To ask what you'll be doing to avoid the Labour tax hikes

[OptimismvsRealism]

Pension contributions
Gift aid
Selling my shares now while CGT is relatively low

What really worries me is that all the professionals we actually need to want to be here will just fuck off elsewhere, though.

It's not like we're knee deep in hospital doctors.

I am nervous about making higher pension contributions, OP - Labour can go for private sector pensions at some stage.

I plan to do absolutely nothing to avoid them. We're on about 80k a year as a family, and live a very comfortable life. Happy to pay a bit more tax to see services improve. And they will start to improve now we haven't got the Tories "spaffing money up the wall" as Johnson once so delightfully put it.

Nothing. I’ll pay my tax and if it goes up I’ll pay that as well.
The self interested public school wankers are gone, and so are bail outs for bankers I hope…
it might take a while but we need to improve state education, healthcare, community services, council services.
I’m a higher earner, I don’t need a tax break, I want trains that run, my parents to have access to a dentist and GP appts, my kids to have teachers who feel valued, the library to be open more hours, the beach to be free of litter, the bloody pot holes to be filled in… so I won’t be trying to squirrel more money away into a pension, mainly because I need it to pay the huge rise in my mortgage post Liz Truss fucking the economy.

Scotland has lower house prices and council tax which more than balances the marginally higher tax rate.

We were told that Labour were "caving in" to the Unions by giving doctors a pay rise.

So doctors weren't going to leave if we didn't give them a pay rise but they'll leave if they have to pay a little bit more tax?

Your username seems wrong, your tone is more 'anti-Labour pessimism'

We'll see what they do in the budget.

They've said no VAT, income tax or NI. We're going to find out soon enough.

I find it sad that you have (presumably) benefited from the policies of the previous Labour government (partly financed by tax increases), to help improve your circumstances. Yet it feels like you’re pulling up that drawbridge behind you by leaving at the first opportunity as soon as Labour mention increasing taxes.

Also, I don’t think you’re in a position to consider private education for your kids if you’re unable to afford VAT increases on it. Even without the VAT increases, it would go up every year anyway - especially in light of recent inflation.

Yes seems a panic response!

Can he speak German? He’ll need to if he’s considering moving to Austria to work.

You do know that in recent years doctors have been leaving the UK in large numbers due to Conservative pay 'deals' and underfunding of the NHS, making their jobs so much more difficult?

I have no idea where you’ve got your figures from about Sunak making £30m passive income a week. I doubt it.

Just because you don't see a single advantage from it, doesn't mean it's not fairer!

@CowTown Labour have pledged not to increase income tax so unfortunately I don’t yet know how to calculate the impact on me as an individual as it is more likely to hit inheritance, stamp, business rates which are not relevant to me. For the time being I will continue to support the charities that are currently trying to hold up the broken society made worse by the previous government. That’s about £200 a month if that helps for your research.

Housing is our biggest problem by a mile
I agree @Sunsgoingtokeepshining

I don’t mind paying a bit more tax on my modest enough income, but I hope there won’t be too much else, e.g. on savings.
It’d be good to be told exactly where any extra tax will be going though - rather than all going into one vast pot, where I’m afraid too much is too often wasted. There used to be a book entitled ‘The Bumper Book of Government Waste’ - whether there’s a recent version I don’t know.

Where do you live? Drumchapel is maybe cheap, but desirable areas in big cities is the same cost as any other UK city. And the extra income tax we pay is 4 x our total
council tax bill. And is all gets pissed up the wall.

Me too. I have enough for my needs and am not greedy.

🤣
That made me laugh. I couldn’t possibly comment 🤪

GCSE level at most lol

exactly - it hits low paid people too in other countries. Here people just expect higher earners to pay for everything all the time. In other countries lower paid people also contribute a fair amount of tax and don’t get top ups.

According to this Austria has some of the highest personal taxes in Europe.

https://www.expatica.com/at/finance/taxes/taxes-in-austria-101475/

OP - you’re basically planning on saving more money towards retirement- that’s a good thing, no??? You’re making it sound like some kind of emergency but all you’re doing is paying a little less tax and then saving that money for your future… don’t see the issue…just be thankful that you can do that.

Yes, especially expats, there are lots of Doctors who are not British by ethnicity and they have started leaving for other countries in Asia, Australia and the Middle East where cost of living is much lower, pay is higher and taxes are not as bad. I know quite a few doctors who started the process last year and will be leaving the country in Jan this year. What people don’t understand is there is nothing to keep these ppl back in UK, the pay is rubbish, the taxes are high and the latest riots have shown how racist some people are. So unless people step up and appreciate expats they will leave and locals will suffer.

Ah. So when you said, “Another one who will happily pay more if it funds a healthy NHS and decent school choices for everyone,” you knew the tax rises wouldn’t be affecting you personally.

Gladly will pay more tax. And happy to have my money in more sensible, considerate and moral hands.

In my experience, every high earners threatening to leave the country is often a lot of bluster and no action. 99% of them will settle down and get over it like the rest of us.