1.4m did not improve environment

https://t.co/vw9ppooJsi

[James McMurdock MP @JMcMurdockMP]

I earn £100 grand a year.

I have a detached house. 2 cars and my wife is a full time home maker.

I can just about afford this. I probably couldn’t afford the house I own if I was buying for the first time today.

My salary puts me in the top 5% of earners in the UK.

Top 5% to have a similar standard of living to Homer Simpson.

That is a disgrace.

We have a flatter salary distribution than Soviet Russia and the highest taxes and borrowing costs we’ve seen in generations.

Success is almost impossible because our tax system means hard work makes you a stressed out tax cow, not wealthy and certainly not free.

We need something radical.

Less state.
More family.

Less handouts.
More reward for risk.

Instead. Tomorrow, Labour will offer another batch of policies which will send one message to aspirational Brits: why bother.

[still_learning @2still_learning]

@KathrynPorter26 @neso_energy In long term contracts, two risks are key:

Price, the obvious one, usually resolved by a benchmark/formula

Volume: Who has obligation to supply, obligation to take

As you say, there is no volume obligation on either counterparty, so no assumption about use can be credibly made

[Kathryn Porter @KathrynPorter26]

Last week @neso_energy published its Winter Outlook suggesting the spare margin is in line with previous years

But scratch below the surface and you find a change in methodology and some optimistic assumptions and a heavy reliance on imports, including, implausibly from Ireland

Adjust those assumptions and the margin is all but wiped out

Rather than repeating tired mantras about security, NESO should set out proper stress tests where risks are correlated as they can be in real life

It should also adopt a more conservative approach to interconnectors. NESO uses the Capacity Market assumptions but the CM availability test for interconnectors is that they are capable of flowing not that they are importing

While NESO can shut off exports it cannot under any circumstances compell imports

@Miatsf @mgshanks @AndrewBowie_MP @ClaireCoutinho @harrietc @ColinMoynihanUK @drlukeevans @ashley7fox @TiceRichard @cmackinlay @DavidGHFrost @mattwridley @Iromg @AllisonPearson @MerrynSW @EdConwaySky @afneil @mattotele @jonathan_leake @julietsamuel @energygovuk

https://t.co/9Rf2a60fN9