working homework meaning

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noun as in assignment

Strongest matches

• appointment

Strong matches

noun as in drill

• conditioning
• preparation
• constitutional
• instruction
• run through

Weak matches

• daily dozen
• learning by doing

noun as in lesson

noun as in practice

noun as in preparation

• arrangement
• construction
• establishment
• preparedness
• qualification
• anticipation
• expectation
• manufacture
• substructure
• getting ready
• making ready
• putting in order

noun as in revision

• improvement
• modification
• reconsideration
• reexamination
• rectification
• retrospection
• overhauling

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Example sentences.

Now, they log on to Zoom from their bedrooms, surrounded by unfinished homework assignments and tattered stuffed animals, waiting to be assigned calls, texts and emails by the trained therapists who oversee the program.

Yow started her homework and saw Frese had gone 35-22 with two winning seasons at Ball State, which hadn’t had a winning record in its previous nine seasons.

Do some homework before investing in a diamond, and that lifelong commitment.

Another poster included an image of their losses over what appeared to be online math homework.

As we countdown to Inauguration Day, I've been doing my homework—and looking to the past for inspiration.

“I can help my children with their homework and sometimes we text in English at my job,” Santos says.

Scheunemann, meanwhile, had no idea who Spencer was, and did some homework.

She jumped at the chance to watch RT, or jumped at the chance to skip calculus homework.

And we encourage parent-student “contracts,” for class attendance, homework submission and even extra-curriculum activities.

Adicéam did his homework, spending 50 days collecting pieces, many with unexpected stories behind them.

Much of this homework is done by a very bad light and the boy's eyes suffer much.

For homework we have prepared alphabets where the letters are printed in type-writing order.

His parents were always getting angry with him for losing his clothes, or his toys, or his homework.

Only at the time when he was going to Beauregard School, with his homework.

And once a week or twice a week she was sending her homework or something to him.

Related Words

Words related to homework are not direct synonyms, but are associated with the word homework . Browse related words to learn more about word associations.

noun as in responsibility, task

noun as in practice, exercise

noun as in information taught

noun as in exercise, application

Viewing 5 / 7 related words

On this page you'll find 166 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to homework, such as: appointment, chore, drill, duty, job, and position.

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

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Trump is proposing to make tips tax-free. What would that mean for workers?

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump walks to the podium at a campaign event Tuesday, June 18, 2024, in Racine, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s new proposal to exclude tips from federal taxes is getting strong reviews from some Republican lawmakers, though major questions remain about the impact of the policy and how it would work.

What’s certain is that a change in the taxation of tips would affect millions. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are 2.24 million waiters and waitresses across the country, with tips making up a large percentage of their income.

A look at what Trump’s proposing and the possible political and economic ramifications:

TRUMP’S ELECTION-YEAR PITCH IN NEVADA

Trump announced his tax-free-tips plan at a June 9 rally in Nevada, a key battleground state with six electoral votes in the race for the White House. President Joe Biden won the state in 2020, but the Trump campaign hopes to put the state in play this fall.

Nevada has the highest concentration of tipped workers in the country, with about 25.8 waiters and waitresses per 1,000 jobs, followed by Hawaii and Florida.

“To those hotel workers and people who get tips, you are going to be very happy, because when I get to office we are going to not charge taxes on tips, people making tips,” Trump said at the rally. “... We’re going to do that right away, first thing in office.”

The pitch sets up a sharp political contrast between Democrats and Republicans. While Trump assumes that a tax cut would help workers, Democrats have generally endorsed efforts to increase hourly wages — and it’s an open question which approach resonates more with voters.

The Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno and is backing Biden, dismissed Trump’s plan as a stunt.

“Relief is definitely needed for tip earners, but Nevada workers are smart enough to know the difference between real solutions and wild campaign promises from a convicted felon.” Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said in a statement.

Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, declined to speak to the idea floated by Trump because, as a federal employee, she’s not supposed to talk campaign politics.

“What I can say is that President Biden has fought for real solutions that actually address workers’ legitimate need for fair wages, we think, much more effectively,” she said, adding that tipped workers in Nevada would get a $6,000 income boost from a higher minimum wage and the elimination of the tipped minimum wage.

HOW WOULD THE TAX EXEMPTION WORK?

Trump has not specified whether he wants to exempt tips from just income taxes or from the payroll tax as well. The payroll tax funds Medicare and Social Security.

For workers, a blanket exemption would mean more take-home pay. And for the federal government, it could mean larger budget deficits.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group, has estimated that exempting tips from both income and payroll taxes would reduce federal revenues by $150 billion to $250 billion over the next decade.

The committee said exempting tips from taxation would also lead employers and workers to reclassify wages as tips where possible. The more that happens, the more that federal deficits would increase. A 10% increase in tips, for example, would bump up the committee’s projection for lost federal revenue to a range of $165 billion to $275 billion over the next decade.

Congress undoubtedly would examine Trump’s proposal on tips as it considers which portions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are allowed to expire after next year, including the lower individual tax rates. Lawmakers are already prepping for the task, though Trump’s proposal is something that many had not thought about until recently.

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., a senior House Ways and Means Committee member, said lawmakers will have to consider the overall cost of the tips proposal and how to pay for it.

“I want to be sensitive because they work hard, you can’t find enough waiters, and obviously a big part of their earnings is tips,” Buchanan said. “All these programs sound good. Everybody would like to pay less taxes, but we’ve got to pay the bills.”

“I know he’s trying to make sure the people at that income level have relief as much as possible. We might be able to do the same thing in making his tax cuts more permanent and more likely to address lower-income people,” said Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., who also serves on the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax policy.

TRADE-OFFS OF NOT TAXING TIPS

Like many tax proposals, Trump’s push to exempt tips could have unintended consequences.

Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, argues that Trump’s proposal could actually backfire for many tipped workers.

For example, some customers may respond to tax-free tips by reducing their gratuity. Secondly, it could take the steam out of efforts in some states to gradually increase the minimum wage for tipped workers so that their base pay is in line with the minimum wage for other workers.

“The lure of tax-free income could turn many workers against the shift from tips to wages,” Gleckman wrote in a blog post.

Gleckman also questioned why a service worker should avoid paying taxes on tips as opposed to a warehouse worker earning the same amount. He noted that while Trump promised to repeal the tax on tips right away, only Congress can repeal federal taxes, and “for reasons of efficiency, fairness, and sound tax administration, let’s hope it doesn’t.”

LOOKING AHEAD

Democrats have largely dismissed Trump’s proposal as a gimmick to win over voters.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, noted she was a waitress in college, calling it “really hard work.” She prefers increasing the minimum wage for tipped workers to match the minimum wage for other workers.

“From my perspective, I don’t think (Trump’s) proposal is serious and I don’t think it does enough to address low-wage working people,” Stabenow said.

Sen. Ron Wyden, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Trump was “throwing out lots of ideas as he goes,” but his record as president reflects an emphasis on tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations.

“All these things he throws out every day, I’ll believe it when I see it,” Wyden said.

But Trump’s enthusiasm for the idea seems to be growing. The tax promise has since become a staple of Trump’s rallies and meetings, and he raised his proposal while meeting with GOP lawmakers and business leaders in Washington last week.

“I think it’s actually a very smart idea. The men and women who rely on tips for their earnings, they are working their tails off,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. “That’s very good, targeted tax reform right there.”

Some lawmakers and allies have begun tweeting photos of their restaurant bills with handwritten messages designed to spread the word about Trump’s promise. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., wrote “Vote Trump!” and “No Tax on tips!” on his bill from a Milwaukee restaurant.

The musician Kid Rock, a prominent Trump supporter, shared a photo on X.

“A vote for Trump is a vote for no tax on tips!!” he wrote on his receipt. He tipped $400 on a $1,143 bill at a pricey steakhouse, according to the photo.

Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.

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16-year-old soccer player Lamine Yamal brings his homework to Euro 2024

Danielle Kurtzleben

16 year-old Barcelona soccer player Lamine Yamal brought his homework with him to Euro 2024.

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NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Gen Z’s latest and greatest contribution to the culture? Doing nothing.

A growing number of Zoomers are refusing to embrace adulthood, according to statistics — choosing instead to be NEETs, Fortune reported.

NEET stands for “not in employment, education, or training” — and the lifestyle is thought to be contributing to record levels of youth unemployment around the world.

About one-fifth of people ages 15 to 24 in 2023 are currently classified as NEETs, according to the International Labour Organization.

It’s not exactly clear what is causing sizable Gen Z cohort to ditch the workforce, but research has frequently shown that the group is struggling to hit life’s traditional milestones —- since they’re earning less and accumulating more debt.

A recent study from credit reporting agency TransUnion found that people in their 20s today are taking home a salary of about $45,500, while millennials were earning $51,852 at their age when adjusted for inflation.

In November 2023, a survey revealed that Gen Z and millennial adults are facing more difficulties than their parents did when it comes to achieving milestones in the workforce.

Of the 1,039 young adults surveyed, aged between 18 and 34, 55% said it’s “much harder” to buy a home, 44% said it’s harder to find a job, and 55% said it’s harder to get promoted, according to the Youth & Money in the USA poll by CNBC and Generation Lab.

With young people earning less and facing inflation and economic hardships, many are just stuck trying to keep their heads above water.

“I’m just focusing on the present because the future is depressing,” Anette Suveges, a 27-year-old account executive in public relations, previously told Fortune .

And hustle culture and “girlbossing” that ran rampant in millennial culture now seem dated and out of style. Many in the younger generation would prefer to “protect their peace” rather than give into the corporate world.

Some other Zoomers want to work — they just don’t want a whole career.

The 2023 study showed that 40% of those surveyed prefer to pursue less traditional economic opportunities.

This includes jobs that are more laid back with no regular overtime, antisocial working hours or any substantial responsibilities. Others are shying away from office culture. Teaching has become one of the hottest careers for motivated Gen Z grads, where pay is low but vacation is long.

At the same time, Gen Z is facing a mental health crisis, leading them to call in sick to the jobs they are willing to do, way more often than Gen X.

“Youth worklessness due to ill health is a real and growing trend; it is worrying that young people in their early 20s, just embarking on their adult life, are more likely to be out of work due to ill health than those in their early 40s,” researchers at the think tank Resolution Foundation (RF) previously told Fortune.

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Juneteenth: What to know about the historical celebration that's now a federal holiday

On june 19, 1865 slaves in galveston, texas were given the news that they were freed by president abraham lincoln. now, the day is a holiday that celebrates the "second independence day" in america..

Three years after it was made a federal holiday , Juneteenth 2024 marks a day of celebration as well as education.

The federal holiday known as “Second Independence Day,” marks the day the last African American slaves were notified that they had been freed from their masters, the National Museum of African American History and Culture said.

Dr. Tim Goler, a professor of urban affairs and sociology courses and director of research for the Center for African American Public Policy at Norfolk State University, told USA TODAY that Juneteenth or "Freedom Day" is a day that shows the "beauty of our culture" that everyone should participate in.

The origins of Juneteenth date back to June 19, 1865 – more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation - when the Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of enslaved African Americans, Goler said.

“This delay and the enforcement of the emancipation in Texas was due to a lack of enforcement until this general arrived," Goler said. "Then Juneteenth thus became this kind of powerful symbol of freedom and the long struggle for civil rights."

The Juneteenth National Independence Day A ct was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate in June 2021. The bill was signed by President Joe Biden on June 17, 2021, which officially made the day a federal holiday.

Here's what you need to know about Juneteenth.

An African American holiday: Predating Juneteenth was nearly lost to history. It's back.

Black History, Juneteenth becoming more cemented in fabric of US

Although Juneteenth is now becoming a part of the conversation regarding Black History, there was a time when Black History was not widely discussed within the educational system, especially for historians, said Dr. Alan Singer, a professor of teaching, learning and technology at Hofstra University who writes about the history of slavery and racism.

“I didn't learn it (until) I was an adult, really (in the) 1990s, when as a teacher, I started studying more, so I (could) incorporate it into my lessons,” he said. “I went to City College in the 1960s and they had first introduced a course called ‘American Negro History’ and that was the first time I had learned about any of these things. I took the course because I became a political activist while at City College and I needed to know more about the African American civil rights struggles.”

Singer also adds that he attended high school during the Civil Rights Movement and was never taught about Black History. To change that, he decided to educate himself more to properly teach his students.

“I just felt a heavy responsibility as a teacher to really present a much more accurate picture of the history of the United States,” he said.

Goler adds that Juneteenth has been recognized for years within the Black community and history. Now, the day has become more publicly known.

"In recent years, Juneteenth has gained a much wider recognition. It's only been since 2021 that it became that designated as a federal holiday," he said. "Many Black people and Black communities around the country have celebrated Juneteenth. It's just becoming much more wider and much more visible now."

Commercialization of Juneteenth

Since Juneteenth has been declared a federal holiday, many retailers have unveiled Juneteenth attire through clothing, footwear, hats and other merchandise.

"The question is, 'who benefits from the commercialization of Juneteenth?' I’d definitely like to see more African American (and) more Black businesses benefit," Goler said. "The trend of commercialization, we risk the overshadowing of the historical context, and the ongoing struggle for racial equality that Juneteenth represents."

Singer hopes that companies that are selling Juneteenth products are also advocating for more inclusivity.

“What I'm arguing is that what we need to do is to use a day like Juneteenth as a launching pad to build a more just society,” he said. “It should not just be about the past, it has to be about the future.”

Goler hopes that the holiday will bring everyone together but also educate them about this important day in Black History.

"I think as we observe Juneteenth, it's important to focus on the education, reflection, the community engagement aspect and really ensure that the day remains of a pungent reminder of our continued and enduring fight for freedom and justice," he said.

Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on the National Trending Team at USA TODAY. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, health, lottery and public policy stories. Email her at  [email protected] . Follow her on  Instagram ,  Threads  and  X (Twitter) .

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Meaning of homeworking in English

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• We want to encourage flexibility in working patterns , including part-time and flexitime work , job-sharing , and homeworking.
• Of those companies already operating homeworking, 60% expect that the proportion of staff doing it will increase .
• Women are still much more likely than men to be engaged in part-time work or homeworking.
• She claims that homeworking has increased productivity as well as reducing overheads and improving staff retention .
• office politics
• office spouse
• self-starter

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thirst for something

to feel very strongly that you want and need a particular thing

Fakes and forgeries (Things that are not what they seem to be)

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What does SQL NULL mean and how to handle NULL values

By: Eric Blinn   |   Updated: 2024-06-20   |   Comments (1)   |   Related: > TSQL

I'm constantly seeing the NULL in column values. What does that mean? It seems to make some of my queries act strange, and I need to understand it better.

This tip will help you understand what NULL means in the context of the Microsoft Fabric data universe, which includes SQL Server. It will then show how these values can make queries act unexpectedly and how to best interact with NULL values to avoid problems.

What is NULL?

NULL isn't a value but rather the absence of a value. That doesn't always make sense to a newcomer. Let's use an example to explain.

I asked four people how much money they had in their wallets. The first person said $2. The second person answered $10. The third person answered $0, no money in their wallet. The fourth person answered that they didn't even have a wallet. If I were recording these answers in a database, it would be disingenuous to record that this fourth respondent had no money in their wallet when they didn't have a wallet at all. This last person's answer is the equivalent of NULL. It's the absence of an answer to the question.

The code below is a SQL Server representation of the story told above.

Variables hold the value NULL when declared and before being set to any value. In this case, NULL, again, indicates the absence of any value.

It is important to understand that NULL is not the same as 0 for numbers or an empty string for character-based data types. It is also not the word "NULL." NULL is completely separate and follows different rules than non-null values.

ISNULL Function

The ISNULL function will be used throughout this tip. It seemed best to introduce it at the top. It accepts two parameters: a value and a replacement. The function attempts to return the first value, but if that value is NULL, then the second parameter, the replacement, is returned instead.

In this example, the variable is never set and remains NULL. The ISNULL function sees that the variable is NULL and returns the replacement instead.

The next example's variable is set to a value. It wouldn't matter what that value was. It could even be an empty string. Since there is a value in the variable, it is not NULL. Now, the ISNULL function returns that value and ignores the potential replacement text.

Another function largely synonymous with ISNULL is COALESCE, which some people prefer. I'll be using ISNULL in this tip, but you can read about the differences between the two in the following tip: Deciding between COALESCE and ISNULL in SQL Server .

NULL in Aggregate Queries

Aggregate functions treat NULL values differently than other values. When using the COUNT function, NULL values are ignored. Remember: There are four rows in the CASH_IN_WALET table. In this snippet, notice that the count of the Amount column that has one NULL value is only 3.

The average function, AVG, also ignores NULL values. The wallets have $12 total divided across four rows. One might expect the average to be $3, but it is not. Since the NULL value is not considered, the $12 is only divided across the three non-null rows and returns $4.

The common warning below will appear in the messages tab when an aggregate function skips a NULL value. In most circumstances, this message can be ignored.

We will see changes in the output if we apply the ISNULL function to the Amount column to exchange NULL values for zeroes before applying the aggregate. First, the average now considers all four rows and returns $3. Second, the messages tab is also clear of any warnings since the NULL values were removed before the aggregation began.

The next demo removes the $0 row from the CASH_IN_WALLET table.

One might expect the minimum Amount value to be the NULL value. Or maybe a zero. Certainly, the person who doesn't even have a wallet is the person with the least amount of money! But, once again, the aggregate function ignores the NULL value and returns the smallest non-null value, $2.

Depending on the scenario, it may make sense to turn the NULL values into another value, often zero. The following query does just that.

NULL in String Manipulation

Another time that NULL values can cause havoc is when working with string data. This query declares three strings and attempts to concatenate them.

The output does not say "HelloWorld" but instead returns a NULL string. This is because the middle string, @String2, remains a NULL value, meaning that any concatenation that includes @String2 will also be NULL.

If you're following along and your demo did NOT do that, there is a reason. There is a connection-level setting that can be changed to tell SQL Server to treat NULL values like empty strings when doing concatenation. If you run this statement and rerun the previous demo, you'll see this output with the HelloWorld string. If you already saw this output on the first execution, change the OFF to ON and rerun the demo. Now, you should see the NULL value in the results.

Changing this setting to OFF is functionally equivalent to changing the code but with less typing.

NULL in Comparisons

The NULL value cannot be compared using normal operators. Consider the query below. We have been working with this table and know that one row has a NULL in the Amount column, yet our query returns zero rows.

The "equals" operator is only functional for non-null values. To search specifically for NULL values, we must use the IS operator instead.

To search for all non-null values, the keyword NOT is added.

There is more to learn about NULLs in comparisons than can be covered in this tip. Read more about it in this tip: SQL Server NOT Equal Operators .

Final Thoughts

NULL is a value that pops up a lot in SQL Server. Having a solid understanding of how your queries will interact with it is vital to being a good DBA, SQL Programmer, Report Writer, or any other profession that involves structured data.

• How to choose between ISNULL and COALESCE
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Starmer: Working people don’t have savings

Senior Tories claim remarks show Labour is preparing to ‘wallop’ savers and homeowners with tax rises

Sir Keir Starmer has opened the door to tax rises on millions of families by suggesting that “working people” do not have savings.

The Labour leader indicated that his manifesto commitment not to increase taxes on workers only applied to those who do not have money set aside.

His remarks were seized upon by the Tories with Jeremy Hunt saying he had “let slip Labour’s true plans to raise taxes across the board”.

Labour’s manifesto includes a pledge to “ not increase taxes on working people ”. But his definition of this group suggests millions of working people who have savings are excluded by his definition and could suffer tax increases.

The party has committed to not putting up income tax, national insurance or VAT if it wins power but has failed to rule out other tax rises.

During a radio interview on Tuesday, Sir Keir was asked what he meant by working people .

“People who earn their living, rely on our [public] services and don’t really have the ability to write a cheque when they get into trouble,” he told LBC.

“So the sort of people I’m meeting pretty well every day now. It’s quite a big group because these days there are many people obviously not so well off.”

Two-thirds of working-age households have savings of more than £1,000 - considered the minimum “rainy day” fund - according to the Resolution Foundation.

Meanwhile, more than one in eight Britons now use private healthcare , according to a YouGov survey carried out last year.

Sir Keir’s comments raise the prospect that Labour’s promise to not raise taxes on working people only includes the very poorest people who are in work. It could exclude people who do work but also have savings, investments or use private services like healthcare as well as pensioners.

A poll for The Telegraph, carried out by Savanta, shows that 60pc of voters believe Labour will increase capital gains tax, whilst 56pc expect it to put up inheritance tax.

Sir Keir insisted that “none of our plans require tax rises over and above the ones we have set out” in the manifesto published last week.

However, he also refused to rule out future hikes in council tax, insisting that he would not “write the budgets for the next five years” now.

The Labour manifesto already includes plans to launch tax raids on private school fees , overseas property owners, non-doms, energy giants and private equity investors.

Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, told The Telegraph: “Keir Starmer has let slip Labour’s true plans - to raise taxes across the board.

“Under pressure, Starmer has finally made it clear that Labour would raise taxes on millions of hardworking people who they don’t deem to meet their narrow and misguided definition of ‘working’.

“Be in no doubt that their £38.5 billion spending blackhole and £2,094 tax bombshell would only be the tip of the iceberg for a Labour government.”

Rishi Sunak warned on Tuesday night that “raising tax is in Labour’s DNA” whereas he is on a “moral mission” to bring down the burden on people “at every stage of life”.

“As Conservatives, we believe in lower taxes because people, not governments, make the best decisions about how to spend their money,” the Prime Minister said.

“That’s the choice at this election – lower taxes with the Conservatives or a £2,094 tax hike under Labour that would hammer working families hardest.”

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a former Tory leader, added: “Those who generate wealth, who work hard, who are successful, who add huge value to the British economy - they are his targets for higher taxation.

“If you have savings, if you own a home , if you own wealth, you are going to get walloped. That is a big admission.

“His levelling up isn’t levelling up, it’s levelling down . The old socialist in there who supported Jeremy Corbyn is still alive and well.”

Sir Keir’s comments come after Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary , said that Labour defined working people as those who are “on lower middle incomes”.

The Tories claimed that his remarks suggested the opposition party is planning tax hikes on anyone earning over the median salary of £35,000.

Bim Afolami, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury said the comments revealed “who the targets are for Labour’s £2,094 of tax rises because of the black hole in their plans.”

Mr Streeting, one of Sir Keir’s closest allies, last week opened the door to higher spending by saying the manifesto was not the “sum total” of Labour’s ambitions.

On Tuesday it emerged that a group of Labour MPs have produced a dossier calling for six new tax rises to raise £60billion.

The proposals from the party’s Tribune group – of which Sir Keir is a member – set out increases to inheritance tax, capital gains taxes and a new “jackpot” levy on the super-rich

Labour insisted Sir Keir “had nothing to do” with the dossier which was not Labour policy.

The party has faced growing questions over its position on possible tax rises after it decided to rule some out but not others.

As well as the commitments on income tax, national insurance and VAT, Sir Keir was last week forced to also rule out extending capital gains tax to the sale of family homes after pressure from the Tories.

But he has repeatedly refused to rule out a wider capital gains raid on individuals and businesses which is being called for by some of his shadow cabinet.

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has separately not ruled out increases to inheritance tax, such as by scrapping reliefs for farmers and business owners.

The party’s position on council tax is unclear after senior figures contradicted each other over whether it is ruling out changes to the current system of bands.

A Labour spokesman said: “The Conservatives have raised taxes to a 70-year high.

“Jeremy Hunt has admitted the Conservatives’ tax cuts are completely unfunded and will risk putting mortgages up again by £4,800. It’s time for change.”

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