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>

I didn’t call a salaried income grotesque, I called the wage discrepancy grotesque. You are right, things improved after the war when inequality was reducing, and now we are going backwards again as a society.

I am not talking about people who don’t earn their wealth. I am talking about people who work full time in low paid employment.

No, qualifications and training should of course be rewarded, but experience and work ethic should also be rewarded. The gap between salary levels should be more conservative, no more 250k bosses and every other staff member on NMW.

It's not just about stress levels, it's about how society functions as a whole. The upper levels need the lower levels.

Not intelligent enough to not post multiple times though, eh? Internet issues?

How? How would lower level salaries rise just because some folk up skilled?

It's still working the system for your own gain.

Well, if nobody stacks the shelves the lawyer cannot buy her groceries, and then she cannot tell everyone how important she is by charging silly amounts to sign a letter.......

"The system" doesn't exist without those who fund it.

Supply and demand. More disposable money. More taxes being paid.

Yes, that's how the welfare state works. Folk manipulate it in different ways. This isn't new information.

More taxes aren't necessarily being paid though, unless brand new up skilled roles are being created, and it's not certain that will be the case. Folk may just be filling vacancies and not stepping into newly created roles.

Yes but you understand that paying for is not the same thing as taking from?
Are you sure you've got a PHD?

The problem, is that a society cannot function with some people earning massive salaries, while others work all hours and are unable to afford to live.

Everyone learning excel and python is not the answer. We already have plenty of people with those skills, and not enough decently paid jobs. There are already thousands of unemployed computer science graduates who can’t get jobs, and you think that the ticket to highly paid career is an online certificate in excel? You are so out of touch.

Well yeah, filling vacancies in higher paid roles. because thankfully we don't actually live in your socialist la la land.

Yes, and more people will be filling the lower paid roles too - the roles so low paid that they need support just to survive. And so the cycle continues......

Are you sure you don't understand what manipulating the system means? It's all driven by selfish but understandable desires. And yes, I'm sure I've got a PhD, which I only actually mentioned when folk started boasting about how clever they are with their Masters.

I was stating a fact, not opening a debate about teaching salaries. London council tax is lower than most of the rest of the country. So either council tax in London is too low and should increase, or the rest of the country's rates should be reduced. I could be persuaded either way on that one, since I don't own a property there.

If you can't afford to live in London, then don't - it's not compulsory.

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

Tax rate is calculated on an individual's salary so "we" are an additionally (sic) rate tax payer is nonsense. Unless you're the queen I suppose.

London council tax is lower because the councils generate other income! Why should we subsidise the rest of the country. We already subsidise the rest of the country via income tax anyway. Create your own jobs.

Parking charges, business rates etc etc - hefty fines for entering a bus lane. Create your own fines!

How much roughly do you think the shelf stacker and lawyer should be paid?

I think both should be paid enough that I'm not having to subsidise Tesco's shareholders via the tax credit system.

I'm a lawyer btw so I guess I support me always being well paid thanks for looking out for us.

And for Councils in London, licence fees for landlords, like the one Rachel Reeves failed to pay quite recently? All of these costs get passed on to local businesses and local people. So whether people pay via council tax or that way, they are still paying! Why should Londoners keep working harder and paying more whilst the rest of the country just sits back and expects to be subsidised?

People do work multiple jobs.

I was inspired by a man I saw on YouTube who grew up dirt poor in the states but "hustled his way to success".

He did struggle a lot growing up, but he did work multiple different jobs to make ends meet.

Ha that’s ok, enjoy. I’m still interested in figures if the pp or anyone wants to be upfront.