..to want to say to those who are whinging about the 50% tax rate

[vic77en]

..that they should fuck the fuck off?

At a time when lots of people are really struggling with high inflation, 20% VAT, high unemployment, lack of living wage etc etc.

If you're earning above the 50% threshold you are well off and can afford it.

I used to earn enough to pay 40% tax (this was before the 50% rate came in and I was nowhere near the 50% threshold) and did not begrudge paying this. If NI and VAT were factored in, over 50% of my income went in taxes. I still had high disposable income.

Rather than giving their views airtime, there should be a massive PR exercise on the benefits to all of us of living in a civil society where there is an economic safety net, NHS, free education (for under 18's at least still...)

AIBU or not?

High earners don't stop spending because they're £15k worse off, it doesn't happen.

Blueberties "vast and wasteful tax pot"
See that's what I have an issue with.
I am not saying there is no waste in government spending. There always will be.
But can you (can anyone?) seriously think that paying tax is a waste?

I speak as a higher earning household, we've never begrudged a penny we pay in tax.

I can only say that my neighbour's company is moving their European HQ from the UK to Switzerland because of tax. The people involved generated £4.5 million in PAYE and NI last year. Next year it will be zilch.

the feeling of economics is sometimes as important as the actual economics

hmm, not sure I agree with that, especially when the country is as cash strapped as it is. If lowering the tax rate would improve the economy and aid long term recovery I am happy to go without the glow of knowing that someone, somewhere is paying more tax than me.

It's not half your earnings

It's 50% of income earned over 150k

first 7500 - no tax
7500 - 40k 20% tax
40k - 150k 40% tax
150k + 50% tax

It's not - earn 150k and pay 75k in tax

Posieparker
I think I love you

However you look at this, people are greedy if they complain. They also often spout nonsense like illogical working whatever that they'd be better off on benefits, or that they work harder than anyone else.....

Greedy and selfish.....

Believe me, Britain has been pretty much a fair and just and generous country, and yes, it does "work" economically to be that way. But we don't need disincentives and the 50pc tax rate is one.

Don't forget, though, that income tax is not just chargeable on employment earnings, but on savings interest, dividends, rental income...

A lot of people who are contributing a lot in terms of tax and spending are independently wealthy, particularly if their assets generate £150k plus each year - should we encourage them to go elsewhere? We would then lose all the money they spend. This is a separate issue to the 'brain drain' argument, but still valid I think. It is better to have people with lots of income living here and spending their money than to encourage them all to leave I think - but I'm not an economist.

YABU

Theft.

And I earn £23k

yanbu
whilst the vulnerable (disabled people) are being hit the hardest by these cuts, no way should the well off be helped like this

So can we work out 200-thousand in tax and NI? I obviously can't.

YY Vic I think a lot of our family's tax has been wasted in the last fifteen years.

Grovel's post is vastly depressing.

'Besides economic policy is also political and sends a message of a fair and just country if we're not allowing the rich to have so much, the feeling of economics is sometimes as important as the actual economics.

yes that's it exactly

I am the proud possessor of a letter from Maria Miller telling me that a £200 ppm cut to the tax credits for MR DLA claiming children is OK because 2 years is enough time to plan (clearlyly she has a cure for autism stashed somewhere)

I try very hard to be fair about policies and assess them from perspectives other than my own but even so, it's hard to be told to suck that up and then have people saying that those who probably have same skills and quals as DH and I will suffer by the extra tax of the highest paid.

I know times are hard for many, negative equity and all the rest.

but- well yes TPP, your phrase exactly.

The 50p tax is not a good thing. It will piss off the majority of higher earners who will work out how to get round it. There are always way to get round it. Lots of wages will be capped at £149k with the extras being given out in different ways. Or, indeed, people moving to other parts of Europe/the world.

We really need these higher earners paying tax properly because even though they are just 1% the overall amount of tax they contribute is huge.

The top rate was 60% when I was young! They should all count themselves lucky

For "ordinary" people we still have one of the lowest tax regimes in the developed world. The 50% tax rate affects only 320,000 people (or so the BBC said last night)

It will be political suicide to cut the 50% tax rate.

Altho, I do think that it will happen.

Hey ho.

Can I just clear up a misconception re tax avoidance? If you are a UK resident it is extremely difficult to avoid paying UK tax. This is especially true if you are a UK resident who is employed in the UK (vs self-employed). This bracket covers most bankers working in the UK, so most of them pay all the tax they should through PAYE.

The tax avoidance schemes you hear about, and which are being referred to here, largely relate to non UK residents who have some UK earnings (eg they might do some work for a UK company but not live in the UK), and, more specifically, non-doms, of whom there are not very many in the scheme of things.

It's also quite easy (albeit risky) to evade tax as a self employed person of any income level, by offsetting non-business expenses but this is illegal/fraud.

Is anyone taking all the hidden taxes into account? Somehow it does skewer the %s

If you've ever worked for the public sector or with public money you will know how it's always been considered "nobody's money" and we're just going to spend it willy-nilly-silly. It's changing now and there's outrage. But sometimes it seems for some people working with public sector funds, that's not changing at all.

Companies aren't not choosing the UK for our tax rate, they're not choosing the UK for the minimum wage....preferring India or China for general cheapness slave labour. UK is English speaking and as many of our English speaking competitors are not so easy to set up in and have similar tax rates it's a nonsense to suggest companies set up elsewhere because of 50% tax. They don't choose here because we have no manufacturing skills base, again not through income tax margins.

Economists simply understand numbers, why those numbers happen is simply projection.....with a bias, always with bias. I can't fathom how their theories have arrived considering the world economy ground to a halt during the tax rise, neither of which is cause and/or effect.

OP thanks....

grovel is it purely tax?

My dad's former employers moved their company out of the UK becuase another country (USA) paid them massive incentives to do so.

I suspect if a profit is made by utilising the 50% tax rate above admin (and if not then absolutely scrap it) a lot of good could be done by applying to bringing business here, the UK company in question was far more profitable than the Merican one yet the incentive made it worth their while.

Tax rates may be a factor but not the only one. Usually. And amny of those who see it as a huge factor will suely be likely to be registered offshore anyway?