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

@AchatAVendre the thresholds have gone up and the eligible areas have contracted so its not available anywhere on the coast anymore.

@Willowswave

The only public service we use is bin collection and lamp posts.

Really?

You dont at benefit from any other public service?

You live in a gated community entirely removed from the rest of society?

You dont need anyone else in society to generate your income?

How is that the rich ripping off the poor?

The tax credits come from tax paid by rich people.

It’s redistributed down, most of it.

You are not making any sense and you appear not to understand taxation, who pays it, and where it goes.

Corporate tax is not paid by individuals, it’s paid by companies so don’t conflate this with individuals paying tax. They use tax schemes legitimately available for use, it’s not evasion.

Should they be allowed to pay so little tax, no! It needs sorting of course.

But just to be clear, this was just as much of a problem under Labour!

Labours tax bands were more generous to the wealthy than the current ones, and now these new ones introduced by KK are. People conveniently ignore that.

I absolutely understand what wealth inequality is and I haven’t once said it didn’t m exist. But you are going no way into explaining how this is the fault of higher rate ‘rich’ PAYE taxpayers. Your points are muddled and you keep creating strawman arguments here with is nothing to do with the OP.

So to answer my question, how much wealth do you think should be redistributed?

but it is pure ignorance to think that a ~£100k salary amounts to anything more than a decent standard of living, at least in London and especially for parents where childcare needs to be covered.

How do you think people on £25K a year with full time childcare costs manage then?

If you are taking home £5.5K a month and you think thats not a high salary then you need to give your head a wobble and compare it to the people bringing home £1500 a month in London who also have to pay for full time childcare.

No one is accusing you of being Richie Rich, but you are in an incredibly fortunate position.

Don't people pay VAT on luxury goods anyway?

Yes, at the same rate for Jimmy Choos as a £10 pair of shoes from Primark. I think a higher rate of VAT on luxury goods is an excellent idea.

Super yachts are for the 1%.

They’re really not.

If you are on £1500 per month in London and paying for full time childcare @mmmflakycrust81 then I think you need to get off MN and rework your CV!

This would be great. I could probably justify shopping trips to NYC again and spend all my money there instead.

Yes, because they earn so much more.

So they can save and not pay day to day tax on purchases because they don’t spend all their moneyZ

They pay a lot more overall though.

A lot more.

What is your point here?

I suspect £10k dining tables are those things that individuals or (mostly) corporations buy at big charity fundraising events.

Which is clearly another oddity of this list.

Or just actually tables.

But how is she setting these thresholds?

Is it ok to buy an £8k table? Or should anyone buying better than the very basic ikea model or equivalent be forced to make it up to everyone else?

So you agree, we need to raise the minimum wage substantially? Cool!

@Quincythequince

If wealthy inequality isn't the fault of the wealthy, then whose fault is it?

The govt subsidising low wages etc directly benefits the wealth because they then keep the wealth. They in no way repay the deficit in taxes.

I have answered your question clearly. No muddles or strawmen

It shouldn't be about redistribution.

No one should be 'earning' millions or billions.

Or inheriting it.

Taxes should be progressive.

43% British adults pay no tax at all!

No income tax. Less than 30% of revenue is via income tax. Everyone pays regressive taxes like VAT and fuel duty which collect more money.

Yeah, let’s raise the minimum wage and further drive inflation.

That isn’t going to help anyone at all.

What we need is
a government that doesn’t mismanage the treasury so much.

I don’t know what that looks like yet, but the ‘soak the rich’ tropes are just asinine and lazy.

Day after day on here.

I don’t like this government (although who knew Bojo could possibly not look so bad) but I tell you what, this divide and conquer mentality is just wearing.

I don’t think anyone who is earning £1500 a month is paying for FT childcare in London unless they’ve got a partner who is working and earning enough for that £1500 to pretty much just go on childcare.

Even with UC, it’s going to be bloody hard to manage to stay in FT employment on that wage unless you have family support offering some days of free childcare. Especially if you’re a single parent.

Yes, that’s right. Income tax.
Clearly they pay other taxes like VAT for example.

Of course you could. With sales tax of 9% in Manhattan against VAT at 20%, why don’t you already do it?

I like that this is a kind of balanced thread. People are usually so against rich people! I always think of j k Rowling. Forgetting her views, she was always famous for having written her first book while struggling and desperate for money. Look at any social media discussions she contributes to (am not talking about trans rights) and people say ‘what does she know about being poor’. We have a millionaire in the area who built a series of factories from the ground up. When he started getting rich he basically paid to keep 2 of the primary schools and a shop open. He came from a really tough estate and as he started making money he was all over the papers, everyone so proud. Gives loads to charity, employs loads Now all comments are ‘why doesn’t he pay for x, y and z to be fixed’ and loads of other remarks that insinuate he should basically give away all his money!!

I agree that we need to make childcare costs deductible against income tax and that big employers of PT staff restricting work to under 15 hours per week to avoid the cost of sick pay and pension contributions should be clamped down on but doing that would encourage women especially to work FT. A modest increase in NMW too, but the 50% increase (to £15) that the TUC is chasing would see small companies (which employ about 55-60% of the UK workforce) closing down by the thousand.

Yes, especially the ultra-rich. Literally what is the point of having more money than you can hope to spend in several lifetimes?

My point is, that there are comments on here that the lazy feckless poor just need to go and work time, when it LITERALLY is unaffordable to do so when you have children on a lower wage job.

No the government topping up earnings doesn't benefit the average high earner, it means more tax needs to be paid for this when if they were working full time (paying tax) or were being paid a living wage the taxes could be spent on something that benefits society more as a whole.