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

Growth is stalling and has been for the past two decades. The government keeps turning to higher earners to keep funding high, and they cannot squeeze any more out of them. They can’t borrow more. They have to slash spending while putting all effort into a desperate bid to drive growth if we are going to escape a bailout.

Because someone who works in the city can play a huge role in wealth creation. This is absolutely vital for the UK as it boosts our GDP and ultimately drives the economic growth that everyone bangs on about. This is what will pay doctor's salaries and everyone else who works in the public sector.

You also completely ignore the role of risk. There is a reason why lots of families want their children to be lawyers and doctors even though their salaries are much lower than entrepreneurs etc. We need to reward innovation and economic risk taking as again this drives economic growth.

The idea that public sector worker should be the best paid and most revered is partly how we have got ourselves in this mess. Look at their pensions and other elements of their employment package including job stability. They also wouldn't exist at all without the private sector generating wealth.

People in the NHS do both private and BHS work and make hundreds of thousands.
Some consultants are exceptionally well paid. They also have great NHS pensions that they pay no administration fees for.

Those people that do say finance or law jobs in the private sector don’t get the great pensions that are part of the NHS so need the high pay to save for retirement. For every 100,000 of savings you get only say 4500 per annum pension and also you usually pay a 1.3% admin charge.

@Itchthescratch Although a Labour MP (quickly deleted) put up a post about how it is the public sector spending their wakes that means the private sector can exist/ thrives….

Or stop punishing success?

Nurses, doctors and teachers are paid fine. If we had a more free market for healthcare and not a crappy NHS they'd actually make lots more. US nurses and especially doctors make a lot more.

Someone on £250k generates enough value or revenue for their firm to justify that pay. Their firm WANTS to pay them that way. It's usually due to delivering value and revenue for the firm. They are more skilled and knowledgeable.

Exactly. If you want to feel less jealous of very high private sector wages just think of it as being the wealthy employee gets half of their salary, and the state gets the other half. Win-win all around.

They can certainly tax their way out of it.

If there is a bailout (unlikely) then the conditions imposed as a result of that are generally both increasing taxes and decreasing spending.

At the moment it seems far more likely they want to erode debt through inflation, which is why the markets are holding a cosh over them.

Inflation is just another (fairly insidious) tax that they can use without the public being up in arms about how their wealth is being eroded.

Put a penny on income tax there is outrage, but let inflation run hot at 8% for a year and there seems to be relatively little complaint.

Can I ask where you live in Scotland? You don’t have to answer as I realise it’s intrusive but I was just wondering.

But by that happening, it creates a 'look at me I'm so generous with my taxes and I shouldn't have to be' as has been seen on this thread, rather than a recognition that a person earning 250k + a year isn't some magnificent super human that we should all be grateful has graced us with their presence in the country (often, putting huge amounts of money off shore and/or paying people to hide as much as their income as they can get away with)

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.

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

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".

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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...

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 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.

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