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 don't see how student finance comes into it. You choose to go to Uni, you pay for it. Ditto pension, it's money Extremely well spent and you won't be in penury in your old age. Do I agree with the 40 percent tax band? Yeah absolutely.

5he UK has no where near the highest tax rate in Europe. It can be as high as 67% in Finland for example.

I agree too!

It's figures like the OP has posted which "encourages" people to reduce their working hours, go part time, take early retirement etc. Just the opposite to the behaviour the country needs in view of the skills/staff shortages, especially at higher levels, i.e. GPs etc.

Graduates already pay for it in the form of higher tax brackets over the course of their lives.

They’re effectively getting double charged.

This reminds me of a woman I knew who moaned her and her DP were skint because he put £1k pcm into wedding savings. £1k pcm into deposit to buy a house savings and £1k pcm into general savings. Plus whatever into his pension. They rented in a posh part of London and she was a student. Meanwhile I was a single parent student living on TCs. She couldn't understand why I didn't think they were skint.

YANBU. I understand it's necessary for the greater good, but it stings. Especially forking over that much when the country is in the state it's in now!

Though points above are very valid though. Pension are savings for your future, and no one held a gun to your head to go to Uni and get a degree.

The personal allowance loss means high tax at that banding, agree

but the op is complaining about pension (which is a form of savings) and repaying a loan! That’s ridiculous

yes discuss the tax for high earners but complaining about what’s left AFTER YOUVE SAVED SOME is never a sensible place to start

I've never paid a higher income tax bracket. Not have many others

How could anyone get to earn that much money without understanding how the tax system works?

No the higher bands are reflective of a higher salary and fair (it’s argued) for all people earning that.

paying back a student loan is totally different

The pension is still theirs! Paying off the loan won't take long either. It's fine

Bad idea posting this during a cost of living crisis when some people are working for 15k per year never mind per month.

Yes it's completely fair to have to pay back a loan at the agreed amount you sign up for. And 7k per month leftover is a very high amount.

Why is it crazy? Leaving aside the student loan, you can choose to make a lower pension contribution if you want. But I also think higher earners should pay more tax.

Probably in the same way that higher earners don’t pay for their own care, they have their homes “seized by the Government!”. Or their income is “raided” when they pay tax.

OK, if you want a more serious answer

The only reason that anyone can earn money is that there is a society around them that enables this. road/rail network, healthcare, police, education etc is all paid out of taxes.

There is absolutely no way someone earning 15k per month isn't relying on those services supplied by the government whether directly or indirectly.

If you believe you can earn this money without any of this society around you, please tell me what you do, I'd be really interested to know.

Tax is essentially the money you pay to live in a civilised society that allows you to earn.

Boo hoo.

I actually agree that taxing people such a big percent of their money, they earned is not good. The whole point of a percentage is the more you earn the more you pay, regardless of tax bands.

But a pension isn't a tax its an investment into your own future.

And a student loan is a loan that presumably if you are earning that much, you do actually pay the loan off in a shortish time. Like 4 /5 years?

The student loans are worse for mid rate earners where they pay 9% of their salary for their whole career.

They can put some money into their work pension & pay less tax

So you wanted free higher education that enabled you to earn £15k a month and also moaning about contributing 10% to your future pension pot.

I can't muster up any sympathy.

Paying into a pension is an incredibly tax efficient way if saving (it's recommended as a way to avoid going into higher tax bands if you are on the cusp and can bung more in your pension). It is not being taken off you. Not many people earn more than £180k per year so not sure why you are asking the question. Genuine question how else would you raise capital to keep the country running if you cut the higher tax bands?

Actually, there is no chance a nurse will ever pay off her loan. My repayments don't even cover the interest rate. But you don't see me complaining...
7k and the person is struggling, jeez...

Welcome to the world of having had a good education and earning good money.
You pay back your loans, pay more tax than low earners and STILL have the privilege of being able to save for your future.

And after all that they still have over 6K a month to live on.

Forgive me if I don't cry you a river.

Find a good accountant.

If they're creating jobs at or above the rate that someone is a net contributor, then brilliant, yep.

If they are creating jobs where the majority are net receivers of state benefits - that's hardly something to be celebrated.

If their salary relies on an army of minimum wage staff, then frankly they can get to fuck.

And I'm a net contributor.

15k gross? Or after all deductions? At that salary I’d expect 10% pension at least, private healthcare, maybe childcare vouchers, all done as salary sacrifice. Add to that a potential tax deduction for company car and I could easily get it to £7k take home.
Do you think someone is hiding things from you @rampe?