So people earning over £80k are wealthy, unless they are JC??

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In an interview with Julie Etchingham, JC apparently said he's not wealthy, despite earning over £130k p/a, because of WHERE HE PUTS HIS MONEY (but he's not going in to that!). AIBU to think this is the most ridiculous statement he has managed to put out in recent weeks?

Given that Labour want the wealthiest in our society (earning over £80k) to pay more taxes, what Good Reason could he possibly have to not include himself in that bracket? Discuss :-)

I think you're missing the point. He isn't saying 'people who are wealthy are evil, I am not one of them'. He is suggesting fair taxation based on earnings, which of course he would be paying.

Even workers unions push for you to minimise your tax paid. Are they also wrong then?

I think it is morally good to pay the lowest amount of tax due under the law as small states benefit people, encourage self reliance and make people happier.

Corbyn would cause great harm to the economy if he got in. He wants to run a high tax and heavily regulated economy. This combined with the country leaving the Single Market would lead us to become a basket case in 5 years as we would so uncompetitive.

Nobody pays half of their salary in tax ffs
kirinm, do you understand what the marginal rate of tax is?

I was making the point about who decides what equality is.

Is a strawberry picker equal to a heart surgeon? One has spent their life studying, learning and trying to save lives, the other? If the heart surgeon pays half the majority of his earnings to the strawberry picker are they now equal?

That's not an equality I want.

Well, Jamie, is an expert consultant equal to a hotel receptionist? Turns out they may not only be that but identical - I definitely would have fared better had I had a little more in my student days (not having to decide between food and electricity would have been nice) and could easily make do with quite a bit less nowadays.

Also, people making less money is not necessarily due to them not working as hard. Having grown up in a naice middle class family, all my childhood friends are now doctors and lawyers and engineers. Some of them are thick as shit - having been born into a certain type of family definitely helps. And that is not the sort of equality I want.

From everyone according to their ability to everyone according to their need, so to speak. Don't tell my bosses I said this, or my need may very shortly exceed my ability by quite a lot ...

If Corbyn (or anyone else) earns over the threshold that Labour have determined as "wealthy", then under their own definition they are "wealthy". Suggesting you are not well off when you earn £130,000 is just bizarre.

I'm pretty incredulous at the idea that JC would suggest he is not wealthy because he gives money away (presumably to charities and the like). He may well donate money and so his "take home" total may be less than it might otherwise be, that does not change what his income is. Therefore, he will still be "wealthy" as he has simply chosen to dispose of his income in a certain way (albeit an admirable one if he is giving to reputable charities).

no one is suggesting that a strawberry picker and a surgeon should have equal remuneration.

The problem with this policy is that it is focused solely on income as such it is going hit employed workers disproportionately.
Wealth or being wealthy is not about how much you earn but how much you own and this is a tax on income not wealth.
If I earn 100k from my employment and am taxed at 40%, am I really wealthier than someone who sells shares for a 100k profit and is only taxed at 20% or 10% on that profit or the person that sells their house for a 100K gain and pays no tax at all or the person that gets 100k as an inheritance.
High earners are already taxed far higher than investors or landowners. Shouldn't all sources of revenue/wealth be taxed the same?

Well, Jamie, is an expert consultant equal to a hotel receptionist?
I agree and who should decide what that level of equality is, politicians like Jeremy Corbyn? I would rather the decision wasn't taken by politicians.

BirdBandit, that is exactly the sort of communism that JC is advocating, and we all know where that ends. At least I hope we do.

Agree missed.

How is this fair? Someone on 70k with a £2mil house is seen as less wealthy than someone on 80k with no assets?

Every election, my labour friends proudly announce how they would happily pay more tax on their salaries. Yeah, I would too if I had two buy to let properties or inherited a farm like they have.

@JanetBrown2015, you write "We shoudl be looking at what we can scrap and make cuts over". Can I ask what you would like to scrap and make cuts over? Thank you.

He seems like a champagne socialist - representing the 'metropolitan elite' socialists

I'm hardly his biggest fan but he's not a champagne socialist - he's an actual socialist! And the part of Islington he represents is not "metropolitan elite" Islington but an area that was historically fairly working class with a large concentration of council estates, and is still very diverse today. Holloway Road isn't exactly posh.

Would just like to point out that Corbyn, unlike most other MPs uses his wages to pay for train fare, food, accommodation etc. His expenses claims are minimal and are all for his office and staff. Nothing else. No breakfasts, no loo seat covers, no wallpaper, train/taxi fares, nothing.

no taxation can consider people's individual situations though and therefore be properly 'fair'. We paid huge stamp duty (LBTT) because (in Scotland), it was assumed that if you were buying an expensive property, you must've made money on previous homes. We hadn't, we put 10% down and are mortgaged up to our noses, instead we'd both recently managed to somehow get pay rises. That said, can we afford to pay a bit more tax even though we have no wealth? Yes, and by and large, most people on £80k pa or more have what they call high class problems.

I take it that a person on minimum wage using tax rules to minimise tax paid is considered ok then?

janetbrown let's hope that you (and your husband) don't have a nasty accident which means you can't work, that you're children don't either or have any additional needs which require additional funding to support, that you don't develop cancer and need our NHS. Your 'small state' won't benefit you or make you happier then.

Apologies for autocorrect your not you're, I wrote that quickly as the ignorant comment I was responding to had made me so sad and angry.

@acquiescence, I agree. As Janet believes in a small state then that means people will have to take out private insurance to cover healthcare, unemployment etc, the American model. All well and good if the person can afford it, but the lower paid may struggle to pay and private insurance will probably be more expensive than state support as it is profit driven. The only people who it doesn't effect is the very rich as they would never need state support anyway.

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Am I missing the part when Jeremy Corbyn said he wouldn't pay the extra tax????

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Compared to many on the Tory benches he is not wealthy. Nor has he set out to be. He has no well-remunerated directorships, no inherited estate, no consultancy earnings, only has the one house and gives substantial sums to charity, apparently.
But compared to the average wage, MPs are certainly pretty well paid. I'm not sure where the problem is with that.

I to would like to be poor, own my own expensive house and still have enough money to given thousands to charity.

Small /big government also relates to the intervention the state does in your private life, such as food choices. The nanny state is a phrase that springs to mind.

It is also to do with the number of spheres the government involves itself in, the number of regulations etc.

I watched the interview.

I have so much more admiration for someone who earns a high wage to actually want to tax himself higher than the greedy rich or the wanna bes who salivate at the idea of their wealth above another's well-being etc

A fairer society is what motivates Jeremy Corbyn and it's only selfish f@@@@@s who thinks that's a bad thing.

God, I'd hate to be stuck on an island with such ignoranuses....Oh 😢😱

Honestly, how can anyone justify voting for the nasty party and sleep at night???

No Maggie, there wasn't one but you did miss the point where he advocates everyone paying the maximum tax possible, and then pays only the tax required after clever tax minimisation.