to think that 6000 per month is excessive for the government to take off my pay for tax?

[tootaxed]

Surely there should be a maximum limit that each person has to pay as tax? Six grand per month in tax is just excessive imo. And that is before NI contributions etc. If the government set a maximum tax limit they would take more care over how they spent their central funds. And I wouldn't have to work so many hours away from my DCs only to have 72 bloody grand a year taken off my income to fund their mis-spending.

Unless you are the Duke of Westminster obviously.

"scam of MPs and high-ranking civil servants and their vast salaries, "

I'm afraid I think its right that high ranking civil servants and MPs have a good pay package. They are do stressful jobs and often put in long hours. You need a high calibre person for those sort of jobs.

I'm sorry to remind you that non disabled benefit claimants do abolutely sweet FA and frankly deserve sweet FA.

I would like to see a system were disabled people get an allowance that isn't means tested. Life is an absolute bitch for a severely disabled person however rich thier family is.

You might feel jelous, but high earning people create wealth and jobs for other people. They deserve the rewards of the work they do.

If you want a second home, or a foreign holiday then work for it!

Oh, please, Reallytired!

Do you honestly think those MPs work any harder than your average Pole builder in summer?

I thought the Victorian approach went out with the Bolsheviks.

I'm constantly reminded of how wrong I am.

[rolls eyes]

"You might feel jelous, but high earning people create wealth and jobs for other people. They deserve the rewards of the work they do.

If you want a second home, or a foreign holiday then work for it!"

what about those people who work in charity work/ nursing/ any other profession that is hardworking but not as commercially successful?

are high earners more deserving than these people?

do these people not work hard?

why do people who work in financially lucrative areas assume that because they earn a lot, they deserve a lot?

they chose a business that brought in the cash. it doesn't make them deserving. it makes them financially motivated

Amen, Capp.

But Capp it just does not work that way - it's economics. The supply and demand issue will skew the pay.

However I am a firm believer that with wealth comes responsibility and many people do not think that way.

Interestingly I am reading a book at the moment about this sort of thing and in denmark I think the taxation works so that nobody is hugely better off than anyone else and people are more interested in who you are rather than what you have.

I understand economics Clarice I have a very high A level in it

my point is that just because you work in a highly paid area it does not make you more 'deserving' than someone who works in a field which has different priorities, and not the same funding

we can't all work in businesses which just make money as their point; nor would we want to

"we can't all work in businesses which just make money as their point; nor would we want to"

Some people make a choice - they have a calling to care for people, to nurse to do those things. Others don't. And as you will well understand with your "high" A level our society does not choose to reward those careers well in monetary terms. We do not value those skills highly - rightly or wrongly. If you want everyone to be on a more equal footing then there will have to be further redistribution of wealth but you will know the impact of that.

To the OP - I don't think you are being unreasonable. DH earns a lot less than you but still resents the tax being taken out of his salary each month. I don't think the amount you earn in absolute terms is at all relevant, it sounds like you work hard and good for you. It's the relative amount taken out in tax that irks you, and I agree with you. The tax burden in this country IS exessive, IMO.

MPs may earn more than the national average, but they don't earn anywhere near enough money to pay £6000 a month tax.

I will agree that few people can do nothing all day and earn alot of money. However, my experience is that people who earn very large amounts of money earn the money because they are motivated by having lots of money. A research scientist trying to find a cure for cancer will earn less money than a really successful car salesman although both may work really long hours. Doctors do in general earn fairly large amounts of money, but not as much as city traders. Do we really, really need city traders more than doctors?

Somebody paying £6000 a month in tax still has an enormous amount of money left over.

(think all I've done is rephrase what capp said)

The only thing I will give the OP is that I think most parents would pretty much do anything to help their child, and there is probably no amount of money that would be enough to help a very sick or disabled child, so on an emotional level, I perhaps have sympathy for her. I will also agree that it might be frustrating if she felt her tax money were badly spent.

However, in terms of the taxation level in general, I do not think a city trader needs another car more than a mother of a severely disabled child needs respite care, so if I were PM, I wouldn't be giving him tax breaks any time soon.

Whoever said further down the thread that the OP must be earning around £350k is wrong btw - £6k of tax a month is £72k a year which translates to a gross income of only around £180k. Which ain't actually a whole lot in the city ...

Its a fact of bl**dy life. Some people are more intelligent, some more enterprising, and some more risk taking.

Some one like Alan Sugar, Richard Branson, or even Xenia make the economy move. They often risk their home, health and marriages and put in huge number of hours. They create wealth and jobs for thousands of people. They deserve a large income.

I am in a very low paid job, its easy work, the hours are short and I enjoy 11 weeks holiday. My job is safe as houses, the work is safe and fun. I work in a special school which helps disabled children make the best of their lives. I am sure that Xenia would consider it a good use of her taxes.

thanks clarice for missing my point, twice

Good post, MadameP

I will have to check my tax tables, and I am not sure whether you are including NI, but 72 is 40% of 180, and you don't pay 40% tax on your entire income.

Sorry Capp

'I am sure that Xenia would consider it a good use of her taxes.'

Actually, Really, she and many high earners like her don't see what you do as a good use of their taxes.

They think such services should be privatised and they shouldn't pay much tax at all, because they feel they're already doing society enough of a favour by generating all this wealth.

That's the way their mentality works.

As it is, they do the best they can to get out of paying much tax in relation to their income at all.

Leaving those who can't afford the services of such tax accountants to take up the vast burden of taxes in this society.

Many don't pay tax at all.

Yes I agree Madame P, was thinking that NIC would make up for the lower rate bands. The point I was trying to make is that whoever said the OP must earn around £350k or whatever it was was completely wrong. And basically £180k or whatever in the city is not astronomic - probably get you a mortgage on a 3 bed terrace in Hackney ...

If your PAYE and NI are around £6K a month then you are probably earning £190-200K pa

Because of course Expat all highly paid individuals think the same...

hence, why I used terms like 'many' rather than 'all', clarice [shakes head].

Sooo... what is the solution?
Tax the high earners more?

Quattrocento - lol at your poor £180,000 earner who can only afford a 3 bed house in Hackney.

So we should cap tax for high earners so that they can keep up with overinflated house prices? Brilliant.

See - this is what I mean - you see the figures and think these people are really rich and the reality of their lives probably is a 3-bed terrace in Hackney because whilst it is a really chunky income outside London and the SE, it isn't so enormous in the city. Fact.

And for the record, the income has to be less than £180k for the tax and NI to add up to 6k a month.