To be annoyed/hurt by my good friend and think high earners should be willing to pay more ?

[whatislife]

i have been lurking on MN for a long time and never posted. Decided to join today and thought I'd mark the occasion with a rant.
I got in an argument with my friend (2 days ago) and the anger re-appeared when she sent me a text this morning. This doesn't really matter though.

The argument started when she made a snarky comment about an old friend of ours (not very close to be honest). The woman had been complaining about money and started ranting about high earners, tax and all sorts. My friend , a very high earner (think 6 figures), kept quiet the whole while and then started talking about it to me. This is where she said something along the lines of 'No one forced her to messed around at school and screw her life up. Im not going to feel bad because I worked hard' and 'why should I pay more tax when I already pay a ridiculous amount and she doesn't pay any'. These comments really angered me because I am also a low earner and rely on benefits - she knows this ! So we got into an argument about tax and benefits (silly i know but personal comments were also made).

My question is ; AIBU to think my close friend (and high earners in general) should realise how lucky she is and be willing to pay more tax so people like me can also have a normal life?

I want to halve the size of the state and what it provides, but all the main political parties are high spend with massive growing state so I am not likely to get what I want on these shores.

The tax relief scheme is up to £6k if you have 3 children but you have to register the child care (yet more admin - even the Tories add more and more and more regulation every year,talk about supposedly being the party cutting red tape!) and if you have 3 children in full time care in London either 3 nursery places or a nanny that is going cost you £30k out of income already taxed often at 40%+ so £6k okay is fine but you still have to find the other £24k yourself and your partner so it's not massively generous. It's nothing like free childcare for all 3 of your babies.

You are much better versed in the detail than me Jassy, but I think you are agreeing that it might be a case of swings and roundabouts for anyone who is already in the voucher scheme and of course the new scheme only covers dc up to age 12 rather than 16

At least those in the scheme already can choose to stay in it - less good for those not in it yet (same for those of us who are HR taxpayers who weren't able to join before April 2011).

Of course those really disadvantaged now are those whose employers don't offer the scheme at all, or who are self-employed.