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

Why do you always ask posters personal questions?

Seems Saint Lineker wasn't so happy to pay tax at all when it came to it
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65103265

Hypocrites as always. I would wager that virtually everyone that states they are willing to pay more tax are either hypocritical virtue signallers or people that actually pay very little tax and envisage other people footing the vast majority of the bill to pay them more benefits or pay for better services that they can use.

Just follow the rules. That's all you need to do

We aren't masochists so will be leaving this nation to keep our money. We don't like being stolen from!

People just say it - and if you are someone like Lineker it apparently makes you look like a good person.

He did admit in an interview the other day that it is possible to do anyway but I guess it would interfere with his virtue signalling agenda.

So if any of you actually mean it then do it.

Or until you’re ill. If you get something life threatening you’d run out of money very quickly.

Don’t blame you. It all fun and games in the Middle East until they lock you up on some spurious charge which has happened to a number of tourists and temporary residents.

Plus I’m not saying Europe is perfect but the blatant abuse and exploitation of the South Asian and African workers in places like Dubai is shameful .

I’m happy to pay more, if everyone does and the corporations that dodge tax are stopped from doing so. The same percentage increase for everyone. And I say that as a household that pays higher rate tax, so I’m not “happy to pay a little more only if others pay a lot more”.

I don’t want to move to the Middle East, thank you. This is my home and I’m very happy to pay tax until I pop my clogs at which point inheritance tax will probably be paid. Another penny or two on income tax would be fine by me.

Sometimes it’s the very richest they are squandering it on. Look at how Boris and Rishi messed up the loans and contracts during the pandemic and were giving out huge contracts to incompetent mates and loans to fraudsters.

Move to the middle east! There's 0% PAYE income tax

I personally know a raft of people on PIP who shouldn't be claiming it. There are entire Facebook groups coaching people how to claim it.

Those sorts of benefits are for people who really need it but there is a glut of people working the system which isn't hard to do. On MN everyone bangs on about benefit bashing but they are also turning a blind eye to this and it's draining funds that could actually go to people who warrant it.

Public services are on their knees because this government is using the money to pay the nation debt.

This country is bankrupt.

There’s nothing left to cut. Public services are on their knees. And I’ve been a taxpayer for 56 years, 20+ of them at the higher rate and I will pay tax until I die.

I think it's only 9% of the revenues recieved that a charity has to give to the actual cause. The rest can be soaked up in 'admin' costs.

I don't give to charities any more on this basis. I worked for one that was a cause I truly believed in and the directors both lived in very expensive penthouses and drove flash cars...

I don't want to pay more tax. I'm already paying too much and I'm sick of hearing how we should all be thrilled to pay more tax from people on this site who probably haven't worked for 20 years.

This Government is just squandering it. They need to make cuts not keep taxing the same people while everyone else sits on their arse.

Yes, and I do give to charity. But a lot of those charities wouldn’t need to exist if the government was properly funding things like social care.

So again, extra taxes would reduce the need for me to donate to things. It almost feels like I’m voluntarily paying more tax when I give to charity.

How come other Europeans countries have managed to make extra tax selective, you can literally pick eg if you want it to go towards healthcare.

This is extra tax we are talking about, not the baseline. So I am very happy to pay Extra tax, but I don’t want it to go to funding Israel.

Eg I pay tithes on my income, so 10% I give to church, my church does a lot of work in the community; charity work abroad and also just needs to function and I love the place. If I did not agree with the running of the church, I would pay my tithes elsewhere. In a way it’s an extra tax I willingly pay, it’s not forced. Now I would happily pay extra tax, I just want it to go towards the NHS for eg, or even public services eg road cleaning etc

The idea someone on £250k is hiding their money offshore (or anywhere for that matter) is laughable.

They’re probably PAYE or business owners paying higher rate corporation tax + dividends. They can’t hide money - these are well of professionals in private business, not the super rich.

Any extra money you have you can use for local charitable initiatives you know

I wouldn’t mind paying more tax if it was spent on improving schools, the NHS etc. and I think in many ways it would actually save money. For example, I’m currently waiting for treatment for a health condition. The NHS wait is a couple of years, so I’ve opted to pay about £1000 to go private (because I have 2 children to look after and I can’t do that properly until this is treated). I would much rather pay that £1000 into the NHS to improve treatment for everybody, but 1. I’m having to pay it to the private sector so I don’t actually have it to spare and 2. On its own it would make no difference..

So I won’t (and can’t) pay voluntarily, but I would certainly vote for a party who planned to raise taxes if they had a decent spending plan.

It's not "super human" but it's not easy and requires a lot of skill and hard work. I don't know what you mean about offshore. Most people on £250k don't offshore it. I mean it comes out of PAYE.

Without a private sector how do you pay for the public sector?

Well I think the state of the of the privatised industries shows that that the private sector doesn't give a shit (unless it's being pumped into the rivers) about any public benefit they can provide, it's all about how much they can trouser before walking away, saying "wot me guv, I had no idea".

The big issue is that politicians are terrified of cutting any costs but they are going to have to. The triple lock is unsustainable for a start.

I’ve given up on the idea of getting a state pension tbh as I think it will be means tested by the time I get there

The scary thing is that this is what many on the left genuinely believe. They can't imagine how someone can do more good in the private sector for the wider society than someone in the public sector. This can be indirectly through wealth generator or directly.

Who saves more lives, an NHS nurse or doctor or a biochemist working for a private pharmaceutical company funded by private money developing a new vaccine? Potentially the latter who could save millions of lives. Not all good is done in the public sector.