..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?

It is a lot, especially when you factor in loss of personal allowance, and the changes to NI. Quite a bit more than 50%.

And a lot of us are not bloody bankers. We didn'r have anything to do with the crash...so why we're supposed to be fucking off I don't know.

I thought it was accepted that it was a symbolic tax and lost as much as it brought in.

Oh and Ed Balls wanted to bring it down to earnings over £100k.

One big problem we have at the moment is defining "Rich" are you rich if you fall into the 50% tax bracket - not compared to the super rich you're not.

To send 4 children to a top private day school is going to cost £80-100 thousand pounds a year of gross income. Which is what you'd expect a "rich" person to be able to afford, along with all the other trappings it's just not possible at that level. In the US the top rate of tax starts upwards of £300,000 +. Why do we tax at such a low starting point, for all levels?

The 50p tax rate was certainly introduced as a political gesture. It was always called 'temporary' and, judging by Ed Balls smug-bastard face yesterday, the previous government knew that any subsequent government would struggle to get rid of it without being accused of 'looking after their rich mates'. A very cynical ploy but precisely the tactics you'd expect from Gordon 'Let's get rid of the 10p tax rate no-one will notice' Brown.

YY, Rich is not 50% tax.....it's well off.

3 children at my old school currently costs £102,000 net pa. Food for thought?

tThat's more than Marlborough.

Or we might question the fairness of a society where people pay 102.000 pounds a year for private school...

Might well be, though i can't imagine by much.

Quite vile isn't it Franca?

Posie, what about my post don't you buy?

I was going to type the same thing, aloiuse.

It would be great if the top 0.1% super rich started paying some tax in the first place.

It looks like the normally wealthy who feel that their children are entitled to a private education, at a top school will have to adjust their expectations, too.

Forgive me for thinking simplistically about this but why do we need tax in the first place? I think earnings should be capped at the top - e.g £50,000 per annum and the bottom rate should be around £25,000 per annum, that's for everyone in this country working full-time. Nobody needs to earn hundreds of thousands of pounds a year. And we shouldn't have a situation where people are working full-time and still not able to feed themselves properly. Let the greedy move to another country. All excess profits should be used for the good of everyone - helping those that really can't work (pay them £25,000 per annum), improving the lives of children, the elderly, schools, health etc etc etc. We don't need complicated and unjust taxation or benefit systems.

Also some people who earn a lot less than this have extremely generous benefits - final salary pension schemes, highly-generous sickness benefits etc etc.

Ceteris parabus they may be pulling in more than someone who is deemed richer. Eg I don't see too much criticism of senior civil servants/council personnel/head teachers and so on yet they are often raking it in.

That for an extra £40k, at least, you decided it wasn't worth it. I find that sort of comment rather objectionable and pity you for finding it in yourself to write it.

Capped earnings?..... That's the quickest way to smother ambition and progress there is. What point working harder than the other bloke if there's no incentive to do so? Why take on any risk (starting a company, innovating, employing staff, investing) if there's no prospect of a reward? Daft idea.

We could question the value of it too.

can we please stop calling accountants and tax advisors "crafty" and implying that somehow we're forcing people into dodgy tax schemes? Lots of us actually work very hard for "ordinary" people with "ordinary" income levels, as well as the wealthier. I do object to being blamed somehow for the current economic situation.

happybubblebrain - read Animal Farm?

Bags I be the person on £25K sitting on my arse. Wouldn't want to wear myself out to get the same money doing some nasty arduous job.

HBB- Move to Cuba. You'd like it.

Cap earnings? That is possibly the daftest thing I've ever heard. the loopier element has arrived.

YABU If you factor in NI as well as income tax then you pay more than 50% on income above 150k. That is wrong in my opinion as I don't think the state should take more of your income than you do

Not nice to say loopy Alouiseg. I agree with your ideas but that's unnecessary. Everyone has different ideas.

Cap earnings?
What about those of us who are self employed. Once we've reached the cap what shall we do? Have the rest fo the year off?

If anyone is offended by loopy please feel free to report my post.