Question time man top 5 percent.

[refraction]

Did anyone see the man on QT asking about tax?

Apparently he doesn't even think he is in the top 50 percent of earners.

All doctors earn more apparently and solicitors.

How out of touch with reality?

He didn't come across well and very out of touch.

justchecking1 I suppose because that would entail a very significant portion of the population voting against their perceived ‘interests’. Not everyone thinks long term (or trusts the state to spend their money wisely!)

*or, I should add, cares about society

Top 5% in UK is on approx 70-75k a month. Single salary of course, not household. Top 5% household income probably more like 100k.

I would love to know what that man does for a living-someone must know who he is!

I can’t believe someone somewhere pays him a wage that is over £80k, yet he doesn’t think he’s in the top 5% or even top 50% of earners!

I just hope it’s not anything involving calculating percentages.

Ok 80k in Bolton goes a loooooooong way. And conversely, unless he moves in very specific circles the individuals he's around will be earning much less. I'm in the north west, household income is well under that and frankly we feel comfortable.

It's true though, the big wealth isn't PAYE.

Yes Someone on my thread cleverly suggested i use the upper case i rather than the L because it looks the same

The point for Corbyn to note is that not very many people a all earn over that so their pie in the sky idea that they can raise such massive sums only from those people just don't really work at all so they are bound to come after more tax from lower earners simply because there are so very very many more lower earners than higher ones.

I know how lilttle people earn., My son in the SE is on about £21k and even that is higher than plenty of jobs.

What I don't understand with his argument is why solicitors and Lawyers can't be in the top 5% too? have I missed something? The population is massive and only a small percent (probably less than 1) will be drs. I have met 100s of people in my 40 years and only have ever met one Dr and one solicitor socially. There aren't millions of them out there skewing the statistics!

The fact he doesn't like it or feel like he is in the top 5% is a different matter entirely.

lol

Adam Kay
@amateuradam
Please ignore the points I make in my books. Apparently all doctors earn over £80k

I suppose because that would entail a very significant portion of the population voting against their perceived ‘interests’

British people (or English people, at least) consistently vote against their own interests. British people don't vote to make themselves better off: they vote to make other people worse off. There's a very big difference.

£80k in Bolton, he's probably in the top 0.5% never mind the top 5%.

He's third, behind Peter Kaye & Paddy McGuinness

Xenia, one in twenty people earn over £80K, which is a good number of people. Labour's* calculations are based on ONS data on earnings, not pie in the sky.

• Labour, not Corbyn. Labour has half a million members, it is not one person.

QT idiot is Rob Barber, 36, from Bury. He's an outsource IT consultant and co owner of a Motorcycle Racing Team.

We works as a contractor to the NHS, so we're all paying this numbskull.

He's one of those twits who gets £80K a year to say "have you tried turning it off and back on again".

I don't imagine for a moment the guy on Question Time has apologized for calling the Labour Party liars. (Obviously they are liars - like all political parties - but not on this particular occasion).

I presume he'll never believe he's in the top 5% of earners, no matter what facts are placed in front of him. Nor will he ever believe that doctors & lawyers make up less than 2% of the population, or that the majority of doctors (the ones who aren't consultants, GP partners or close-to-full-time salaried GPs) don't make more than £80,000 a year. The highest-paid hospital doctors below consultant/associate specialist level get just over £50,000. The maximum for a salaried GP is £88,000.

Its very worrying to see people refer to a person all the time rather than a Party. Its almost as if people have got confused between voting at an election and voting on The X Factor/Im A Celebrity etc.

Fuck knows how many bricks he'd shit if he found out what legal aid solicitors get.

The fact that the man has such a well paid job, yet is such a deluded cotton headed ninny muggins, speaks volumes about society and unfair pay inequality.

It's almost December therefore Elf references are allowed in my book

a deluded cotton headed ninny

Indeed. If brains were dynamite, he couldn't blow his own hat off!

The top 5% depends on who you include: All adults or everyone working full-time. People also live within communities with narrower wealth variabilities, so within a given community £80K might put you in the top 1% or the bottom 50%, which will massively squee your preception of how well off you are relative to others.

Yes, there's a difference between being in the top 5% of earners, and the top 5% of richest people in the UK. I'd guess that many of the richest people in the UK are in the bottom 5% of earners because they live off assets and inherited wealth. Either way though, you can't plead poverty on a wage of 80k.

I know teachers on 60k & deputy heads on 80k plus. I know GPs working 2 days a week with lots of holiday on 50k & I know police on 40-50k. All in their 30s & in London.

I'm not disagreeing that 80k isn't a high salary however I think it's not particularly relevant to say earning X makes you better off that 95% of people. It may make you better off that 95% of those that pay income tax but that is different.

What doesn't help that housing costs are so ridiculous in some areas that earning 80k makes it hard to buy a bog standard property, so one doesn't feel rich. Our household income is in that ballpark & we own a home in a naice area, we were fortunate to get on the ladder early. My neighbours earn a fair bit more but pay 3 times as much rent than my mortgage, so whose richer?

loving the "normal 4 bed house" line, presumably inspired by prince andrew's "straightforward shooting weekend"?

He's a contractor working on the NHS? It'd be interesting to see what percentage of people working for his NHS trust earn less than him, I'll hazard a guess and say it's a quite a high number. £80k must be a huge salary in Bury.
It's scary how people just don't realise how well off they are compared to others. I don't feel "rich". To me, rich is people who have enough money to send multiple kids to private school, have two massive cars, several long haul holidays per year etc. But, I am fully aware that I am a darn sight better off than a significant proportion of the population, and that some people would view me as rich. I'm very aware of my privilege, even though I'm envious of people who earn more. And I have no problem paying a higher tax rate to allow our country to have the public servings and welfare state we deserve.

"Public SERVICES" that should say!

No wonder the NHS is in a mess, if it's paying drongo's £80K!