AIBU to feel disheartened by earning into the higher tax band?

[Chocolateapot]

I have finally after many many years of studying progressed in my career to just slightly above the 40% tax threshold. Unfortunately I’ve realised this now means any additional income I earn is now taxed at 40%, student loan 9% and 2% national insurance, essentially giving a marginal tax rate of 51%.

Not sure why I bothered tbh

I think the cap is VERY outdated. Cost of living has gone up so much that 50k is no longer an amazing wage so to be taxed 40% at that amount is absolutely crazy. I try not to look at pay slips as it’s genuinely horrendous how much gets taken from us.
I genuinely think the cap should go to 70k or just make it 20% for everyone as being punished for getting a good job is wild.

You're helping everybody.

Yeah its very deliberate to increase the tax take, not like they just 'forgot' to review it

The reason that public services have fallen apart is not the two years of Labour government, it’s the previous 14 years of underinvestment by the Tories. You can’t turn around 14 years of infrastructure disintegrating in two years. Especially when you’ve been left with an economy ravaged by lack of growth and the disastrous Brexit plus Trump’s shenanigans which many want to repeat here for some reason and has resulted in a worldwide economic downturn.

But what do you suggest people do when there are not enough jobs for everyone anyway? Im not denying that some people are lazy bastards but there are lots of people looking for work who cant find work. Do we just let these people - and their children- starve and live on the streets? That would be horrible for everyone. Ive lived in the US and it's not somewhere I would like to settle: homeless people, drug addicts, mentally ill people all wandering round - it's just squalid. This is what happens when you remove the safety net and it is grim for everyone, not just those who are living in poverty. It also means crime rates go up. Again, that is shit for everyone. I get people feeling aggrieved but I think we need to direct our anger to those at the top. This really is a problem of wealth inequality and we have to find ways to tax the super-rich. I dont think any of us can imagine how much a billion pounds is. But taking lots of billions out of the system makes us all a lot poorer.

A lot of people are going to 4 day/week, taking unpaid parental leave so their income goes lower than £100k. In the end they bring home more this way, if you add child benefits. If you think from a macro economic point of view, It is a huge waste of productivity for the UK as a whole, so it is really really crazy that a nation who wants to increase economic outputs and get out of this economic crisis is incentivising people in middle manager roles and in the working middle class to work less as it is really not convenient to work more. It is unbelievable and it is really the only county in the world where this happens.

You can definitely spot the recipients on this thread! Telling you how lucky you are and we should all be grateful we are not subsistence farmers etc

Indeed this. I’m not sure why the govt (this one and last one) fail to understand this straightforward set of consequences. Idiotic.

Presumably you will continue to get promoted / get inflationary rises (inflationary rises on a higher rate are worth more in cash terms than on a lower rate) and will still get ore money on your pay slip.

In the early days we work hard for low salary, pay relatively less tax etc, and get benefits such as child benefit, old tax credits, UC top up, free nursery hours.

At later stages we work hard, get paid a high salary and pay more tax and NI.

How else can support for young families and your future pensions be funded? (by the next generation who will fund your pension once they are earning more?)

It’s not worth blaming Labour or Tories. They are both responsible. If you are old enough to remember how the NHS/Education was when the last Labour govt was in, you’ll know they are all responsible.

My DB was a teacher under the last Labour govt and it was horrific. Attacked in (state) school by a pupil, too expensive to expel pupil (as unit place 100k or whatever). He left to work in the private sector as such behaviour would result in expulsion and he’s not longer physically in danger.

I gave birth under the last Labour govt. Sod all staff on maternity, wouldn’t allow me into delivery suite until 20 mins before dd born. Prematurely. Lucky she didn’t die quite frankly.

I fall into your categories of “critical and lifesaving”😄

@Chocolateapot Like others have said, I think you need to adjust your mindset.

In economic terms, you are not really paying the tax, in the sense that you never had the right to all of your income in the first place. You only have the right to whatever you have earned after tax rules have been applied.

So don't resent the amount of tax on your payslip. Just try to be positive about how much you are taking home each month, which must still be more than most in this or any other country.

Not most, some
32% of UC claimants are in work as at Dec 2025.
Of that 32% most are working part time (the 18 hours or so a week).
Leaving 68% not in work.
To be fair, why would someone work full time when they can work part time and have their wages 'made up'. Two women I work with do this - that is the system.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/universal-credit-statistics-29-april-2013-to-8-january-2026/universal-credit-statistics-29-april-2013-to-8-january-2026#:~:text=Figure%2012%3A%20Proportion%20of%20people,employment%2C%20Great%20Britain%2C%20December%202025&text=Source%3A%20UC%20Collection%20Page%20–%20Latest,for%20December%202025%20is%2032%25.

Don’t think anyone disputes the disadvantaged / disabled/ temporarily unlucky need to be helped but supporting whole communities and generations of benefit claimants is taking the piss and is unsustainable.

I agree.

I also find it slightly odd that MN seems to have threads like these where an OP complains about paying tax and lots of other posters agree — and then threads where an OP relates a story about her SIL’s best friend’s cousin who earns £70k a year on benefits (obviously I’m paraphrasing here!) and gets accused of benefit bashing. Do the same people post on both? If so, it’s as if they’re not making the connection between the two…

People really have no understanding of how much some people make in benefits, often without ever paying anything in. Meanwhile people who HAVE contributed to paying everyone else's benefits have ill health or job loss and believe there is a safety net. There isn't ANY safety net for anyone who has done any of the 'right things' (including staying married / home ownership with mortgage / trying to work even if seriously ill / having some savings in the bank / limiting family size). All of the things listed will become a stick to beat you with so that money can be handed to others who make really bad choices. In the meantime you will be taxed until your pip squeaks for the benefit of people who contribute little to nothing to society and never will because there is no incentive.

It is really outrageous. You might decide to lower your days to be better off economically and leave the service you are providing to the country with even more gaps. If you are NHS, that is struggling for personnel and pays £££ to external consultants, it will impact loads of people. And this only because this country can’t see how bad such a tax policy on earners between £100k-£150k is.

Good. The obvious reply to this complaint is "Tell them you don't want the extra pay, then". So you've found a way to do this while gaining time off. You win! Your promotion was more than worthwhile!

Your complaint about your student loan's equally irrational. That's how loans work, they accrue interest. Ever looked at how much of your mortgage payments actually go to repay the capital?

I have no problem at all with paying tax. I do sympathise with your student loan repayment though. I'm from the generation that didn't have to have loans and I think its grossly unfair on yours. I'd happily pay even more tax if they would write the loans off.

Exactly that. It's very definitely a lifestyle choice in some communities and I fail to see why we should all have to be ok with that

I'm all for providing the basics. But when I look at statements for people on benefits and they have the same net income as me and are spunking jaw dropping amounts each month on deliveroo/shein/ iphones for all the family/massive netflix packages/daily Costas then it's hard not to think something has gone badly wrong with the system

Very simplistic statement, that doesn’t reflect the reality that the UK tax system is one of the least competitive of the OECD.

taxfoundation.org/research/all/global/2025-international-tax-competitiveness-index/

taxfoundation.org/location/united-kingdom/

“The top personal income tax rate on dividends is 39.35 percent, while the top rate on capital gains is 24 percent, well above the OECD averages of 24.7 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

The real property tax burden is among the highest in the OECD.

The VAT at a rate of 20 percent applies to less than half of the potential consumption tax base, and the VAT exemption threshold is 2.8 times as high as the OECD average.”

Just add the extra to your pension to the level that the tax bracket comes down again

Was wondering how long it would be before people started bitching about benefits.