To feel that having nearly half of your salary taken away is just not right?

[WinnieTheWho]

I don't earn enough to pay tax & NI but my DH has a pretty good job & salary for which he works BLOODY hard. I was horrified to work out after last pay day that for EVERY £1 he earned, he only kept 60 pence. This is due to a combination of paying very high income tax and NI, as well losing all of his personal allowance because he might get a bonus at the end of the year! It just seems that if you work hard to get paid well and you are a PAYE taxpayer, the Government & HMRC will just shaft you from all angles. It just makes me wonder why we bother? So... AM I BEING UNREASONABLE?

That's a good point bumbly

I do agree with many others on here that the middle earners are being horrendously squeezed, and that while the very rich will always be ok, and the very poor will get looked after, it's the masses in the middle that have a tough time. And I do sometimes wonder if part of the backlash against cuts, pay freezes etc is that the middle earners will start to play the system, and deliberately stay under the HR threshold. After all, there's a lot to be said for avoiding the stress of a higher paid job if youre only going to gain marginally through it.

That said- it goes back to making the system work for you op. With the recent changes in child benefit, and the way tax is structured in this country, it really doesn't make good financial sense for one partner to earn lots and the other to earn very little. You are far better off having two more equal earners. Nothing will change overnight, so you're best off making the system work for you.

And those things would happen if the high rate tax payers started paying 10-20% less tax, less tax into the communal pot=cuts somewhere

How can somebody have higher earnings but lower disposable income.

Did you take off their mortgage, rates, utilities, travel expenses etc? If you don't know how much their outgoings are then you don't know how much they have left. I know a couple who are having to pay rent and a mortgage because they had to move for work and can't sell their house. Do you want to tell them that they should have plenty of disposable income because he's on a good salary?

Because they might have higher outgoings Sauvignon.

Tantrums, seriously go google the 30% tax proposal . It's not just a case of HE paying 10% less tax. Sheesh

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

Actually, the low paid pay more tax as a proportion of their income than higher earners do. When you consider the % of someone's income that goes towards council tax (the rate of which actually varies surprisingly little between a modest house and a mansion), VAT, fuel duty, etc. - that obviously amounts to more if you are poorer, and you presumably wouldn't be taking advantage of tax-free savings, or of pension contributions which reduce your tax bill.

As someone said above - if this is such a problem for you, find a lower paid job. But, I know, as a higher rate taxpayer myself, that it would be stupid to do so.

If you can actually afford to pay a mortgage plus rent then you clearly have more disposable income than a person who struggles every month just to pay their rent.

It's a choice to pay rent and mortgage at the same time, a option that the majority of people could not afford.

Your 30% tax proposal is the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard.

No NI for anyone, how does that help?
10% tax hike for lower earners with a personal allowance increase of 2k?

And you don't think thats the high earners having more money at the expense of lower earners??

tantrums, it's not really a choice. What should they do with a house at the opposite end of the country thats in negative equity? There isn't much left when they pay all their bills. I'm not sure why you can't be sympathetic towards someone in a difficult situation simply because they're a HE.

Read on tantrums...read on. Most people think it's a very good idea.

Btw it's not 'my propsoal' :)

Yabu, god I can't abide people who are very well off moaning about how much they have to pay. Earn more pay more and rightly bloody so

People in Britain still has it pretty good though, from a tax perspective.

We paid 28% tax in the uk, but from the same salary we paid 44% tax in Norway. Plus 7% NI contributions. So, from my perspective, keeping 60 pence for each pound, is not so bad.

Hairy, HE would be paying more even if they were on the same rate... No one is saying they should pay less tax - just that they shouldn't be paying a higher proportion of their earnings.

OP, are you for real? I think your comment as 'people that benefit from your husband's tax' not liking your post comes across as very arrogant. Perhaps these people 'benefit' from their own taxes that they pay. Your husbands taxes do not support the whole country, you know!

Most people can think as they please, I think it's ridiculous.
And sorry but the way you were championing it, I thought you had some kind of involvement.

And it is a choice. If you can afford to pay rent and a mortgage you clearly have a substantial amount of money each month.
If you choose to rent to avoid a long commute it's your choice, and you have that choice based on your individual circumstances.

My sister has a house in negative equity. She has a commute of 90 minutes to work and another 90 home.
She is earning just enough money to get by.
She can't afford to move, or to rent another property and still pay her mortgage. Therefore she has no choice.

I'm not against HE, I earn more than the ops DH and probably pay a hell of a lot more tax than he does, which means I have more disposable income than a lot of people.
For that reason I have no sympathy for HE who want people to feel sad they pay so much tax, and have to pay 2 mortgages or whatever and try to pretend they too cannot afford to put the heating on or feed their children because it's rubbish.

Lol at 'long commute' the house is at the opposite end of the country! Just because you aren't in the situation doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Soverylucky just shared her example as well - do you want to tell her she's lying?

Winnieh, has it occurred to you that since you dont pay tax? so 50% of the adults in your house hold dont pay tax.

This means that some of the mumsnetters here who pay tax actually subsidize you. So it is not a case of arrogantly saying that your husbands tax benefit other.

There are many people, I bet, who earn more than your husband, and pay more tax than your husband, who are supporting your family by your own way of thinking....

I agree with QuintessentialShadows

What about the tax that OP paid when she was working? And as her dh is paying tax, and she is bringing up children, she is being subsidised much less than a family on benefits or who claim tax credits.

TantrumsAndBalloons, where in any of my posts have I said that we struggle to feed and clothe our DC?
My point was that I feel as though people who strive to achieve good salaries & benefits and pay their taxes through PAYE, are targeted disproportionately by HMRC because they are easy to tax. Whereas, there are many highly paid individuals who do not pay tax through PAYE and are able to reduce their tax bill so they pay proportionally far less than their PAYE counterparts.
Clearly, many many posters think IABU and their reasons for that are completely valid. There are also posters who think that it is not unreasonable to think that earning a good salary only to give nearly half of it to the Treasury is also a bit galling.
If all high earners decided to take lower paid jobs to pay less tax, that would not only reduce the tax revenue but would put huge pressure jobs in those salary bands.
I'm not suggesting that lower paid people should bear the brunt, more that everyone on higher salaries PAYE or not should pay the same rate of tax.