AIBU to say that I have had enough of this government and Its grabby supporters.

[Ihavehadenough1345]

I have name changed for this and am prepared for the pile on, backlash, kicking I am going to get but I have had enough!

My tax bill was £80,000 this year. I am self employed. I pay £16,000 a year in VAT. I have a valuable asset. I own my own home.
no mortgage. I have worked bloody hard. No inheritance, no Oxbridge, no privilege and no luck!

I pay for private school for 2 DC.

I am asset rich, cash poor. I have enough money to pay all of my bills, no debt, I’m not extravagant. If you met me you wouldn’t know my financial situation. I am normal.

But my tax contribution is not enough for this government and its supporters.

I read all of the posts of all of the threads regarding VAT on school fees, UC, the cost
of living crisis and on and on and on!

I have had enough.

And I do not need therapy and I do not have ADHD or bipolar.

Let the games begin!

Growing up, I was taught that the benefits system was for people who really couldn’t work as you mention and for people that might need some assistance during hard times until they got back on their feet, job loss and such.

It is not hard to see and know that some people really are unemployable.

When people moan about the wealthy being all the things you've said, I don't think they mean you. You earn very well, but are not mega wealthy. Bezos and Musk are probably more what people are talking about when they say those things

When I think of 'the wealthy', I am thinking billionaires and maybe multi-millionaires not someone working an earning £187k .

Which whilst clearly much better than average that income is not in any shape or form a societal issue but a nice success. I also think that people in that bracket pay plenty of tax.

So as part of the effort to not raise taxes for people like you, those people who are unemployable are now going to be told they need to work. But that's not enough for you. You still feel overburdened. What other spending would you like to cut?

My top rate of tax is 69%. Is that not enough?

The calls are to tax billionaires, and companies with complex offshore tax avoidance measures, not the likes of you.

And an aside, if you are earning at that level and charging VAT, why are you still self employed? It is worth considering a change in business structure.

Yes, that's fine? Are you complaining about paying it? Are you making literally millions a year and avoiding tax? If not then you aren't the problem

We also are in highest tax bracket but would never defend the mega rich on here or say people who can't afford to feed themselves and their families just need to work more and they can't have any of my money "cos I work bloody hard <stomp>" for it

(Sorry for all the stomping, but that is how some of this reads to me tbh)

So the Op's tax position hasn't actually altered since last July?

It was just nicer to pay it to a Conservative government?

Yes, exactly to your first paragraph. Think op and some others are confusing themselves with the very rich

No the reality is that people earning PAYE at 60,000 + pay some of the highest taxes in the world. The very richest pay less proportionately.

You have had luck but I won't bother trying to explain that to you because I don't think you would understand it.

Well so many posters think we (the better off) should be paying more. I’m saying that is not a realistic prospect so think on.

Did op maybe mean the private schools VAT? but she can easily afford it according to one of her posts, she just doesn't like people saying the rich are a problem. But I think she's hearing what people say about properly rich people and applying it to herself, but I think that's a misunderstanding

Speaking as an economist and a chartered tax advisor, believe me, that will not raise money! If you want to raise money you need to look at VAT, NICs and Income Tax.

Surely you aren’t blaming tbe Labour government for your children needing to be privately educated?

OP isn't paying twice for her children's schooling any more than I'm paying once for mine. (I have no children. Obviously, I pay taxes towards child health, education and well-being nonetheless).

It is hard to see from the post what exactly OP has lost due to this government's policies - just the VAT on school fees?

Obviously nobody can judge how high your tax burden is from just a number - if that's income tax, you have a high income. If there's capital gains in there, you have (as you say) assets.

That is a very flimsy starting post - more pulling the trigger for others to join in than giving information of substance.

Exactly this.
If you want to live in a society with education, roads, health system, GPs, ambulance service, police service, fire service and local authorities, then we have to pay taxes. You happen to be entitled to as much money from those taxes as the next person, if you are both in the same circumstances. While we are lucky in this life, we contribute to the pot. When the health problem kicks in, maybe making us disabled, or with a chronic condition, then the system helps us. If we have a car accident on the way to work, the system helps to get us back to health and work. So, exactly, what is the problem with paying more taxes, in the meantime they are not suffocating you?
What I do not agree with is paying taxes, which we all do, even if we do not reach your £80000, and then getting none of the services those taxes are meant to pay for.. which is the point we were left at by the tories. And that is what we need to fix. Bring the services to a working point, then improve them. And restore manufacturing in UK.

For most of us that is wealthy. Only one person I know earns this much and they live a very nice life compared to us.

I have not posted about cutting taxes for the wealthy in order to deprive the unemployable and force them out to work. That’s for another thread, maybe you should start it.

YANBU Op, it is an annoying situation for sure.

I believe everyone should pay the same rate of tax.

I think part of the problem is that even the top 1-5% of earners, who are paying more tax than ever, aren’t feeling that ‘Rich’.

Say she earns £200k, after tax that’s £9k a month.

In London you could easily be spending £3/4k on a mortgage for a pretty average house.

Nursery fees (or school fees) will be another £4k a month (minimum).

Wealth is such a significant factor now - trying to buy a house at 2020s prices in expensive parts of the country while raising a family mean even technically massive wages can be eaten up quite quickly.

Given these are supposed to be some of the wealthiest people in Britain and pay very high tax rates - the quality of life probably doesn’t meet expectations.

I’m broadly content to pay high taxes to fund quality services for all - but as it becomes apparent the services don’t exist or are terrible, I am excluded from many of the benefits I fund (childcare being the key one), and I can’t actually afford the kind of lifestyle I’d have expected… it does feel quite frustrating.

I don't think anyone has mentioned the impact of an aging population that successive governments have failed to address. More than half of benefits expenditure is on pensions and related benefits but it's the elephant in the room. Just look at the outrage when the WFA was means tested, and no one will admit that the pensions model and retention of the triple lock is unsustainable.

The real trouble in this country, as the OP has so well demonstrated, is that the 1% are paying a lot, when it should be the 0.1% who Labour refuse to touch.

We are a high tax paying household and there comes a point when you just want to shout ‘Fuck off and knock on Bezos’ door’.

The tax burden is falling on too few people. It’s not the millionaires leaving we should be bothered about, it’s the people earning £150k upwards on PAYE, and people like the OP. Because if they go, we truly are screwed.

The multi millionaires really are the people who can move easily. The proportion of multimillionaires who were not born in the UK is massive. Part of their success is down to their taking risks, moving for work, riding to challenges etc. These people would not think twice about moving if the tax environment isn’t right for them.

For anyone not believing about millionaires leaving here is a report in The Independent. To anyone who doesn’t like to click on links it writes it will take 530,000 regular tax payers to cover the tax lost that was paid by the 10,000 that have left.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/reeves-labour-tax-non-dom-millionaire-b2684803.html

This thread proves just how envy clouds peoples judgments.