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.

There was a thread recently about investment bankers regularly working 80-120 hours per week. There is no amount of money that I think would make that desirable!

I don't begrudge high earners per se but I do think a lot (not all) have got there via advantages or partly luck as well as working hard, but almost everyone would say it was purely down to their own hard work/determination etc.

It depends what the job is, and whether the salary is out of proportion to others in their organisation and/or wider society.

Some people are worth their pay check, others really aren't. Some head honchos and financial types have done huge damage to our economy and society because of bad decisions and/or greed.

We aren’t. This is a thread about high earners. High earners who pay a huge amount of tax and fund the UK. You’re talking about wealthy celebs and tax avoidance.

No disrespect to your husband, but frankly, that's a shocking way to run a company. You'd have thought they'd have a succession plan in place.

Aye ok if you say so.

And? They should have money left over. We already have a tax situation where higher earners are steered away from work. People on PAYE are so heavily penalised it’s often better to just earn less at some points. If you completely take away any benefit from doing well - who is funding society?

We need to move away from the opinion that people should be thankful to keep a percentage of their earnings if they do well. It’s damaging the UK.

I think there's different types of hard work. I work in care, on my feet a lot, poorly paid, some gross stuff - but I don't find it particularly hard. Tiring, but not especially hard.
DH has years of education, sits at a desk 10 hours a day, dealing with numbers I can't even fathom, with responsibilities for sums, hiring and firing, that would send me into a nervous breakdown,
Him being well paid, isn't why I am poorly paid. So why would I begrudge it?

You literally are. 😂

Former high earner here.

Tax avoidance is perfectly legal and normal! The government uses schemes to encourage particular behaviours, such as investment into pensions and share schemes.

The pressures on high vs low earners are different but can be equivalent. We all need to have empathy for one another.

It is distasteful when high earners complain about paying their fair share of taxes. Our taxes have not been used to keep public services in good order by the current government, which has had a knock on effect on our industries and society, and their poor policies have deterred investment in the UK. So hold your MP to account. Don’t punch down on carers, cleaners, and all the other key workers on who we all rely.

Yep I had a manager like that . A brilliant delegator who could not actually do her job . The wheels do eventually fall off the bus though .

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This is very accurate to the thread.

There was a post on here from a high earner a while ago who claimed to nap, head to the gym and do her own thing a good part of the day- that was sickening.

On the other hand, you read women say their DH is a high earner but is never home - that sounds miserable all round.

No one needs to earn 300k+ and it's horrible knowing that salaries like that are coming from us being overcharged for services or goods, eg insurance. The money comes from somewhere!

I'm an NHS clinical manager and am happy with my salary despite massive stress levels and very long working hours. Eg I was 'off' yesterday and worked from 9am to 8pm to get admin done as was working 'on the floor' all week due to low staffing. My salary is enough to get by.

I can't imagine working any harder than I already do to be honest so I'm not sure how pay reflects activity..... It really doesn't. Our domestic works her butt off to ensure that our clinical rooms are sparkling - for minimum wage.

My xh was a high earner. I did begrudge it quite a lot really - he'd come home expecting a hero's welcome for his 10 hours in the City trenches while I'd done the same in the classroom plus I had to sort out childcare, dinner, the house etc. and then finish paperwork. He thought he was special because he earned so much, but he wasn't curing cancer all day or nursing or looking after the elderly... I find it difficult to reconcile high salaries with so little 'greater good' worth.

Which is how it should be.

I totally agree with you. I wasn’t saying they shouldn’t have money left over - of course they should. It’s just that some people act like being a high earner is so burdensome because they pay SO MUCH TAX when the fact is they still have a lot more - even after the huge tax bill - than lower earners. They pay more because they have more, as it should be.

No, but I do get fed up with people treating those that earn less than they do, with no respect. If we didn’t have cleaners at work, who would step up to do the communal loos?

No. I accept that we operate in a market economy, therefore people earn what the market determines their skills & experience are worth. Also, workers are entitled to join trade unions in order to negotiate salaries terms & conditions collectively. The salaries paid to train drivers vs bus drivers demonstrate how this can be done successfully.

We kind of need some high earners . They pay tax and to a degree stimulate the economy

that said define high earner , in this day and age my bar is pretty bloody high for someone to be classified as a high earner

Let's face it though, that lack of respect is not unique to higher earners. Plenty of pricks in all tax brackets.

I think people do get like that because of general attitudes and misunderstandings. This thread is a good example. No-one here has attacked care workers or teachers. It’s everyone else doing that to justify attacking higher earners. People have highlighted the huge amounts of tax a high earner on PAYE contribute because again - people can’t help themselves. All high earners are tax avoiders and don’t contribute.

The unpleasantness comes from people projecting what they think higher earners are saying and doing. For the majority, they are wrong and out right misunderstanding.

I was earning a lot during the last Labour government. I saw the Sure Start centres in my neighbourhood doing good work, NHS waiting times were low. Although it wasn’t perfect by any means, I felt as though it was worth earning more even if I took home just a little more, because it felt good to contribute. This is what many high earners have lost.

The urge to contribute and give back to society is still very much there for some people - take the example of the organisation Philanthropic Millionaires. But collectively we have lost confidence in ability of government to spend our taxes well.

Working hard is irrelevant.

High earners have - in the main - a set of skills or abilities which have rarity value in our society.

They get paid so highly to bring "that rare skill" to this company. That's it.

If there was a bigger pool of people intellectually capable of doing the high value work - in the main - then they would not be paid as highly.

It depends how that money is earned...

I have no respect for people who: make a fortune using asset stripping/hedge funds, big landlords, utility bosses (you only have to look at Thames Water), many politicians who have no interest in public service but instead use their position to make themselves wealthier, corporate bosses who exploit their workforce and try to find ways to pay little tax, people who get well paid jobs purely because of family connections/money.

Basically of the entitled parasites that contribute little to society as a whole but seem to believe they are the only ones who 'work hard' and this is why they are wealthy.

Beyond that anyone who makes an honest living and manage to earn a lot that way and does not look down on others should be applauded.

I think most people have a sense of fairness and are sick of nepotism, workforce exploitation and suggestion that people on low/average wages are just not working hard enough...