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The tutor
‘Paying £100 more in tax will take its toll’
Polly Clarke, 23, earns £14,391 as a tutor at a specialist school for autistic children in Sharpthorne, West Sussex. With the removal of the 10p tax band, Miss Clarke will pay about £100 more in tax a year. “£100 is a significant extra burden for young people at my age earning a low income,” Miss Clarke said. “We aren’t being paid very much for the job that we’re doing here anyway, but you would think that the system would allow us the benefit of paying a bit less tax.”
Her wage means that Miss Clarke has to live with her parents in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. She shares the cost of driving to work with a colleague who lives near by, but isn’t left with much money. “We are all here because we love the job that we do, but struggling for money does really take its toll.”
She says that a number of teachers have had to leave her school to find better paid jobs. “The money is not good enough in the first place. If we’re all losing even more in tax it will be very difficult to get by.” Miss Clarke graduated two years ago with a degree in psychology, and now teaches 12 different autistic children one to one. She expects to remain on a low income for at least four more years, as she gains the experience needed to become an assistant psychologist with the NHS.
The clerk
‘I lose £232 and get no help with anything’
Kevin Davia, 34, from Hitchin in Hertfordshire, works in accountancy support and earns £13,500 a year.
He was horrified to find out he will be paying up to £232 more tax this year after the abolition of the 10p rate.
“I was stunned. I find it totally reprehensible that the Government did not give a thought for people on low earnings who do not qualify for any other help,” he told The Times yesterday. “When I heard about the tax change I called up to see if I could get any tax credits, but I just miss out because the threshold is £12,853. I get no help with anything.
“As it is, I am hunting down the back of the sofa for coins at the end of the month when the rent is due.”
Already badly hit by price rises in gas and electricity, Mr Davia said he has now been forced to try to find a new job.
“I owe about £2,000 on a credit card, and have an overdraft of another £2,000. I don’t drink or smoke and have next to no social life. I just cannot make ends meet any more and so am looking for a new job. I can’t believe they would have made such a monumental decision as this without thinking through how it would hurt low-paid people. I have reached the conclusion they just do not care.”

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they call it the new labour party please go back to the old labour
brian lees, coventry, uk
Prime minister Brown should go back in time and study the reasons why the labour movement was set up.He really needs to get back to basics and help the poorer poeple in this country.I am one of the 1.1 million who will remain worse off as a result of his bungling.He said he would listen.He did not.
STEPHEN C ROSCOE, HENLLAN, NORTH WALES
I have a private pension that is my only source of income.
From this month my tax contribution has increased by £8.75. My annual bill has gone from £1,008.00 to £1,116.00. By the time I reach 65 and recieve a state pension will my private one just fund my tax contribution or should I look for work
James McGreal, Telford, Shropshire
I am a pensioner and 67 years old,
I have calculated I will lose £20/month, because most of my income was in the 10p tax band. Therefore my tax bill doubles.
Martin from Newtown
martin, Newtown, Powys
It would not be possible to write this scenario as a piece of fiction and expect it to be believed.
But here we are, a Labour Government, I ask you, A LABOUR GOVERNMENT, increasing Tax on a less well paid, but not quite poor, group of people and giving more to those on above average earnings.
M. Sheridan, Oldham,
I think Gordon Brown ought to live as a lower paid citizen and see how he would manage on the money he is asking us to live on. I am 65 and have worked since 15 years of age,paid a full insurance stamp all my married life. My husband is 72 and only has is state pension yet we still find it difficult
Barbara Hutchinson, Ickenham Uxbridge, England
They taketh with one hand, and taketh with the other to.
My new job attracts a salary of less than £13,000 per annum (public sector) and with the highest water, energy, food and rates bills we have ever seen, plus rent of £500 a month I am going to have to put my life on hold for the foreseeable future it seems.
Strangely, I won't be voting Labour.
Jennifer Hynes, Plymouth, England
Has anyone at the Times actually calculated the tax changes for the two case studies?
The tutor's £100 more should be £43.
The clerk's 'I lose £232..' shoud be £61.
A bit more research appears to be needed please, James and Rosemary
Paul, Southampton,
"They haven't removed the 10p band they've doubled it!"
I think that you'll find that the 10p has actually been removed. It has gone from being £2320 to nothing. If it had been doubled, it would now be £4640...
A little basic maths is needed here.
Andrew, South Croydon, UK
Why all the anger over the removal over the 10p tax band. People are talking about losing £100 PER YEAR. When Gordon Brown destroyed private pensions my pension went from being worth £200 per month in 1997 to being worth £63 per month this year. Of course it being a PRIVATE pension it did not matter
Tom Mein, Crete, Greece.
They haven't removed the 10p band they've doubled it!
James, taunton,
My husband and I both took early retirement from stressful jobs but as yet do not qualify for our state pension. We have a joint income of £12,000.
We'd like to know what benefits we will be able to claim when we don't have young children and cannot claim a state pension for another 5 years at the earliest (my husband has to wait another 8 years).
We took early retirement by necessity, our health was our priority. Now we are being penalised for looking after ourselves.
Anonymous, Bury, England
Give our low paid workers a chance - especially the young ones £232 a year is a paltry sum to those who can afford cheap flights to Europe for sunny weekends or a couple of bottles of wine a week from Tesco. Some of us oldies have lived a little and on low money but in the 60s and 70s at least we could have fun cheaply- around 20p for a frothy coffee and a spin on the Juke Box even the Chainti was cheaper than today's bottled water!
We all need cheap thrills and now innocent ones will be out of reach for the young ones!
Give fair pay to low earners and don't rob them!
John Longstone, Newcastle on Tyne, England