To think getting less than 50% of your pay is crazy?

"They pay in 10% into their pension."

You do realise that this is an investment that you're making that will pay off when you retire?

You do also realise that it's tax free? If you weren't investing it in your pension then you would have to pay tax at 45% on that money anyway.

Would you prefer £1,500 invested for your future every month (plus whatever your employer contributes) or £795 in your hand after tax and NI?

"They have a student loan."

I don't know what plan you're on, but you'll likely be paying around £1,150 per month. Average student debt on leaving university is, what, £45k. So, you'll likely pay off your student loan in under four years.

Other people doing less well than you will spend up to thirty years paying it off, along with the interest.

I have a very decent salary (though not quite 15k a month!) and honestly it doesn't bother me one bit that I pay a lot of tax

I know what my take home is, and I budget accordingly. It's more than adequate for my needs now and in the future.

I no longer have a student loan and the amount I put into my pension is a sensible (and, fwiw, tax efficient) way to save for the future.

I grew up poor, I'm privileged to be in my current situation. I'm happy to pay what I owe into the country's coffers to ensure we have things like schools, fire fighters, roads, the NHS and buses.

Would I like to have more £££? Yes, of course. But I certainly don't feel hard done by or see it as any sort of disincentive to promotion to be taxed the amount I am.

What do you think people should earn? Do you think it should be capped? How do you feel about some people who can earn more than that cap moving overseas? Do you think that the UK would be a better place without globally top level scientists, surgeons, technology experts, entertainers, musicians, architects, academics etc etc?

Personally not keen on levelling down.

To be fair, people don’t tend set their own salaries. It’s someone else telling them that what they’re doing is worth £15k a month, not their own assessment of their worth.
I mean, if someone told me they’d pay me £15k a month, I wouldn’t say no.

Obviously if you earn more then you pay more tax! That’s absolutely fair! 7k after pension, tax and student loans is still a lot of money!!

It’s the dipshit comments on here which is why there aren’t enough people paying for their UC. People who earn well have stopped working so much or left. No-one left to pay for the welfare state anymore.

And? It's all relative.

Nice wind up

I was all set to sympathise then noticed you said "a month"

What's crazy is anyone thinking they're doing anything that is worth 15k a month.

Are you performing life saving surgery on orphaned orangutans ? If not jog on...

My job is dangerous btw and I work with a section of society most people are terrified of and sickened by. I also grew up on an estate in east London with parents who left school at 14 without a qualification between them. So the silver spoon accusations are misplaced

Presumably they are choosing to pay 10% into their pension rather than the standard 5%

Pension contributions and student loan repayments aren't tax either.

The UK has marginal tax rates of 62% and depending on personal circumstances it can effectively be over 100%. This is made worse in the UK by quasi taxes which don't exist in Finland eg south east train commuters into London paying 450-700 a month / monstrous housing costs or childcare costs which destroy disposable income.

Lots of people here don't understand the implications of higher rate tax, you see it all the time with oh you earn x you must take y home each month, well no to because deductions are being vastly underestimated.
Last month I earned just under £5800 and had deductions of £2100. It's galling. I turn down on call at this point because I barely see the extra money and lose my nights and weekends but it's a public service that loses me as a resource.

What do you do to specifically EARN £15k (that makes it so abhorrent that you don't get the full amount) that someone who earns £7k (or even far less) doesn't do in their work to earn money?

Do you have an extremely dangerous job? (like in the battle field bomb disarming)

Is it incredibly hard back breaking labor? (like a coal miner)

Do you work double the hours of everyone else? (so 80+ hours a week)

Are you in charge of literal life and death? (like an ICU doctor)

Are you aware from family for long periods of time in harsh environments? (like an oil rig)

Or are you just lucky and privileged in the first place to have a job that pays extremely highly?

Why do you think you need and/or deserve £15k a month?

At the end of the day its not really your money, unless your on under £12k per year everyone is taxed, the before tax money was never actually your money it was always a debt you owed. So why do you think you shouldn't pay it like everyone else.

Did you mean to type per month?

15k gross? Or after all deductions? At that salary I’d expect 10% pension at least, private healthcare, maybe childcare vouchers, all done as salary sacrifice. Add to that a potential tax deduction for company car and I could easily get it to £7k take home.
Do you think someone is hiding things from you @rampe?

If they're creating jobs at or above the rate that someone is a net contributor, then brilliant, yep.

If they are creating jobs where the majority are net receivers of state benefits - that's hardly something to be celebrated.

If their salary relies on an army of minimum wage staff, then frankly they can get to fuck.

And I'm a net contributor.

Find a good accountant.

Welcome to the world of having had a good education and earning good money.
You pay back your loans, pay more tax than low earners and STILL have the privilege of being able to save for your future.

And after all that they still have over 6K a month to live on.

Forgive me if I don't cry you a river.

Actually, there is no chance a nurse will ever pay off her loan. My repayments don't even cover the interest rate. But you don't see me complaining...
7k and the person is struggling, jeez...

Paying into a pension is an incredibly tax efficient way if saving (it's recommended as a way to avoid going into higher tax bands if you are on the cusp and can bung more in your pension). It is not being taken off you. Not many people earn more than £180k per year so not sure why you are asking the question. Genuine question how else would you raise capital to keep the country running if you cut the higher tax bands?

So you wanted free higher education that enabled you to earn £15k a month and also moaning about contributing 10% to your future pension pot.

I can't muster up any sympathy.

They can put some money into their work pension & pay less tax