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?

Why would I pay more without a policy that sets out where it would be going?
I'd happily pay a good chunk more if there was a commitment to making adult social care free, for example - I think the idea that people have to use savings to pay someone to come provide personal care in their home abhorrent.

I wouldn't pay more to the general pot on the off chance that might happen, knowing that it could just be used on defence spending and buying weapons.

No they were let down by the likes of Johnson and Farage who promised that Brexit would bring great prosperity (for them at least it has), so for once we had turkeys voting for Christmas.

That’s what I mean, you can’t see the impact of Labour’s NI policy when it’s clear. It was a tax on jobs.

I’m guessing because you voted Labour.

The problem is that the poorer third of the population are paying taxes they can't afford while the richest millionaires and billionaires eg are able to avoid tax by off-shoring, living abroad. Their investment income not taxed at all or not as much as earned income from the often essential work that the poorest have to do to survive.

We are ( as usual) over protecting the very rich. We need to tax the latter by insisting that if they want to keep their UK citizenship they need to contribute to this country. ( Reciprocal tax agreements for those working abroad can be accounted for.)

The US citizen living abroad must file a federal tax return and report their worldwide income to the Internal Inland Revenue no matter where they live in the world. Why do we not do the same?

It is counter productive to insist that the poorest eg the young, those on just the state OAP, or on precarious zero hours contracts (1 million at present) have to pay tax on money they would spend every penny of and therefore boost our economy while allowing the multi-millionaires/billionaires etc to horde or off shore.

I wonder how this poor lady feels about being lower priority than random men from Eritrea who come here illegally.

Former nurse living in a tent after council say she’s ‘not a priority’ for housing

https://www.google.com/amp/s/metro.co.uk/2026/07/03/former-nurse-living-a-tent-council-say-not-a-priority-housing-29028537/amp/

There’s a big difference between between being happy to pay a bit more, and being happy for the rates of tax to increase a bit.

most people saying they’re happy mean the latter. It’s about all (or some, but not one individual) contributing a bit more. That’s both fair, and makes a difference.

responding with that link to donate isn’t the clever win you think it is.

How many threads are you going to post this false equivalence on?

That statement is factually incorrect - see IFS and OBR, two reliable sources of data https://ifs.org.uk/taxlab/taxlab-key-questions/how-do-uk-tax-revenues-compare-internationally, https://obr.uk/box/the-uks-tax-burden-in-historical-and-international-context/. Is there fake news circulating that gives this impression?

The tax burden is highest since the war under Labour.

On Scandinavian levels lower to mid earners here pay lower tax. Is that what you’re thinking of changing?

Random men from Eritrea would get the same assessment for emergency housing, with the same rules applied, as a former nurse would. HTH.

Where's your reliable source of information?

Some figures here for you;

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/uk-tax-burden-hit-record-173642211.html

Tax burden
The overall tax burden in the UK is forecast to rise from the equivalent of 35.3% of GDP (gross domestic product, or the total value of the economy) in 2024/25 to 37.7% in 2027/28, the highest level since current records began in 1948.
At the budget in October 2024, the OBR forecast the tax burden would climb even higher, peaking at 38.3% in 2027/28.
The new forecast is still above the previous record of 37.2% in 1948/49.
It is also more than four percentage points above the pre-pandemic level of 33.2% in 2019/20.

I had a looking around and found that the systems operate differently and aren’t easy to compare.

As a childfree person Ive spent my life being economically raped to provide for subs and handouts to those who chose to breed so your not getting any more of my money mate. Sick of sucking off the tax man for things I do not want and cannot use.

Unless you're part of the Mumsnet apparent majority of exceptionally high earners, you haven't been. You've had the state pay for your childhood NHS bills and education and you'll be getting a pension so you'll be taking more than you put in, like the majority of people in this country. Except that is, for the migrants who take out less because they get their education elsewhere and come here as adults, contributing through work, without having the deficit of childhood costs.
Unless you have lived off grid and didn't go to school of course, which is entirely possible given the level of ignorance you've shown here.

Not if they arrive on an inflatable boat.

I'm in Finland and just had a go at comparing my tax here and what it would be for the same income in the UK. I take home about 40 euros less per month here than I would in the UK, but for that 40 extra euros my children get free lunch every day at school, I paid nothing for nursery, and I don't have to pay a separate council tax so actually come to think of it, I pay less tax.

Still no proper answer?

Why don't you think the government should prioritise the safety of its own citizens (and former employees!) over random foreign men that haven't paid into the system?

I would happily vote for a 1% increase all round (or just for the upper two thirds or so, which will include me)

Do you mean you want to pay more tax in Finland?

Then they don't qualify for council housing or the emergency homeless accommodation that the nurse is seeking in the article. What's your point?

IF after claiming asylum they eventually are granted refugee status, they can go for the same assessment as the nurse does, and has exactly the same rules applied.

Don't let your prejudice hit you on your way out.

We shouldn't be paying millions to accommodate foreign men if we don't have adequate provisions for our own populace. Councils could be granted significantly more funds to help people like the lady in the article.

It's unsurprising that so many people are bewildered by the widespread support for Reform if they can't understand stuff like this.

Yeah. I mean, I'd happily vote for an extra 1% in the UK too but I left the UK so long ago I don't feel right voting in elections there any more.

The lady who doesn't explain why she left her previous accommodation, presumably because it doesn't fit the tabloid sad face script.

I actually do set up my tax card with a higher withholding rate than it needs to be, but I do get the extra back the next year.