Do you begrudge high earners?

[cheerscheerscheerstomeyeahcheers]

Do you actually understand what they do and why they earn so much?
Would you be actually willing to put in the time and effort yourself?

I see so much griping about people that earn a lot, but I also see a lot of ignorance about why they earn what they do.

No, I don’t, as long as they pay tax.

I do however, begrudge the terrible wages for the lowest paid in society. They too work hard and this is not reflected in their wages. Call me crazy, but I think those who work full time, should have the dignity of affording a home and enough to eat.

Sadly, those that earn the most are often the ones responsible for employing the lowest paid, or the ones with the ability to make societal change.

Only the ones who assume that lower earners are half wits who can't possibly understand the (apparant) complexities of their Big Job, and are themselves too stupid to realise there's often little correlation in how hard you work and how much you're paid.

I know lots of high earners, was one myself once, and yes they work hard but the pay is disproportionate to this.

Someone on £300k does not work 10x as hard as someone on £30k. And they definitely don’t work 5x as hard as someone on £60k (as at this level people generally have quite a bit of stress/responsibility).

Their high pay is much more about their particular knowledge/expertise, and the fact that certain markets will pay highly for that expertise, than just hard work.

Like someone else mentioned it's income disparity that's the issue. Amd not so much with high earners but business owners. Even if you earn £300k on PAYE you'll be taxed an insane amount but if you own the business you drive the profit margins, which leads to greed, and HMRC give you a ridiculous number of ways to take it with as least tax as possible. IMO everyone on PAYE is screwed. They should limit profit margins, bonuses and dividends amd encourage higher wages at the lower end of the work force.

That’s capitalism for you

Not if they treat any staff that contribute to their success fairly. I’ve yet to meet anyone in this category that is happy & content. It’s a sad life and not one I’d want for me or my DC.

‘Do you actually understand what they do and why they earn so much?’

Ridiculous question.
There’s a hell of a lot of high earners out there- depends what they do?

How could anyone possibly begrudge everyone who is a high earner without knowing what they did/how they got there just because they have a high salary.

I know a lot of very high earners and have no envy at all as many are so stressed they are heart attacks waiting to happen.

One appears to work 15 hour days. He never has the time to enjoy the fruits of his labour (although his wife is doing a good job helping him on that front!).

No, I have no envy for those people.

Although I do have issues with a few wfh workers I know who earn £60-£80k pa and freely admit to doing sod all during their day (taking baths, walking the dog, baking etc) whilst I’m working my arse off in the caring profession for much less.

I'm a relatively high earner by many people's standards but not at the level you're talking about.

I do work very hard and I have skills that lots of people don't have, but I am not so arrogant as to believe that there aren't many people earning less than me who aren't equally skilled and equally hardworking. The idea that hard work directly correlates with pay is a complete fallacy.

As for people who earn more than me, I certainly don't resent them, but I do think they (and I) should be asked to contribute more in taxes for the sake of society as a whole.

I remember reading something about the Victorian philanthropists which was that they gave away a huge amount of their wealth to the poor- I don’t think today’s high earners do the same but if their house was on fire they’d expect a fireman paid from the public purse

The high earner will have more than covered their costs.

YABU for insinuating anyone earning under £300k does not put in the "time and effort".

Not many people on that kind of salary are working to better the world or humanity they just chose a profitable industry. One that often does the opposite. Not just about how hard you work.

Well yes, that's the point of taxation, isnt it?

I don't think I know anyone who earns above about £80k, I was thinking of my "just into the higher rate tax band" friends as higher earners and thinking I don't begrudge them!

I do think that those on 6-figure salaries probably work harder than / have more expertise than me, but they aren't the hardest working in society. Wealth distribution is hugely unfair. I begrudge (not sure that is quite the right word there?) people on salaries morebthan 3x the national average whinging on about not having any "disposable" income after private school fees, massive mortgages in desirable areas and shopping at Hello Fresh / Waitrose though.

But will they though? Lots of them have fancy accountants and they will tax “avoid” rather than tax evade so morally wrong (IMHO) but not illegal. Wayne Rooney apparently only paid £800 a month in tax when he was getting £120k a week

Would you be actually willing to put in the time and effort yourself?

I don't begrudge high earners their good fortune per se. But I certainly resent statements like the above which imply that high earners somehow work harder than people on lower salaries.

This isn't a meritocracy.

what a goady post for a Sunday morning.

Please can the high earner come and work a 12 hour shift, on their feet all day, caring for sick people, holding peoples hands as they die, comforting distressed relatives, whilst looking after 9 other patients, making sure you’re calculating their drugs correctly so you don’t kill anyone, whilst also being verbally abused and complained at that you’re not going quick enough.

Also, over 300k? I doubt surgeons even get to that point. Surgeons who can spend 16 hours in theatre removing cancer tumours without rupturing aorta’s and reconnecting veins to one another.

Are these people not skilled enough to be a high earner?

@cheerscheerscheerstomeyeahcheers , do you know what high earners do? ALL of them? Or just your husband?

Not at all, I do think very little of those who say they believe their high salary is down to the fact they work harder than anyone who earns less than them though.

Yes. You are confusing wealth and earned income from a salaried job. Someone on the salary op is talking about will pay approx 120k tax a year via PAYE.

👏👏👏
exactly!!

I also begrudge the whinging. No one forces anyone to work long hours to earn more than they could possibly need. Its a free choice to trade quality of life for cash. If that's your choice, enjoy the stuff you can afford and get on with your chosen life. This constant bleating about how people are not affording you enough praise for your apparant excellence and outstanding work ethic, is quite unnecessary. It stands to reason that people working very hard themselves in essential and useful roles without which we'd all be in trouble, are going to have an occasional eye roll at the unfairness of their pay against yours, but why should you care? You can afford more stuff!

You can’t tar everyone with the same brush as to how hard they work - whichever end of the earnings spectrum they’re on. I work closely with several 200k-400k colleagues. I can assure you it’s no more taxing than a 9-5 and they don’t spend time working evenings or weekends either, their jobs are really quite low stress and reasonable hours. They’re paid to take the risk of signing off on things and being the person ultimately responsible if things go wrong.
When I’ve been in hospital, the nurses/midwives/junior doctors on a small fraction of that kind of money work way, way harder. People who take several low paid jobs such as cleaning to the keep the family afloat work way harder.
There are high earners who work extremely hard, and those who don’t. There are low earners who work extremely hard, and those who don’t.

6 figure earners usually get that as compensation for responsibility not how hard they work. Many on those salaries could be reputationally ruined or face jail if junior staff members screw up, so no, I don't begrudge them that salary.