There’s NO point earning over £50k?!

[ThisReallyDoesntAddUp]

Because of the £50k child benefit limit and 40% tax rate!

So I earn £78,000 pro rata overall now with my job following a mid year pay rise. This includes bonus and car allowance. I work 4 days a week (80% equivalent) which brings the overall pay this year down to just shy of £50k with a £9.6k bonus.

Out of the £9.6K bonus due in March, I’ve worked out 40% will go to the taxman, over £2K will need paying back for child benefit as I’m now over the £50k threshold, and a further £800ish will go towards my student loan. Deductions of just under £6k!!! This means I’ll only take home 30% of my bonus?!

I’m now on mat leave for baby number 3. AIBU to make sure when I go back I remain under the £50k mark by reducing hours even further?! I’d then have less to pay in childcare mitigating the difference in the pay I’d receive working an extra day each week.

Its an absolute joke, I was hoping to go back to work after my last baby and push on hard with my career but what is the actual point!! I may as well work less hours, keep the child benefit and pay less in childcare!

A consultation can be as little as six weeks legally. You will see how this serious government is very quickly

We’ve had 14 years to see exactly how much of a joke it is.

Exactly. If they don't do it immediately then assume it's not happening

Smart move though. People who are working in fairly normal jobs are being penalised at every turn. They’ve been ignored for too long and are becoming very vocal. People have ignored these people at their peril - they can swing votes. Seeing middle earners as the people who need to support everyone is backfiring on all political parties.

There are the rumours about a May GE being announced too, though I haven't the foggiest whether that's accurate or not.

It is just enough to refute the charge that Labour will make that the average working family is poorer now than in 2019. Clever

Bang on. My partner "earns" just over the 60k threshold (company car and private medical insurance are added to his income but we don't "receive" money for that), but I earn waaay less than 50k and we scrape by mostly with a few nice things (1 holiday a year, we just got new carpets - woop de do!). I have friends who (somehow!!) receive child benefit despite having 3 houses. Dodgy tax write offs I reckon to bring their income under 50k. F-ing ridiculous system.

Absolutely. So I feel safe in assuming that Labour won't change this once they get in. It would be a bad idea politically and practically. Less sure what they do about fiscal drag though, as even with normal levels of inflation you end up excluding more people if you don't adjust every year.

Also we've learned that Hunt is a better politician than Sunak. Admittedly a low bar.

Does he make pension contributions? You may qualify for CB next financial year if so, depending on what they are. There are calculators online for the current system at the mo, hopefully they get updated.

School fees.

Jealous much

What about them?

Did Hunt announce that since they are a luxury discretionary expense they should be VATable?

The poster asked why bother earning over 50k. I don’t care how good you are at budgeting but you aren’t going to be able to fund 14 years of school fees on 50k salary and nobody is going to gift me the 250k I need to put aside for it.

They’re discretionary. State schools educate children very effectively.

In your opinion.

By any objective measure. Eight out of the ten top schools for Oxbridge entry are now state schools.

If you think that’s an accurate barometer of the respective qualities of state vs private schools I suggest you are incredibly misinformed.

Even if it were a good measure, which it isn’t, it means that private schools which make up just 7% of the total pupil numbers account for 20% of entries. Whereas the 93% of state educated pupils make up just 80% of entries and that is despite positive moves to skew offers in their favour. It also includes selective grammar schools.

It’s a moot point anyway as the goal for many private schools parents isn’t Oxbridge.

She’s getting at the fact you’d potentially have to file a joint return. I think it’s more likely the way you claim would change so it’s more like other benefits where you have to declare household income

Actually even more likely the consultation will wring their hands and say it’s too complex/expensive to fix.

Yes as much as be can, but as he has a company car (that he has no choice about!) he gets penalised twice - they add hundreds to his supposed income that he doesn't have and he gets taxed about the same amount again on top, essentially making his income look about £1k more a month than he actually gets.

You’ve completely misinterpreted that statistic. 🙄

The actual split is the 7% who go to private schools get 30% of the places.

That isn’t what the stat I provided shows. Hopefully your child will understand and be able to explain it to you after their quarter of a million education.