High earners - how do you spend your salary?

Well I was shagging one of them so yeah they do get quite loose lipped after a couple of gin and tonic‘s. You can hate the system without hating the individual, the game not the player.

And of course they are happy to give the details to the junior at work who clearly hates them…

You need to stop being bitter about others finances and take responsibility for yours.

I think so too. Bonuses of course are taxed exactly the same as salary, they aren’t some kind of tax dodge.

You seem very keen to make généralisations from your personal life. That’s rarely advisable.

Everyone I work with in banking and everyone I know in law and accountancy are paid via PAYE.

Anything that goes through the books as PAYE is obviously taxed, no way to avoid that. Relatively though it’s buttons.

However they have outside interests where they do not pay anywhere near the same level of tax because they don’t have to, it’s called tax avoidance not tax evasion. These are the directors of the big four, not stupid, certainly not going to get caught with their pants down.

Swan drumsticks, solid gold toilet seats, Van Gogh paintings and lots of noodle doodles, you know, the usual stuff.

That’s a very detailed childcare plan when you aren’t planning on having kids for a few years!

I’d love to know what ‘luxury items’ you have your eye on - a Faberge egg? Ivory backscratcher?

Nothappy I think you’re confusing salary vs bonus with taxed vs untaxed. I presume the directors’ earnings outside their monthly salary are also taxed. If not then please report them!

Again pull the other one, it’s absolutely nothing to do with their PAYE salary. The company that I work for at the moment as a stopgap, The directors wouldn’t wipe their arse with what they pick up on a month-to-month basis its everything else they actually fund their lifestyles through.

Some of which will be explained by the fact that for very high earners the state is already taking 47% of most of their pay each month for the benefit of the rest of society.

It’s not surprising that many think that that’s enough to be getting on with.

No, for high earners it’s only £4,000 each per year. If you’ve been putting more on than that then you’re likely to be taxed on it but not be able to reverse the decision to pay it in, so you end up tying it up without any benefit.

Not much on here about charity giving. Interesting. There is research to show that the more people earn or the higher 'status' they are, the less generous they become.

Not really. The bottom three quintiles of households in the UK contribute nothing at all, net. The second top quintile pause around £4,000 per year, and the top quintile pays everything else.

The UK taxes lower and middle-earners much less than our neighbours do.

I’d prefer that you started paying your fair share before demanding yet more from those already subsidising you so heavily.

Precisely my earlier point …. Only fools and horses work

High earners in the UK pay a disproportionate share of tax

This is good. Means it's a progressive tax.

However, that's not the whole story is it? Income is a tiny part of wealth. We need to be taxing assets and capital before we have anything like a fair taxation system.

It really isn’t. Lower earners still get to avoid tax, it’s just that the government does it for you.

There’s the tax-free allowance on income, reduced rates above the allowance, and an automated calculation at-source for pensions allowance.

Making use of these and complaining that higher earners use their allowances too is a bit inconsistent.

AirBnB has a lot to answer for too! Using properties that could be real homes for holidaymakers seems very unethical to me.

It was more directed to the, sorry to use the the term but tone deafness, ludicrous statement hopefully everybody will soon be able to avoid paying tax ….. we would all be fucked 🤣
In 2022 most people won’t be able to afford tax avoidance, it’s just for the lucky few.

Do you pay more tax than you are required to, or just think that others should?

Getting upset that people invest in pensions or ISAs is quite some level of bitterness.

This is amazing 🤣

You have no idea what i would do “in their position”

High earners in the UK pay a disproportionate share of tax (30% of income tax is paid by the top 1% of earners).

This much quoted stat only tells part of the picture.

"Most of the revenue from the top one per cent comes from a cohort of high-earning employees, who pay the often-quoted top rate of 45 per cent income tax plus two per cent national insurance contributions, with minimal deductions or reliefs. But a substantial minority pay much lower rates, especially taking into account capital gains, which offer an alternative way of taking rewards, mainly for the richest."

"Using anonymised data from personal tax returns, we show that in 2015-16 the average rate of tax paid by people who received one million pounds in taxable income and gains was just 35 per cent: the same as someone earning £100,000. But one in four of these paid 45 per cent – close to the top rate – whilst another quarter paid less than 30 per cent overall. One in ten paid just 11 per cent—the same as someone earning £15,000. The rich, it seems, are not all in it together."

High earners in the UK pay a disproportionate share of tax (30% of income tax is paid by the top 1% of earners). Many pay their taxes willingly because they recognise the importance of redistribution. You should not demonise them for trying to maximise the tax efficiency of their savings strategy. It is just sound money management and a perfectly reasonable thing to do. You would do the same in their position.

And there's currently people in Davos who are millionaires demanding to be taxed more! Some people who are wealthy can see the inequality right now and want the tax system overhauled. Rightly so, as it's not working for the many.