To be confused by 'high earners' complaining about taxes?

Are you privately educated? I've never heard of economics being studied in state schools in the UK.

Scandinavian countries are often held up as examples of progressive tax/benefit policies - but middle and low earners pay more there compared to in the UK. The trouble with relying on high taxes on high earners is that there aren't very many high earners as a proportion of the general population. A little more from the large majority would give the government more revenue than a lot more from the few.

As for benefit recipients hoarding money, I find it bizarre that you can have up to £16K in savings and still get universal credit! That should be cut right back.

Seriously @Jellybunny56you don't see how a households income dropping by 50% overnight would cause issues?
Our bills and outgoings don't drop by 50%

No-one loves paying tax, but I don't mind paying a higher rate than someone on much less than me. It's only fair!
I absolutely don't think everyone should get the same though because everyone doesn't do as much work or work as hard.
The real shame is that effort and value to society doesn't always bring even a decent wage let alone fair reward.

Sorry I’m not sure I understand your point here. If you were a single higher earner who ended up on SSP overnight then you’d be entitled to UC (depending on savings) just like anybody else?

If the reason you aren’t eligible is because of household income being above the threshold then that’s because you aren’t in “need” in the way the system is set up to protect. Can you imagine how much tax we’d all be paying if the system had to fund EVERY household?

We're all suffering because of government failure. It's across the board. Complaining about paying too much tax when youre in the top few % is also morally dubious.

If you have childcare costs it’s not a 60% tax trap, more like a 100% tax trap now.

With 1x 30 free hours plus tax free childcare (plus the 60% rate) I take home £0 between £100-135k.

So ultimately, isn't it all our money anyway?

Yeah, and property is theft, Comrade Wolfie!
Power to the people, up the TPF!

I'm not a high earner but I don't believe high earners should be taxed a higher percentage at all. The essence of a percentage is they are paying more anyway. There isn't a big enough incentive to better yourself in this country in so many ways!

I'm on just over £51k so not by any means a high earner, (not complaining I'm comfortable as live in a cheap area). I'll earn a 15% bonus this year which of course I won't see anything like all of - I earnt this by being good at my job, working away from my family and putting a lot of myself into my job.
I tried to get a GP appointment last month for the first time in 7 years and after filling out the e consultation receive a text essentially telling me to go away as I'm not ill enough. I've paid for private healthcare.
Until the last few years I've always had the view that taxes are the price we pay for a country that works for everyone - but it doesn't work anymore so what are we paying for?

Well to the tax man a high earner is £50k. I think a lot of people would be very happy if £400k was the threshold for 40%/60%/45% tax.

Not sure many on £400k are actually complaining but I think the £100k 60% tax trap is ridiculous. Not everyone is in the same circumstances but some in this bracket will have high childcare / high communting costs that take home after tax and work related costs can leave you not much better off than taking a lower pay / less hours / less stress / less commuting job.

or maybe, just maybe, some proportion of those benefits claimants would finally get jobs? and then released money would become available for education, police, NHS?

@TheMerryJoker
clearly I need to be explicit.

the OP proposed that everyone is entitled to the money that high and earners make, and why are they more deserving than anyone else, etc. My response is that a lot of high earners take on a huge amount of personal risk and work extremely hard to make a profitable business and successful employer. If entrepreneurs and senior leaders are not rewarded for their efforts then they’re less likely to bother, and that’s bad for the economy and for society.

Elsewhere, doctors reduce their hours to stay below the £100k cliff edge, and other high earners turn down promotions because the difference that they take home just isn’t worth the extra stress. High tax is a disincentive to many workers and overall that this dampens national productivity.

This ^ and I’m a low earner! I’m on 15k a year part time and I agree some people work hard for their money and try and continuously better themselves, it is hard when you earn a good wage and half of it is taken by tax.

I think substantial amounts were saved on OP's education... don't think she(?) pays much at all

ETA: unless it's a poorly designed bot

You aren’t actually confused about why people feel that, surely.

If so, let’s do this step by step:

1. Imagine you, now, personally, are told your new marginal rate is 45%+, with no personal allowance, and your access to most benefits had been withdrawn.

2. Would you feel that was unfair or unreasonable? Why or why not?

3. Now someone points out to you that you are actually in the top 1% of wealth and income of everyone who has ever lived.

4. And moreover that you have done nothing to deserve being born as you rather than as one of the 99% worse off.

5. You now feel great, right? All cleared up, and you feel a bit silly that you ever felt differently.

No but those services can't be provided without tax paid by workers, especially net contributors. Slating net contributors as greedy and selfish for complaining about high levels of taxation due to government failure and waste is morally dubious.

And thankfully I have those in place.

The OP can't understand why people who pay high taxes complain, yet it's very clear that those who pay the higher taxes do not get any aid in time of need. So in addition to higher taxes they also need to pay additional insurances - whereas someone who does not work or earns less would be entitled to claim welfare.
If someone on a higher salary lost their job, they also wouldn't get help. Yet in other European countries, if you lose your job the insurance/welfare system pays 80% of your salary for upto 12 months, it is not unlimited. In times of need you have a safety net.
The safety net is missing in this country for higher earners and tax payers, so yes, absolutely I can see why they complain. It isn't just about the tax levels but the hidden costs like insurance to protect yourself

North Korea is that way➡️

We would be without spiraling benefit bills and a bloated public sector.

Hmmm, let me think...

and your point is ?

This is exactly what income protection and critical illness cover is for.

OP have you ever spent your nights worrying about how you’ll pay payroll, or about making the wrong decision and you need to let people go and face personal, professional and financial humiliation? Have you ever loaned money to your work place to keep it running through a tough patch? Have you ever built a company from scratch, hired people, trained them, brought them on your journey and inspired them with your vision? Have you cancelled holidays, worked through your annual leave, turned down invitations, sacrificed friendships to being at your desk?

No? Ok then.

OP - would you expect to be paid more in your role if you took on increased responsibility/ got promoted?

Do you generally expect that increase in your pay to actually make it into an increase in your take home pay?

Most people do.

The quirk with high earners is that what they get to keep as a proportion of those increases is much lower than for low earners.

Depending on what you earn, a £10k increase in your annual pay can mean anything from a £9k increase in your take home to a £3.5k increase. For the same pay rise.

To some that doesn’t seem reasonable.

I’ve been disappointed by the marginal tax rate. A few years ago I got a bonus and lost 67% in total due to the child benefit tax. I think the higher rates are fair enough but the marginal rate cliff edges in the UK are brutal.