AIBU to refuse extra hours when most of the pay goes in tax?

[oldFoolMe]

Would you work extra hours if you had to pay 67% tax on it? Thats without additional childcare, or commuting costs.

Angela Rayner has not refused to pay her tax. She referred herself in order to get a definitive answer about what is a very complex situation and she was getting different advice. She is trying to provide a secure home for her seriously handicapped son by putting her previously owned house in trust for him so he will always have a home. He was born very prematurely and is blind.

I work in public sector and when you earn over a certain amount (think it’s about £40k) you don’t usually get overtime. You are paid for the responsibility level to get the work done. So I’m not feeling much sympathy.

“Angela Rayner has not refused to pay her tax.She referred herself in order to get a definitive answer about what is a very complex situation and she was getting different advice.”

I am 100 confident if I had bought a second flat I would have paid additional stamp duty. And then seen if I could claim it back as there is a mechanism from what I recall. It is there as some people sell their main residence later on. If it is complicated, you figure it out later if you can get it back legally!
For a politician and person in the public eye to not do that sets a very bad example. There are no excuses.

You are absolutely correct 👍👍👍👍👍🙌

In the old days when my dd was born, childcare tax credits could be relieved at 40% as they were taken out of your pre-tax income. This then frozen so if you already paid into the scheme at 40% relief then you could carry on doing so, but if you stopped paying you couldn’t return.

The other weird rule was that you didn’t have to have children to pay for childcare tax credits! The amount went into a fund and when you wanted to spend it, you gave your code to whichever childcare provider who could claim the tax credit and it was paid to them.

So dh and I joined when we started ttc and had six months of childcare funds saved by the time dd1 arrived.

That was a good scheme and it offset the “cliff edge” problem that has always been there.

Seems you really are PrettyDamnCosmic 😊

The moving over described - how much has this temporarily and artificially boosted the Treasury coffers? What it is the overall figure in billions? And how will it impact our creditworthiness as a country?

@Darking ”That was a good scheme and it offset the “cliff edge” problem that has always been there.”

In what way has the cliff edge always been there?

Pre-2018 childcare vouchers had no upper earnings threshold. The 15 free hours and tax free childcare situation has been an issue since 2017 - and the real horror show cliff edge situation has been created by 30 free hours from 9 months, introduced in September 2025.

As an example:

• when child a went to nursery aged 9 months in 2023, their parents lost £2k in tax free childcare if they earned over the threshold.
• when child b went to nursery aged 9 months in 2026, their parents lost £2k in tax free childcare plus 30 free hours (this might be worth £12k+ for the hours alone) if they earned over the threshold.

Yanbu. I dont know why taxes aren't made more motivational - seems crazy that people can earn more on benefits than through work, that high earners also have a disincentive to work more etc

Maybe taxes should be at a flat rate - 25% - then it would always be motivational to earn.

Modern day slave?! For being a high earner?

You don’t get to keep your earnings @JumpingPumpkin - hence it is slavery pretty much. What else is keeping only 35 p in the pound? Serfdom to the system.

Lots of things are an ill thought out disgrace.
For example, why aren’t student loans based on taxable income? DD has to pay 11% in pension contributions ( Teacher) yet pays student loan on the whole of her salary so in effect she pays 50% tax on part of her salary.
She marks exam papers to pay for the summer holidays and will pay 40% tax rather than 20%, the pay for the marking hasn’t risen in 4 years but this year she’ll lose £400 to tax.

For example, why aren’t student loans based on taxable income? DD has to pay 11% in pension contributions ( Teacher) yet pays student loan on the whole of her salary so in effect she pays 50% tax on part of her salary.

Her pension is part of her salary. It’s effectively deferred salary paid in retirement. If she really feels it’s unfair then she can always opt out of paying pension contributions thus giving herself a very decent pay rise.

Yes @BorgQueen and then they complain they cannot find enough markers or get markers in (from god knows where) who cannot actually mark English language papers. And we get kids sitting their GCSEs whose papers are undermarked by 30 marks (happened to a friend of my DD’s including a marker who annotated correctly spelt language as “wrong” - that is how underqualified some of them are).

And now we have a Government who is infighting again which is going to cost us billions in extra interest due to volatility. And we have Angela Rayner who paid her 40000 stamp duty late but has been let off my HMRC on late interest and fines. Whereas the rest of us would have had to pay? And that is now supposed to fill us all with confidence? That she what did not pay the stamp duty because it was all too confusing for both her and HMRC?

And then anyone is surprised if the middle class revolt translates to stay at home and do not work extra. Or do not go out shopping in your car ever again because you are bound to be flashed by some camera and charged a fine for something.

I wouldn’t and I don’t.
I have purposely gone to a 4 day week and put 35% of my salary into my pension via salary sacrifice in order to keep my tax free allowance intact. So I am paying less tax than I otherwise if that unfair cliff edge at £100k didn’t exist. In fact I’m thinking of accepting an internal transfer for a 35% pay cut but a far less stressful roll. I’ve worked out (back of envelope stuff) that if I fiddle about with my pension contributions I’ll only be about £200 worse off. It’s bonkers really.

I wouldn’t and I don’t.
I have purposely gone to a 4 day week and put 35% of my salary into my pension via salary sacrifice in order to keep my tax free allowance intact. So I am paying less tax than I otherwise if that unfair cliff edge at £100k didn’t exist. In fact I’m thinking of accepting an internal transfer for a 35% pay cut but a far less stressful roll. I’ve worked out (back of envelope stuff) that if I fiddle about with my pension contributions I’ll only be about £200 worse off. It’s bonkers really.

Are you talking about income tax ? Or are you including extra costs like childcare ?
When both of my kids were in childcare I worked a 40hr week for £200 a month the rest was childcare.
when eldest went to school and youngest had 15hrs funded I paid about £600 a month childcare.

Also, I thought the point of the trust was to ensure access to means tested benefits. If the money from the compensation is in a trust, then it doesn’t count as his assets or money, and he’ll be eligible.

So true

I wonder how many would if there weren't incentives to keep below it?

I used to pay a hell of a lot of tax, but then found out I was pregnant at 42. I took my maternity leave, then got a just above minimum wage job doing just 2 days.

I am not doing it anymore, I’m not killing myself and putting my baby into nursery.

Fuck the lot.

I also do not do extras as I feel I earn well as it is, good luck to colleagues if they are happy to work the extras. The balance of time with my family feels right not sure why I would want to spend yet another weekend in work to take home less than half of the money. When I started many moons ago (a 78 hour week) I worked so many hours with the compulsory overtime paid at a fraction of the base rate.

Certainly locally, and I am sure in many places, the wonderful fall in waiting lists has been achieved by throwing crazy amounts of money mostly at external companies. Not a sustainable solution in the longer term. Most of the doctors employed are doing so as part of a company and therefore have a slightly more favourable tax situation. So less income tax harvested for the price of the publicity wim of a drop in waiting lists 🤦🏼‍♀️

It shocks me that so many people don’t have any loyalty to their job or enjoyment of their job enough to do a few hours for free. I work in public sector and have regularly done 50 hour weeks (paid for 37) at peak times to make sure I meet project deadlines etc., around being a single parent. At the time I was earning £40k ish, but didn’t want to let my colleagues down. And you're on huge salaries, I just don’t get it

There seem to be an inordinate number of mumsnet posters on £100k with young kids who’ve maxed out their pensions 😂

You’ve no idea how lucky you are

It is not just those on over 100k. The fiscal drag coupled with inflation is biting thousands of angry workers who are adjusting their behaviour. And hence the lack of productivity.

You cannot just introduce stealth taxes left right and centre and pretend you did not raise taxes! Lots of people about to enter the 40% tax bracket will find out and act out too.

I dont earn anywhere near 100k, but I do know it's not a good thing for loyalty to one's job and unpaid overtime to be conflated. Am too pro worker for that.