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.

dh & I watched together (dh at home after being made redundant in December from v. well-paid job). dh was full of derision for Darling, Darling Cptn Darling but I thought he made good sense, for the most part. All Cameron could do was lambast Darling! Did Cameron have anything even vaguely useful to say? No. Did he come up with even one alternative proposition? No. Was he entertaining? Yes. Do I feel even remotely sorry for OP? No.

I'm not happy about the changes but not sure how else they are going to attempt to balance the books

They are also removing the personal allowance once you earn £100K and reducing tax relief on pension contributions

"Gosh, lots of chips on shoulders on this thread" with a combined income of about £45.000 in my household I consider myself quite fortunate.

I can understand why people might feel chippy about someone posting about a salary in excess of £150,000 and moaning about a slight rise in Tax as if they are in some whay disadvantaged!

by the way hedgie, I do think YABU for thinking of leaving because of the state of public services/taxation.

I think you will find that in comparision to a lot of places in the world the UK really isn't that bad a place to live in.

Even after taxation, you are still very comfortably off and have the benefit of services other countries are envious of - I know others quite rightly have different views, but my personal experiences of the NHS and the education system are really good.

Obviously there are vast improvements that could be made in healthcare and education, I'm not saying there aren't but on balance, you sound like you have a pretty good life.

So to answer your question - YABU

No chip here.

I consider we are truly fortunate and blessed. We have now enough money to give £100 to charity every month (we couldn't afford it before).

I would also be happy for our family income to now be taxed further.

I may not have a chip because I do not feel entitled to take loads of foreign holidays/have fancy cars/buy too much stuff.

Those are just frothy extras and not what life is actually about.

If I compared myself to the majority of the world it puts my life and my gratefullness for it in perspective.

Just means more work for tax specialists. There are already routes round paying too much tax; just means people will find even more ways round it.

beanie- exactly! I consider that our family income of about £52,000 makes us very, very fortunate. We are very lucky indeed not to have to budget down to the last £ for everything. Having grown up in real poverty (not relative- at times we didn't have enough to eat even) I thank our lucky stars all the time, and remind the children how fortunate they are compared to most of the world's population.

LauriefairycakeeatsCupid - do you have a mortgage ?

Yes, last year it was 65% of our income - now it's much less due to rate cuts.

They are also removing the personal allowance once you earn £100K and reducing tax relief on pension contributions

So - those who are having to pay extra tax over 150k aso pay extra through this as well? Hmmm.

I can see a lot of people being paid in different ways than they might be now.

Quite duchesse. I can't even emagine what it must be like to have a much lower income though I too was raised in what people might consider poverty.

Have to say, I'm deeply suspicious of anybody who moans about taxation. It's terribly Daily Mail I always think!

By all means, moan about how they spend it, and I often agree. But moaning about the need for everybody in society to pay their way relative to their means betrays selfishness imo.

I saw the guy who founded the Big Issue (he's rich) talking about this once. He said, 'I like paying taxes. If I pay taxes, that means I am prosperous'. In some ways, I agree with that sentiment. I feel oddly proud when I hand over cash for prescriptions. I can afford it, and in a small way I may be helping others who can't.

If OP's family wants to move to (insert alien culture here) in order to enjoy even more of their very high income, then that's entirely up to them. But I can't accept any implication that this gvt is somehow responsible for pushing them out. Their choice to purely follow the greenbacks rather then decide where they live for the reasons most of us would.

Hulababy - as somebody else pointed out if you're on PAYE and not some billionaire tax exile then cheating the system doesn't really happen.

wonderingwondering - Richard Murphy of the Tax Justice Network (a blogger who is very well-informed about tax avoidance and evasion) seems pretty pleased with the anti-avoidance measures in the budget so far (no one has quite finished crunching the numbers yet), although he thinks they could do more.

I don't think tis change will make make more money for tax advisers - the people who will be affected are people on PAYE, who can't avoid it.

Anyone interested in avoiding tax will already be doing so. It is a marginal change, really, and not one that is going to mean people change their remuneration structure or location.

but if you are on over £150,000 you don't really need to cheat the system! Unless you've got yourself a stupid mortgage or spend all your money on holidays, shoes, ballet lessons, horses, dresses and meals out!

Maybe these high earners just need to budget better?

Thanks policywonk, interesting link.

Heh. He also thinks that 50 per cent should actually mean 50 per cent (at least i think that's what he means ) - here

Up the revolution!

I must say, I do find the implication of "my gp is crap, my DC are in private schools, I don't go to hospital much, therefore why should I pay so much tax?" very odd.

You are not just paying for your own public services, you know. You are also paying for people who are too disabled to work, people who are mown down by a bus and need major surgery, children whose parents abandon them and go into care. Who is going to pay for their care if not the very, very wealthy?

And yet the people who moan about paying higher rate taxes are often the same ones sending cows to Africa and running marathons for save the children. Good for you - but don't get all halo-ish about your paltry £50 cow, and then moan about supporting the huge complex network that keeps children off the streets.

Goodness! That does seem to be what he is suggesting - stamp duty style flat rate on the whole lot once you get above a certain threshold. I would disagree with that. Strongly.

It's pretty strong isn't it? He's a terribly Pooterish fella in RL, you'd never have him down as that sort of radical!

Well I am afraid I'd just say bye bye chuck hope the grass is greener and if you dare come back here as an NHS tourist I will tear your heart out and hold it beating in front of you.

I just love the way the capitalists enjoy the socialist years as much as anyone else and then when it's time to pay for the party they hide in the toilets