Seriously thinking about leaving the UK - AIBU?

Hard to say. Probably not, but never say never.

Where would you go to?

USA...Trump wants to rule the world, or
Russia...Putin too, or
China, or
Korea? 🤣

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves · Today 21:03
I will definitely leave if Farage wins the next election. Otherwise I'm staying put

If he won the next election but then lost the one after that, would you come back again?

Perhaps we have a different view of language. I disagree that being a net recipient means ‘contributing nothing’ because that implies laziness. Perhaps you don’t mean to imply that. There are plenty of very hard working net recipients.

According to the government’s Spring Statement Briefing here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-statement-2025-document/spring-statement-2025-html#:~:text=The%20indirect%20effects%20of%20government,9.9%20billion%20in%202029%E2%80%9130. the OBR is saying that there will be a surplus. Maybe I am misunderstanding it.

Some of the things you describe as wealth taxes or double taxation I would not describe in such terms:

• CGT and dividends are taxes on gains, not wealth. The gain has not been taxed previously. Neither are earned income and so in my view should be taxed at a higher rate than earned income.
• Stamp duty is a consumption tax. Don’t move house, don’t pay the tax.

Council Tax isn’t strictly a wealth tax because it’s paid by occupiers regardless of wealth. That could do with being changed.

I agree entirely about IHT though. Definitely a bad tax, mainly because of double taxation, and I’d abolish it tomorrow. I’d replace it though with a tax on recipients of inheritances, levied at their marginal rate.

Of course rebates shouldn’t go to those who lose wealth. Gains are taxed so that whilst the gainers profit the most, all of society shares the profit.

I still don’t understand your £1.5m. Even if they received £1.5m in benefits (which at £30kpa would take 50 years) they wouldn’t be ‘worth’ £1.5m. They’d be worth whatever was left after expenditure. Again you’re conflating income and wealth.

Exactly this. @ThymeScent the pure hypocrisy and frankly stupidity of your statement is breathtaking. No one wants your kids to take their populations for mugs! You can keep them.

@Jaz111 have we ever had a time where we had a a small number of net recipients?

Also, wealth taxes already include: IHT, CGT, dividends, stamp duty, council tax etc, and this is a double-tax (on money that has already been taxed).

Capital gains is a tax payed on a gain & most IHT is due to property gains. How has that money already been taxed?

The state pension is around £10,000 i.e. below the threshold for income tax which is around £12,000. My partner has a small private pension on top on which he pays tax just like everyone else because his income is over the threshold. Therefore only people who receive just the state pension are non tax payers.

Tbh same shit different shovel. Every country has its problems,

@suburberphobe why do you think all pensioners pay income tax?

I will definitely leave if Farage wins the next election. Otherwise I'm staying put.

^The UK is broken. 54% of the UK pay no tax.
How many of these are pensioners? We have an aging population^

Pensioners pay no tax in UK?!

Me and my siblings all live in EU. All pensioners. We all pay tax on our pensions - because it's income!

So your unskilled then?

So you want your kids to me immigrants in another country? And you are worried about net migration here? Won't your kids contribute to high net migration to those other countries?

Rentier capitalism has fucked the economy. The extraction of wealth for no economic benefit. From Thames Water to Buy To Let people. Getting rich and producing nothing.

I live in a city, we have neighbours that like and look out for each other. My neighbour looks after our cat when we go away. I run without fear of being harassed, the kids aren't going to stab me if I run past them! We have green spaces and forest areas. Parking can be an issue in some places but being in a city means public transport is great. We can literally walk to the shops, restaurants and not have to travel everywhere by car like country bumpkins.

Taxes on income and consumption are much too high, and on wealth are too low.

yep,

I don’t understand the point you make about wealth that is tied up in property and pensions. It’s still wealth! And it can still be taxed, in the form of charges if there is a liquidity issue.

agree

True.

This is 'households' (i,e. families). 10 million retired. 25 million working age (but receiving more in benefits than they pay in tax, so net loss to the country). Basically, more than half the UK contribute nothing, and take off the other half.

But we have always had plenty of people who take more than they put in. It's not a new thing.
Housing has fucked the economy and so has wage stagnation. We never recovered from 08.

Well yeah but happiness is subjective. Finland came top in the happiness league table but if I moved there I’d be a lot less happy, principally because I hate the cold and can’t speak Finnish!

There’s no ‘best country’. I like the U.K. best mainly because I know it, have grown to love it despite its many problems, and most people and places I love are here. But if other people want to live elsewhere, good luck to them. It’s all trade offs and personal preferences. There’s no right answer.