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

That one is particularly awful for more recent graduates, with the amounts many owe plus the terms and conditions.

A graduate tax that for many will last their whole career, but only it only applies if you were feckless enough to be born at the wrong time or to parents who couldn't pay you out of it. No worries if you went to uni earlier and/or come from money.

I don't blame any of them for taking action to try and evade repayments, and worry that we as a society might live to regret implementing such an unfair system.

If the NHS was well funded and run efficiently and people could get a dentist and state schools were equal to private and the roads didn't have pot holes in them and the Police wasn't awash with criminals - I would begrudge you your moan. However, you're paying all this tax and NI for decimated public services 🙄 it's a joke an absolute joke. Except it's not funny.

Yes, agree with all you say. It is a very concerning issue.

If you're on income replacement benefits then Council Tax Reduction is part of the package to help you manage on a very limited income.

In Scotland (and I think Wales) people out of work or unable to work due to health etc get it paid in full. In England however most Councils only pay 75-80% and in some cases little more than half. If benefits top up a low income from work then the help tapers off very rapidly indeed.

The exemption for Students is a matter of policy over governments of all stripes for many years.

It’s not a theory. It’s statistically correct.

Some pensioners, including me, pay full council tax.🙄

It's only reduced for those on means tested benefits - whatever their age.

Exactly. The pensioners who are exempt from paying council tax as those claiming pension credit.

Pension Credit tops up:

• your weekly income to £201.05 if you’re single
• your joint weekly income to £306.85 if you have a partner

Imagine trying to live on £201.05 which has to cover every living expense - utilities, food, clothing - I certainly wouldn’t want to try it.

Statistically men have a shorter life expectancy than women, should we adjust the tax burden accordingly? Of course not, that would be absurd, along with the suggestion that wealthier people live longer because they pay more tax.

So basically a low income reduction, just as working age adults are able to get, not a special benefit for pensioners.

To get pension credit, you need to have an income of less than £10.500 a year.

Nobody suggested that wealthy people live longer because they pay more tax. They live longer because they have access to better healthcare care and live in better conditions. Those are the corollary of having more money. And it’s why those of us who are better off benefit more from pensions at the end of our lives.

Well we obviously read the PP post differently. As a rich pensioner I am sure you feel very fortunate however the average high tax paying 40 year old now, is faced with likely never receiving a state pension so once again unless you are 90 now it’s not really relevant. The social contract is broken with regards to pensions. I have no doubt it will be fully means tested by the time I get to retirement age and god know what that retirement age will be. My entire working life has just seen the retirement age increase incrementally, if I was guaranteed a lump sum at 65 that amounted to 30 years worth of pension I might feel differently but that’s never going to happen.

What would you do to make the system fairer in your eyes OP?

I’m not following why you’ve picked your train ticket to be annoyed about paying out of post tax earnings - that’s true for the vast majority of things that we buy. And as someone else pointed out, consumption taxes like VAT, petrol duty etc are regressive - lower earners and those on benefits pay more of these taxes as a proportion of income than higher earners.

I also don’t get why students not paying council tax is something to be annoyed about. Like what’s the solution to that - take away the exemption and then pass the cost on to their parents/ SAAS? You also mentioned pensioners - they only don’t pay council tax if they receive some other type of benefit, it’s not to do with age. Again what’s the solution - try and claw that money out of their pensions?

Your posts read a bit like you grudge others receiving things out of the system that you don’t get - I’m sure you’d rather continue receiving your £60k a year rather than being 80 years old in rented council accommodation trying to survive on £203 a week.

Your last sentence is so ridiculous. Those are not the only options. I imagine what the OP would prefer is for her to keep her 60k salary and lose less of it to the taxman. Our tax is not spent well, many many people in this country are not contributing either financially or socially and are a drain on society. A culture of entitlement has become embedded across large swathes of the population and it is not sustainable.

In theory the only “fair” tax system is for everybody to pay the same percentage. That probably wouldn’t work in reality as the burden would shift vs what it is now. I can’t remember that stats but isn’t it something like the top 1% of earners pay 30% of tax?

To answer OP’s issue…take a lower paid job, you’ll pay less, problem solved 👍🏻

Lots of people consider the only ‘fair’ systems to be flat tax systems. The idea that everyone agrees on what ‘fair’ means in terms of taxation, is just laughable

Get used to paying a lot lot more under Starmer as you are exactly the demograph he’ll be targeting.

I’ve no idea what a “fair” tax system is, there probably isn’t one. As it stands those with a higher income pay more in percentage and absolute terms…is that “fair”? I’ve no idea. I’m just glad it’s not me that has to figure it all out!

That is were personal accountability comes in.

There are many pensioners who did not save a penny for retirement.

Barring those thad had negative life issues (the minority), that was a choice. They chose not to save for retirement.

So now, the entire country is being asked to heavily subsidise a group of pensioners that decided not to save for retirement because the state would step in.

And when the state stepped in..they complain that its not enough to live on.

Thats why I have little sympathy here. Personal responsibility matters, and its not the states role to keep saving you from your choices in life.

This is very unlikely via direct taxes.

UK is over-taxed as is and Starmer knows that.

But they will target the smaller low hanging fruit (VAT on private schools, Pension relief etc)

@jenandberrys but what can the OP do about tax not being efficiently spent? Or do about these “drains on society”? Re the culture of entitlement, is earning £60k a year - more than double the Scottish average - and then whinging about paying a train fare without a tax break not a bit entitled?

I just think it’s shite form to be fortunate in so many ways - I’d love 6 months paid mat leave for example - but moan like a petulant child about what other people “get out of the system”

They won’t bring in much, it’s more for effect than benefit

If you believe that then you are either an idiot or you have your own agenda.

You clearly have no idea how the UK economy works.

Thats for sure.

And this is it. It’s not entitled to want to keep money you have earned or that is yours. It is entitled to think the govt should be giving you money, be that for maternity pay, child benefit, housing benefit, tax credits etc etc

Gets them a few £bn which they can use.

Also, they seem to be planning on further tweaking various benefits so that the folks over £60k get nothing now (think childcare help) vs before (over £100k).

They are squeezing the upper middle further.