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?

I gather they have acceptably low rates of personal taxation in Somalia. Or paradise, as the non tax paying citizens prefer.

Do we know which country the OP lives in?

At the airport we're herded like cattle, treated as potential terrorists, made to remove shoes, prevented from parking. We pay for this service.

You think because you pay a (presumably?) higher rate of tax you should be treated like royalty in an airport?

I'm sorry I'll say it I really don't believe this post is real. As a PP said, how the hell can you be intelligent enough to hold down a job where you pay lots of tax with delusions such as these not happening.

I'd happily pay more tax if it meant we could invest in our health service, improve employment conditions for care workers, and spend more on widening access to sport and the arts. Happily.

@OllyBJolly

Agreed

I resent the amount of tax i pay on me baccy. I'm moving to Gibraltar

improve employment conditions for care workers

Amen to that one

I want a dinner invite. I often ask people (if the conversation is appropriate, not if we are talking about a recipe) how much tax they'd pay to live in an ideal world (perfect NHS, free university education, bins collected daily, no potholes etc etc).

So go: what proportion of tax would you pay to live in utopia?

HoneyDragon

Working tax credits are an unfortunate necessity, and we do need them. Child tax credits on the other hand were a crazy idea, and the sooner they go the better in my mind.

I have always been thankful to live in a society where we pay tax and for that we get civilisation in return, but I have also felt resentful at the amount of tax I pay when I don't trust that it is being spent wisely. I became less resentful when my husband died and all of a sudden we used more than just education for our children from the state budget. A lot of tax is used for things that people don't even think about most of the time, the money to pay for post mortems and the like has to come from somewhere.

"Taxes are what we pay for civilized society" as the quote goes. I don't mind paying the taxes, but you have a good point about public money subsidising private firms paying low wages via tax credits.

I only pay £30 a year road tax for my car. I think that's a bloody bargain. I can get an appointment on the day with my GP or book online for a week or 2 weeks in advance if that suits me. GLOAT!!!!

Don't forget that in the US they collect school taxes from council tax, so if you want to move to an area with good schools then that comes on top of your area tax as well.

I actually enjoy paying tax - it makes me feel like I am paying back the country for supporting me through my primary and secondary education (about £2/3k a year) for looking after me when I've been sick (a couple of stays in hospital probably £30k all in) with all the other bits and pieces I've probably cost the country maybe £65k in total what with being one of those annoying poor people for a while.

It frustrates me that some of our collective tax money gets wasted e.g. on tax relief schemes for huge corporations and some very questionable DfiD investment schemes, but that's the flaw of the government that needs to get fixed rather than an issue with tax.

I agree with Lovepud - why do large corporations get away with not paying proportionally what they stuff in their pockets...sorry make as profits. I also don't agree with the council tax system which should also take into account the proportion in which your home is worth. But over all with the NHS I think we should really be considering ourselves lucky.

Tax credits may often be a bit if a shambles but whatever you think about Gordon Brown, before he introduced them, many more kids in the UK were living in poverty.

If your dinner party conversation piece is you moaning about your tax bill then I think I can live without the invite

wahahahaha

As CotE rather than PM

I get a gp appointment same day. My dc go to school. I can walk round my area at night and feel safe. I feel pretty happy to live in the UK. We get lots from our taxes.

YABU. What we get is really good value for money.

But by all means move to, say, the US, if you would prefer an alternative arrangement. Do try not to get ill, or injured, or unlucky in any way when you are out there, though.

Airports aren't paid for by taxes.

I have no problem at all with the amount of tax I pay, but as all my work is PAYE and I have no other source of income, I'd really appreciate it being collected properly through the correct tax code, so I don't have to raid the money I had put aside for our holiday because apparently I haven't paid enough.

are you sure about that Amummyatlast - I don't get that and neither to the 2 [people who report into me!

so many deranged nutters through our borders in the first place.

I do if you include bank holidays - is that what you mean Amummyatlast?

Again.