to think 51% tax is ridiculous, and already to be planning to move to Asia

[hedgiemum]

Namechanged. Married to someone who earns well in excess of £150,000 a year, though neither does he earn 7 figures.
He is still quite young in his career - a recent promotion to a senior position, but has not been earning this kind of money of long, so we still have a mortgage and haven't saved large amounts (what we have saved is through his pension which is no longer going to be particularly worth doing.)

He phoned me a minute after end of budget to say he'd watched it with his boss whose reaction was that he would move the company (not a bank, but in finance) to Asia. Probably Hong Kong - 12% tax rather than the 51% we'd be paying here.

Seems like a kneejerk reaction, and clearly we can afford to pay more, but boss doesn't feel he'll get good productivity from staff if they are getting to take home less than half their income. Plus it decreases ever-present risk of them being headhunted by companies in lower-tax economies.

AIBU to be PLEASED (I used to hate tax exiles.) Partly because it just does not seem fair. Partly because this country has been run so badly by New Labour of whom we had such high expectations, and the medical care we have received has been shite, the local schools are shite, the roads are insanely busy and yet is costs so much to live here.

The really wealthy people do not work but live off their assets, trust funds, investments, rental income.

They do not pay tax because they have good accountants who have exploited all the loopholes.

But how to change that? I think that's the way to get money, from people who don't earn it!

But of course many seriously wealthy are really philanthropic, have set up charities, bursaries for others and give grants, donations etc.

I don't even mind celebs because the amounts they raise for good causes is sometimes staggering. I think that is the only good thing about this pathetic celeb worship culture of ours.

I have lived in HK, there is no social security for the people. There is no such thing as Benefit dependancy. Hardworking people even grannies carrying heavy loads reminds you of a busy ant hill, both day and night.

The concept of charity is also alien. Also, the disabled and other vulnerable groups have no status and even in some countries like Japan they pretend they don't exist!

So what society would you prefer to live in?

The UK is actually progressive, especially for women. Ignore that at your peril!

but hang on - didn't someone further down the thread say that the "benefits" of this tax rise to the porn watching MP's government coffers is hardly noticeable in the grand scheme of things?

We need higher tax payers to keep all the services going that everyone needs. We also need people to stimultae the economy - a pub near us has just opened a restaurant. The family have lpoughed their life savings into it and are working their bollocks off to make a go of it. They need people gping in their to eat and it sure as shit aint the poeple on this thread claiming to live on tuppence a week.
If they go under they'll lose everything. Their cook will be unemployed ditto the cleaner, bar staff, front of house. Also local organic farmers selling produce to them will suffer. Maybe they'll have to lay off a member of staff...on it goes.

'is whinging compulsory if you work in the public sector?'

Nope, just defending myself on this thread.

(Though actually I think whinging might be a job requirement . I certainly perform it well - see I'm allowed mock the public sector, you puggles - this is my new name for non-public sector worker - are not!)

Och, there's plenty of wealth in this country. We don't 'need' it to be concentrated in the top 5 per cent. We need it to be spread around.

Yes the benefits of this tax rise are negligible to the public urse/debts but overall the tax they pay is over 50% of all income. And that doesn't take int account what they spend.

"but there don't seem to be many real improvements. Of course, this is just my perception"

My mum had her knees replaced at a local hospital - amazing, amazing service. Top doctors, brilliant care.

My youngest attends a children's centre 5 days a week. They run free baby massage classes, free first paediatric first aid classes. They have a sleep clinic, a breastfeeding drop in, a new dads drop in, and provide wrap around childcare for children over 2 (8am to 6pm) for about £600 a month. They have two qualified teachers in each room and all the nursery nurses have a level 3 NVQ minimum qualification.

My DH earns about 50K so we get child tax credits. We also get childcare vouchers and child benefit.

When I had my first child I got £46 for 6 weeks. When I had my last baby I got £100 a week maternity pay for a full six months.

I am profoundly grateful for the things that this government has done for me. They've made a big difference to my life and to my family's lives.

But aren't they already being taxed at 40%?

We need rich people so that those whose place it is to wait on them will have employment? That's a good one

yea but why do they all need to earn 6 figure salaries to do it?

Surely it could also work if you worked from the bottom up - increase minimum wage - (there's more people earning that than there are earning the top salaries) the amount of tax and NI received from them would be greater. So the greedy feckers top knobs wouldn't need to earn stupid amounts of money?

Many people are attracted to their jobs because it pays the mortgage.

Lots of people - including JFK - think the best way to squeeze money out of the rich is to cut their taxes.

In doing this you reduce the incentive to 'hide' income - and the government ends up with more.

Laugh away Onagar - but the women who work in that restautrabt need their jobs just like everyone in Woolies did.

Litchick - of course they need their jobs - but it still doesn't explain why people need 6 figure salaries.

well said stand I know tomorrow I could go to sure start and have chat with someone if I needed to.

If I were in dire circumstances - for some that does not entail not having a matching boden outfit
I would be given a crisis loan in hours.

If I did earn more I'd happily contribute more.

I'm sure Prince Charles would agree with you. He has to exist so that whoever puts his socks on for him will not starve. We should be grateful etc etc

'Many people are attracted to the public sector because of the cushy life. The pay isn't as good but the holidays can be fantastic, as are the pensions, job security and hours etc.'

Nancy666.

Sparklingsarah, your post was lovely and i 'warmed' to you

...............however i didn't warm to the ops post, i just can't stand it when people can't see any further than the money they have in their many bank accounts....

One day hopefully they will wake and realise they are lucky enough to be here for another day and start appreciating the small things in life.

No, not ridiculous. Earn more, pay more and quite right too. Those earning over 150k are still better off than most of the rest of the globe, no matter how hard done by they might think they are.

Well no-one needs wine or chocolate or sex do they? Of course everyone could survive on a hundred quid a week but it would be bloody miserable. You seem to assume that everyone who earns good money does so off the back of the poor.
As I say, I'm a writer. It's just me and the PC. No staff on minimum wage. I pay my agent his commission the rest is mine. Why is that smehow immoral?

ermm no I don't think you read my previous post Litchick.

If you raise the minimum wage so that the working poor are no longer pooR they will pay more taxes, then the "need" for all these 6 figures salary earners will decrease because the contributions of the bottom end workers (on a wage they can actually live on) will no doubt compensate for that.

Expat - people in the public sector have a better life to work ratio than those in the private - no, not ALL but most.

Some deliberately choose that - some go for the dosh. It all makes the world go round.

so basically you're saying they need the money........ermm because they're greedy

Personally i didn't say it was immoral, i just think it is sad that someone would seriously say they are moving abroad because
of the tax increase.......I just think it is plain selfish and greedy.

Thats all!

Oh sorry, you mean the need for them to pay the tax. I thought you meant need, need iyswim.
And I was thinking well of course I don't need the money I earn but I'm not goig to go out of my way and deliberately sell fewer books just because I don't need it per se.