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

Working a well-paying job usually also means high stress, long hours, less time with children. So when taxes get too high, career women will just go part time - the trade off of time & stress for money just wouldn’t be worth it. So higher taxing will result in less money going in.

YANBU OP, those who put the most in get the least out and it’s frustrating.

I know the money is needed to fund public services but it doesn’t feel great.

@Elephantstone1
"we’re not entitled to any help that others may get"

Like living in society?

Your circumstances could change, suddenly and out of the blue. You’ll appreciate the contributions of every other tax payer then. It’s all part of living in a society.

Maybe look to buy your own island?

Anyone contributing to a food bank or a uk based charity is effectively paying extra tax.

Completely agree - my taxes are so high and no children in state school to get free education but more importantly I can sign up to a doctor or dentist for healthcare as they have no spaces!! Seems like I’m not getting great value for my tax pounds

Those who pay the least in get the most out as a general rule

I work in a school with a very mixed catchment, we have some very affluent families and we have kids living in genuine poverty. From reading this thread you would think that being on benefits or on a very low income is the key to an easy life but I see no evidence of that. I am seeing kids who live in social housing that is damp, rat-infested and overcrowded and we can't get the council to turn up to do repairs. They might get free prescriptions but they're still struggling to get a GP appointment, just like everyone else. The bright kids from poor families might be able to get a bit of extra help in school but its no match for the private tuition and extracurriculars their wealthier peers are getting. While the kids of parents on benefits or who have low paying jobs are languishing on waiting lists for many months or in some cases years, the children of professional middle class parents are getting private Autism assessments, private OT support and private counselling.

I doubt anyone on this thread complaining about how much they're taxed on their high salaries "to fund others benefits" would want to swap places.

Probably with the gold plated pensions and sick pay quite bloody lucky

Although I agree taxation is to help live in a civilised society I live down south and do t really feel like I do live in a civilised society. More people seem to be avoiding work because of the way benefits work. Not on purpose they're not lazy I don't blame them, going pt is good idea when you get to certain pints of income.

I can't get a dentist place, doctors are almost impossible to get hold of and never face to face, ambulance waiting times are hours by us and the hospital is stretched to capacity, immigrants are housed in nice hotels and anyone who volunteers there has to sign the official secrets act.

More and more taxes flowing out but services becoming worse and worse. I also used to work as a consultant for the nhs (in the admin side of things) and the amount of unsackable dead wood going on there was appalling.

Many of my friends have moved abroad. This is what I plan to do, request a transfer in my company. I can't go on working the way I am with no end in sight because every payrise that looks great on paper actually ends up consistently being less than my rising bills.

Completely agree. However this is not a popular opinion here.
I agree with you @Elephantstone1. Tax burden is ridiculous.

Could you put more into your pension then that will bring the tax down you pay

?

Yab a bit u. People on low wages proportionally pay more tax just because of the way that regressive taxation like council tax and vat hits them. Eg someone on minimum wage in a band b property outside of London will be paying another 15-20% of income that's already been taxed, on council tax.

I mean I get what you're saying and you are paying a decent chunk, but proportionally you won't feel clobbered as much by vat and council tax.

I think we'd all feel a bit happier about the tax we pay if things actually worked though eg if roads got repaired and our beaches and rivers weren't full of actual shit and if we had any chance of getting non emergency healthcare or have an ambulance come within 10 hours of us falling and breaking our hips etc.

I agree with you.
However you're brave to be so candid here!

Agree

So take a less well paying job and move to a smaller house. Then claim some welfare benefits. Sorted 🙄

There are several threads to untangle here. If the OP is just saying they want to pay less tax but to still have the level of public services then they are being unreasonable.

I suspect this is more about cost of living and trusting the government to use public funds more effectively. Otherwise the answer would be to earn less, and then pay less tax. Personally, I have always wanted to pay more tax as it means I am earning more 🤣

I see the OP is in Scotland so no idea what the average salary is there, however for the UK as a whole, the average wage is about 26k, so 60k is well over. Scotland may skew this up, down, or it may be representative of there too.

thats just not true

There is no escape from death & taxes

You earn 60k, be thankful

Move closer to work to cut your commute or find a WFH job or hybrid working

I definitely pay in less than I get. Frankly I’d give up my disability for being a net contributor on a higher wage and paying more tax in a heartbeat.

I don’t have children but I am happy to pay for education. If some my taxes 15 years ago went to education it will have trained some of the health care professionals treating me now.

I’d rather like to have a job in Rome and my daily commuter flights paid for by the government…

Yes and no I think.

In general the core taxpayers (middle class) are willing to pay tax provided they are happy with their lifestyle.

The problem is that the cost of living crisis is effectively eviserating the spending power of the middle class. They can no longer maintain their lifestyles, as seen by the many posts on here.

Not only that, we are heading into an era where the government must raise taxes in order to not cut spending (borrowing is not an option). This will further squeeze middle class incomes.

I think we are about to hit the tipping point on the middle class squeeze. I think there is a good chance of a 0.5% rate rise next week and mortgage rates are going up all the time. The middle class are hitting the tipping point where preservation of their own lifestyles becomes more important to them than having a social conscience.

Most people who work don't Haa problem paying tax to actually help people who need it

It's more the people who can work and choose not to and claim

Actually it's not clear that overall our taxes are high
And certainly when you compare to European countries

Higher earners seem to pay less than many comparable countries ( sorry op that you )

But it's a horrible thing to untangle