To think getting less than 50% of your pay is crazy?

[rampe]

If someone earns £15,000 a month. They have a student loan. They pay in 10% into their pension.
They take home less than £7,000 a month.

I've not seen anyone on here saying that higher earners don't work as hard as people on lower wages. I've seen the opposite, where higher earners say (like you are doing) that lower earners are just jealous and higher earners earn more through sheer hard work. It is then pointed out that lots of people work really hard at low paid but essential jobs e.g. carers.

I am sure that many people on extremely high salaries work in very high stress environments with lots of responsibility and will have studied hard to gain qualifications for their job roles. However, the rewards are significant and not all high level jobs make a useful contribution to society.

There are people with more money than they or their families could spend in a lifetime but still begrudge paying their fair share.

Higher rate tax payers aren't on extremely high salaries necessarily though. And it's always said in threads on here. Fair share is the key here, as has been said, it's lower and middle earners that have low taxes.

I'm not sure which government would raise taxes on lower and middle earners but leave higher rate tax payers alone?

A Conservative government would never do this as a) they don't believe in raising income taxes and b) this would affect lots of their supporters.

A Labour government wouldn't do this as if they decided to raise income taxes they wouldn't target low and middle earners, they would target higher earners.

It isn’t obvious. It is a logical fallacy.

How’s that working out for you? You don’t create a prosperous equal society by taxing everyone to the hilt.

You can kind of understand why people opt for Dubai. No tax, plenty of sunshine and cheap staff.

Go and ask the Finnish.

Btw they are very good at ensuring there are no tax loopholes plus their VAT rate is higher and they have less exemptions.

And prison for things that we can freely do in this country.

Their income tax and social security (equivalent to NIC) is also higher at lower income levels than the UK. So people on lower incomes pay comparatively more tax/SS in Finland than they would on the same income in the UK!

Indeed @Reugny. Forget about the tax burdens, just get yourself to a country with a lot of oil about it, be wealthy enough to buy your way out of trouble or ill health and stick a post-it on your mirror with a reminder not to be gay, a woman or come from South Asia.

Talking of getting your hands on some oil. I wonder if things would’ve been different here if we had gone for a sovereign wealth fund like the Norwegians did. Was that thought to be a bit socialist-adjacent at the time?

And prison for things that we can freely do in this country.

Whereas in this country, we barely jail anyone.

Eh? They’re way beyond capacity. Who are all those people in the cells? Lost tourists?

I have. And yes it sounds like a wonderful place to live. If anyone can work out a way to develop a Finnish system here I’d be interested. But I don’t think you can do that if you have 1.5 illegal and unregistered immigrants, a welfare system that takes no account of immigration status and has encouraged dependency for over 70 years, a language that had been appropriated by most of the world and happen to be situated only 21 miles from France.

Student fees do not any where near cover costs of training people to do certain jobs e.g. medicine. I note some very entitled doctors posting here. I despair - what horrible people. Much more senior doctor posting here. What sort of a society do you want to live in? I will be speaking to my medical school about the entry critieria. And those people who say they do not use public services! LMFAO! And that people on benefits are scroungers and lower income people need to pay more tax! GET A GRIP on your Faragey views!
Pay off your subsidised education, save for your pension - as much as possible into one of the best schemes available, pay your fucking taxes and be grateful you are not at a food bank or worried about basic bills. Most people have not had the opportunities you have had. Yes I know you work harder than some people, with a lot more responsibility than many, as did I (for much less, before 108 hour working weeks became illegal) but I am grateful that I have always had a a good salary, a career structure, an interesting, useful job and a good pension coming to me. That is gold dust.

1.5 illegal immigrants isn't very many. Is the other half of that immigrant legal?

Anyway, what a surprise to find that it's all the fault of those pesky illegal immigrants.

I didn’t say it was al the fault of
migrants I said it was a factor. And you don’t think that having 1.5 illegal immigrants in a population of around 65 million is a lot? Well there’s no point arguing with someone who denies reality.

Did you mean to say 1.5 million illegal immigrants? You actually wrote 1.5 illegal immigrants in your earlier post and this one. That's why I said that it wasn't a lot.

Really?

Per the Institute for Fiscal Studies, UK higher earners pay the highest rates of tax in the western world and UK average earners pay amongst the lowest levels of tax in the developed world. There are some very accessible videos on YouTube that explain this if you want to improve your understanding.

Given higher earners are paying marginal tax rates over 60% and economists and statutory bodies like the office for budget responsibility and the audit commission are critical of the impact of cliff edges tax I think the evidence and economic thinking is against you.

Taxes need to be simplified so people understand how much tax is paid by higher earners.

Like what?

Have you ever been?

They have adopted UK laws in larges swathes of the UAE, they have done this to attract investment and have UK judges presiding.

Proportionally compared to higher earners you under pay tax based on what you have said. Whilst thats legally correct, morally before you call for people paying higher % tax rates than you (eg 62% +) perhaps you should start to pay more tax..?

In Belgium they pay 40% tax from 12,000 euros a year income. Plenty of scope for you to step up to to the plate and share the burden. You would then be on the same level as the rest of Europe and UK higher rate payers then.

Time for everyone on middle incomes to pay their fair share of tax in the UK.

So given you started your career before the new deal was brought in 1991. You would have also had old style student grants as well as free tuition. You will have had free accommodation in your pre-reg year and a massively depressed housing market ( in the South East anyway) in the early 90's to buy your first home. It is also worth pointing out that more of your pension will be in the more favourable 1995 section ( or even it's predecessor) with the standard age of retirement as 60 rather than state retirment age as per the 2008 and 2015 sections. I do think us older medics do need to check our privilege.

I think that being gay is still illegal. I know that some UK universities with campuses in the UAE have protocols to evacuate any unmarried students and staff that get pregnant.

"I'm not sure which government would raise taxes on lower and middle earners but leave higher rate tax payers alone?

A Conservative government would never do this"

LOL. this is exactly what the Tories do!

This is exactly why we moved abroad and have tax free salaries. Our current package also is free housing and utilities. Our monthly income is about 18k after expenses. It's not the tax I object to per say, but it's such a waste of money when it just gets wasted by the government. The exchange is living thousands of miles from home, not having the same security, you lose your job you lose your home. On the other hand, we have a good temporary life, low crime, are able to have a good work life balance and not constantly struggle so it's a transaction. The UK is no longer easy for anyone as far as I can see, millionaires leaving in droves and poverty at the other end of the scale.

The country you live in out of interest what is their record like when it comes to women's rights?