AIBU to question people claiming they would happily pay more tax?

[Towerinthegarden]

Yet another thread about should there be tax rises or spending cuts, and invariably you get a host of people coming out saying they are happy to pay more. Well you can https://www.gov.uk/guidance/voluntary-payments-donations-to-government

I’m pretty sure what they actually mean is I am happy to pay a tiny amount more on the understanding others will pay a lot more and then I’ll see the benefit. If that assumption is wrong why aren’t all these people saying they’re happy to pay more doing it?

I am happy to pay taxes but not to fund more benefits and refugees.

Your give over wasn’t calm discussion. And ignoring the behaviourial impact of higher taxes isn’t helping Labour or any party that wants to sell in ever higher taxes.

What you want is more of that when it isn’t working already.

It’s not about discussing things calmly. If you are in a position where you are happy to pay more tax and can afford it then you are extremely lucky but you can’t see that because you don’t want to see what goes on in the working class areas and how the tax increases brought in by the current government have already affected people. If you want to pay more then click the link but don’t expect everyone else to have to contribute when they are already struggling.

I am not one of those who go about saying I’d happily pay more tax, because even though I would - there’s so many “ifs” involved!

Basically I’d pay more tax IF we had a different tax system that didn't already penalise PAYE earners and let too many of the hook, a benefit system that was more fair for everyone and public services were going to be brought up to a higher standard instead of money used for the corrupt and/or wealthy.

So yeah essentially if the current reality were totally different/ I lived in a different country.

So realistically no I wouldn’t pay more tax in the UK given the state of things as they are now.

How much more would you like to pay?

There’s never any money for schools, hospitals, prisons, and fixing potholes; but there’s a whole forest of magic money trees for millennium domes, royal security, state funerals, wars (especially illegal ones), lockdowns lasting months on end, campaigns of fear, pingdemic apps, bank bailouts, big pay rises for MPs as well as their generous expenses, booze and wallpaper for Downing Street, lifetime pensions for those who wreck the country…

In short, no government can be trusted to use public money wisely. For this reason alone, I resent any idea of paying more.

It’s ridiculous to insult people by sneering ‘well click the link then’. Almost all people say they worked happily pay for tax IF it meant a man improvement to public services. A minority of people sacrificing will not achieve that, so why would you expect them to?

Well said. It’s an absolute joke. Always money for wars!

@HoppityBun But we all know money is wasted! We have huge overspends on national projects. We cannot control expenditure on anything. We need growth in the economy so there are jobs! Jobs pay and people buy things and pay VAT and tax. Instead of paying more income tax, buy more British goods and pay VAT! Give directly to
your school: they all have charity accounts. People never do this and most people are moaning about the cost of living - so of course they won’t. More tax just drags everyone down and never ever improves anything as black holes are enormous.

If you as want to make a difference, buy more and give directly. But, don’t stop business from employing people by taxing them and sold stop them buying goods by taming them. The state is too big as it is.

I pay more than my fair share already, thank you. I would begrudgingly pay more if they reformed the tax system substantially so that the taxation burden doesn't fall so heavily to the top 10%.

I was at the PSA conference down in Oxford a few months ago and a political economist said it’s been proven and well evidenced that most people in the UK genuinely don’t care about higher taxes provided services e.g NHS, schools, emergency services are running well.

Well, I'm in Scotland, and as a household we pay ~3k more per year in tax than we would south of the border (1.5k each).

I broadly support it, though I wouldn't support any further increase.

But for that, I know I am getting:

• free bus travel for the kids
• free prescriptions
• free uni tuition
• an NHS dentist for the whole family (not guaranteed, but you are more likely to find one. I've never had trouble.)

I wouldn't voluntarily throw that money into a black hole and hope for the best.

I’d be happy to pay more if everyone paid more- how is me on my small income putting in a donation going to help?

having said that I did turn down SEISS because I didn’t need it. So I guess I literally did put my money where my mouth is by turning down a government freebie that I was entitled to but didn’t need.

And yet Labour didn’t run on higher taxes. Apparently higher taxes wouldn’t happen.

It’s the way it’s sold to the nation ultimately. If they sell it as “we need you all to pay a bit more because we need to fund x, y and z” I think most would be ok. There’d be some complaints but there always is, you can’t please everyone.

If I personally paid an extra 1% it would make absolutely no difference. If we all paid an extra 1% it would make an enormous difference. Do I have to find another way of explaining collective action to you?

Even with that last lead they didn’t try.

Perhaps they will go for more taxes, I’m not sure the public will reflect the keen to pay more on mn.

We spend way more as a country than we pay in and borrow huge amounts to make up the difference. Bond rates have gone up so the price of our borrowing has gone up, we can’t not borrow as we’d have to slash public spending on the spot. We need more money to pay the increased interest rates on our debt just to stay as we are. If your mortgage rate goes up and you can’t remortgage (or you can but only at a higher rate than your previous fix) then it costs you more but does your house simultaneously improve? No, same house and less disposable income to spend on everything else.

You you you you you you you... So many assumptions.

Whether different households could afford any tax increase is an important consideration in any discussion.

My view is we have way too much money tied up in housing - unproductive and kill the economy. Trouble is when house prices fall then it currently means the economy is in a mess, borrowing costs are high and people still can’t afford to buy/others stop selling. When people
move house it helps the economy as they spend on white goods, carpets etc. I would like to see a lot of good quality well designed high density building in the right places with services to match. Where I live, living in a flat is very desirable but that’s only good in the right place and the right type of property.

I have deliberately not said what tax level I would suggest was right.

@concertinacornflake why not?

I'd pay more tax,but I think the most important thing is to get all the cash-in-hand workers paying their fare-share, estimated £2 billion a year evaded by local tradesmen under-declaring ( stealing from everybody else and often their children).

Which is precisely why they presumably rush to offer - nothing more than a PR exercise for those in the public eye and a meaningless gesture for the anonymous virtue signalers on here

The tone of the OP is what I thought was most interesting about the thread.

@Meandthegherkin Where are the “right” places? Everyone is a NIMBY! Ang Rayner says the right place is near stations. Those in villages with stations disagree! No one agrees with housing. High quality? Great, it puts the price up - lot? More than the local market will stand quite often. Like developing Brian field sites. Huge costs attached to this too so it doesn’t happen and councils maintain old employment sites as just that. Designated for employment so no homes. It’s all bogged down in zoning and not modern life.