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?

I think the problem is that there is enough money being raised, but it is not being spent appropriately. No one (or hardly anyone) objects to funding healthcare, policing, welfare etc, but quite a few do object to funding banks (which are a private business and should not have been bailed out with tax payer's money), wars in countries that have nothing to do with us etc.

Did I say you couldn't have your belief? Did I say you couldn't like being rich?

I hardly think anyone suffers on a 50k takehome salary.

The NHS is hardly a beacon of saving people without ration, neglect and incompetence is it?

It makes bugger all difference what the actual tax rate is and how fair it is, you're always going to have entitled twats moaning about paying it while bashing those on benefits.

The NHS does a pretty good job in my eyes.

Like I said bumblymummy I am a high rate tax payer, and as such I can afford to contribute more to the essential services.

I personally see no need to have more tax breaks for myself or my family, I would rather there were good schools, hospitals, police etc for everyone.
If that means I pay a bit more tax so that someone who works incredibly hard at a job that doesn't bring in a huge income gets the tax credits they should damn well be entitled to, I'm more than happy to do so.

Oh do stop wittering OP. Its not you paying the tax is it? Either leave these shores or put up and shut up.

BTW I would love to pay any rate of tax. Its no fun being unemployed.

trixymalixy - you're a bit late to the party. Everyone's already had their HE bashing spree

OK op - I'll come clean: to a certain extent I was playing devils advocate. I think there are pr

I certainly agree with people who say the loop holes for very high earners should be closed. I read the other day Mick Jagger never pays stamp duty on any poperty he buys in this country because they are all bought through some off-shore company or suchlike. I know that isn't income tax as such but it is still avoiding a tax which most people have to pay when they buy a property over a certain price.

No one is bashing HE, it's the fact some high earners object to paying more into services that need it.

And people who say that on a £4000 month salary, you can't buy food.

There is a huge chasm of lifestyle 'choice' though, isn't there? Often on MN you see higher rate tax payers who include in their essentials 'private education' 'pedicures, manicures, hair', 'wadrobe capsules', 'children's sports, music and drama clubs' etc. For many, many lower rate earners who rely on tax credits to allow them to survive, they include in their 'essentials' 'at least one meal that contains meat each week' 'one pair of shoes which does not have holes'.

DH and I are 'low income'. DH earns £11k per year, I get carers allowance for DD1 and we have two younger children also. I am a SAHM out of necessity, right now. I consider us to be doing ok, and in fact, we also help out my Mum and Dad who are on an even lower income. But, to consider us to be 'doing ok', I've realised that:

-I never have my hair cut (well...I remember having it done last summer, I think)
-I never have any beauty treatments of any sort.
-I can't remember the last time I bought clothing of any sort - I just use what I was wearing last year at this time, which happens to be the same thing I wore the year before that, and the year before that.
-DH and I don't go out. Ever. The last time we went out was for our anniversary the year before last.
-DH and I don't drink (DH will have an ale with a Sunday Roast, I guess, smoke or indulge in any other luxuries.
-Our children don't do any activities which cost money.

So if you are a high rate earner and your money is a bit short after your 'essentials' that isn't necessarily the same thing as someone on a low income who says that their money is a bit short, because for them, they are probably already buying the basics range of food, walking when they can, etc., so there is no belt to tighten.

Exactly karma! I'm not sure why that is a difficult concept for some people to grasp.

thecook - I hope you find work soon, I'm sure it's no fun. But there is no need to be so rude. I am just as entitled to say how I feel as you are.

yellowraincoat - I'm a contractor (no permanent jobs available). This means that I cant take time off at short notice at all. Any time I do take off is unpaid. My drs surgery does not offer a service which is helpful for the employed. I realise that if I were seriously ill then I wouldnt be going in to work and so would be able to get an emergency appointment. It is just that all the maintenance type appointments (well woman clinics etc) are in the middle of the day so totally impractical for people with a bit of a commute and normal office hours.

Dont worry, I do realise that I should be grateful to have the opportunity to work at all.

meh op

Quite right Lougle

He must be earning fuck loads! Which means yeah he should be paying that much tax, suck it up your already rich.

The way I read it they were bashing the higher tax payers who were moaning about supporting others, not the high earners that have a social conscience and don't mind supporting those less fortunate.

without trawling through all the posts, answering the OP directly ...

welcome to the real world

Bumblymummy,because your post so far have made you sound selfish

Any time I take off is unpaid as well, but I go if I need to go. That's what being a contractor is like.

Tax evasion, or not wanting to pay tax is as much scrounging as any other scrounging.

Not wanting to contribute to a civilized society is as bad benefits fraud. In my opinion.

Oops! Posted too soon
I think there are genuine problems with tax banding in the uk and I think the 40% kicks in too low. I also think tax credits are a crap system and it's madness that you get families where eg one parent works part time, the other doesn't work a jot, and with various top ups they bring home the same as people working many more hours. That's madness

I also think karma speaks a lot of sense about HOW tax is used.

However, I also think that we all have to make our own decisions within the current system we have (albeit campaigning for better systems)

That's why I flagged up the issue of you choosing to earn a lot less, which may be a great life style choice in some ways, but means you are going to take a harder hit as a family with tax.

FWIW I was a SAHM for 2 years after having dc1. I loved it, it was a great lifestyle choice for me, but one of the biggest drivers in getting back to work, and continuing to work with dc2, was realising that from a tax point of view, we'd be far better off with both of us earning decent incomes than one of us on mega bucks and one on nothing. It also dawned on me that I'd be screwed when it came to a pension. Dh has a reasonable one, and if god forbid he died, id get a proportion- but I had stopped paying into my own fund. It's really worth looking at the bigger picture. The taxation system won't change overnight. You are raising your family within the system we've got, unless you choose to move out of the UK. It won't help to just resent others who may , or may not, be better off than you l

Quint while I agree with you why do people get a "fair play" when they say do they cash in hand jobs but benefit fraud is met with such distain.