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?

When the country is in the biggest recession for the decades, when there are people struggling to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads not to mention the global tragedies that are going on at the moment... Complaining about the taxes that your husband pays makes you sound like a bit of an entitled airhead.

Or since she can't understand what I mean by a third party, someone else

I'd be rolling in it if we didn't have to pay the mortgage. But I do have to pay for accommodation, just as we as a society have to pay for roads etc.

Your argument assumes that when your employer set your husband's salary there was ever any assumption he'd have it all - which of course there wasn't. If tax was lower, your husband's salary would probably be lower too - they are offering him a standard of living high enough to entice him to work for them, and no more.

Sorry - I think you mean

"Catgirl - you're a twat"

God, I am today

tinkerbell - I realised that pretty soon after I posted, and actually said later on in another post that my op could have been differently titled.
A newbie error which won't be repeated
I have discovered that MN is a volatile place and definately not for the faint hearted!

Sauvignon, it depends on where they work, their commuting costs, the price of childcare etc.

Just pointing out that you can't always simply 'choose' to have a low mortgage.

Do those things not apply to people who earn less? They still have to pay for housing and food as well as the cost of commuting and childcare.

With the cost of living as it is, is it fair that nurses, teachers and careworkers should have to pay the same? Or do you not need those people in 'better off' areas?

Seriously how can you call the father of the children a SAHM is looking after a third party. Totally insane.
Incidently, I am in am similar situation. Earn vey little myself. Dh is a higher rate tax payer. We do claim child benefit but not for long.
So yes dh is paying the lion's share of mortgage etc but its only right he provide for his children in same way I provide by doing the childcare etc etc.

I think the vast majority of us hard-working, under-valued people would love to be in a position that we had to pay 40% taxes. I certainly would.

By third party I simply meant someone else- eg in both examples the person is financially dependent on someone else

Ok, so with a flat rate tax every one will pay less? Sounds alright so far but if everyone is paying less what will happen to benefits? How will we afford that, imo, very important safety net, if there is going to be less money in the pot?

In the interests of addressing the OP (rather than all the replies), YANBU to question the UK taxation system. We are all over taxed IMHO.

However, YABVU to hold the notion that your DH works any harder than people who earn less (and thereby pay less tax). Many of the most physically demanding jobs are paid at minimum wage or very close to it. I now work in a low-paid-but-very-demanding job. I worked 60 hours last week (the consent form to waive your right to work no more than 48 hours per week is part of the application form in this job). I know I chose the job, it is not what I used to do. However, the idea that others are working harder simply because they are paid more makes my blood boil. You are wrong.

Everyone wouldn't be paying less. If you are earning 25k and paying 20% tax then they put that up to 30% across the board, those middle earners will be the ones to lose out by a lot. It'll just be the high earners that benefit.

No one 'likes' paying taxes - but we all 'like' having stuff like a free to use healthcare system (for the time being), a free to use school system (for the time being) an effective police force (for the time being) and benefits to support those who need it.

DP will be a 40% tax payer from next april, he does earn a decent salary, and my salary is 'ok' - we have no luxuries 'cos we chose to have 4 kids. Que sera and all that...

If we had NO kids I'd be posting this from my yacht.

Yes manic, I'm not saying they don't. Just trying to point out that even HE can end up in the position where they have very little to get them through the month after they've paid for those things.

I do feel that we seem to pay a lot of tax and not get a huge amount back. I think good quality affordable childcare is sadly lacking and there is horrific mis-spending and waste across the private sector, but these things would not be addressed by a flat rate of tax or lower taxes

Yes but they will be struggling on what they have to cover the cost of rent/mortgage on a considerably smaller property for a start.

I'm not going to feel sorry for someone in the 40% tax bracket. There are many more people before them to worry about.

Manic, NIC would be scrapped and the personal allowance goes up. NIC would basically be incorporated in the 30% tax.

OP In these times of acute financial hardship for so very many families I think some tact would come in very handy

My DP and I gross £25k between us. He works 40 hours per week and last night I got in from work at 2 am.

Wana swap?

But the low/middle earners would still see no benefit whatsoever, but the high earners would. Plus there would be less taxes coming in to pay for education/health care etc.

Sounds like a really over-simplified idea that would not work.

I think it's pretty awful to not feel sorry for someone simply because they're a HE when you have no idea of their circumstances. A HE salary does not go too far in London for example. You could be in a tiny flat in London and paying a higher proportion of your income than someone who is earning less and living elsewhere in the country. It's not a straightforward comparison.