Middle earners punished

[Eucalyptus321]

I am feeling so disheartened and frustrated by how middle earners are constantly suffering at the hands of ridiculous government priorities. My husband and I have a greater household income than other families we know but have less cash in hand due to increased taxes coupled with the fact we receive zero benefits like child benefit or tax free childcare etc. ZERO. If they want middle earners to fund the country thought tax then at least support us with childcare costs. It’s a joke that two parents earning £99k each get childcare funding but parents with one £101k salary and one £25k salary receive nothing. I just need to speak to people who understand the burden of raising a family amidst the current financial climate and then the potential of further tax rises!

I also had the misfortune to seek out support from the job centre. I was made to feel like I was lazy scum chancing my luck trying to get some money. No “how can we support you” just robotic reeling off of the burning hoops I’d need to jump through.
They were a bit kinder when they could see I wasn’t about to torch the place, but it was a horrible experience and compounded my feelings of low self worth having been made redundant.

I'm just saying that's what worked for us. If I had a career to keep I'd have kept working and we still wouldn't have been poor.

Another good reason for the subsidies to be universal then. Current status quo leaves women with high earning partners vulnerable.

Whenever wealth taxes are brought up someone with an inflated ego comes along to say 'but I made all my money with hard work'. We're not talking about you, you're not rich enough

I’m sorry but your life is not the fault of the person you replied to. As a Taxpayer they are entitled to their opinion whether you like it or not ot

It’s the same as it was in June 2024. Was it “punative” then?

can you work less to take your pay down below the 100 -- need less childcare money and you'll get free hours.

We both dropped to a 4 day week so only need 3 days nursery now and get 30 funded hours and taxfree childcare as a result!

Also, if someone has wealth of £33 billion and they pay £1 billion in tax it will make absolutely no difference to their life whatsoever. They will make it back passively (untaxed) easily.

Yes I agree. It’s not a competition.

sorry OP but this thread was never going to go well as some people just dont get it

100%

No it’s not the same. Some of us have already had significant tax increases due to VAT on school fees. Plus increased cost of living as a result of inflation directly caused by this Government’s policies means that what money we do have does not go as far.

But to answer your question, yes it was already punitive for some people. Labour have made it worse.

The thing is though, you could compare your income to someone working part time and getting benefits for three children, but eventually those children will grow up and that income will drop significantly and that single parent likely won't have had the flexibility to climb up the ladder in their career, plus they won't have been paying as much into their pensions. They won't receive anything from the government at that point, and if they're in a housing association house will have to downsize or pay full rent on a bigger property for one person on a lower income than you. They also won't have any savings as it's not allowed on universal credit. So it's all relative.

Explain the “pissing it up against a wall” comment?

Are they all Labour voters then?

Hows that working out for them do you think?

A tiny percentage of the population chooses to pay school fees thus paying more tax and frankly those of us who don’t are sick of hearing about it. I personally am paying exactly the same proportion in tax as I did in December 2023.

We're currently living in a house owned by a family member.

And like I said it's all relative. 100k a year would change our life considerably for the better. For other people - usually because of housing costs and childcare it's not enough.

(We could never afford childcare btw, when we had DS out combined income was 33k, but we did have a mortgage then - my parents looked after DS. The 15 hours, as it was then, could only be used in LA nurseries in our area, which was 2.5hrs a day.)

The welfare system actually worked as it should in your case then as it supported you whilst you got back on your feet and found another job which you did. Then I presume you came off benefits. What’s interesting to me is that there seems to be a lot of lone parents here without any mention of what the fathers do to support their children. This is the problem the government should be looking at because they are allowing feckless father’s off the hook from their financial responsibilities meaning the taxpayer has to pick up the slack for them.

Why was it you considering whether it's worth going back to work? Why doesnt your partner drop to 0.8 - save you some money on childcare and might bring them under 100k earnings so you'd then get 30 funded hours or whatever?

But if people don't want to pay tax then they are begrudging people in this position the benefits they need to stay afloat.

You’ll be glad to hear very few £100k earners can afford private school. It’s purely those with inherited wealth or where both are arming £100k can afford it these days.

I’m aware of that and how pensions work and yes I can see the bigger picture. My children are both professionals and high earners, no children. So like countless others are funding other people’s lifestyle choices but hey ho that’s life, that’s the point I was making. It’s the sense of entitlement that gets me by that I mean so and so gets it therefore so should I. I do see the OP’s point though about the ludicrously of the cut off. Perhaps the whole system needs to be overhauled.

Why are you telling me this? I really don’t care who they are.

Well I am not tired of speaking about it so I’m not going to shut up. It was a precursor of what is to come from this vindictive Government which doesn’t know its arse from its elbow when it comes to economic policy.

I think that's unfair actually. I'd have no problem in paying more income tax to help someone short term as a safety net or someone long term who is disabled. No problem if it means the nhs is improved so I can see a dr.

I do like others have said have a major issue with people using benefits as a lifestyle choice. You say its tiktok hype but I know for a fact people like this. I know a couple who don't work, both on long term sick and claiming every benefit going. He gets carers allowance to look after her, she gets carers allowance to look after him. They get get carers allowance for the teen dd who goes to school fulltime.

They get so much benefit they live in a 4 bed semi detached house where the rent is £1600 a month. My friend is their landlord. She also has 3 bed properties which she rents out for £780.

But God forbid they have a smaller house when the taxpayer will fund a much nicer house than I live in. This is a fact, not hype. And yes they have had a foreign holiday this year because they told my friend they were off to Spain for 2 weeks. I haven't been abroad for 7 years!!!!!!

I'm not saying people on benefits should be living on gruel and in rags at all. But there is something fundamentally wrong with the system when some people can live like this and other people on benefits are having to use food bank. An overhaul would surely benefit the people most in need?

Because if you multiply that wasted excess rent £9600 a year which is been paid out to them when they could be in a cheaper, smaller house up and down the country for all the people in a similar situation that's a lot of wasted taxpayers money which could be better spent elsewhere.

As I said earlier I'm on a bit under 50k a year. I'm supporting dd through uni which is costing me a fortune as her 9k a year maintenance loan doesn't even pay the rent. She's gone back to uni after being made redundant after the NI rise and her company went bust. She wasn't eligible for a penny in benefits, etc as she's sensibly saved too much (hoping for a house deposit) and instead was expected to spend thousands of her house deposit supporting herself.

So far this year I have spent - £300 on a private rheumatology appt due to a waiting list of over a year so I could start medication for Ankylosing Spondylitis which I got diagnosed with. Crippled in pain but can't start biologics until I see a specialist and have to wait a year. £120 for a scan to diagnose a frozen shoulder because it was a 4 month waiting list. £200 for an injection for my shoulder as I was in agony and not sleeping and the wait for that was weeks. I've spent around 1k on physio as there is nothing on the NHS.

Yes, I'm pissed off and I'm struggling financially. And I do see with my own eyes my taxes going to fund people to have a better lifestyle than me.

So yes I am a middle earner. (55k) A year. Live in the west midlands. Have a hubby who is staying at home and has a little pip money coming in and a daughter. And we manage with going out for dinner twice a month, and spend a lot on personal trainers. I am not in the least but bothered about having to pay more tax. As lots around us are struggling...
When she was at nursery we paid for a few full days a week and still managed
I wonder if it's people not living within their means- I have moved a few hours from family so I can afford a decent lifestyle. We own outright a 4 bed worth 300k so only have a mortgage on a second house (£700) per month. We don't do expensive holidays but a week or two in the UK a year....