Resentment at 100k

[Arseholeneighbours]

Theres a lot of vitriol spilt towards people being “high earners” at 100k and over. As net contributors, and most likely having made sacrifices, stresses and difficult life decisions, there’s many judgements about life choices , expectations and living within one’s means. What is the motivation to push forward in a career and to try and be as successful as one can if there’s no personal gain? It’s all well and good saying those with the broadest shoulders should take on the most - but to what end?

Why do they need self awareness? It's their money. Perhaps other people need a little more awareness of where this money, that funds evertything, comes from?
And again, anyone who feels so strongly that more taxes are important, can pay extra. Voluntarily. You don't have to wait around for someone else to be forced into it.
This is an anonymous internet forum, they should be able to share their opinions about their own money. It's not as though they're marching into the job centre shouting about it.

It's hilarious that those on 110k or whatever think they're paying for everything and keeping the country going. People hugely underestimate how much they take from the system and overestimate how much they pay in.

I mean they do pay proportionally more.

If you spent 5 years in retail I don't understand how you could speak about retail workers with such disdain

I'm no victim either, I am thankful for where my life is now but I respect anyone who goes out to work whatever they do/earn

You're telling me their resentment of people who spend "their" hard earned money because they have the temerity not to be as well off or successful doesn't spill out anywhere else other than MN? I highly doubt it.

The workers' contract, if you like, is that you pay in. We all know this from day one of our first jobs, but some people on here act like this is a shock to them! The only certainties in life are death and taxes and all.

I'm a psychologist by trade. I've seen an awful lot of misery in my time caused by people spending far too much time worrying or being angry and resentful over things they can't control, and not enough time influencing what they can, taking stock of what they do have and remembering to be grateful for what has gone right for them. That's not about toxic positivity, it's taking a balanced view of life. If we always focus on the negatives, especially stuff we can't control, like government policy and tax and people on benefits, it becomes bigger than it needs to be and only makes us unhappy anf frustrated because we can't do anything to change it.

I'm not always good at this, I'm autistic and a terrible perfectionist, mainly towards myself. But it has helped me to let go of a lot of things I don't need to be stewing about. Other people getting more out of the system than me because they don't earn as much is one of them. Maybe those people do work just as hard as me, maybe they don't. Either way, what can I do about it? The square root of fuck all. So I'd rather just enjoy the things in my life that my salary offers me. Hell, maybe I'll get another goat. Or a chicken or two for variety.

Well no but they are paying more than most. And it’s an income band Labour rely on with the ‘broadest shoulders’ nonsense.

But they are paying in. Proportionally more than everyone else. It is their money, they are allowed to have opinions on it. Just as anyone else is allowed to have opinions on their benefits, or UC or the minimum wage. Yes, tax is part of the contract, but that doesn't mean they must sit silently as that contract changes.

My DC and partner are both in professional jobs and on target for £100k each, which is a huge sum of money. But they live in London with huge expenses to be close to work, work 12plus hours a day inc at home, have all the stress and burn out associated with these high pressure jobs.

why can they even have £12k personal allowance? The higher salary is their pay off for all the mental load, long hours, family time missed, stress and sacrifices on their day to day job. Their holidays and time off don’t really count as time off as they are still responding to emails and expected to be avaialble

They can’t continue like this long term for their own health - the money is what kept them going.

The more that income is taxed, the more they and others like them are looking at employment options abroad where they are not taxed so heavily so we will lose their financial contribution in the UK.

Who does that help?!

Tax the mega rich corporations a sensible amount , tax the politicians mates, cut stupid spending and be sensible with welfare - they need a mumsnet panel to sort this mess out!

I sort of see what you’re saying. I’m an absolute believer in paying taxes to support services and people who are unable to work or not earning enough to survive. I think the problem lies in the implementation system and that it should be absolutely granular. It’s not like the old days where tax is calculated on paper - it’s all done by accountancy systems, and there could easily be algorithms that calculate tax on a true sliding scale. So your child benefit starts to go down say at 80k and gradually goes down until maybe 120k. Or with the new ‘mansion’ tax - instead of the three of four levels of extra you pay a little bit more at 2 million which by the time you’re at 10 million is a lot more. Surely you could collect the same amount of tax, if not more, and it would be farer. Accountants tell me pros and cons.

I think part of the issue is that MN users range from the extremes of poverty and wealth. It's hard for people at either extreme to understand the problems at the other end of the spectrum.

If you're at the poverty end, though, it will be particularly galling to hear high earners complaining about tax when they themselves are wondering how to feed their children. And some posters on MN are completely tone deaf about the poor.

And if course it's all relative. With median salary somewhere in the 30s, £100k feels like a massive amount. Nobody is saying you haven't earned it. Many of us would go for a job at that level if we had the chance. But those of us on more modest incomes might find it hard to empathise about a tax hike when cost of living hikes literally mean hungry mouths.

The ‘vitriol’ I’ve seen is not towards high earners, it’s towards high earners who whinge on here about how badly off they are, when they actually have more disposable income than many members can dream of.

YABU - you suggest that high earners have sacrificed more than low earners. Just because you’ve achieved a high salary doesn’t mean you’ve sacrificed more or worked harder than someone on minimum wage. You will have had a combination of the advantages of education, talent, support and luck they may not have had or been able to access. Get off your high horse.

I see what hou are saying, but I work in childcare on minimum wage and the stakes are still high if I make a mistake. God forbid, but what if I accidentally fed a child something they're allergic to? Or a child fell and hit their head really badly, or a child choked? Don't you think that's quite a worry?

Then those other members can either make a plan to increase their incomes or keep dreaming.

Couldn’t agree more HelenaWaiting.

The audacity of people earning 6 figures to complain as though they get nothing, when no matter how much they pay in tax they have more than most other people. It’s bizarre.

We live in an odd world where many people hate the people that enable to eat.

Far from true. I’d rather lose my employer millions than accidentally give a child with allergies the wrong food, or be an HCA responsible for preventing bed sores during a 15 minute visit where there already isn’t time to do everything necessary, or be a nursery worker who has to keep a room full of rambunctious toddlers safe.

“If we are all going to essentially be paid the same due to tax” - you know this isn’t true.
Yes we pay a higher proportion on the top part of our pay packet but we also still have more, even after all the tax is taken. What a silly thing to say.

'and most likely having made sacrifices, stresses and difficult life decisions"

And of course no one else never has any of that.

I think this is the thing that annoys me the most. EVERYONE has to sacrifice some potential paths to pursue others, that is literally how life works. Somehow they only seem to be talked about as "sacrifices" rather than "choices" when they resulted in the people making them ending up with ££££.

Do they enjoy their work? Presumably these were chosen professions? But I agree with you on personal allowances as I think this is fair.

Tax evasion vastly exceeds legal tax avoidance. Tax evasion is primarily done by small businesses

My point is, it isn't your money. We know when we start work that whatever portion of it isn't ours, it goes to the Exchequer. We might have earned it, but that part of it doesn't belong to us. The budget could have been much worse for higher earners, honestly we've got off pretty lightly.

Of course everyone has opinions, but if repeatedly seething about those same opinions is causing people to feel angry and resentful, without any possibility of change, what is it doing apart from increasing unnecessary stress? It's manufactured stress. It's not anything like the stress of making high stakes decisions at work if you're in a senior role, or wondering how you're going to feed your kids tonight if you're in poverty. Why increase personal stress and bad feelings towards others when it's not proportionate or necessary?

It is our money, until they decide to take more of it. Pointless semantics. You think more tax is great, you volunteer more. Otherwise, let people have their thoughts about their own salaries. These topics get done to death everywhere, from all angles. It's not new and we don't tell poorer people to shut up. Everyone gets a say or it's a slippery slope.

Thank you