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.

megbusset speaks much sense, this is really isn't a big deal.

anyone who is daft enough to move to hongkong because of this is quite frankly welcome to go.

"If you live in London, have a mortgage and a couple of cars and kids then £150k isn't a fortune - i'm not saying it's peanuts but £150k in London doesn't make you rich."

Pfffffffft! I live in London and me and most people I know survive on a heck of a lot less than this. Some people need a bit of a dose of reality...

Sorry, the OP of course.

Tess, it is not the Op (or the Ops husbands) fault that you struggle, they are not personally responsible for you (or anyone else) haveing a hard time on their earnings!

I can't really be bothered to feel anything about this, ok you and your City mates move. Great.

I have a few City friends chasing the ££ and well, go for it. It's great to be able to stay in London and not bother with this incessant greed imo.

Fwiw the NHS is brilliant.

£150k is a lot of money by anyones standards. These are hard times that call for drastic measures. Better to tax the rich than tax the poor, don't you think?

I must have missed that TL, I will have to have another look!

the banal threats (to whom, I wonder) of going to live in Asia. Do go. Make sure you pick a very wealthy part of the continent to live in otherwise it might not be too pleasant.

"Megbusset - Actually I am a maths thicko and have literally spoken to him for one minute, so I hadn't grasped that point But still 41% before £150,000 like now"

No it isn't! It is 20% on the first £37,400 then 40% on £37,400 upwards.

and you are already paying 40% over £150,000 so infact you are paying an additional 11% over £150,000 so if you earn £200,000pa then you are paying £5,500 per year more than you are now.

Do you not value your exisitng family and friends at least that amount? Thats sad.

You'd have to pay me to live in Switzerland, no amount of money is worth being that bored.

HOng KOng better but not a place I'd choose to raise my children to call home, but each to their own I guess.

I had no expectations of New Labour and have had miraculous treatment under the NHS so not quite as cynical about the Uk I suppose.

I have posted at length on other threads about this so will not post at length but:

1. The rich pay LESS tax, proportionally, than the very poor. This is because the very poor are disproportionally hit by VAT etc. A 51% tax band for those earning above £150k would only serve to reduce the disparity a little.

If you seriously think the very wealthy should be paying LESS tax than the very poor, then perhaps you would be better off in another country, as I would prefer to live in a country with more compassionate residents.

2. Very much doubt anyone in the £150k-£500K salary range is going to bother to relocate because of this. The real tax exiles are the billionaires and £150k is a drop in the ocean for them.

Does the new tax rate start at £150,000?

So, presumably he's on 40% already, so what's the actual increase? And is it worth it to move based the additional amount? I don't know

Ditto megbusset. And ForeverOptimistic.

KingCanute, my point is that you seem to be saying that 51% tax is outrageous and wrong. In reply I gave examples of countries that have had that level of tax and higher - and have benefitted from it.

Also I should have added, hedgie - that it must be a huge shock to find your income is being cut so drastically, and I do sympathise with that. If you choose to stay here I'm sure you'll have to make dramatic cuts to your standard of living. But with time you'll see that that won't kill you and you'll manage just fine. Welcome to the world that 95% of us inhabit.

Kew: "You'd have to pay me to live in Switzerland, no amount of money is worth being that bored."

KingC the OP commented on medical care being 'shite' although didn't specify whether it is private or NHS.

Most hedge funds have already put most of their earnings overseas so I doubt that this 10% tax increase will have much effect.

Should add that I work in London and I'd settle for £150,000 or above and be happy to pay the tax.

whats the point of the 51% tax band if everyone who "qualifies" for it emegrates?there will be no-one left for the goverment to tax!(think they should tax themselves a bit more , and not be allowed "expences" from the tax-payer's money). but i dont blame you in the slightest for thinking about asia....my dad has been ex-pat for years - he simply cant afford the lifestyle he wants in this country, he'd be taxed out of his skin if the goverment got a chance.... he's by no means a millionare either,just some random bloke who was born very poor and worked very hard.How is it fair to tax so much when the "hidden" taxes we already have are so high already.And the price of houses isnt exactly cheap either...ITS ALL JUST A MESS!

'anyone who is daft enough to move to hongkong because of this is quite frankly welcome to go'

well said, and I'm a partner in a firm of chartered accountants so quite well rewarded and I'm not getting upset about this. This country is in a hole, something has to give, I'd rather it was a little more tax for higher earners than fuding for the NHS or education.

If somebody has studied hard and worked hard then why should they not be allowed to reap the rewards?

My point is, while I struggle, I understand the need to pay taxes and appreciate the services that I am contributing to, so I have no sympathy for 'woe is me I earn loads so I might move away'
Good - f*ck off....and as I said don't ever come back to use the very services you begrudge paying for.

It feels like this country is going back in time, bringing in punitive measures to hit those that others are feeling less than charitable towards.

I'm with hedgiemum on this one. The cost of living is sky-high, public services are inefficient, the welfare state is straining at the seams and the government's solution is simply to hit back at the high-earners rather than looking at the bigger picture.

I wouldn't mind tax being increased if there was something substantial to show for it, in terms of better provision of public services. But this is clearly not the case.

Furthermore, those earning in excess of £150,000 have largely opted-out of the public service system, since they can use private schooling, healthcare etc, so why should they be hit with even higher taxes?

If the government wishes to kick-start the economy, why not introduce tax breaks and incentives, rather than burdening people?

I see I'm not the only one who sat down to watch the budget (expecting and having made peace with %45) and had a shock.

Tiredlady - I know there are lots of good people in the NHS. I also have lived in other countries and have experienced much better medical care than we ever have here. Likewise, our local schools are rubbish, the senior schools get very poor results and have bad levels of truancy and bullying. A lot of my friends can't afford private so HE as a result, which with DH's huge work commitments would be too much for me to to take on alone (esp with maths issues alluded to previously!)

I lived for a little while in Sweden and honestly wouldn't mind paying their level of taxes for their level of public services. I think they attract a higher standard of politicians or something.

You know, the more contact I have with financial people, the more their petty whinges make me laugh. The final straw recently was the boast by someone we vaguely know that he paid only £xxxx in tax last year, where his tax bill was the same as mine even though he earns at least 5x my £12000 a year.

So, frankly, face, bovvered? Byeeee!

In Belgium you don't have to earn nearly that amount to pay 50% . I in fact hand over nearly half of my salary in tax and social security, and if you get a bonus they take more than 50%!

It was a huge shock to me as I was never a higher rate tax payer in the UK and actually earned LESS here. But on the other hand, the education and health systems are fab here, and there is very good social security provision. So you get what you pay for I suppose.

Despite it being totally understandable that there's not a huge amount of sympathy for the OP and DH's whopping salary, I guess this is real problem for the UK - if OPs boss is thinking about relocating for this reason, then he won't be the only one. This can only do further damage to the economy surelly?

I would personally be delighted to pay a top tax rate of 51% on earnings over £150k, (indeed I'd be pretty damned happy to get the opportunity to earn enough to pay 40% myself).

I totally agree with what Foreveroptimistic and TheYoungVisiter said.

What about the people who have studied hard and worked hard and work in the public sector?

Saying why shouldn't people who work hard reap the rewards is tantamount to saying that people working for little money or less inflated salaries are in some way taking it easy and not working hard.