To think that there is no hope here?

[Taxed]

52.6% of UK individuals are reliant on the State (that is 35 million people). Only 47.4% are net contributors. How did we get here?

AIBU to think that the UK is now a declining economy that will never recover if this continues to be the case?

I am 49 and a high earner (just shy of the top 1%). My husband is also a high earner and we are thinking of leaving. We don't know where but we know we have to as the situation in the UK is getting worse not better. The only thing that is keeping us here is our son, who is still in secondary school. I am actively encouraging him to consider a future outside of the UK.

I genuinely feel that being ambitious and successful is not worth it in the UK. People hate you for it and want to see you penalised. They think that whatever you do to earn the money it must be easy and a breeze. That you are greedy and need to be made to pay for doing well. Just last week, I heard that the government might be thinking of implementing a charge, payable by high earners, to access the NHS. Everything is about taxing the already heavily taxed even more and few want to face up to the fact that this is unsustainable when you have most of your people relying on the State to live.

People complain about the immigrants but they make up a tiny proportion of 35 million.

I feel disliked for doing well and just can't see a future here and it is making me angry and sad. I believe in having a welfare state, in helping those who are in need but 52.6%? The country is on its knees when most of its people are in need. That is like a developing country not a developed and thriving economy.

Sorry for the long rant. I'm just tired, sad and have just about lost hope of enjoying life in the UK.

ONS: "The proportion of people living in households receiving more in benefits than they paid in taxes decreased from 53.6% to 52.6%"

OP: "52.6% of UK individuals are reliant on the State (that is 35 million people)"

But immigration as a whole is a net contributor to the UK so stopping people coming in will make the situation worse. The average immigrant contributes more than the average person already here

My post above was for @PurpleChrayn whom I forgot to quote

I thought that had been debunked? Anyway it's a Ponzi scheme. Those immigrants are going to get just as old and prone to illness as people already here. And they will never earn enough in their lifetimes to be net contributers as they aren't mostly high earners.

Many people feel that there comes a point in life when trading your time for shit wages and a shit life just isn’t worth the effort.

Live off the state. Commit crime. What’s the point anyway?

That is the mentality those moaning about being net contributors are fuelling and some people on low incomes and benefits feel just as trapped as OP just in a different way. Who pays what amount of tax doesn’t change that.

OP has relatives in America. Instead of changing her life and moving there (I doubt she will ever move out of the UK) the statistics she presented are skewed to suit her own narrative.

The fact is net contributors don’t add value to anyone’s life more than the bin men that collect the rubbish, the street cleaners that clean up the dirt and the list goes on and on. Not everything that is quantifiable is meaningful.

What do the top 1% earn and what do they do? Whatever it is my heart breaks for them, life must be so hard, bless them and may they find peace, fulfillment and even more money. Meanwhile in the real world, we've got 4 food banks near me, one has just moved to permanant premises. The local church does a free meal every Wednesday, there is such a high demand that they have to turn people away. all the houses that come on the market are out of reach of the pocket of local wokers so get bought up by landlords who then neglect then . I have seen the area I live in fall into such decay and disrepair that I hate leaving my house, but hey, spare a thought for the hard done to 1%, they are the true victims in the decline of this country.

Blimey some people have way too much time on their hands, going by how many replies there are.

This. All day long. Government needs to get it into its head that when you stop supporting a need, that need doesn’t just disappear. An example is the proposed cut to PIP. An arbitrary decision to require four points in any one daily living category, which will wipe out claims for thousands of genuinely disabled people who use their PIP and associated care allowance to self fund the care they need.

The loss of PIP and care allowance for those people won’t save a penny for the tax payer because the need for care provision is still there. And that need will be passed from the cheaper sources their PIP and CA funded, to the much more expensive social care sector. A spectacular own goal.

Cameron's government were, from recollection, having to deal with the "there's no money left" from the previous Labour government.

Covid was always going to be bad no matter who was in government. I would suspect Keir Starmer would have been worse. He certainly would have loved letting lose his authoritarian bent even more so than he does now.

HS2 ...totally agree with you.

Not debunked no.
https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/the-fiscal-impact-of-immigration-in-the-uk/
There are indeed a much higher proportion of net contributor's among the immigrant population.
Im not really sure what your point is about people getting old. The only answer to solve that problem is higher taxes on assets.

@vodkaredbullgirl I am avoiding cleaning my house 😂

I think it was the government's own figures that debunked that claim. It's fairly obvious. Most immigrants aren't coming from countries where there are a high proportion of high earners usually.

I keep doing a bit at a time 😄

But if you move somewhere where everyone else is also rich like you you won't be the special 1% any more and everything will cost you far more and you'll stop being rich (which you seem to covert so much) and may find yourself struggling.

'If everyone has gold then suddenly its worthless' same sentiment really, moneys not worthless but you seemingly tie your sense of worth too having more of it so you would lose that if everyone was in your boat.

Why do you think your so special you deserve to be paid more than 99% of people?

I assume you are in a high position to be paid in the 1% (boss, ceo, manager etc...) that uses other workers to hold your job. If that money was shared out more equally among the other workers in your team instead of selfishly hoarded to be able to wack 'better than you' percentages on things then those workers wouldn't actually need state top ups.

You mean the world financial crisis?

The best info to look at is @TreeDudettepost, the figure doesn’t include public sector salaries.

I don't think that detracts from Labour's profligacy. Labour government's usually end in financial disaster. This one will (clearly) be no exception. The disaster for the country is that the Conservatives used to be the party of economic competence and now that's no longer true. So I'm not sure where we all go from here in 2029.

Where is this halcyon land of milk and honey where unicorns frolic under rainbows?

@Taxed what do you materially seek to improve about your lives by moving? Do you feel you should have a bigger house, kids in a more expensive school, be able to afford better holidays than you can now?

What would be the tangible benefits? It seems you feel people in the UK are jealous of you but that’s not reason enough to uproot your life surely.

If you are very rich I assume you socialise mostly with other very rich. Where are you encountering jealousy?

You just sound selfish. You're working very hard, and are financially rewarded, even allowing for being highly taxed. Many are also working very hard, and only just making ends meet. Decent high earners are proud to be able to contribute so much. People like you resent it. There are also other ways to contribute to society. Money isn't the only way.

I read OP’s other posts looking for this and apparently it’s the US she’s considering moving to…

Now there's a surprise! An uncivilised country for an uncivilised person.

But money is the bottom line unfortunately.

The way the current system is going, more and more will be completely demotivated and make a conscious choice not to work (which is completely different to those who cannot work), especially if the work is minimum wage/boring/routine/ type jobs with little vocational satisfaction.

Work really should be the better option for those who can work, but getting harder to argue that when a comparable lifestyle is available without going through a daily drudge of working.

Also, many don't like i being said but the boat loads coming in and immediately being supported is even more demotivating.

Bit rude.