The top 10% of taxpayers contribute 60% of income tax...

[MsPinkMarshmallow]

I'm fed up of hearing that "high earners" will be targeted by the next budget.

The top 10% of taxpayers pay 60% of income tax.

Don't piss them off. They'll just leave the UK or work less so they're taxed less.

Some more stats: in 2024-25, the top 1% of income tax payers earned 13.3 per cent of total income and paid 28.2 per cent of income tax

35% of adults in the UK pay no tax at all

More from the Taxpayers Alliance here:

https://www.taxpayersalliance.com/briefing_share_of_income_tax_paid_by_percentile

<stands back and awaits kicking>

They are well paid, it's factual and not a belief.

It's up to the employer and employee as to how much they want to pay more. Employer and employee agree on it, what's your problem?

You can upskill, there's so much available. Online courses (some free, some with a small charge). All you need is a laptop and the internet. You can learn to use excel, powerbi, use python and all that. You can teach yourself a lot.

You might be a higher rate tax payer. We're an additionally rate tax payer.

And? We're not all you, thankfully.
We also need supermarket staff as much as we need senior lawyers.

In an ideal early we'd all be paid a comparable amount.

What's your PhD in?

I assume you grew up here? DH and I didn't grow up here. We grew up in India and barely had anything growing up. We just worked hard, moved here and built a life for ourselves.

Anything is possible if you work hard enough and believe in yourself

Do you mean everyone on the same wage no matter what they’re doing?

Seriously? And how do you think that would work in practice? Who would bother upskilling?

Even more thankfully, we are not all you! Some of us have enough intelligence to understand that a doctor is a more stressful role than a barista. Would you like me to give you examples of why my current role is far more stressful than working on the checkout at Tesco?

Even more thankfully, we are not all you! Some of us have enough intelligence to understand that a doctor is a more stressful role than a barista. Would you like me to give you examples of why my current role is far more stressful than working on the checkout at Tesco?

I probably have! I only half heard a Labour politician talk about the scheme or I dreamed it up half baked in my own head!

Even more thankfully, we are not all you! Some of us have enough intelligence to understand that a doctor is a more stressful role than a barista. Would you like me to give you examples of why my current role is far more stressful than working on the checkout at Tesco?

Even more thankfully, we are not all you! Some of us have enough intelligence to understand that a doctor is a more stressful role than a barista. Would you like me to give you examples of why my current role is far more stressful than working on the checkout at Tesco?

Even more thankfully, we are not all you! Some of us have enough intelligence to understand that a doctor is a more stressful role than a barista. Would you like me to give you examples of why my current role is far more stressful than working on the checkout at Tesco?

Even more thankfully, we are not all you! Some of us have enough intelligence to understand that a doctor is a more stressful role than a barista. Would you like me to give you examples of why my current role is far more stressful than working on the checkout at Tesco?

Edited to say: Apologies, I appear to have quote the wrong poster!

But the left don't care if the poor get poorer so long as the rich don't get richer.

I think they do care. I really do. I think they care a great deal. It's just that they are so hopelessly wedded to their sixth form delusion that more socialism, more low quality immigration, more EU and a bigger, more totalitarian state is always the answer, that they refuse point blank to try anything radical, like, you know, actually creating conditions that are attractive for growth.

They always think the answer to poverty is to give poor people more of someone else's money, instead of providing the sorts of conditions that encourage and empower them to earn if for themselves. Modern Labour don't believe in personal responsibility or meritocracy, they never have.

It was awarded by the Faculty of Medicine, for research carried out jointly between the Faculty of Science (biochemistry) and the Faculty of Medicine, not that it really matters for this discussion.

So, if the people doing low paid roles 'take responsibility' and up skill to new jobs, who will do their previous jobs? Don't you think that employers actually paying people properly would need to kick in, otherwise we still having to subsidise someone, or the roles are left vacant?

I'm not a bit mad, actually, you're spectacularly missing the point though.

Salaries would rise naturally, across the board.

Eh?
How do you propose someone works multiple full time jobs? Your points are getting more absurd.

Surely it depends on how portable the jobs is. If you own a business then you may be able to move it to Dubai, but most people will be leaving their job here and someone else will pay the tax.

Same with part time. Presumably the employer will still need the job to be done so will simply hire more people.

The most skilled rely on those below them to exercise that skill.

Well, it kind of is.

No it isn't. Maximizing how much you can take, is not the same as reducing the amount you give. Very different things.

I'm convinced you're a troll, nobody who supposedly has your level of education can actually be that ignorant.

As much? Check out staff are gonna get replaced with more and more self checkouts. It's a low skilled job and gets paid accordingly.

Is stacking shelves as worthwhile as helping someone with the intracacies of the law?