Do a U-turn on tax credits, George Osborne – or you’ll never be prime minister

[minestrone]

Somebody on £150k PAYE isn't a wealthy person in UK, just not a struggling one (assumes no kids).

Complete and utter bulltulip.

[AtW]

Complete and utter bulltulip.

You are right.

The real figure is probably around £250k for areas outside of London.

[fool]

You are right.

The real figure is probably around £250k for areas outside of London.

Bare in mind this is from the tax man, so even if you believe a high amount of avoidance is skewing the results, for the purposes of who's paying those 1%er taxes, this is perfectly accurate.

Which to put into context, without a property boom or investments, given the cost of living in the south east, that's a probably a good 20 years before you'll be a 1%er wealth wise.

[PurpleGorilla]

Bare in mind this is from the tax man, so even if you believe a high amount of avoidance is skewing the results, for the purposes of who's paying those 1%er taxes, this is perfectly accurate.

Which to put into context, without a property boom or investments, given the cost of living in the south east, that's a probably a good 20 years before you'll be a 1%er wealth wise.

This ^^^

If you're in your 40s you should have been able to leave school, pick up a trade, and buy after a few years a local house. Let's say a baker on £25k. That house will be £350k maybe more. The wealth has come from property NOT wages.

[PurpleGorilla]

And when I say house I mean a detached/semi detached 4 bed

[SueEllen]

And when I say house I mean a detached/semi detached 4 bed

I don't know any detached/semi detached 4 bed houses for 350K where I know in the South East e.g where you would want to bring kids up to go to a good state school. If you lucky you can get a flat....

Also 20 years ago lots of these now expensive properties were in undesirable areas where people didn't want to live.

People were forced to move to them when they couldn't live in the well-known good areas and as they couldn't afford to send their kids private they helped the schools improve.

[PurpleGorilla]

Do a U-turn on tax credits, George Osborne – or you’ll never be prime minister

I don't know any detached/semi detached 4 bed houses for 350K where I know in the South East e.g where you would want to bring kids up to go to a good state school. If you lucky you can get a flat....

Also 20 years ago lots of these now expensive properties were in undesirable areas where people didn't want to live.

People were forced to move to them when they couldn't live in the well-known good areas and as they couldn't afford to send their kids private they helped the schools improve.

I'm in the SW. Cider country. [emoji481]

I appreciate this is a bit of an exaggeration. But the times really have a changed!

[PurpleGorilla]

Do a U-turn on tax credits, George Osborne – or you’ll never be prime minister

[BlasterBates]

The reason why you had cheap house prices in the mid 1980's is :

http://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_1980s_recession

In the late 1980's house prices relative to earnings was about what it is today, interest rates were a little bit higher.

The reason why you had cheaper house prices in the 1990's is:

http://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_1990s_recession

[The early 1990s recession was officially the longest in Britain since the Great Depression some 60 years earlier.

In both of these recessions you had really high interest rates.

[PurpleGorilla]

How blessed are we to have such low interest rates. Gosh our economy must be in fantastic shape.