to be fed up of hearing 'I've worked hard for my money'

[newbluesofa]

Lots of chat on MN recently about taxes on high earners. So heard lots of 'we have this money because we work bloody hard for it' and honestly I'm sick of it and think the people who say it are selfish.

Nurses work incredibly hard, long shifts, difficult job. Carers provide absolutely essential service, again shift work, difficult hours, difficult job. Teachers provide essential work, I know multiple teachers and they all devote evenings, weekends, school holidays to the detriment of their own families. All of these jobs also have huge emotional tolls. So 'I've worked hard for my money' means nothing to me, because a lot of people work a lot harder for a lot less.

That is so true! They've spaffed all their money on holidays, cars, clothes, big houses etc because it's their money and they've "worked hard for it"

Sounds more like ambition and hard work than luck to me. Typically the people who call this "luck" are the ones who expect to do nothing but be given everything. Very few people in this world get to be lazy AND financially comfortable, the rest of us DO work hard.

It's always easy to say "you should pay more tax but not me". Especially when the person with the increased tax bill already pays the more % wise.

@CheeseIsMyIdol This is such an amazing trajectory for your Mum, but to you and @Forgetmenot9 I'd just say, I grew up in a very violent home, both parents addicts, my older brother was beaten to within an inch of his life several times, my younger brother moved in with me when he was 10 to escape it. We've all worked from a young age and my brothers at least continue to work all hours, hard, hard work. Do they deserve to eventually earn very good money and be world travellers? Because the way things are, there is very little chance of that despite, I'd say, as much hard work as anyone could feasible fit into their 28 or 42 years of life. My only point is that hard work just isn't enough. I wish it was. My brothers would be more financially secure and comfortable if it was. But it isn't.

I don't want to make a sob story but he has come from nothing at all to the successful man he is today. We just both valued education and hard work.

Sacrificed my sanity with work pressure. Sacrificed my health. Worst of all I sacrificed my fertility due to career aspirations. More fool me.

My husband is my partner for life. We aren't flatmates living in a shared house. We are a married couple with children. Yes of course I want my husband to be able to enjoy the fruits of his labour.

Campaign for higher corporation tax then. Or a wealth tax. Look up.

It's very obvious to me that the OP is talking about all the high earners who are being asked to contribute a little more to the pot and are screaming their heads off about it like they're about starve.

Benefits were frozen and in some cases reduced over the last 15 years, rarely increased. The poor in society have already starved. Some actually did and are dead.

Newly disabled people are set to have their benefits slashed by £50 a week from this April. Thats £800 a month for the MOST disabled being reduced to £600. That's just over a quarter of the minimum wage for the most disabled in our society. They cannot work harder, they cannot improve their lot. That is what they get. And everyone wants to screw about with their notability allowance now too.

Where were the 20 threads a day in outrage over that?

We were told we were in this together but there was no acknowledgement for the poor, only platitudes and advice to eat lentils and not avocados. Remember 30p a day lee? Who is now a reform MP?

Its not jealously, we don't care that you have big houses in suburbia with manicured lawns and £200 a week grocery bills. Knock yourselves out.
But it smarts a bit that you're now being asked to pull your weight a bit more and you're all yelling like you've been asked to donate all your teeth.
Others have died due to austerity.

You still actively will have much much more than the vast majority of us.

@Blueyrocks "I think my issue with all this 'I work hard for my money' is that it implies that the money is proportionate to the work, which is why people bring up teachers/ nurses/ miners/ whatever. Yeah, people aren't saying those professions don't work hard, but the 'I work hard for my money' can feel a bit like - 'the amount I earn is proportionate to the amount I work' - which suggests that the amount someone lower paid earns is also proportionate, and that's where I disagree."

You have so perfectly articulated my thoughts in a way that I couldn't - thank you!

Also I love your username

Exactly, no one has worked 'hard enough' to be a billionaire

It's just not true that only people in high-paid jobs sacrifice their time, health (try prioritising your health while working long hours for low pay in a physically demanding job), and other opportunities, while people in low-paid jobs coast along. As I just posted on another thread, across the jobs I've had I have experienced by far the most stress and worked the longest hours in the ones that paid less. A clear correlation between higher pay and higher stress/harder work just doesn't exist, and it never has.

Yeah tbh I’m really bored of people who don’t pay HRT having an issue on behalf of those of us who do.

It gives “I’d like more of my husband’s money.”

Your husband, like the rest of us, can enjoy the fruits of his labour. After he’s paid tax on it, like everyone else.

The whole "hard working" trope taking over from simply working. Can do one!

Lord Sugar? Council estate to billionaire.

Invests and helps budding entrepreneurs every year. Set up, ran successful businesses and employed people.

I'm sorry your childhood was so difficult, it sounds like you've really been there for your brothers.

Im not quite sure what answer you are expecting from me... Not everyone has exactly the same opportunities but we do live in society where opportunities are available and that you can earn more based on unique skills where the value of those is determined by employers/ the market/ clients.

Starconundrum "

"not jealously, we don't care that you have big houses in suburbia with manicured lawns and £200 a week grocery bills. Knock yourselves out.
But it smarts a bit that you're now being asked to pull your weight a bit more and you're all yelling like you've been asked to donate all your teeth.
Others have died due to austerity."

Thank you! My thoughts exactly. I couldn't articulate it.

He pays significantly more tax percentage wise than the low income earners. Every time it's "let's just take more and more".

One of the reasons DH is thinking of a transfer to an office his firm has in the gulf states.

@newbluesofa Are you me, OP?

There's hard work and there's also the main factor skill. Actually knowledge and brain power needed.

@Starconundrum not jealously, we don't care that you have big houses in suburbia with manicured lawns and £200 a week grocery bills. Knock yourselves out. But it smarts a bit that you're now being asked to pull your weight a bit more and you're all yelling like you've been asked to donate all your teeth.
Others have died due to austerity.

Based.

And he takes home significantly more too.

You are still very lucky.

Can you genuinely see that he pays a higher percentage because his income is so much higher, and that’s actually fair?

I pay more than a low income earner, quite rightly - I earn more, I have significantly more left afterward. Our lowest paid staff all pay basic rate tax, and after paying the higher percentage I do, I end up with approx 3x their take home pay.

You’d have to be fairly selfish and ignorant to not see that that means you should be pulling more of the weight.

Let's not conflate billionaires with regular old PAYE high earners. Makes the conversation meaningless. There's nit many billionaires and none of them are whining about their income tax bill on mumsnet.

We are much more an inheritocracy than a meritocracy.

People like to believe they succeeded because of their own efforts, but it’s far more likely they did so because of their parents or simply good fortune.

I pulled my DH for saying similar this morning. He earns in excess of £100k and his job is mentally taxing. Do I think he works harder than some people on minimum wage - no.
He did study well but that possibly wouldn't have been possible without a privileged mc background