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

The bit you are right on OP is that all kids should have the chance to go to the best school for them fit wise within a reasonable commuting distance. Grammar schools get critiqued for creaming off the more wealthy children especially if their catchments are largeish or even superselective with no catchment - but you are right in that the State is not facilitating enough children to access the best schools for them if the transport is not readily available. There is always this focus on free school meals when plenty of it is nutritionally questionable and actually when I look at DS at grammar and some of his friends on FSM, despite the free offer of meals, the parents are still sending in home cooked Indian food. I think they know what has more nutrition! Despite poverty.

I would happily pay more if I thought it would be spent sensibly - however I don’t trust politicians or any decision makers to do so, so will save any I have spare to pay for private health care and services
If I could afford it would pay private education for DGD too

It kinda is. Especially at extortionate rates.

Nobody has made a personal attack but just pointed out that it’s something that most people realise isn’t appropriate so it stands out. Just like other posters stand out for different reasons.

The poster questioned why you do that and you responded with the ‘creepy’ comment. They weren’t attacking you, just asking why you do it

Which I don’t. I’ve reported them all anyway. Bullying.

And that’s fine - it’s what the report button is for.

I would love to see the personal allowance at £15000 and the rate at 22%!

Oh and 10p per week [!] extra on the TV licence!

Exactly this. It’s really not difficult - if an employer feels a job is worth a large amount of money then they pay it. Employers not known for being overly generous, they wouldn’t pay it out if it wasn’t worth it financially.

NHS consultants often work privately and then can really be raking it in. It is also why they aren’t going to crack down on private health care - it subsidises the doctors long term and keeps costs down for the NHS.
The teachers becoming heads also get paid handsomely. There are career paths in all those professions. For nurses, some have gone into agency and overseas agency recruitment really raking it in. What you need in every profession is a ladder to the top where there is some wealth.
A lot of people in banks and law firms etc don’t make big bucks either. It is only those at the very top and the press loves to focus on those since the financial crisis. It makes for a good story.

Also a lot of people on big money in some finance jobs can get the sack quite quickly anyway. So no pension, no real job security etc, many many hours and climbing the greasy pole. If it was that easy to do it, everyone would be doing it.

A good example for this is that Taylor Swift allegedly tipped each of her dancers £1 million after the Eras tour. This is many multiples the salary of a more 'worthy' job so I assume some would be up in arms about this but ultimately it's her money and her choice. She isn't asking the tax payer (American or British) to fund this. She is estimated to have made around $190 million from the tour so she has essentially generated the wealth and shared it with her employees. They will pay tax on this and presumably the US government will pocket this.

Employers can pay whatever they want to employees as they are the one funding it all. Most aren't overly generous but even if they are, so what? Would it have been better if Taylor had pocketed all that money herself?

I actually did some investigation of the Ryan Pepper case. He's a cybercriminal

It kinda isn’t. How else do you pay for roads, healthcare and education?

All these things don't need a government do they?

Especially roads come on. We pay so much tax and have a shit NHS. If we had lower tax rates we'd have a stronger economy with growth

How would the roads we need get built then?

Oh well he deserves to be tortured to death then. 😱

One person paying more won't make a difference but the majority of earning adults paying a little bit more will make a massive difference. That's the whole point of taxation. We all contribute towards the common good for things that we wouldn't be able to afford or couldn't organise individually. Yes, people can make individual contributions but unless the majority of people do this it will not make a difference. I don't understand what you are confused about.

There are a lot of left leaning people in the country. Why don't they all pay more? That will make a real difference and prevent resentment building from those that don't want to pay more tax. It could be a group movement. What is wrong with that? The alternative is you alienate the majority of voters by forcing them to pay tax increases they don't support. They will then vote in a more right wing government and the left will be even further away from achieving what they want.

I’m happy to pay my fair share. Some people not paying anything but taking everything is annoying as are those who earn £££ and pay minimal amounts.

I partly agree. The three biggies stopping growth in the UK are the:

1. the cost of construction (mainly down to the endless regulation),
2. the cost of energy;
3. the cost of employing people, both tax and NMW. NMW in the UK is an OECD outlier. We need to pay people enough to live but how about we address the costs of living by addressing 1 and 2 above instead of constantly increasing NMW. Build more houses and reduce the cost of energy.

Thank you!

Agree. It could be headed up by one of the keen celebs. And others that are similar.

Anyone can pay as much tax as they want to. Nothing to stop them. Just don't expect everyone to feel the same way about paying tax.

You really don’t understand a thing about politics, government, taxation or the economy, do you?

Do you not think a private developer can do it? At all?

Where would they get the money from? The average construction cost of a road is around £40 million per mile. Who would ensure the roads join up? That they’re maintained?