To really resent the amount of tax we pay.

[KettleBelles]

I hate it, we pay a vast amount of tax to live in a country where we can't see a GP for a fortnight, feel criminalised every time we go to an airport, pay even more tax again to drive a car on inadequate and over crowded roads. Get squashed on crowded transport which is filthy and unreliable, where criminals seem to always be on the beneficial side of human rights.

I can't be the only one who feels like this?

What grates me is family's are looked after the best, as if they are more worthy than single people. JSA and no children you get fuck all and if your under 35 your be forced to share q house.

dhdjdbrjrkbr really?! You think a parenting forum is a good place for that comment?

I was going to explain how far from reality you are, but I suspect you're on the wind up, and I have better things to do!

What grates me is family's are looked after the best, as if they are more worthy than single people.

I have no children and am a higher rate tax payer, but I actually agree that families should get better breaks - after all, they are keeping the human race going...

I'm not on the wind up, for year they talked about helping "hard working families" and we've ended up in a situation where single people fall through the net so many times.

To be fair, probably not the best place to discuss if you want a balanced answer, but to someone who has been unlucky in life if their parents died or abandoned them, the constant refrain of helping families and most policies being designed around that, must heap difficulty on an already less than privileged lot...its almost suggesting that you are somehow less worthy if you find yourself single.

I think we have it quite good here really. My eldest 2 kids were born in a country where there was no maternity pay, no child benefit,no child tax credits, no help with childcare costs, we had to pay $60 each time we visited a GP ( even kids over 6 had to pay!) etc etc.

I have to agree the "hard working families" thing does grate a bit - it certainly did on me when I was a high rate tax paying singleton. Rather than whine about how crap it all was, I moved to a low tax jurisdiction for a few years, saved enough to pay off my mortgage (impossible with UK tax burden) and had a few years off from HMRC - je ne regrette rien

its almost suggesting that you are somehow less worthy if you find yourself single.

Speaking as a single person whose parents are both dead - yep. I am apparently worthless to society, or so you'd think from government rhetoric.

As a single person I never fully appreciated how expensive it is to raise children. Sure you can have children and survive in a low income but I find money makes a huge difference to my DC. Little things like signing them up for a dance class or music class bring about huge benefits for them. I am very lucky that DH makes a lot so we can afford all these things but if we both earned my FT salary we would be working poor in the UK. I say this as someone who is a qualified accountant with experience. There should be many more breaks for families. Heading out to get shoes for the kids. Single people don't compehend how kids shoes are normally $50 a pair and their feet grow to a new size approx every 3 months. We spend over $500 a year on shoes for the 2DC. That's with them only having one pair at each size. DH and I spend about $150 a year on shoes. Yeah you can get shoes for $20 for your kids but the quality of them is terrible and the kids run the risk of developing bunions and other foot deformities.

Haven't read the thread because idiots bleating on about their tax bill makes me want to puke. Oh poor you.

Did you go to state school? How much do you think your education cost? Ever had to sign on? Ever used any NHS services? Planning on getting old?

If you add up how much the average earner gets back vs amount of tax paid I'd say the majority of us are extremely lucky.

But hey OP, no doubt you'll be voting Tory or Ukip in the next election so you can fuck up the country for the rest off us.

My gross yearly income is less than many of you are paying in tax, yet you whinge on. Crass.

What upsets me is paying so much tax as a high earner (which I for my believe I should) and reading how many children are going hungry each year. All the while the govt are slow to close loopholes enabling the wealthiest of people to avoid paying the rate of tax they ought to pay. So the top of the pile benefit from us paying our share and the "bottom of the pile" get further downtrodden. Sickening.

There's no call to insult people who question current airport security measures. Bruce Schneier, who coined the phrase 'security theatre' (well, theater; he's American) and has extensively documented how it actually makes us less safe, is far from ignorant.

There should be many more breaks for families. Heading out to get shoes for the kids. Single people don't compehend how kids shoes are normally $50 a pair and their feet grow to a new size approx every 3 months.

All this extra money for families would make single people even worse off. They are already the section of society not looked after without making things even worse. And thats rubbish about 50 shoes 500 a year. Of course you can spend that if you want to, but you don't need to.

You are very naive and probably a bit dim, dhd, if you don't understand how expensive children's shoes are, and how quickly their feet can grow.

If you wanted to find out, you could just walk into a shoe shop and look at the prices, for example. I do agree it's a cost that as a single adult, I just don't have - I can go by a whole year without buying a pair of shoes. But that doesn't mean I can't do the maths of 3 children with winter shoes, summer shoes, sports shoes etc, how that all adds up, and how a growth spurt can mean a pair of shoes doesn't even last a single season. Shoes are actually quite complex things, so it's not surprising they can be expensive.

In any case, as a single person who is in work, it's not currently an issue for me, and (coming back to the main point of the thread), I could afford to pay more tax (were the government going to spend it wisely.) However, I am very aware that if I were to lose my job through the next round of redundancies or something, or became chronically ill, I've got nothing, no support network, few savings - and I wouldn't be a priority for anyone else, either. It's quite scary if I think about it too much. I'm not saying I should benefit in favour of a homeless family or anything, but equally, I don't think I should be a pariah simply because no one has ever love me enough to make their life with me.

I usually spend between 9-14 pounds on childs shoes.250 per child per year is stupid.

I'm deranged then. Without tax credits, as a single mum I couldn't have worked over the last few years, gone through college and got myself into a position where I can earn enough to pay a decent enough whack of tax to pay something back.

And actually, tax credits make it possible for people to contribute to the economy, through tax, NI and higher spending ability.

The problem in this country is that the more you earn, the better the tax breaks.

cleanmyhouse The problem in this country is that the more you earn, the better the tax breaks

What, you mean the bit where if you work hard for a promotion at work and a small pay rise, you only get to keep less than half of it after tax?

And lets not forget, while children's shoes are damned expensive, so is actually working - all the stupid officey-smart clothes I have to wear, the make up I have to buy, the stupid uncomfortable officey shoes I can't wait to kick off at night, the travel, the magazines to read at lunchtime and overpriced sandwiches you spend your money on just to help get you through the day, the expensive hair cuts you would happily do without unless seen in public, etc., all just for the privilege of working and being told you are "crass" by posters such as JackShit for daring to raise your head above the parapet and notice it isn't actually that good a life.

Can you explain how the more I earn the better the tax breaks?

I pay 50 percent tax on some of my income. How is that a better tax break?

I believe the current system is about right but it really winds me up to hear people spouting rubbish they've heard somewhere without actually knowing the facts. It seems there are genuinely people out there who believe that if you earn a lot of money you have a secret handshake to let HMRC know they should let you off your tax bill.

The shoes thing is funny though. $500 per annum on shoes for two DCs is crazy. I don't know anyone who spends that sort of money on kids shoes.

Just move out of London

Can't higher earners benefit from tax breaks for additional pension contributions?

I do resent that if you give up paid employment to care for a severely disabled child or other relative , work over 100 hours plus a week, on call night and day, save the NHS and social services shed loads of money that the pittance of 62£ a week you receive for doing this is subject to tax because Carers Allowance is a taxable benefit.