To think we are ALL assisted by the tax payer in some way

[CordeliaStarling]

Im fed up of hearing people moaning about families who they perceive to get too much aid from 'the taxpayer'

I can't believe there is a single person in the UK who doesn't receive any kind of help or use a service that is funded by the tax payer.

I'm in the 7th, so get less than we give.

We get no monetary benefits but I benefit from hospitals very much!

To all those who think that top rate tax layers are "selfish" for not wanting to pay kore than 50p in the pound - it is pretty clear that the "fairest" thing to do to rebalance the tax system is to as income less and tax property more. Would you be happy with paying land tax? Bc that's the biggest source of unearned wealth - all of you who have property that has gone up loads in value.

To answer the OP - I am definitely a net contributor and am happy to pay tax to fund society. I will never get used to the sheer vast amount of benefits that the UK taxpayer seems to think is theirs by right, though (council homes, everything free on the Nhs all the time, child tax benefit etc). And if Osborne hadn't have reversed the 50% top rate we would definitely be leaving the UK next year - it just feels wrong.

I'm also in the 7th GhostShip although that is mainly due to dh's tax not mine.

I know it would be practically impossible to calculate any other way but it does seem far too simplistic to think in terms of money earned and tax paid. I think people like hospital cleaners and care home workers may pay very little tax but give more of themselves to society by getting paid less out of the 'pot' than the value of what they do.

YANBU.

Erm yep we all are police, medical personnel fire fighters, doctors, hospitals, schools are all funded by the tax payer so I would say all of us are assisted.

I pay the lower rate of tax, is it 20%? I wouldn't expect anyone to have to give 50p from every pound they earn. In my lowly opinion that's ludicrous.

I've never really understood the argument that if you have private medical and educate privately that makes you not reliant on the state. Most if not all private doctors will have trained in the NHS. Many private school teachers will have benefited from a state education/training.

it's NOT 50p from EVERY pound - it's 50p from each pound above the threshold of £150,000, 40p from each pound between £35k and £150k and 20p from each pound below that.

Yes we are absolutely all assisted by the tax payer in some way.

Not everyone does or has contributed at all

Obviously everyone in the country benefits in some way from tax payer money, whether it's through receiving housing benefit, JSA etc, or whether it's by using services such as the NHS, police, fire brigade, schools, driving on roads maintained via tax money.

But personally, I find it a bit irritating when people refuse to contribute. I've known people (able bodied with no children) who told me that they weren't even going to try looking for work, not even part time voluntary work, because they get more money on benefits.

It's difficult to argue with that logic, but it annoys me. And it's the sort of attitude that gives unemployed people who receive benefits but want to work or contribute to society a bad name as well.

No one has said it's every pound.

Though your figures are out because of loss of personal allowances and NI etc.

But that's not the point. Any pound that I make be it my first or my ten millionth is a pound I made. No one else. The cash fairy didn't fly along and pop it under my pillow. And if I grafted for it, then I should be allowed to keep more than half of it.

its 32% total Ghostship. If you have a student loan it might be 41% on all your income over 15k.

No-one pays 50p on every pound, they only pay 50% on extra earnings over £150,000.

Hmmn, it is surely not merely a matter of everyone getting something from the taxpayer, which is a very simplistic way of looking at it, but critically analysing it and perhaps looking at how much comparitively the British taxpayer gets compared to, for example, the German taxpayer.

Then it doesn't look quite such a good picture.

I am not quite a higher rate tax payer (and agree I benefit from tax greatly thanks to the wonderful NHS and lower crime than countries with no social welfare etc) but I do resent the feeling that I should pay more than half of a pound I earn if I put in hard work and get a bonus etc.

I spent all of my 20s studying as well as working. I do a job which means some nights I work very late after putting my DC to bed and I often go to bed with a load of stress weighing on me. I am lucky I had good opportunities thanks to my parents educating me well (not in the UK) but I don't deserve to be punished for hard work do I?

Happy to contribute a fair amount any day.

Sorry but even people on benefits pay tax.

VAT anyone?

Even if you use private schools and private healthcare you are benefitting in the following ways:
If you have employees and they use state services you are not needing to pay a higher salary to them to cover healthcare - as U.S employers do
The training of doctors and teachers in the private secto has been supported in the state sector - so overheads are lower
If your customers use public transport / the road network and all our coountries infrastructure then your market is benefitting from state investment
Some of your clients might be the state sector!
If you go to the ballet, opera, theatre you are enjoying tax-subsidised tickets - and all the artists and creative team in the opening ceremonies, for e.g, have developed thier careers in the subsidised sector
and so on and so on.

There was a documentary a while back that demonstrated that middle class tax payers benefitted proportionally more from tax-supported facilities than benefit claimants.

Is it a punishment to pay for healthcare and education and clean, safe streets and all the other good stuff?

It might feel like a punishment if you don't get a wage you can live on, I'll give you that.

i really do think there should be 'real' help in getting back to work. childcare cost is high in some areas. yes there is some goverment help but if you have more that 2 children the help is not much. round here is cost an average of 7-8 pounds an hour for childcare during the school holidays/after school thats 25 pounds an hour.

i pay 55.00 for 12 hours a week so i can do volunteer work. so i have something when im ready to go to work, to build confidence etc and also give something back. even if its not in the form of tax just yet.

i have noticed 'some' people really look down on people on benefits. but they seem to forget their tax credits top ups in a benefit.although people are working and thats a good thing, some people are taking more out of the pot then they are putting in. Also if hubby left sahm may also end up on benefits. we don't know whats round the corner.

I think that over a certain amount income tax should be 100%. Noone needs more than, say, £500k a year.

There are plenty of people who work their arses off and have no prospect of earning
anything like the 50p threshold. People who think that their huge earnings are entirely down them and nothing at all to do with luck are deluded.

I think we also have weird ideas about what we think is valuable, as a society. For example, carers do so much vital unpaid work, but you can make tons of cash selling disposable tat to go into landfill.

And yes everyone benefits!

I'm benefits dependent. I am, though, still a lifetime net contributor. The idea that citizens should only get what they pay for is absurd. Those who moan about my benefits today were having their education, health protection and safety paid for by me 20 years ago. So, yes, thanks for the food & shelter, and would you please thank me back?!

You only have to visit a 'developing' country to see where uncontrolled individualism leads. Or to look at the real facts about life in the US without money.

I see there already a few scrounger myths on this thread - please take a look at this mythbuster.

OP, YANBU!

celtic how on earth would that work? People just wouldn't work for that wage. Why should they?

Do people working part time / for low wages and claiming tax credits etc actually take more out of the system than the jobless / they are putting in? This is one of the reasons I hate the smug headlines about the feckless unemployed. It doesn't seem to add up for me.

I'm on a low wage (13,500 salary) and unable to claim any sort of benefit (that I know of)
I am sure I put in more than those unemployed

talhot: im on benefits at the moment, with things based on min wage, and help with childcare, and housing benefits, and any tax credits i would get. it worked out i was taking more then putting in.

Do you have a partner / children Ghostship and are you over 25? I'm sure you can claim tax credits for under about 16k?