To be fed up with the amount of tax / ni I pay

[Elephantstone1]

although my salary looks decent from the outside. I’m beginning to get really fed up with the amount of tax / ni I pay.

so on £60k end up coming out with just around £3k per month from £5k after all taxes (including council tax) have been paid.

we’re not entitled to any help that others may get

my commute costs about £400 a month, but I’ve already paid tax on that money, so i have to earn about £600 a month to pay for it.

i know I’m lucky to be on a decent salary. Just with the col increasing, I’m getting a bit fed up

So, I’m thinking if companies are that bloody desperate to get us back in the office, then there should be some sort of tax allowance for the commute (similar to tax free childcare)

I don’t think you’re going to get much sympathy on here op

YABU.

For some reason people in the UK have been blindsided by this conservative idea of low taxation, while not actually subscribing to the small government idea.
People want low taxes, but good public schools, more funding for the nhs, a welfare state, pensions, childcare help and on and on and on.

Taxation is a membership subscription to a civilised society. YABU to be resentful of that.

I think this is more a salary problem than a tax problem, what would you cut to drop tax? Feasibly it can't move very much given commitments for NHS / schools etc - we need more effective tax spend and an economy which grows to incentivise employers to pay more

Looks like someone else will have a go next GE

Not really, as with most subscriptions those who pay a higher subscription get an enhanced offer. Taxation is the opposite, the more you pay in, the less you get out generally.

This is disingenuous.

£60k is £3654 a month after tax.

Even after council tax there’s around £5k a year that you’re not accounting for.

I assume that you put that into your pension so getting tax relief on that as a higher rate tax payer.

So YABU.

YANBU, but wait til your career takes you to £90k and your take-home pay monthly is around £4k (after pension etc) for all your extra responsibilities and hours put in, you get to give up more on tax than you get to keep!

Honestly at that point it’s just common sense to go part-time, otherwise you are running yourself into the ground in order to give away money.

People want low taxes, but good public schools, more funding for the nhs, a welfare state, pensions, childcare help and on and on and on.

But at the moment we have high taxes and little funding in what you have listed!

I’m in Scotland. So a higher tax rate.

also, I do put in a bit more than the minimum to my pension. Because my employer only pays the minimum

Council tax is £250 a month.

totally agree.

we received a pay rise of 4%. But will only see about half of that money. Whereas all living costs just keep rising

Not really, as with most subscriptions those who pay a higher subscription get an enhanced offer. Taxation is the opposite, the more you pay in, the less you get out generally.

But you do get more out of it. You get less crime, better education, better healthcare, less social inequality, clean streets, which makes for a fair and civilised society.
Or it should do, if managed properly.

This.

The fact the current shitty government has siphoned off money for crony PPE contracts is galling, but tax itself is necessary.

I do feel we need to consider taxing wealth not just earnings and undoing the perks the Tories keep giving to top too earners.

Well, vote for a conservative government get conservative governing...

Well no, because you also get out your high salary which is not stolen from you due to having a functioning state, whatever area you work in is operational due to having a functioning state, you are not already dead due to having a functioning state...

If you want to take your chances in a total anarchist system, I'm not sure where you'll find one, but I don't think you'd be any richer.

You really don’t. The biggest expenditure by far is “social protection” which is pensions and welfare payments. Not public services.

🎻

Sounds like you are after a handout. Like everyone else.

And therein lies the problem. Too many handouts. Not enough people paying tax.

In the past the government has been able to borrow to make up the shortfall.

Now it can't.

It isn't going to end well.

But we don't get any of that!

You don't get a welfare state? You don't get state pensions? You don't get benefits? Maternity pay? Free schooling until 18 years? Free healthcare? Free birth? Free cancer treatment? Funding for part of childcare prior to school?

The problem is people want MORE money spent on these things while putting LESS money in. It doesn't work.

We pay a lot of tax. I wouldn’t care if we (and everyone else) got things like access to a GP in a reasonable amount of time, dental care (our dentist now only does private and we can’t find another), other medical access, etc.

In the last few years we’ve paid for a private autism assessment and private orthodontic treatment for our child as waiting would have caused other issues, 3 private GP appointments and also pay for private healthcare through our workplaces.

We’d rather pay more tax than pay what we do and receive no/very limited medical services. It’s shit. From people we know who work in the NHS, they seem to say it’s not underfunded, just badly managed which adds to the frustration.

But I feel much more sorry for those who, unlike us, don’t have the option of paying so just class is as the fortunate ones. I hope it gets better if we have a change of government.

Wait until Labour get in and you will be paying even more tax.

Yes and if you are a middle income or high earner you'll see absolutely no difference in services.

There's been no dramatic financial investment promises from them so far.

I'm on the fence - if I thought they really would improve schools and hospitals I'd vote for them. But I can't see it.

Did someone say we pay high taxes?

High was when I was young (yawn). Lowest tax was 33% and highest was something like 110%. We don't pay enough for a functioning welfare state. And yes, a Labour government should raise taxes and hopefully ring fence the extra for health and education.

It is a bit shit but at least you have a presumably healthy pension OP. You must be putting some of that away from your calculations from your OP.

I think the UK is so expensive and if you're working FT hours, you don't get a lot back. The only saving grace is if you're putting money away for retirement.

I am a carer and get a grand total of £300 a month. Less than £1 an hour for my lifetime ability to earn a proper salary. It's soul destroying.