To actually not mind paying tax?

[Squareplate]

I'm sick of hearing about how Labour will increase tax (they will, they'll have to, after the mess they've been handed) at the same time as demanding better services.

I quite like what Clement Attlee said
"Charity is a cold grey loveless thing. If a rich man wants to help the poor, he should pay his taxes gladly, not dole out money at a whim"

And yet I know loads of people who do great work for charity at the same time as doing whatever they can to hide their money from the tax man. They'll say taxes are wasted or there's corruption etc, but that happens in the charity sector too.

FWIW, I'm a higher rate taxpayer and my parents estate will likely be subject to significant inheritance tax, but I still think that's right and fair.

I don't understand why paying your taxes isn't seen as a social duty.

Just because we have hospitals, it doesn’t mean I have access to them for my kids - 2 years to get an ASD diagnosis, no support afterwards. 18 months and counting for my other child to hear from a specialist for his urgent eye problem, otherwise he will have a permanent disability. And no we have not yet seen an NHS specialist. So the fact that we have hospitals is really nothing to do with receiving actual care. Just one example of the many I have. And don’t get me started on my autistic son being able to access the curriculum at school. So no, for my family, there isn’t really much to show for the taxes I pay.

I have been thinking recently - how many people’s council tax is similar or more than their income tax?

eg on £25k income you pay £3.4k tax and NI.

My council tax is around that!

Doesn’t seem to be mentioned at all.

I’m all for paying more tax if the benefit can be seen. It rarely can unfortunately.

Absolutely this! ^^

I don’t mind paying tax if I feel I am getting decent public services in return but that’s not the case anymore. Also you sound pretty privileged- I’m a single mum with no family money and I have to pay for everything including expensive housing from my taxed income. It’s a struggle for me and many others who don’t qualify for help but still pay a lot of tax.

Let's just give them a chance I think everyone stressing

You do you.

I am allowed to be unhappy about pretty much 50% of my efforts going into tax, when other people pay a lot less -talking about proportion, not amount.
Nearly half a week of work is actually a waste of my time. Am I supposed to feel good about it?

I am allowed to disagree about the way said tax are being used.

I am also allowed to be even more unhappy that the wealthy, and I mean the really wealthy people, are not subjects to the same amount. Things like inheritance tax apply to me, they don't apply to the royals and the rest who put things in trust.

I do mind paying tax a lot.

Isn't it more than you don't like paying into a system if you don't think you're getting enough back?

Tax is not charity, it's a proportional payment we make collectively for the government to run our country for us. It's more akin to a 'milk fund' in a work's staff room, and not a fundraiser

In principle many do not mind paying tax. in practice it can be really painful and seem unfair.

Why are some areas paying way more council tax than others?
Tax bands where you lose child benefit, nursery hours or personal allowance so the amount of that pay rise you get is really gouged.

All flavours of politicians need to keep in mind that the populace wants to feel that they are being treated fairly, and that the money isn't squandered, but spent well.

I agree. I’m a high rate tax family. We are privileged in money. We are happy to pay more tax. We have seen poverty and no one deserves that. The nhs and education system are a joke.

I wish pp's would actually look at other countries tax and benefit systems. Comparison is often tricky, due to nuances and currency, but in general, in Europe more people on lower salaries pay more tax, we already have one of highest tax free allowances, and things like pensions are waaayyy more generous.

I totally agree OP. Paying tax is a privilege, and a sign of living in an advanced and civilised society.

I'm happy to pay as much tax is needed to support public services and give everyone in society a decent life.

In return I get the great fortune of living in a society where I know things are functional, and that a safety net exists if I ever need it.

❤️

I wonder if PP is right, the reluctance is because we pay a lot, but not "enough" to give us the services people deserve.

Of course there is waste, but there always will be in huge organisations, that's not unique to UK.

I find it really irritating and frankly stupid that the people who were (rabidly, idiotically) in favour of lockdowns are now complaining about tax.

I genuinely want to scream at them - what in the actual fuck did they think would happen if the whole economy shut down for a period of time???

If you supported lockdowns in any way you can completely shut up, entirely and forever, about tax, cost of living, inflation, whatever. YOU ASKED FOR IT.

The same goes for anyone who voted for Brexit.

We don't need more money in the system, we need a population with some basic thinking skills, to stop them making such stupid decisions over and over.

I'm so glad labour are in. At least there's some hope that some people have some sense.

I’d like there to be a clearer link between tax rises and public spending. For example:

“We’re going to increase income tax by 2% and spend it on the NHS”

I don't mind paying tax, but I'd like to see it managed better so society benefits well from it. Schools and the NHS are a disaster at the moment.

That's not how it works, unfortunately. Public spending is far too complex to make any sort of guarantees like that.

I voted Labour and I don't mind paying tax (I'm not a higher rate taxpayer but DH is), but I don't think higher taxes will be enough to turn around the NHS. I support NHS reform.

Same. Educated our population, look after their health, provide housing, look after those who need it- what else really matters?

Those things cost money.

I think we have got ourselves in a terrible mess with the current taxation system.

It penalises those that are aspiring to make something of themselves and rewards those who want to do as little as possible. We have a productivity crisis in this country largely due to the taxation and benefits system. The amount of threads you read on here where people say that they could work more but it's not financially worth it for them. They either will be taxed so punitively that they take home peanuts extra for working more hours or they will no longer be able to claim some lucrative benefit. This cannot be right if we are seriously about achieving economic growth which is the only way to realistically get us out of this mess.

Perhaps the anger comes from how the money is being spent rather than having to pay taxes.

Yes, spending billions on preventing healthy people from working, for example.

I have no issue paying taxes, I just want them to go to the right places and be spent responsibly

I too am happy to pay tax to help whether a more equal society. I think there are many of us.

Taxes here might be low compared to elsewhere but a lot of other things are higher. So…if you’re going to increase tax you need to bring other things down or the backlash will be enormous.