AIBU Income Tax rise.

[H202too]

To be panicking about income tax rise.

Things are tight and to loae even £30-60 a month will be difficult.

I know people are talking about the mansion tax being a no go. But I would prefer this than taxing the workers as per usual.
The tax free rate should be put up. What a mess.

That's Saudi you're thinking of.

Austerity that was needed to cover the flagrant overspending of the Blair government I might add.

Austerity was a response to the financial crash & a mistake.

Zero of which many of we so-called higher earning professionals saw because we were the ones working 14+ hour days to ensure essential services were maintained and the wheels of education, law, social services and local authority mandates kept turning.

loads of people worked through covid, why would you think they were all high earners?

@silverbirchjuniper your example doesn't make sense. Why would someone work to lose so much income? You would just reduce your working hours and spend more time not at work.

Awkwardly, it’s the middle and lower earners and jobless not paying their fair share.

But how do you define 'fair share'? Many in that bracket have barely any disposable income left at the end of the month - how can they pay more? And they also contribute to the economy with discretionary spending. If they can no longer afford their treats - cinema/takeaways/coffess/new clothes now and again, that has a detrimental impact on th economy too. You can't bleed people dry and those shifting money around/planning escapes to Dubai etc are really not being bled dry, they're just not seeing their bank balances go up as much as they'd like. Boo hoo. If what you are paying means you can cover everything and have a decent amount left over for non-essentials then what's the issue really? Feeling aggrieved because you've only got £700/£2k/£1k leftover at the end of the month and you feel it should be more and, hey, it's not fair because everyone else gets free cars for being anxious?

If you have more you put more in. It's that simple. Refusing to accept that is greed, entitlement and self-pity.

… because if nobody works hard and pays for things the public uses then we lose out on schools, hospitals, police, ambulances, good roads etc and become a crappy unsafe country with crappy productivity and everyone is left in poverty. Is that not obvious?

Spoken like a true socialist. Comparatively, the middle and lower earners earners don’t pay enough. The higher earners pay huge amounts comparatively to the point it is harming tax take. This is been proven time and time again by government economists.

Higher earners already do put in disproportionately more. The electorate don’t understand that which is why the government finds it difficult to change. You need to tax a much wider base because taxing a small base heavily isn’t enough. As we can see.

Time for everyone to pay up. People want Scandi style spending but aren’t willing to fund it like they do. Signed a basic rate tax payer.

Because they'd leave. Someone with that level of income is highly mobile. Look up the Laffer curve.

When it's not their money being taken, people are quick and loud in saying taxing more is right and fair. When it's their money, suddenly they change tune. How many people who inherit or win lots of money keep just enough and give the rest away? How many people pay 'excess' tax under the government's voluntary scheme? Exactly.

I suppose, when I see images from Gaza, Syria and Afghanistan I find it hard not to think we should give at least some humanitarian aid to people (often children) caught up in catastrophes totally outside their control. People are suffering so much and this is going towards providing the basics and the money goes via NGOs rather than directly to governments. I'd happily return aid to 0.7% of public spending but I get that's not popular. Don't see it happening under this government though

But @Legolava and @notaweddingdress - we are talking about a small percentage of people here. It seems mad that a consultant doctor earning 110k is paying roughly the same rate of tax as a banker earning 5 million.

And I don't really buy the 'tax the ultra rich and they'd all leave the UK.' I have a friend who earns a good few million a year. If his earnings on over a million a year were to be taxed at a significantly higher, he wouldn't actually be changing his current lifestyle - he'd just be sticking far less into his private pension and savings that he'll then be passing onto his kids. He wouldn't be uprooting his life and family here to move somewhere else just to have more money to squirrel away...

But hit the people who are low and middle earners, and that's when people start thinking 'well, it doesn't make financial sense for me to strive to earn more' or even earn at all, in some cases.

So you're saying that those people must work hard to subsidise those who don't? Or who choose not to and therefore earn less? Some people work hard because they want to earn X in order to afford Y, and there is nothing wrong with that. If they want an expensive car, a home abroad, or a Rolex, that's their prerogative, provided they earn the money to pay for them. It's nobody's right to tell them they shouldn't want those things if they are not going to rely on anyone else to buy them.

That only works if it’s money from shared assets or if you can ‘employ’ your spouse in your company.

If you’re a high paid employee as far as I know all you get is marriage allowance which is pretty paltry. If you are married or in a civil partnership and one of you earns less than the Personal Allowance (£12,570 for the 2025/26 tax year), they can transfer £1,260 of their unused allowance to their partner. This is only possible if the receiving partner is a basic-rate taxpayer, and it can reduce their tax bill by up to £252 per year.

Hardly saving a fortune is it? My husband can’t do it either because I’m currently a student rather than working.

My child is an adult with very complex needs. If an adult in your family would need round the clock care, would you be able to afford a living without earning an income?

@thatsmyhouse

If you have more you put more in. It's that simple

but this is what happens.

So many people confuse tax avoidance with tax evasion.

Also @dressinggowns - people work at what they're qualified to do. Bankers and lawyers will keep on being bankers and lawyers and will always be highly paid. But I don't think any of them would go 'hey, my take home pay is now 'only' 750k as oppose to a million, I'll give it all up and become a gardener'.

Equally, all this 'people deserve to be rewarded for their hard work' - trust me, the lawyers are not working harder than the nurses!

Tax rises aren't for better services. They're to start to plug the deficit. We already pay far too little tax for the crap services we have to endure. Tax rates would have to increase significantly for there to be any money for improvements, which won't happen. So more tax for the same or poorer services is what we're going to get.

I never said they must do anything. If people choose to allow their society to decay around them that’s their choice. Meanwhile they’re not just subsiding others… they’re paying for the roads THEY drive on and the police and fire and ambulance they will use if required, and the schools their kids and grandkids use (usually) etc.

@silverbirchjuniper but they aren't going to work for free so as I said many will just reduce their hours or retire early. Investment banking isn't really a career for longevity!

Oh yes, I forgot, I don't pay much in so I don't deserve much. and all the benefits I am supposed to get. DH earn too and we are just above the cut off for UC. so we don't get any cent. We pay a mortgage for which we do no get help and my childs PIP goes on their various disability related needs and doesn't cover it all so we top it up. But thank you. Some people almost sound jealous when I say DC is disabled. All the money we must be getting!!!

I contribute about 80h of care per week. If DC would be in care, it would cost the government 3-4k per week. If anything, I am saving the state a bombe!

They’ll keep working as a banker or a lawyer but they’ll do it in Paris or New York or Singapore

and when the fee earners start to leave and Europe finally get the coveted number 1 financial centre then the knock on effect to the economy will not be good

Spoken like a true socialist. Aww, thanks, 😇

Higher earners already do put in disproportionately more Of course they do, because the whole thing is built on disproportion, but lower earners can't pay what they can't afford. And, while you may get higher earners and/or the extremely wealthy leaving the country and/or finding ways to avoid tax, the same type of thing happens lower down the scale too. Shall I up my hours a bit but lose my UC/pay more tax, or wouldn't I be better off staying as I am? And lower down the margins are tighter and it may be less of a choice and more a case of people really not being able to afford being worse off.

But I don't disagree that overall we should have a more honest discussion about tax and what it is for to make more people accepting of paying a little bit more, instead of all the infantile references to 'the tax man,' that people endlessly trot out.

So more tax for the same or poorer services is what we're going to get.

Yes & with the ageing population it will be more taxes for the future.

You can’t keep taking from such a small base. It’s already at the stage these issues are losing the treasury money. Many of their studies have told them this. They won’t fix it though because of this kind of disillusion that higher earners are not doing enough despite subsidising the whole country
Awkwardly, it’s the middle and lower earners and jobless not paying their fair share

You're right of course, @Legolava, but this doesn't suit the kind of narrative based largely on envy and spite

Labour try to persuade us that we've not got whatever-it-is because the rich bast**ds are taking it all, Tories pretend it's because of asylum seekers and single mothers, and meanwhile they all lavish wasted billions on their preferred demographic, so really it's pick your poison

Nobody seems to enjoy work or take pride in it any more in spite of all the efforts to make workplaces more flexible, inclusive, etc. And tbh, it's not even surprising.

Could it be because the more you earn, the more you're taxed?