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AIBU?

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Original poster

Seriously thinking about leaving the UK - AIBU?

586 replies

HonoraBridge · 28/03/2025 16:31

I love the UK in many ways but it has been going downhill for at least 20 years and it feels as if the speed of the decline is accelerating. I no longer see a happy, or particularly safe, future here. For the first time in my life, I am very seriously thinking about leaving the UK and that feeling gets stronger day by day. When I mention this to friends, many are feeling the same way. YANBU - you are right to think seriously about leaving the UK. YABU - the UK is a still a great country to live in and you are being unreasonable to want to leave.

OP posts:
hookeywole · 28/03/2025 21:45

The UK is now a country where 28 million private sector workers are expected to support nine million who are economically inactive, six million public sector staff and 13 million state pensioners. Where the top 1 per cent of earners pay 29 per cent of income tax and the top 10 per cent pay nearly two-thirds, and are then pilloried for failing to pay their “fair share”. No wonder we are all getting poorer

We are getting poorer because wages haven't grown in years. Why do you think public sector workers don't support private sector workers with the taxes they pay?

Jaz111 · 28/03/2025 21:43

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jewelcase · 28/03/2025 21:43

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So if VAT, CGT, dividend tax and Council tax shouldn’t be levied because they’re double taxation, and all small business earnings are dividends / capital gains, what taxes do you think you should actually pay?

Original poster
HonoraBridge · 28/03/2025 21:43

Daisydiary · 28/03/2025 19:52

Where did the OP go?!

YANBU to consider this, you are possibly BU to believe that another country would want you! It’s just not that simple, however much wishful thinking is involved.

I have been at work all day. Countries that I am thinking about allow foreigners to stay with certain levels of investment so, yes, they’d “want” me.

OP posts:
Jaz111 · 28/03/2025 21:42

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Kanfuzed123 · 28/03/2025 21:42

hookeywole · 28/03/2025 21:39

your family benefited from high inflation.

according to the BOE inflation calculator it should be worth around 200k now so it's not really just inflation is it?

No, property has always been an asset class that out performs every other investment. They benefited from the boom in property prices

jewelcase · 28/03/2025 21:41

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I think language is quite important. You said that net recipients contribute nothing. That is not true.

You said that the OBR forecast a deficit. That is also not true. The situation may change, but it is as likely to get better as worse.

Your £1.3m (which used to be £1.5m) makes no sense. Yes you need a fund of £1.3m to get an annuity of £30k. But that doesn’t mean that someone receiving £30k in benefits whilst living in a £300k house has wealth of £1.3m. Wealth means possession of assets. A landlord would own the house, and most of the benefits would go on food and consumables as opposed to possessions that could be sold.

Jaz111 · 28/03/2025 21:40

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hookeywole · 28/03/2025 21:39

your family benefited from high inflation.

according to the BOE inflation calculator it should be worth around 200k now so it's not really just inflation is it?

Original poster
HonoraBridge · 28/03/2025 21:39

PollyCreo · 28/03/2025 17:05

Where are you thinking of going? You can't just rock up in France/Spain/Greece any more and get a job unless you have an EU passport.

There are many countries that allow people to stay provided that they bring a certain level of investment etc.

OP posts:
Ph3 · 28/03/2025 21:39

@HonoraBridge - I completely understand you. I love the UK. There are so many amazing things about it but we had to go. We moved last year and whilst it has not been a smooth ride we have already reaped many benefits. But we do miss family like crazy so we go back very often!

hookeywole · 28/03/2025 21:37

@Jaz111 so what is wrong with me paying 40% tax on anything over 1m?

Jaz111 · 28/03/2025 21:35

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Zebedee999 · 28/03/2025 21:35

ThymeScent · 28/03/2025 16:40

Am encouraging my own to DC to leave.
The country is a mess and with net migration massively rising and the ‘benefit’ culture rife, people who actually work for a living are being taken for mugs.

Completely correct...

The UK is now a country where 28 million private sector workers are expected to support nine million who are economically inactive, six million public sector staff and 13 million state pensioners. Where the top 1 per cent of earners pay 29 per cent of income tax and the top 10 per cent pay nearly two-thirds, and are then pilloried for failing to pay their “fair share”. No wonder we are all getting poorer.

Add to this the vastly out of proportion sex and other criminality carried out by many of those coming here, the UK is not the place it once was.

Original poster
HonoraBridge · 28/03/2025 21:34

ByQuaintAzureWasp · 28/03/2025 19:06

We thought about it when we retired and decided not to for various reasons. We've discussed it recently in hindsight (and having had somebody close to us ill/die overseas) and the one thing we all need to bear in mind ... you MUST be able to speak the language fluently!

Thanks. A useful comment.

OP posts:
Kanfuzed123 · 28/03/2025 21:34

Seriously what’s wrong with Canada?

Original poster
HonoraBridge · 28/03/2025 21:33

WowIlikereallyhateyou · 28/03/2025 18:49

Go forth and find your nirvana, byeee

Thank you so much. You too.

OP posts:
Jaz111 · 28/03/2025 21:33

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hookeywole · 28/03/2025 21:33

I am taxed on my income, but then when I spend the remainder I pay VAT, fuel duty etc. So is that not double taxation?

quite

Original poster
HonoraBridge · 28/03/2025 21:32

HonoraBridge · 28/03/2025 21:23

I wondered if people thought my feelings were unreadable.

Show quote history

”Unreasonable” not “unreadable”!

OP posts:
Original poster
HonoraBridge · 28/03/2025 21:31

KateShugakIsALegend · 28/03/2025 18:57

Easy to take the UK for granted.

Is it flawed? Yes, but there are so many positives, not least the rule of law.....

Agreed, there are many wonderful things about the UK.

OP posts:
DressOrSkirt · 28/03/2025 21:30

People move countries all the time, why would it be unreasonable for you to do so?

jewelcase · 28/03/2025 21:29

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I don’t buy the double taxation argument apart from for IHT.

On CGT it’s only the gain that is taxed. So it’s not double taxation. To suggest otherwise would surely open the door to arguing that all taxes except income tax are double taxation, no? I am taxed on my income, but then when I spend the remainder I pay VAT, fuel duty etc. So is that not double taxation?

Original poster
HonoraBridge · 28/03/2025 21:28

TonTonMacoute · 28/03/2025 19:33

Eight pages and OP hasn't been back to tell us their proposed destination!

Journalist?

No, I am not a sneaky journalist. I am just busy! I haven’t seen this thread since I posted originally. I haven’t decided where I’d go and it wouldn’t only be my decision.

OP posts:
hookeywole · 28/03/2025 21:27

@Jaz111 my parents house is about 2m but they paid 60k for it. I can inherit 1m before I pay 40% on the rest which I think is fair enough. How did my parents earn that? How did I earn that? My in-laws recently sold a 2nd inherited property & paid 150k in capital
gains due to it soaring in value. How did they earn it the 600k plus they banked?