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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

877 replies

WinnieTheWho · 27/05/2012 10:38

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? Confused

OP posts:
catgirl1976 · 27/05/2012 14:54

Your DH keeps more than I do. And I think I should pay more tax

Stop moaning

Bonsoir · 27/05/2012 14:57

Anyone who actually likes paying tax needs their head read.

bumbleymummy · 27/05/2012 14:59

Also tantrums, I think you have your figures wrong - if you factor in not having to pay NIC, people end up better off.

TSC, I think they are going to rent it out but they'll still have to put something towards it. Anyway, it's nothing to do with me what they do really. I was just using it as an example of how people can end up in a situation where they have very little money left, despite being HE. soverylucky gave another example. It can happen so easily and I think it's a but unfair to think it isn't possible just because you don't happen to be in that situation yourself.

catgirl1976 · 27/05/2012 14:59

I don't like it Bonsoir, but I feel it's right I should pay more than most

Bonsoir · 27/05/2012 15:00

Why? Do you think the state does such a fab job?

catgirl1976 · 27/05/2012 15:03

No - I think the state does a shite job overall

But I think that is a seperate belief from the one I hold that tells me the highest earnres should pay the most tax and the lowest earners the least

bumbleymummy · 27/05/2012 15:05

category, that is the way it work even if there was a single tax rate. The HE would still be paying more but everyone would be paying the same proportion of their salary which is more fair.

bumbleymummy · 27/05/2012 15:06

Catgirl* sorry - autocorrect!

Bonsoir · 27/05/2012 15:07

I think that belief (however superficially halo-straightening it may feel) opens the floodgates to state abuse of higher earners (who often shoulder heavy and difficult responsibilities - being a higher earner is not all a bed of roses).

Original poster
WinnieTheWho · 27/05/2012 15:09

catgirl1976 - that principle still holds true even if everyone were on the same rate (above a set personal tax free allowance). 30% of £150K is a lot more that 30% of £20K

OP posts:
catgirl1976 · 27/05/2012 15:09

Mmm - true. If there is an economic arguement that we would all be better off under a single tax rate and there would be better public services etc I would be interested.

I honestly don't mind the 50% thing though and think it's wrong it's dropping to 45%

catgirl1976 · 27/05/2012 15:10

Of course it's not always a bed of roses Bonsoir, but it is a feck of a lot easier than bringing up 3 children on mimimum wage.

Bonsoir · 27/05/2012 15:11

Don't you see, though, that if people say they don't mind paying 45% or 50% tax (which personally I find an outrageous rate), there is no incentive for the state to reign in costs? I like a lean, cost-conscious state, personally...

Bonsoir · 27/05/2012 15:13

You know what? I'm not convinced it always so much better. In my apartment building the gardienne and her taxi driver husband live in one (large) room with their two DCs. Neither of them work terribly hard, they get absolutely masses of tax breaks and their elder DS goes to a Catholic (eg private) school. They take a month's holiday in Portugal every summer in a single stretch.

Not all the owner occupiers can afford private school and a month's holiday abroad...

catgirl1976 · 27/05/2012 15:13

No I don't see that as the majority of state income does not come from the taxation of the highest band of taxpayers.

Given that, it is likely to have minimal impact on overall government spending.

Bonsoir · 27/05/2012 15:14

The higher the marginal rate, then the higher all rates of tax become. It's a slippery slope.

catgirl1976 · 27/05/2012 15:15

Bonsoir - I bet you'll find someone on here willing to swap with you if you really think that.

Are you a high eaner? I thought from other threads you were a SAHM?

Bonsoir · 27/05/2012 15:16

I was a very high earner for a long time. My DP is a very high earner. Our household pays oodles of tax. It's very annoying!

NotGeoffVader · 27/05/2012 15:17

Unfortunately OP, that is the way the tax system works. I had a very well-paid job a few years ago, that fell just above the 40% tax threshold. So although I put in long hours, and worked hard, it didn't feel as though I was earning my keep.

As it turned out, I hated the job after a few months and left after 18 months to become a full-time student. Now I have a wage of £0 and DH brings in less than £20K p/a. Because my studies need a lot of home-study and because of lack of much childcare available, I can't work part-time around the course, and the course doesn't constitute 'full time' according to Govt. guidelines.

Financially I am far worse off than when I had the 40% taxation. Personally though, I am far more happy, although frustrated at the fact that if I worked 16 hours a week (the industry I am capable of doing this in won't sanction working from home which rules that out as a p/t option) then I would be able to claim benefits toward childcare.

However, I'm not really complaining, there are many people far worse off. Some in fact that don't even have homes.

catgirl1976 · 27/05/2012 15:19

Chuck it all in and become a gardienne and a cabby then Bonsoir. It will be just the same lifestyle-wise and much less annoying Grin

Original poster
WinnieTheWho · 27/05/2012 15:20

An example of why the system is so flawed:
I know of someone whose DH works half the year out of the country and as a result does not have to pay income tax. He earns a similar salary to my DH and his family all benefit from the services that this country provides - education, health, policing. It's all legal and he is allowed, by this country's ridiculous tax system to do this.
How in anyone's book can that be considered a fair system?

OP posts:
Bonsoir · 27/05/2012 15:21

The gardienne's DH is in fact a graduate engineer Shock. So much for taxpayer funded education and adding value to the economy... See why I think that the tax system is perverse?

willyoustillloveme · 27/05/2012 15:21

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

catgirl1976 · 27/05/2012 15:24

Do you work willyou? Do you claim CB?

tinkerbel72 · 27/05/2012 15:27

Winnie- very few people have actually said the system is fair. But how do you make things 'fair'? Even if you change taxation, the fact remains that someone living in the north of England doing the same job on the same wages as someone in the home counties is likely to have a much pleasanter standard of living due to lower rentals and house prices.

I think there is a genuine debate to be had about tax bands, and legal loopholes. And certainly about tax credits (thankfully changes afoot there) which IMO have been a disaster and in some cases are a disincentive to people to work more than a couple of days a week

But tbh your op could have been a lot better worded if you wanted to open a discussion on the system. It comes across as very entitled, making you sound like a resentful wife who doesn't really want the pressie of working too hard or long, but complains about not getting to keep enough of her husbands salary! I appreciate that it's not like that in reality, but it does come across as being resentful of the very small minority who earn mega bucks. I also think that while the self empl