AIBU to question people claiming they would happily pay more tax?

I pay more than my fair share already, thank you. I would begrudgingly pay more if they reformed the tax system substantially so that the taxation burden doesn't fall so heavily to the top 10%.

@HoppityBun But we all know money is wasted! We have huge overspends on national projects. We cannot control expenditure on anything. We need growth in the economy so there are jobs! Jobs pay and people buy things and pay VAT and tax. Instead of paying more income tax, buy more British goods and pay VAT! Give directly to
your school: they all have charity accounts. People never do this and most people are moaning about the cost of living - so of course they won’t. More tax just drags everyone down and never ever improves anything as black holes are enormous.

If you as want to make a difference, buy more and give directly. But, don’t stop business from employing people by taxing them and sold stop them buying goods by taming them. The state is too big as it is.

Well said. It’s an absolute joke. Always money for wars!

It’s ridiculous to insult people by sneering ‘well click the link then’. Almost all people say they worked happily pay for tax IF it meant a man improvement to public services. A minority of people sacrificing will not achieve that, so why would you expect them to?

There’s never any money for schools, hospitals, prisons, and fixing potholes; but there’s a whole forest of magic money trees for millennium domes, royal security, state funerals, wars (especially illegal ones), lockdowns lasting months on end, campaigns of fear, pingdemic apps, bank bailouts, big pay rises for MPs as well as their generous expenses, booze and wallpaper for Downing Street, lifetime pensions for those who wreck the country…

In short, no government can be trusted to use public money wisely. For this reason alone, I resent any idea of paying more.

How much more would you like to pay?

I am not one of those who go about saying I’d happily pay more tax, because even though I would - there’s so many “ifs” involved!

Basically I’d pay more tax IF we had a different tax system that didn't already penalise PAYE earners and let too many of the hook, a benefit system that was more fair for everyone and public services were going to be brought up to a higher standard instead of money used for the corrupt and/or wealthy.

So yeah essentially if the current reality were totally different/ I lived in a different country.

So realistically no I wouldn’t pay more tax in the UK given the state of things as they are now.

It’s not about discussing things calmly. If you are in a position where you are happy to pay more tax and can afford it then you are extremely lucky but you can’t see that because you don’t want to see what goes on in the working class areas and how the tax increases brought in by the current government have already affected people. If you want to pay more then click the link but don’t expect everyone else to have to contribute when they are already struggling.

Your give over wasn’t calm discussion. And ignoring the behaviourial impact of higher taxes isn’t helping Labour or any party that wants to sell in ever higher taxes.

What you want is more of that when it isn’t working already.

I am happy to pay taxes but not to fund more benefits and refugees.

Lots of people already do voluntarily support local fundraising and hospital and other local charities as well as national charities. But that’s done to patch things up. I’d prefer a comprehensive national system rather than a postcode lottery

My higher taxes? What taxes am I responsible for?
This is the problem. Not enough people can actually discuss policies calmly.

I have deliberately not said what tax level I would suggest was right.

My point is anyone is entitled to say they want taxes to go up, down or stay the same. They should be able to explain what the likely impact will be.

It's no more 'selfish' to believe there should be higher taxes, lower taxes or no change.

Adults should be capable of talking about politics seriously, in terms of policy impact across society.

Oh give over back at you.

Your higher taxes have already cost jobs.

It's a NO from me. I already pay tax on money I have already paid tax on over the years.

Oh so they want everyone to be crippled by tax hikes, got it. Very selfish attitude to have when lots of people are barely making ends meet as it is, as long as you can afford it though then that’s fine.

Oh give over.

The point is people want to change the model.

It's a legitimate policy position to argue for higher taxes, the status quo, or for lower taxes.

But total bollocks to pretend a voluntary donation would be equivalent to a higher taxation model.

Suggesting a voluntary system isn't a serious contribution to the discussion of the correct taxation system.

But it’s such a facile argument. I assume that most people have at least one thing they think should be funded more (schools, police, NHS etc) and the fact that aren’t sending a monthly direct to their local primary school or hospital doesn’t mean that you can discount their opinion or assume they’re lying when they say education should be better funded.

@Harrumphhhh No it won’t! It’s not working like this economically. There are not enough jobs to go around and young people are not held back by your assertion that they lack a good education. Exam results are not backing that up. The huge problem is the economy not growing and young people being too expensive to employ. Their education and opportunities at college is rarely a huge issue. It’s too few jobs.

I wouldn’t be happy to pay more after a career in the civil service seeing money spunked left right and centre due to mismanagement and a complete lack of fucks given by senior people. You could pay 99% tax and there’d still be no money for those that need it.

Voluntary is a good way to do it as you’d not get behavioural changes.

Those who are keen can pay more, those who are not won’t change behaviour to avoid it.

A small amount of additional revenue to the Treasury from people willing to make voluntary donations is not going to be sufficient to fix our neglected public services. I want everyone to pay more, including myself.

Until that happens, I will continue to direct what I can afford into charitable projects that pick up the pieces. Charitable projects that would not even be necessary if our public services were working as effectively as they should.

I pay enough, so no.

I used to say I would be happy to pay more but that was back when I naively trusted the Government to be sensible with our hard earned money. Several Governments of all political parties have demonstrated that they are happy to waste money willy nilly on various identity politics causes without even managing to fulfill the basics required of them by law such as education, health, bin collections etc. So no, let me keep and spend more of my own money, time to cut spending and at least keep taxes level so borrowing can be repaid. It's all a great big Ponzi scheme and will inevitably end in tears. I am happy to pay national insurance in retirement though. Why should NHS be free just because retired. I have BUPA anyway as NHS takes too long.

They don't want to alone, they want to move to a different model. Many of those people pay to charities instead but would prefer those services to be provided by the state.

Argue against the model. Play the ball not the person.