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?

Perception, you make it sound like you think everyone should earn the same amount and no one should have any more than anyone else. It just sounds a bit jealous and entitled tbh.

Well, if you have a house, you have two cars, a holiday home in the New Forest, and one in France. You pay your staff, you meet all your expenses, have set aside 10-20 a year for foreign holidays, and another 10k for weekend trips, what are you going to do with your £200.000 annual bonus?

One year you could buy an investment flat, to make more money.
Next year, you could buy a ferrari.
The following year a yacht.
Book a trip to the moon for 2015.

What else is there?

Oh, I know, another investment flat.

Greed and entitlement are the two driving factors.....

Quint, but it's their money. They can do what they like with it. No one is telling you how to spend yours.

Or Quint, you could end up paying private school fees because your local schools are either full or of a low standard, or you could end up paying for private consultants appointments and operations.

bummbleymummy exactly what I was trying to say (but it took me a lot more words ).

I completely agree with you, yes I am a bit jealous of people that have massive houses and ferraris but I don't begrudge them at all as they have earnt that money and can spend it how they like. Thats life!!!!

I am a bit jealous of people that have massive houses and ferraris but I don't begrudge them at all as they have earnt that money and can spend it how they like.

So long as they actually do pay their taxes, of course. That seems to be the problem....

I got up to someone saying there's a proposal for 30% tax with a £10,500 allowance.

Well that's me fucked.

Also Quint, it seems with that post that you are assuming that higher rate tax pays can all afford that level of luxury in life when I'm sure you know the reality is that they can't because the HRT threshold is quite low. As I said earlier, my dh isn't far off earring enough to pay HRT, and we are nowhere near that well off.

Have not read the whole thread, but remided me reading recently about the singer Adele who was apparently a leftie when she earned nowt, then when she catapulted to success, she discovered to her shock that she had to pay a shed-load of tax on her big-shed load of earnings.... suddenty was not so socialist minded after all...

'Perception, you make it sound like you think everyone should earn the same amount and no one should have any more than anyone else. It just sounds a bit jealous and entitled tbh.'

No, that is not what I said. But obviously some people earn enough to pay tax and just about cover their expenses and it is only fair that those who earn a lot lot more should make more of a contribution. Or do you not believe in society?

If you think I sound 'jealous' or 'entitled' I would argue that your sentiment is Thatcherite! it's their money. No it's not, everyone has to pay taxes (not just income tax either) - and I don't make the rules about how much.

Iam, that was me. The 30% tax includes NIC so you actually end up paying less overall. Eg. Someone on a 15k salary currently takes home around 12.5k but with the 30% proposal they would take home 13.5k.

Maybe Adele suddenly realised exactly how much they would take from her while at the same time seeing no benefit to her or her family.

That's the problem, the tax system in this country benefits the poor, and even then not particularly well. Everyone else gets the benefit if they are lucky, but quite frequently they are not.

But perception, they already do pay a lot, lot more, without taking a higher proportion of their earnings.

Also, the 'their money' was after tax anyway. They can spend their money how they like but you seem a bit bitter that some people can afford things that others can't.if you don't feel like that then fair enough but you are coming across that way a bit.

'you seem a bit bitter that some people can afford things that others can't.'

And I've said that, where? How do you know I can't afford whatever I want / need? You are coming across as personal.

Unlike some people I don't just look at things from my own point if view.

Maybe Adele suddenly realised exactly how much they would take from her while at the same time seeing no benefit to her or her family

So she or her family won't get ill or won't have children that need educating or live on a street that needs sweeping, use a bin that needs emptying or drive a car on a road that needs maintaining?

Before anyone pulls the 'ahh but I have private health care/send my children to private school' card: who do you think pays for the training of the doctors and teachers who staff such institutions? Don't get me started on the tax breaks afforded to private schools either....

'people don't need more than they need' sounds a bit begrudging tbh.

I'm not trying to be personal btw - sorry if it's coming across like that. I don't have a problem with paying tax and obviously if you at more, you pay more BUT I don't think you should pay a higher proportion of your earnings. That seems unfair to me.

Compos, I think the point was that she had all those things anyway - even before she was contributing so much for them.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos Mon 28-May-12 11:23:34
"Or Quint, you could end up paying private school fees because your local schools are either full or of a low standard, or you could end up paying for private consultants appointments and operations."

That is true, in the uk! And we most likely will for secondary

ComposHat - AFAIK only 2 of those things (health and education) come out of general taxation. The rest are funded separately by CT and RT (not sure how much is ringfenced though.

I would be happy with the astonishing amount I pay in NI every month if e.g. my local hospital was not such a filthy hell-hole. It's the rubbish services, not so much the tax rate, that hacks me off. That and the fact that services are very much NOT designed around the needs of working people IME.

Compos, I think the point was that she had all those things anyway - even before she was contributing so much for them.

Exactly.

Everyone is very keen on income redistribution when it is other people's income that is being redistributed. When its your own, you start to look more closely at what you are getting for your money.

Can't be arsed to read the whole thread, but my heart bleeds at the tragedy of the OP's high earning husband. His life must be bleak indeed.

Everyone is very keen on income redistribution when it is other people's income that is being redistributed. When its your own, you start to look more closely at what you are getting for your money.

oh yes.

The system is surely designed so that the gap between rich and poor does not grow and grow?

Some people will always struggle to make ends meet and to me it seems awfully crass to be moaning about not being able to accumulate wealth when some people really struggle to cope. Some people are not as fortunate as others - they don't have the opportunities which enable them to earn lots - that does not mean they are lazy or don't work hard enough.

OP, just to point out that most people working on the minimum wage are also working BLOODY HARD, and often LONG HOURS just for a lot lot less that your P gets.

If Adele thinks she's hard done by then greed must have got to her imo.