To be annoyed at the new tax brackets?

[Justbrowsing2024]

Means myself and lots of people I know will need to pay 40% tax. The new thresholds being lowered means we will be worse off at a time when everything is going up. I know it's only on a proportion of salary but it's a proportion that was going towards the increase in mortgage (due to come off an amazing low rate), imminent increase in childcare fees, council tax and everything else.
I know it's affecting so many people but today I have felt really flat.

I'm not anywhere near the top of the threshold (£45500 salary) and unlikely to get a payrise.
I'm sure tomorrow will feel brighter but feel free to join my pity party

It’s extremely frustrating when people don’t engage their brains. This isn’t about misunderstanding - it’s about not thinking logically.

There is no way that any government would make people worse off by such a significant amount without there being an announcement or fiscal event.

The budget not 6 months ago very clearly said no changes to tax thresholds for the coming fiscal year. How can a logical brain then think that a massive rise will be put in with two months’ notice and no announcement? Nothing on BBC news? Nothing in the press?

If the OP had said ‘can someone explain this to me - I’m reading it as a change in the thresholds but that seems unlikely given the current climate and the fact there’s been no announcement’ the tone would’ve been very different.

How are so many people voting YANBU?

It's so frustrating.

I think increasingly people don't watch or listen to news broadcasts or read newspapers. They get most of their knowledge of what's going on in the world through social media which is less likely to be accurate. Without wanting to be melodramatic, in some ways it's a bit like going back to when most people were illiterate and got all their news by word of mouth. IMHO lack of critical thinking skills is a form of illiteracy. I genuinely don't mean that offensively, but in the sense that it prevents people being able to properly understand the world they're living in.

@Reallybadidea

Yes I agree completely with this. The same inaccurate information is shared on memes and the like.

Honestly it is frustrating seeing how so many have an inability to understand fairly straightforward concepts.

however, as always, things are only easy and straightforward if you are taught them, and understand the way you’ve been taught.

it’s also very frustrating because the inability to understand things/lack of critical thinking is what’s fuelling the ridiculous political state, and governance via misinformation, that the world is in.

my final frustration is that sometimes employers and the inland revenue will get these things wrong due to error/incorrect information- to ensure you’re not being taxed incorrectly, you need to understand this stuff. Unless of course you don’t care or are so rich, someone else doing it all for you (particularly your tax avoidance 😉)

anyway, lots of people will hopefully have understood these calculations better off the back of this thread, and op can breathe easy

@Justbrowsing2024 Martin Lewis had a Facebook post about this as it’s a really common mistake alarming many other people. Much on the government/hmrc sites is unclear. Take a look at the pages where you can post a question and get an answer to get a feel for slippery truths. Hone in on advice re: ‘income’ from Vinted, eBay etc for a really good head exploder.

I agree. People don't read the whole page. It is quite clear.

To be honest I don't think the tone would have been different. People will always be areholes from behind a keyboard lol. Thankfully only a few, the other posts have been very helpful and appreciated.

It is worse for some others. Ms Reeves increased the minimum wage, but for some earners on minimum wage, they may have to pay tax at 20%m so she will just claw it back again.

She made a speech about the pensioners being better off than ever with their triple lock increases, but that will be over the tax threshold, so they will not be better off either.

Giving with one hand and clawing back with the other. There will be no end to that. Sweet, then bitter. I don't know why people voted for them.

They will only pay tax on the part of their salary above the personal allowance so still better off by having a wage increase.

How to avoid 40% tax on salary?

Make pension contributions. ...
Claim marriage allowance. ...
Give money to charity. ...
Take advantage of salary sacrifice schemes. ...
Check your tax code. ...
See if you can claim tax relief for working from home. ...
Make the most of Isas. ...
Share capital gains tax.

I think you've misunderstood something. Your salary doesn't take you into the 40% tax bracket.

I earn £53k and only just fall into it.

Do you think there’s enough exclamation! Marks! In your post 😂

Of course they will. They will still pay tax, won't they? For some the tax might equal the increase in pension.

Same with minimum wage earners. They will pay tax on anything over the tax threshold too. That could take away most of the increase. They could also lose any benefits they might have received.

Only illegal immigrants do well in Britain.

Same with minimum wage earners. They will pay tax on anything over the tax threshold too. That could take away most of the increase

How does tax at 20% and NI at 8% take away most of the of the increase?

And for pensions it would only be tax not NI

again, it's not being wrong that's an issue.
nobody knows everything
it's jumping on to scaremonger about fake news
surely you can see why that's a problem
minor here but it's emblematic of some of the biggest issues in our society - people believing EVERYTHING they hear or read without pausing for a second or applying the barest minimum of critical thinking - and then making decisions based on completely wrong information - and then rushing to disseminate it so even more people get frothed up.

even in this minor issue, somebody could have read this thread, panicked themselves and turned down a job opportunity because they thought it would result in them paying more tax, or get annoyed and decide to vote a certain way because what OP said sounds so unfair...all because OP announced something completely wrong in a completely definitive way.

OP is clearly capable of starting a thread on MN complaining about an issue so no reason why they couldn't start a thread (or fb post or do a 0.5 second google search or ask the accounts/finance manager at work...) asking about it to check they were correct first. 'AIBU to ask if tax brackets have changed?' isn't any harder to type or more 'intellectually superior' than 'AIBU to be annoyed at new tax brackets?'

Surely if you find something 'confusing and stressful' you should be MORE likely to ask for help to understand it, not less! Five years olds at school would probably be able to guess the right answer to 'If you are confused about something what should you do?'
a - ask a teacher or parent to explain it to you
b - throw a tantrum because you don't understand and tell all the other children the wrong thing to do

@latetothefisting you have hit the nail on the head. It is not the misunderstanding, it is the posting of total bollocks on social media that then sets off a chain of frothing

And a complete lack of critical thought. If it’s on Facebook it must be true. It doesn’t bode well

You won't know that until you know what the minimum wage is and how many hours are worked per week.

There is also the universal credit they may have been able to claim before the pay rise.

I suspect that some on minimum wage put in as much overtime as they can, which in itself can be clawed back by the taxman.

I just hope the taxman has clawed back a lot of the extra the train drivers got when the pensioners lost their help with winter fuel.

Maybe stop getting your news off Twitter/X, OP??

I think this is true for almost any of the Government pages related to finance to be honest. Capital gains is unclear about the allowances, Tax-free Childcare doesn't make it clear you have to put in 80% and they do the maths for you- had to explain that to countless people; proportional repayment of child benefit after thresholds are met is clear as mud. They need to test them all with a lay person reading it and asking questions to be honest.

Yeah by someone who most likely read it on Facebook; took it as truth and started telling other people!
It's not a reading age of 10, it's that they have a critical thinking age of 10 where is it's on the internet it must be true!

Thank you. Everyone acting as though the wording and table was clear. It is not clear.

Martin Lewis did an explained it's been miscommunicated.
You need to add in the 12k tax free allowance to those figures.
The figures on the website exclude the tax free element for some reason.