Working from home? Not only does Boris Johnson hate you, so does his likely successor Rishi Sunak. And just to prove it, he’s scrapping the ‘tax loophole’ that enables people to reclaim part of the extra costs of working from home. Clearly, he hates self-employed people too.
But there’s no need to worry about our much-loved MPs, like…er…Rishi Sunak, who is richer than the Queen. who can continue to claim thousands per month to cover rent, gas, electric and internet bills on their second homes. Nice work if you can get it.
As the experts keep telling us, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet” when it comes to the increased cost of living. Inflation is already running at 5.4% and is widely expected to hit 7% by the spring. For the better off, like Sunak, they won’t notice any difference. For the squeezed middle and the poor, it will be potentially catastrophic.
Just in case you thought things might get better, they’re about to get much worse. In April, NI will go up by nearly 11%, even though Sunak’s friendly newspapers are saying it’s “only” 1.25%. No – NI is rising by 1.25% points. It’s a big tax rise. Sunak and Johnson say it’s to pay for the NHS and Social Care. How so? They promised us that if we voted for Brexit, the NHS would get an extra £350 million a week. Why, then, do we need a tax rise as well? It can’t have been that they were lying, can it? Boris ‘The Liar’ Johnson lying? I refuse to believe it.
Here’s an idea though. Why not deal with the fraud that surrounded Sunak’s Covid business loans? Now that would certainly pay for lots of doctors and nurses. Yes, let’s do it! Oh, wait: what was that Mr Sunak? You’ve written off £4.3 billion of fraudulent claims? That’s £154 for every household in the country. Think how that would help us out. But no. That £4.3 billion probably went to the government’s dodgy mates in business.
I heard on the BBC’s early morning 5 Live ‘Wake up to money’ show that we are “cash rich” at the moment. Well, some people are, of that there is no doubt. But millions, many millions, of people aren’t. Trust me, I know. I worked with many of them during my job with the DWP and then with two dysfunctional charities. I came across people who alternated between heating and eating and those who had no heating at all. We might not see them from our semi-detached suburban two-up two downs, but they are there. And later this year, when more and more people have nothing they will get angry. Maybe that’s why Priti Patel is now rushing through laws to stop people protesting about anything?
Johnson hates you all right. All he cares about is Johnson. And small state, light touch, low tax Sunak only wants you for his vote for when and if he succeeds Johnson. He’s the nasty austerity man with a sickly smile.
Working from home? Working at all? Enjoy it while you can.
