Quite a lot of better off people would be happy to pay more tax?

[Echobelly]

Provided it was channeled towards things like NHS, social care, education.

It seems weirdly outdated to me that mainstream political parties find raising taxes on the wealthy anathema. We've been living in such a low-tax society for so long, but households like mine (I'd say it's a 6-figure annual income between us) could easily afford to pay more in tax and still enjoy our lives.

But instead parties are obsessed with recouping money by removing benefits for the poorest people, which is stupid as the difficulties resulting from plunging people into greater poverty, as well as being cruel, will ultimately cost more money than it saves.

Take that money off people like me in taxes! We won't become homeless or sick or suffer mental distress for the sake of a bit more tax. Year after year I see budgets that will apparently save people like me £500 a year, as if this is supposed to be an incentive to vote for the Tories but tbh, I won't even notice being better off by £500 a year. Give that saving to someone for whom it'll make an impact!

@MojoMoon

I also agree with a previous poster that we should be taxing WEALTH more and not just INCOME.

The landowning classes should be pay a lot more. And so should those who inherit vast sums.

I think many of them have it neatly tied up in trusts, though, don't they? That way, they don't actually own, they're just looking after it for their heirs, ad infinitum, through the generations.

I would very willingly pay more tax deducted at source from my income each month. I am a socialist. Tory voters who generally earn a lot more than me don't want to pay more - that's why it's a Tory vote winner.

I agree that the wealthy and companies should be taxed more fairly.

Higher rate tax earners pay an extraordinary amount of tax and get zero benefits for anything. I really don't think they can be asked to contribute any more.
They need to be targeting businesses who are tax dodging.

I'm not a tory and I've always been in favour of adequate state provision for the poorest but BUT but country has been run into the ground and I think they need to look to the super wealthy if they want to increase taxation. And stop wasting money on the super rich. And sort out housing and the cost of living so that life can be more affordable.

Those on low six figure households don't necessarily have a lot more to give. And pay a good chunk in tax.

I do not support paying more tax because public funds are used to line the pockets of the rich.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were the last lot to do a decent amount for the disadvantaged but they squandered money as well (e.g. PFI). Osborne did some really progressive things if only he hadn't started damaging austerity (look where that got us) and then Cameron fucked it up with Br*t. Covid has landed us squarely in the toilet and Johnson and Co have been obsessed with taking the last penny off the disabled and the poor whilst ensuring overpaid jobs and lucrative contracts for cronies who make a bad job of it.

Not to mention inability to commission large scale infrastructure projects without making it a meal ticket again for the "haves" and using it as an opportunity to make money off the "have nots".

So no I no longer trust government and I'm not so misty eyed as to think that extra tax is going to make a difference either to those worse off than me, and especially not to me and mine.

So whilst I'd love to see more money given to schools, the NHS and social care. Until government corruption and lack of accountability is tackled, increasing tax on the moderately well off will just be money thrown into the void and widen the gulf between the really rich and the rest of us.

@TwiggletLover

Higher rate tax earners pay an extraordinary amount of tax and get zero benefits for anything. I really don't think they can be asked to contribute any more. They need to be targeting businesses who are tax dodging.

What a load of shit. I am a higher rate tax payer and I get a lot of benefits - NHS, police, roads etc etc

Is there any reason you can’t donate 5x £50 vouchers to your children’s school and ask the head to distribute them to the families they feel need them?

Or why you can’t befriend a single mum and replace her cooker when it dies?

Or slide up beside an OAP in Tesco and tap your card?

You don’t need to be mandated to be a good person

The UK is not a low-tax country. I have a rule of thumb that 50% is the highest amount government should rake off from the value of people's labour, currently they are taking about 40% from income in the basic rate band and approaching 50% from income in the higher rate band. There isn't much scope to increase tax on employment income. (Unless you think it's OK to take more than 50%.)

For those who think my figures are bollocks, you are probably not factoring NI, including employers NI. And yes that is a tax on the value of labour. It's economically irrelevant how payroll taxes are split between employer and employee.

In fact here is the calculation for basic rate income.

• Employer pays out 100 additional pounds
• After employer NI at 13.8% this results in £87.87 additional salary
• 20% tax on this is £17.57
• 12% employee NI on this is £10.54
• Employee is left with £59.75
• Their labour has been taxed at 40.25%

Calculation for higher rate income

• Employer pays out 100 additional pounds
• After employer NI at 13.8% this results in £87.87 additional salary
• 40% tax on this is £35.15
• 2% employee NI on this is £1.76
• Employee is left with £50.97
• Their labour has been taxed at 49.03%

Googling to check my rates were right, I see NI is going up in April. Factoring that in, for the 2022/2023 tax year, basic rate taxes are going to total 41.98% and higher rate 50.67%.

I think large corporations should be paying their fair share of tax. I also think we should stop benefits being a lifestyle choice for some people - and I say that as someone who was brought up in a family where most folk were on benefits who knew (and still know) how to play the system.

Currently around the top 10% of earners pay 60% of all income tax, just how much more do you expect them to pay?

All this tells us is that there is vast inequality in the UK. That top 10% will still have far more disposable income than those earning less.

there is masses of waste and corruption in charity and charity bosses aren't accountable to the voting public

That’s incredibly insulting to the thousands out there volunteering time and resources as well as those paid less for their skills than they would receive in the public and private sectors.

Also we are not driven by taxes going on nhs, as we have private healthcare

You’d refuse an ambulance and emergency care following a car accident, for example?

No I'm not interested in paying more tax whatsoever.

I already pay a hell of a lot of tax. I would never agree to pay more. It's a bottomless pit.

Go speak to amazon and Google, Apple and some billionaires, they could pay a bit more tax. Not relatively normal people, just trying to have a nice life style for themselves and their families. Why should I strive for less, when massive corporations get around it with clever loopholes. Nope, this is just wrong.

I'm a civil servant and could cry at how taxpayers' money is spunked. I know civil servants who when faced with a choice of a train ticket from A to B, same restrictions on all, will purposely pick the most expensive one just "because". Their pathetic attempt to stick it to the Man, I guess. I've watched millions being wasted on computers that don't work and systems that've been changed and then quickly changed back again; I've had colleagues on long term sick on full pay who are taking the piss big time. The whole thing is a big, inefficient and corrupt money pit staffed by people who don't give a shit.

I wouldn't give one penny in tax than I absolutely had to. That saying, I don't dodge tax or claim benefits fraudulently either.

I also say donate directly to charity or local causes.

I’d prefer to see a reduction in waste and inefficiency of the public sector before I see tax rises, to be honest. I did some work with a local council recently and whilst they were lovely people, they were so dozy and cavalier about spending money it was obscene. I’m talking tens of thousands of pounds down the toilet and this was just for a marketing campaign that ended up being cancelled anyway.

About 50% of our own household income goes out in tax, from tax on dividends and corporation tax to council tax, VED and VAT. I feel like we pay enough, quite frankly. I feel like there’s an onus on the state to use our tax money more efficiently.

@CorrBlimeyGG

Currently around the top 10% of earners pay 60% of all income tax, just how much more do you expect them to pay?

All this tells us is that there is vast inequality in the UK. That top 10% will still have far more disposable income than those earning less.

The top earners SHOULD have more disposable income than lower earners, otherwise there's no point in working longer/harder, studying, taking exams, doing training/courses, risking starting a business etc.

I wouldn't be happy to pay more tax until I see the tax I do pay being spent better. I have no issue with funding the NHS or funding people who are in dire straights and need it but I also see people getting state money to fund how they have chosen to live their lives. Give people enough for necessities absolutely but how can people afford pets, horses and holidays in Turkey but still be claiming state funds (and that's not a small minority). I'm not paying more tax for more people to be able to upgrade their holidays and cars

@daimbarsatemydogsbone
I wouldn't describe those as benefits. Everyone in the country has access to those services whether they pay taxes or not. What I am referring to is things like child benefit, the tax free child care scheme, sharing your personal allowance as a married couple. None of these things are available to us as higher rate tax payers

Ridiculous.

@LakieLady I would ban trusts.

No need for them to exist.

Unclear how 99.99pc of future generations benefit in any way from their existence.

CorrBlimeyGG
Currently around the top 10% of earners pay 60% of all income tax, just how much more do you expect them to pay?

All this tells us is that there is vast inequality in the UK. That top 10% will still have far more disposable income than those earning less.
The top earners SHOULD have more disposable income than lower earners, otherwise there's no point in working longer/harder, studying, taking exams, doing training/courses, risking starting a business etc.

Absolutely - do people really think that you shouldn't get paid more for doing a job that needs qualifications, has high stress levels, long commutes etc. why fucking bother if there is no reward

Fair enough assessment. I enjoy low(ish) taxes too, but I'd totally understand if the music stopped for whatever reason - education, NHS, care, etc. Some politically popular tax hikes might happen, but ultimately I think too many people controlling the puppet strings would be slightly less filthy rich, so I expect the trend to continue.

There should be a maximum allowable gap between the lowest and highest paid in a company, such that the lowest paid don’t need food banks to survive, and you are right, the highest paid probably won’t notice that they are taking home less as the excess is probably going into pension plans or share schemes anyway.

Tax wise, I think there’s too much emphasis on earned income. It would be fairer to do away with council tax and bring in a land value tax. And tax income from investments the same as earned income.

Wouldn't want to pay more tax. I wish I felt differently but this is an anonymous forum so I am being honest. I work on average 70 hours a week and have practically no time to myself or for my family. My tax bill each year is higher than the vast majority of people's salaries. Not wanting to and accepting I have to are two different matters. Also a difference between not wanting to and understanding that it will affect me less than other people if I do have to pay more. Do I want to give more of some very hard earned money to the taxman to spend on various national blackholes where it will be wasted? No. I would not want to. I would not be happy to do it. Yet there are many things in my life I am not happy to do but I do because it benefits others.

Totally agree with you op, I was thinking about this while the furlough scheme was ongoing accumulating a big bill. As someone lucky enough to work from home, I wondered whether there should be some sort of short term increase in tax to support those industries have been most impacted while they weren't able to open. Isn't that what a welfare society should do?

I pay more than £70k a year in tax. I think that's enough.