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

We worked our way up from nothing. You can make it if you're able bodied. You just need to work hard

I wouldn’t want to pay more tax thanks.

We have spent years being net contributors already.

That's what people mean when they say 'I'd prefer to pay more tax' - they mean they want the core tax rate(s) increased. IMO your OP is disingenuous.

If they meant 'I want to pay an individual voluntary contribution' that's what they'd say.

You've chosen to interpret them as meaning something different, rather than explaining why you think tax should stay the same or be cut.

I'd happily pay more if everyone else was going to pay more.

But if I rocked up with a £500 cheque it's going to make so little difference to the treasury that it's next to pointless. All is does is take money off me and provide practically zero improvement in services.

Yes if I was taxed more then there would be people out their who would pay even more than me if the tax was progressive. But the idea that people who have more can pay more is pretty much rooted in our system and cannot really be changed easily. In fact I am not sure it could be changed at all.

There is plenty of wealth in this country that could be taxed without majorly affecting peoples living standards. People still seem to have loads of cash to spend on holidays, cars, home improvements and various other tat if you read the threads on here.

There aren't many parties you can vote for who have a stated intention to tax more to improve services. Labour bottled it at the last election when they had no need to at all. Hence a significant amount of Starmers policies failing.

If there are people out there who believe they should be paying the minimum tax possible fair enough. Maybe somewhere between them and me there is a balance point.

Factually that's incorrect information. I gather though that this statement (without factual basis) has been circulating online , be very careful of fake news.

Does she get more than the State Pension?

Free in Scotland.

Not being able to claim childcare hours has basically radicalised me into not wanting to pay any more tax.

I’ve always been pretty lefty and happy to find services, pay my tax. The greater good and all that.

When it became apparent I was expected to pay tax and actually he excluded from the services I was funding when I needed them - well, not really in it together any more are we.

When DH and I move to a 0% tax location we'll be able to enjoy our hard work

Shame about the Human Rights issues right enough...

It honestly doesn't bother us.

Yes I know. Awful.

So as predicted, you are willing to pay a bit more if other people (I.e those richer than you) pay a lot more. I will pay £500 if someone else that is already paying far more tax than me in real terms and as a percentage of income pays ten times as much. Newsflash: the system already works like that and those paying the most are already paying way more tax than high earners in Scandinavia etc. They are paying their share already.

If you work hard and earn good money then the bulk of it should be yours to spend as you please even if it is on tat as you call it. It certainly shouldn't be taken by the government to redistribute how it seems fit often on those that have actively chosen to not not work as hard as you. Honestly the entitlement is insane. You and the state don't own other people's money and you don't get to tell people that they shouldn't be decorating their house or having a holiday.

The reason no major political party is campaigning on a high tax ticket is because it isn't economically viable and the public consistently state they don't want this. They are happy (like you) to tax the rapidly fleeing and very small minority that are rich but they personally don't want to pay more tax. You need a broad tax base to raise serious money and there simply aren't enough rich people in the UK willing to stick around and pay crazy taxes.

My DH said he would but it doesn’t work in isolation. He paid six figures in tax and he meant higher earners. So I stead of a 45% cap it would go up to 50% for those earning, say, over £250k and 55% on those earning over £1m. But that still wouldn’t raise a significant amount. Best to increase other taxes for very high earners like CGT and high earning dividends, closing tax relief on certain estate planning and reduce relief on high earner pensions etc. Just taxing ever higher earners on income isn’t going to do enough.

What are you referring to? I linked figures for you already. Did you read them?

Your paying less than people pay in Scotland.

What a bizzare statement! The basic rate tax is much lower than the Scandinavian average. Those on lower pay there pay far more than they do here. It’s just a fact. That’s why they have far better public services than us.

Whenever there are threads about tax and people point out Scottish rates, there will be a n SNP supporter claiming they don’t mind paying more tax as they get free prescriptions / dentistry / baby boxes and you know it’s complete nonsense as the taxes for good earners are vastly more here, and services are vastly worse.

I’d pay even more in tax here in Scotland if the violence in schools was addressed so my child - traumatised through so many unaddressed physical attacks - could attend but the Scottish government couldn’t care less so I’ll have to spend my money on alternative provision.

I don't see anything here that is objective.

News flash, I don't see anything where I mentioned 10x as much.

£1 is worth more to someone who earns £20K per year than to someone who earns £1 million. Hence progressive taxation. That's pretty self evident without even going into things like discretionary income.

Ultimately the electorate will decide what they want in terms of taxation.

The only thing I wish is that the politicians tell the truth when they propose taxation policy/services.

At the moment it seems to be "no we're not going to increase taxes and you're going to get great services with us" and then go on endlessly about "efficiency savings".

This isn't the truth and leads to manifesto promises being problems to be managed rather than pledges to be fulfilled.

We get the politicians we deserve, and the services we deserve too I guess.

If a government wants to fund a new initiative it only has 4 options:

1. borrow more to fund it - not an option. We’re already maxing out our credit card.
2. cut back somewhere else.
3. raise taxes. Taxes can’t get much higher on middle or higher earners. As the SNP’s experiment has shown in Scotland we are close to the peak of the ladder curve in England.
4. grow the economy - Labour are doing pretty badly here too.

I don't see any individual is so much more valuable that they should be paid multiple times more than a nurse/doctor/teacher, so I don't agree that you should reserve the right to spend it on tat if you wished. I'm sure you work hard, but I don't believe someone in the city on 250k a year works say, 7 times harder than someone in the NHS, so why should they get such crazy renumeration in the first place?

Would a penny on income tax make much difference to most people? And it would raise billions. I think that's what most people mean when they say they wouldn't mind paying more. But why should some people donate that amount if most people won't tax is meant to apply to everyone.

I don’t think there are enough rich people/highest earners to tax to meet the demands of the general population, vast majority of whom aren’t paying their way. I think that is simple Economic Reality. So the way the political landscape is going to be working will be a function of economic realism going forward and the era of the Progressive Liberal thinking and globalisation seems to be largely over. And on a State level individual nation states are very self interested.

Well the way it will end is going cap in hand to the IMF for a bailout and then we will find out what austerity feels like

they can’t tax and spend their way out of this mess

Because if you try to cap those bankers earnings they will leave elsewhere where they can do exactly the same job, pay less tax and the tax they do pay goes to another government.

These jobs aren’t teaching or being a Dr. They can be done anywhere on the planet. It’s wonderful that we have these jobs here in the UK as bankers pay masses of tax. Banks are absolutely paranoid about being seen to shirk tax and ensure every single penny of tax due is paid to HMRC.

It was lefty tax guru Dan Neidle who said the banker bonus limit ought to be abolished so that bankers in the UK could earn big bonuses - and HMRC could reap the income tax benefits.