Do explain how someone paying no/ such a minimal amount of income tax and NI that it is an insignificant as a percentage of income that it is irrelevant is managing to pay over 50% of their income in tax when the VAT rate is a maximum of 20% and many essential costs aren't subject to VAT anyway? Even with fuel duty, insurance premium tax etc as well it is completely disingenuous to claim that the percentage paid by low and middle earners if comparable.
This is why UK public services are in the dire state they are in currently. The tax base has been narrowed too far. Higher earners in the UK pay some of the highest tax rates in the entire world. Especially when you compare properly using net incomes after all tax abd other compulsory deductions and adding back benefits, i.e. this is impacted by student loan payments being effectively another 9% tax (or more for those with MAs/ MSCs/ PHDs), the withdrawal of child benefit and the personal allowance and childcare funding. Those withdrawals need to be scrapped because they are creating peverse incentives and preventing economic growth. Then you add on all the Universal Credit etc other people get and as a PP pointed out, someone earning £100k - often after many years of study and gruelling hours and stress - is not really any better off than those on average salaries! Especially as many of the professions in question also require living in areas with high housing and childcare costs (and these people have to pay for their own childcare, not get 85% of it funded by UC). That can be thousands of pounds per month, just for that.
The difference between the UK and continental European countries that have the services people in the UK seem to covet is that low and middle earners pay far higher taxes. It's simple mathematics: there's no other way to fund the services people desire adequately due to the numbers of people in each "group".
People in the UK bury their heads in the sand yelling "tax the rich" and defining "rich" as anybody who earns a bit more than they do. "Rich" properly refers to wealth, not income. Wealth is very hard to tax. The "incomes" of such people aren't generally earner through PAYE. Therefore it is the people in between - very hard-working and highly-qualified professionals mostly - who have been hammered for the last 15+ years and carried everyone else because they are an easy target. Many in skills shortage areas that we desperately need for growth.
It is simply not worth working full time now for many in this category because they are penalised so heavily; even the Guardian reported the economic studies on this. They are either cutting hours/ retiring early or moving abroad where they won't be disproportionately taxed compared to everyone else and will be paid salaries more accurately reflecting their skills and qualifications.
People in the UK need to decide between having a European model for tax and services, or a more US-type model. It is not sustainable to have European levels of services and welfare and US levels of tax. The "someone else should pay for it" mantra is running out of road now and the consequences of not addressing it and raising taxes substantially on middle income earners commensurate with other western European countries will be far worse in the long run if the situation is allowed to continue as it is. Much as you might like to, I'm afraid it's mathematically impossible to raise the money required now from the same people who've been carrying every else for nearly two decades. Some already have real marginal tax rates approaching or even exceeding 100%! Nobody is going to go to work to earn less money.