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.

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 dont think anyone begrudges this.

I think working people begrudge being told they need to "contribute more" when 1 in 5 working age adults are sat on their doing fuck all work and looking for handouts 🙄

But how many of those are caring for disabled relatives or sahp?

I like that. Choices is a much better word to use. And you are also right that for many of us being in the position to be able to make choices can in itself be a privilege not enjoyed by others.

Jesus fucking christ... a good sight less than 100%...

There are generations of britains who think benefits are a lifestyle choice.

Very few people object to a welfare state.
They do object to a broken system where people are taking the absolute piss.

The hardest I worked in my life is as a TA on minimum wage. You are absolutely right OP. Saying you worked hard for your money completely misses the point.

She would have been pound notes worse off due to childcare. Some people can’t afford to be literally tens of thousands down over 3 or so years. Some people would rather not actually pay to work. I am sure you’re a tiny minority (if true) that was happy to be worse off until you broke through 130-150k . I am sure many would work to be worse off from 99k to 130 -150k ish. They all seem to be on MN. The data would disagree.

It has been acknowledged by many economists and the grouping of salaries at 99k, the majority don’t think it the pay off is worth it so artificially keep salaries low. Unfortunately, for women, that usually means dropping work. It’s not just 3k is it? It’s much more than that. What with the PA withdrawal the IFS has plenty of data if you want to check it out…

My husband and I earn well, and neither of us work particularly hard.

We carry an awful lot of responsibility but day to day? No. Minimal thought required. The hardest part of my week is the thirty minute drive to the office - and I only go there maybe two or three times. Nurses and teachers do work harder than us, but I do wish they’d give over about it.

The amount of state pension a person gets is dependant on how many years they have paid NI contribtions so I doubt that working for "a few years after the kids left home followed by taking early retirement at 50" means they get the full state pension, For starters you can't claim it at age 50 and to get the full amount you have to have 35 years of NI contributions .

If someone is working hard as a nurse and getting paid shit money they’ve chosen that career knowing it ffs. Oh I think I’ll become a nurse/cleaner/shop assistant and get rich, said no one ever.

But you literally said at the end of your OP “a lot of people work a lot harder for a lot less.” Implying you think high paid jobs are easier.

It is a mixed bag.

I slogged through state school while a lot of people were messing about, drove myself to get the best grades and excelled at university. I chose a technically difficult field which often required me to work 80 hours a week, cancel vacations etc. Several times the stress almost broke me in my early career.

On the other hand I know some lucky so and so’s who have risen into quite easy, senior corporate roles especially in sales and marketing or after sales support. Several of those really don’t do much work at all! They earn their money based on charisma and good negotiating skills, sometimes rising on a lucky economic tide to get a huge bonus or commission.

Where on this thread do you see teachers going on about how hard they work? As a teacher I’d rather my profession was kept out of it. Generally hated as your post displays but ok to wheel out justifying our broken tax system. No thanks.

I wasn’t worse off- I had to pay an extra £3k per annum for childcare (my daughter is a July baby so only for a year) but I acknowledge that depending on how birthdays and terms hit this could be 2 years.

Personally, as someone who at the time earned £109k, I was able to pay the extra £250 and month and wouldn’t have dreamed of earning less to avoid paying this. I would’ve taken a back seat in longer term earning and not saved any money anyway, whatever I lost in earnings I would gain in childcare.

I don’t think many economists agree that you’re better off not working at £100k, since it only impacts workers for a tiny period of their life, if at all. It’s not something that appplies to everyone.

eta- I also think most people don’t bother to calculate how little it actually is to pay the extra 15 hours you lose.

Chatgpt (unreliably) tells me about 18% of economically inactive working-age adults (i.e. of the 1-in-5) list “looking after family/home” as their main reason.

But they aren't saying that. You're being obtuse by baslessly assuming that is what they mean.

And when was this? I have some lovely pictures of graphs if it helps. They are available at the IFS. Parents now can be tens of thousands worse off. I never said economists made any kind of judgments on people’s choices. They have said multiple times that the cliff edge is changing behaviour now and reducing tax take.

It is a silly thing to say, and implies a comparison whether that’s their intention or not. Let’s be honest, if there were any consistent correlation between how hard a person works and what they get paid society would look radically different.

No, not all of us I grew up on a council estate and not all of my school friends can say this.

What are they saying then? Because that’s the reasonable inference. Please expand.

Indeed i'd love to know what year you were earning 103k because i dont think it was 2023.

I pay just under 5k net per month for myunsubsidised childcare. So 58k net per year...

45 free Childcare hours and 4k per year tax free top up equates to a fair bit more than £250 per month

The fact that teachers and nurses work hard for their money doesn’t negate the fact that other people also work hard for their money.

I completely agree OP.
Cleaner's, Health workers, child care workers, social care workers ,teaching assistants, and many other occupations that society rely on are full of individuals who work extremely hard even though they are low paid. Some even have to work two jobs at the same time.
I think society has become more selfish in the last few years. At one time people would accept that as a society we all have a responsibility to help people less fortunate than we are.

Would you rather no-one chose to go into nursing then - because they made their career choices based on how much they can earn? Who would look after you or your loved ones in hospital when you need it?

No one has said that people in low-paid occupations aren’t working hard.

That is always the implication.

You are fed up of people saying they work hard for their money? Strange.
Alright - I worked for about 2 years, then "married up", retired at 26 and 20 years later I'm set for life.
Better?