to wonder where this idea has come from, that no one pays enuogh tax to cover the services they use?

[StealthPolarBear]

Where do these people think the money actually comes from?

Even if my tax had been reduced I still wouldn't have been able to afford the £760 a month nursery fees as I don't pay that a month in tax.

Stealth I was thinking even as I posted, I only earn what I do because someone else paid for my uni education and the state education which came before it.

ami I agree anyone with a child in school is a net taker (depending on definition of course). But the money doesn't magically appear from nowhere! For every net taker there is an equal and opposite net contributor (except of course it's not a 1-1 relationship). Meet Mrs Jones - she pays your DD's school bills :o

Relative to income, the poor still pay the most tax.

Tax includes VAT and customs & excise duties.

We pay VAT on things that disproportionately affect women in the power income brackets.

"ami I agree anyone with a child in school is a net taker "

sorry, just done exaclty what I am complaining about

I would imagine (but don't know) anyone with a child in a state school is a net taker. Given they probably also drive on roads, use footpaths and street lighting, have their bins emptied

Can't be bothered to look the stats up, but it is something along the lines of the top 10% or earners pay 60% of the tax, the top 50% or earners 90& of the tax (Therefore the bottom 50% only 10% of the tax).
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8417205.stm

The top 10% pay 53% of all tax.

The bottom 50% pay 11.6% of all tax.

Don't forget they are most likely to be referring to direct taxation, there are many more indirect taxes, and ATM we are running a deficit, spending more than we get in tax receipts.

To the poster that said she has got more in child tax credit than she's paid in tax, think again, do you drive (fuel duty and VAT), do you buy things (VAT), go on holiday (Holiday Tax), have a phone or two (VAT), Gas, Electricity (VAT), have any savings (Tax on interest) etc etc etc, you pay more 'Tax' than you realise, it's not just what it says on your payslip.

The people who are net contributors aren't posting on MN are they? So no-one means no-one around here.

How much tax do you pay per year?
And how much does it cost to light your streets and clean them and police them and educate your children and make the water come out of your taps clean and keep your libraries open and subsidise all of the services you get? Then there is your child benefit and health visitors and baby clinics, before you start on your doctors and dentists and hospitals and subsidised prescriptions and opticians and god know what else. Then you have the whole welfare net too, as well as the public pension pot.

You really think the average person pays more than they get out?

No, Stealth, if you have a children & educate them independently, even if you earn a fairly modest income, you must become a net contributor.

Line, but people on lower incomes benefit from tax credits, housing benefit, council tax benefit etc so that would surely cancel out the higher proportion of their income they pay on vat etc.

We're not talking tax, per se, but net contribution.

How do you know Stoirin?

I did say state school (second time anyway :o)

of which I am one (person with child in state school), in case anyone takes my posts in the wrong way

Storin - the average person, of course, does not pay more in than they get out.

But what is your point?

Apologies Stealth - was distracted - took a while to post, things had moved on.

& Storin I think a fair few net contributors post on MN - why not? Are we not a wide representation?

I thik there;s somethng going on here something people aren't saying. Someone spit it out

"Storin - the average person, of course, does not pay more in than they get out."

That ^is* my point. How is that not clear?

Agree with spiders, there are I suspect many net contributors here. Plus many more whose families are net contributors (after all it isn't just the woman's taxes that should be counted towards the cost of bringing up her children).

So Stoirin is your argument related to debt?

And no-one on MN is usually extrapolated to people's sisters, mothers, friends, brothers....I tend to think "no-one" means "no-one"

It would surely be unreasonable to start working out who costs what

When a country is paying more than it makes and is in the middle of a financial crunch, people start to become very interested in that.

It is Storin - but Stealth was questioning the the suppostion that no-one pays enough to cover services they use.

Which is, of course, ridiculous.

Well I had meningitis when I was 18. I have no idea what treatment I was given but I think it;s safe to say I am a net taker, and, unless I pull my finger out and find a cure for cancer in the next decade or so, will continue to be :o

this is what I mean spiders. There is something that people are not saying, and I want to know what it is. Avoiding the issue and just bringing out some lines which do not answer the questions they have been asked.