AIBU to believe rich people should contribute much more?

[marcusian]

A bit tongue in cheek, but given that its almost impossible for poorly paid workers including care workers and nurses to strike, and that the government have given people earning over £100K a massive pay rise, what other ways could the most wealthy be made to pay?

My idea: - a new LUXURIES tax (think 50% VAT) on things ordinary people cant buy, like superyachts, airplanes, £10K+ dining tables, a box at wimbledon, £500+ handbags, £100+ football boots!

AIBU - No - they should pay more and heres my ideas how they should do it!
AIBU - Yes - leave wealthy people alone, its not their fault

I earn close to what an MP's salary is, I wouldn't touch that job with a 20 ft barge pole for what the salary is now, let alone even less, far too much work and public intrusion for that salary.

And there lies the explanation for the random calibre of MPs. Anyone reasonably capable can earn at least as much without the intrusive scrutiny.

It's a FACT that high earners pay vast amounts of tax, almost half their salary

It's a FACT that low earners pay a much higher percentage of their income in regressive taxes. Add that to the income tax and NI they pay and I bet it amounts to more than half their salary.

High earners FAR pay more into the system than low earners.

High earners ALSO pay the exact same taxes on the exact same things that you are talking about. If it represents a smaller proportion of their total income because they EARN more, so what?
They're not paying LESS than anyone else!
And it still doesn't negate the fact that high earners pay vastly more into the system.

@Lassie76

What more do you want them to do?

Stop hoarding the wealth?

Pay better wages / link wages

Don't tax avoid or evade

Stop denying they're part of the problem?

Stop pretending people on lower wages just need to work harder / get a better paid job

Overall I’m not convinced that’s the case. And obviously if those regressive taxes represent a much smaller percentage of their income, they are effectively paying less.

Why are you blaming wealthy people for everything Instead of petitioning to raise minimum wage - you are all busy petitioning to have Holly and Phil fired - as if that makes a difference to your quality of life.

When Doctors and Nurses go on strike people say they earn enough. Doctors and nurses in other developed countries have better working conditions and get paid twice or four times as much and pay less tax!
When train drivers strike nobody wants to hear it.

People here are always more upset about all the wrong things. At least you've all got your sovereignty back!

Never said that.
You are putting words into my mouth, I nowhere said that people need to work harder or get a better job.

YOU are the one accusing people of avoiding or evading tax.
How is someone "hoarding the wealth" when they are paying half their salary in tax?

You really are bitter aren't you?

No they're not.
They're paying not only the same as everyone else in "regressive" taxation, but MORE in terms of total tax.
If it represents a smaller chunk of their total earnings, I fail to see why that's anyone else's business but their own.

OK. 🤷‍♀️

When you keep putting ‘effectively’ what you mean is ‘lower income earners don’t pay more in tax’.

People on higher wages, spend more on a month to month basis. If you earn well and spend £200 per week on food, then you pay more on tax than someone who spends £50.

higher earners are the ones that can afford to go out, fill their cars up, eat out etc. and every time they do, it’s taxed.

lets say the shopping is 20% tax (as an example) the person spending £50 is paying £10 in tax. The person spending £200 is paying £40. Proportionally it could be the same or more. If the high earner earns 4 times as much as the lower earner (25k vs 100k) they are paying the same proportionally in tax. And the higher earner is likely to be buying foods that have higher vat rates.

The ‘low earner pay proportionally more in tax only works if both the high and lower earner spend the same amount on the same things.

Not sure if I have explained that well tbh

There’s no tax on food so that post is redundant @Hearthnhome.

The wealthy pay far more into the system because wealth disparity is so bad in the UK. All the wealth is getting stuck at the top and not ‘trickling down’ to everyone else, so of course those with most of the wealth should pay most of the tax. Perhaps if the very wealthy paid their staff more the disparity wouldn’t be so high.

Ffs. Did you see the part where I said examples? Make the post about anything you want. Energy bills or anything you want. Or is that beyond you? Your post just smacks of ‘I have no answer for that’

Do you not consider vat a tax? as in Value added tax. That is applied to some foods.or do they not add VAT to any food anymore?

@Lassie76

It's hard to have a discussion when you take everything as a personal attack.

Paying (nominally) half their wage in tax hasn't stopped the top 1% ending up with more than 40% of the wealth.

That is hoarding it. Did you read any of the links about wealth inequality and its effects and causes or are you just going to keep shouting that its nothing to do with the wealthy because they pay tax?

I'm not bitter, no. Id just like to see much less inequality.

@Thesinisterdiagram

Perhaps if the very wealthy paid their staff more the disparity wouldn’t be so high.

No one seems to want to acknowledge that.

@Blossomtoes

Overall I’m not convinced that’s the case. And obviously if those regressive taxes represent a much smaller percentage of their income, they are effectively paying less

Of course it's the case. Consider even just the example of the pp that paid £400k in tax... that's high earner that's paid much more (in one transaction!) than a low earner would pay in their entire life.

For another example, checkout the pp which set out the amount of tax people earner different amounts would earn. It clearly shows higher earners pay more.

Or look closer to home. Have you ever ended up having a pay rise and paid more tax? I'm sure you have. I'd be massively surprised if anyone, ever, gets a pay rise and ends up paying less. It's even in the title of the concept of our tax system: progressive taxation.

I don't see how that fact can be disputable? It's as objective as they come.

I also don't see how the %, independent of what it is, means they're "effectively" paying less.

It's also not true.

To share the example of my household. I earn £100k+ and my partner earns circa £30k. I pay more in tax (NI and Income Tax combined) each year than they earn... how can you convince me a low earner pays more ("effectively" or absolutely) than a high earner? It's simply not true.

Problem with these threads when everyone turns on each other is that’s very beneficial to the government isn’t it? It means everyones attention isn’t focused on wasteful spend that probably adds up to £100b, or at the very least the deficit needed to top up those on the lowest incomes. HS2, numerous failed IT projects, waste in the NHS and MoD, the list goes on. I started a thread on one such IT project a couple of weeks ago that is £300m and not fit for purpose and there were 2 replies - because no one cares m. Far easier to sling insults at someone whose circumstances you know nothing about.

So instead we have (some) people calling those on benefits lazy, on low incomes unaspirational, middle incomes wannabes and high earners greedy. I don’t think any of those stereotypes are true for the majority. The wealth disparity exists because of government policy.

Absolutely spot on @MrAutumnal. 👏🏻

Those saying there are 'loads of intelligent people' there really isn't. I'm absolutely struggling to find staff. We use an entrance test to get a job. We have people lined up with their degrees and their scores are soooo low. Often they refuse to even get back into contact again because they already know they've failed.

The standards of graduates able to complete these tests seems to be decreasing year on year. This year I've also noticed no one has English as their first language. Not a problem as long as they're completely fluent but I have wondered where the British people have disappeared to as this is a good job for an international company so it would be odd if they're simply not applying.
I've interviewed so many people this year as well.

The wealth disparity exists because of government policy.

Yeah.

Designed to favour themselves. The wealthy.

🤣

Why aren’t you in government @Topgub ?

""All the wealth is getting stuck at the top and not ‘trickling down’ to everyone else, so of course those with most of the wealth should pay most of the tax."

They do.

I was accused PERSONALLY of coming from a privileged background.

I wasn't the one who started personal attacks.

YOU are the one accusing people of tax evasion!
That's fine though apparently.....

@Lassie76

Who did I accuse personally of evading tax?

And really, you were PERSONALLY affronted by being accused of being from a privileged back ground?