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

There isn't. I've stopped applying for higher paying jobs.

I'd only go for a higher paying role now if it was something I was passionate about and the pay was irrelevant.

Otherwise it's just longer hours, more stress, early death and for what?

@GasPanic

People wonder why UK productivity is so poor. It's because speculation on asset prices is that much more rewarding from a taxation perspective than actually generating income.

I certainly think that NIC needs to be extending to "unearned" income such as pensions, rental income, capital gains and inheritance taxes, with no age limits. Or even simpler just scrap NIC and add a few percentage points to ALL other taxes!

It's ridiculous that someone with an income of £50k from "unearned" income like renting out a property or speculating in shares, property development, etc pays less tax than a worker with income of £50k, and after all, NIC is just a tax, whatever people try to argue otherwise.

Exactly my point.
You see loads of threads on here with people deliberately going part-time to spend 'more time with the kids' and claim benefits.
Why should I pay for them by spending more time away from MY kids?

I was quite ambitious pre-kids but now once I do the sums - no benefit to me. And with me and DH sharing the load neither will become the 'default parent'.

@Jesscococolake oops was replying to you.
@GasPanic heard of shell companies?

I do sympathise to a degree, it's one of those salary points that aren't as great on paper as they look like they should be. I went from £50k to £65k and had about £200 more a month to show for it after tax, loss of child benefit and increase in pension contributions due to my grade. I try not to dwell on the contributions too much, the next pay rise will feel more noticeable hopefully!

Not to mention as well of course with inflation the cut off for child benefit and higher tax should be a lot higher than it is.

The alternative is move to a IS based system so lower income tax 10-37%.
But you need health insurance average £445 per month per person.
Then there is local property tax 0.2 to 1.9% of property value, average property value £460,000 so £900 to £8700 per year and in general the better the schools in the district the higher the property tax.
Don't forget there are local state taxes on all kinds of purchases.
Then no paid maternity leave, no sick pay, no state pension. So you need to save to cover all of these.
Probably not that different at the end of the day.

OP, are you able to salary sacrifice as much as you can into your pension to either a) drop you into the lower tax bracket or b) pay the same amount of tax on a smaller amount?

Very true.

@SqueakyDinosaur
*Where are these places with low taxation and civilised societies?

The true believers in small state government need to try living in, for example, Somalia. Very low government expenditure there*
Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Canada all levy lower levels of personal taxation than the UK and are hardly considered uncivilised countries. Malta, Cyprus, Monaco and Dubai are no personal tax countries and would be classified as 'civilised' even if you don't agree with everything they do. In contrast, citizens of Côte d'Ivoire pay the highest levels of income tax in the world and could be considered less 'civilised' than countries with much lower taxation rates .

I'm not sure why you are so determined to push the mantra that country will become more 'civilised' if you keep pushing up taxation?

Exactly ! I would rather be part time, earn less and be happier . For me there is such little difference between earning 40k full time and 28k part time . Why would I put myself through the stress of full time.
WE CLAIM nothing but yes- DH who is older might decide he will earn a low wage in role which is more stress free and a lot less hours and we then could qualify for top ups which would see us bringing in the same as we do now and just a lot less stress and more time together !
And as I said - huge help for the children at Uni which we wouldn’t get it we were both working full time .

What I don't quite understand is how the tories have managed to spend the past 13 years defunding public services AND raising taxes but we're somehow in a worse financial position than when they started.

I know some like to blame covid, and I'm sure it didn't help, but we were sliding down the shitter before that appeared. Tax revenue has increased by 73% since 2010/11, while government expenditure has only increased by 22%, so what have they been doing with our cash, other than giving it to their mates and investment portfolios?

I earn a lot less than you and my council tax is £330 a month….

Yeah I hear you- you’re taxed so much it’s not worth it.

Yes.

Shell companies outside the jurisdiction of the UK government can't easily be taxed.

Properties that reside on UK soil can. You just associate the taxation with the property rather the than the individual that owns it, and then confiscate the property if the tax isn't paid.

Or you just make up some other rules. Because that's all taxation is - made up rules that governments can change any time they want.

The government can stop lots of tax avoidance if it wants. It actively chooses not to. Normally it only starts to change the rules when the plebs get in on the act and start threatening the majority of the tax base.

Tax is a rich persons problem.

https://www.uktaxcalculators.co.uk/world/tax/compare/united-kingdom/against/japan/

This site, which doesn't appear to have a political agenda to me, suggests on £30k salary NZ is 0.2% less tax, Japan is 5.9% more and Canada is 2.7% more.

But often less so a wealthy one's...

I don't mind benefit for people experiencing involuntary misfortune or disability.

It's those who keep producing kids they can't afford who people like me resent. Every day here there's another "I'm a struggling single mum with three kids, their dads aren't in contact and two of them have SEN so I can't work.." post. Usually seeking advice on how to maximize benefits. They are dragging is down.

Completely understand you OP and fully agree. Last month I paid £2680 in Tax / National insurance and student loan. PS student loan £385 perfect acceptable before others complain.

I live in a small 2 bed terraced house at 55 years of age. Sick to death of getting taxed to death for only trying my best to better myself, by go to Uni in my late 40`s as a mature student and getting a better career.

Even worse with the recent attacks on self employment (IR35) is that you can also find yourself having to pay employers AND employees NIC

That’s what happened to me as a contractor. I paid 25% NIC and higher rate tax on my last contract. If anyone thinks contracting is a path to riches they’ve never done it.

Same. Contracting through an umbrella (which I do) is the worst of both worlds. You only get SSP if ill and they make it too hard to claim.

But I pay loads of tax and work full time with a serious long-term illness.

No. Rich people don’t pay all that much. It’s the so hated on here middle class that props the entire country.

Apologies I was looking at 2018 data though I'm not sure it really change the point I'm making. I will change my list of civilised OECD countries paying less than us to Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Switzerland. I will also maintain the zero personal tax list of countries that would also be considered civilised.

Can you argue that these countries are all less civilised than us because they pay less tax?

Sorry to point out the bleeding obvious but you’re not entitled to help that others get because you earn 60k ! Suck it up buttercup (or reduce your expenses)

@7Worfs Exactly!

@Allhailkingcharlie Rich your having a laugh, Seriously I am not rich by any means of the word. I picked up a good contract to try to pull myself out of a life long hole and working bloody hard whilst I have a chance.

This has put me in a situation where yes I feel I'm currently in a bracket very unfairly squeezed and penalised. So yes were entitled to have a vocal voice!