To be absolutely fed up of people winging on about taxes?

[malificent7]

Winge winge winge.
Where does my tax go? ... schools, roads, hospitals, welfare.
It is winging on about welfare that gets my goat. Most of us parents claim child benefit, many claim child tax crdfits and working tax crefits.
Many if us might find ourselves unemployed. Dd

I'd definitely be happy to pay more tax. And my household is already very much a net contributor. And we do have a say in how are taxes are spent. That's what voting's for. It's just unfortunate that sometimes voting doesn't always turn out to be that great

I don't know anyone who whinges about their taxes in general, though I do know lots of people who question some of the government's spending priorities - and in a democracy, this is how it should be. I'm sort-of a net contributor, I suppose. I earn over 34k, I have no children of school age, and I can't remember when I last saw a medical practitioner of any description as I'm lucky enough to enjoy good health. However, it's important to me to live in a society where everyone has at least a basic education and there are safety nets in terms of welfare etc so I don't really see myself as getting out less than I'm currently putting in, or anything like that. I certainly don't grduge money being spent on welfare. As some pp have said, I'd prefer to pay a bit more if it meant Scandinavian-style services and benefits.

Red Never said I was an oligarch. Oligarchs pay fuck all tax mind you. Offshore it all.

We earn as a household, we pay tax as a household! I see enough on MN about it all being "family money", but maybe it's not a "family contribution" And anyway, it's not like I'm some lazy bastard living off my husband - I have grossed over £100k this year including my BTL income (£92 without) in my own right...I'm 29 and have plenty of time to keep on climbing the greasy pole. I don't financially need to work I suppose, but I fucking love my job, and am very motivated by it, and the colleagues at company I work for.

I've also personally taken very little out the system to date thanks to BUPA (although next year I will - god willing - be giving birth at my local NHS hospital) but intend to privately educate my child (which I'll be paying for, as a matter of principle - different story)

But the main point is that we don't sit around whinging about where taxes are going. As a PP said you never really had it, we as a household never had it. And I don't hear any whinging about tax levels from friends or family either.

More people complain about Southern Rail TBH.

Scandinavia pay a lot of tax; Norway are lucky they've got the most enormous sovereign wealth fund too to underpin it all. I say lucky - the Norwegians took the view not to privatise oil fields in the same way as the Danes did - upshot being as a nation the Norwegians are laughing with an absolutely gigantic wealth fund whilst there are a few über wealthy Danes and the rest have high tax bills (but still a mega quality of life).

Jackshit you do pay tax, loads of it. You pay VAT. If you run a car you pay fuel duty. There is tax on insurance. There is tax all around.

That's another reason why it's unfair to class people as 'contributors' or 'takers'. It's a lot more complex than just income tax.

Treacle - agree with that re VAT and other duties. If you drink, smoke and drive (not at the same time) you could end up paying plenty of tax even if you're in zero income tax band.

I'm not a smoker but don't think it's that fair the way smokers are pilloried. Smokers & the tobacco industry brings in £12bn in revenue to hmrc and it costs estimated £6bn to treat people made sick by it. So let smokers get on with it - they're more than paying for their treatment! They're grown ups, let people make their choices!

That's another reason why it's unfair to class people as 'contributors' or 'takers'. It's a lot more complex than just income tax.

No, that is all taken account of when the studies look at the net contributor tipping point. That is why the term is 'net contributor' not just contributor or taker!

Yello TBH I wasn't really thinking of 'official' statistics when I posted that. I was thinking more along the lines of people saying 'x up the road is only a postman and I'm a teacher, therefore I pay more tax'.

But I take your point. If the numbers have been crunched and that's the figure, then that's the figure.

People pay a sizeable portion of their income in taxes. Surely they do have every right to want to know where that money is spent!?

It is fair enough to want to know this. If government runs efficiently (IF! ) then they should know how much is being spent on specific services. This can then be proportionally applied to every individual's contribution. I'm pretty sure they actually do this anyway.

It's not unreasonable to want to know how money you have earned is actually spent. It's called accounting. At home you need to know how much you are spending in relation to your income, otherwise you will get into debt. It is fair enough that people would like to know where their tax money goes.

BadKnee what do you mean by this: If you pay and pay and then when you need it you are at the bottom of the pile, the back of the queue - that's when people really moan ?
In what way might you be at the back of the queue? Education, health, roads, rubbish collection - it's all available to everyone when needed.

I'm a net contributor although I suppose that will change when we have DCs. I reserve the right to whinge if I want to (not that I do, and certainly not about welfare).

I don't think we spend nearly enough on infrastructure and would love to see billions flooded into education. Perhaps taxes ought to be higher and large corps actually pay their fair share.

Imagine if our government didn't faff about not funding vital drugs, every child had a place in a suitable and local school with a top notch education, and child care was properly funded and subsidised fairly. Other countries can do it, there is no reason we can't too...

Patapouf hear hear! I agree. Such vital components of a strong healthy society, have been so woefully neglected.