The wealthiest families should pay the Coronovirus bill

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Aibu to think this is VERY unfair the household incomes of £100k plus should be tax EVEN further?!

Ffs... Anneliese Dodds. What a joke!!!!

Urgh! Why do they think that because you earn £50,000 a year each you're 'wealthy'

Because you are.

I feel sad for you OP. Our household income is much less than yours, we budget well and have a decent chunk of disposable income. The thought of feeling strapped on what we have, let alone what you have - something has gone very wrong if you can’t manage on that amount.

Strapped is not having money for food! And if you don’t think £500 is enough leftover maybe try to reduce your outgoings?

It's a stupid idea. Those who are very wealthy will just move their money out of the sphere of paying tax in Britain.
40% is about the maximum people are willing to pay. As soon as tax goes beyond 40%, less tax comes into HMRC coffers. It's better to have 20 million people paying 40% than 0 people paying nothing.
I'm old enough to remember when a Labour Government put income tax up to 85% the rate of tax paid fell like a stone. Thousands of wealthy people either left the U.K. for tax purposes or used legitimate and legal tax avoidance schemes.
It's always a Labour idea to tax wealthy people until the pips squeak.
It never works. The really wealthy people will just shift their money to another country.

@Pixxie7 what do you mean- 50k is 50k where you choose to live is up to you? What nonsense?! Someone working in London earning 50k wouldn’t earn anything near that in Hull doing their same job??! If you earn 50K in Hull (and living nearby to commute) you are significantly better off than someone earning 50k in London (and living nearby to commute!)

That’s not strictly true ie nurses are graded and a grade 6 nurse working in London would earn the same if they lived in Hull, apart from London weighting. However the cost of living would be different, so what your saying is that a nurse in Hull should pay more tax because their cost of living would be lower.

wealthy people aren't really the ones paying income tax.

Why are you so surprised? This is what Labour always do. Of course, they themselves can be wealthy but they hate the ordinary person who is.

Households who earn over £100k already pay more tax and they get no child benefit. They pay more in council tax for their home too. If we are going to get taxed even more then DH can cut his working to 4 days a week. I will work less and we will sit just under limit. Many others will do the same. Everyone should pay their own way not just expect a few to pay the massive Covid bill. Those who worked hard throughout, keeping the economy ticking over, have already been forced to pay for people on furlough and grants to self employed. It is unfair.

@TheId 👍👍

@caringcarer username is bit of a misnomer, isn’t it?

So the Tories enabling the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer is fine. Austerity hit the poorest most so to complain about Labour balancing the load is wrong how.

One of the biggest problems in these circumstances is that averages are pretty meaningless. 50k income in one part of the country is very different to 50k in another in terms of what you get for it. House prices are the obvious, but even council tax can be as much as £1k a year different at middle levels, more at higher levels.

The Covid effects are already being felt unequally, there are likely to be more job losses in lower earning jobs (so far) but there is also likely to be more furlough. Those in higher earning jobs are more likely to have had to continue working whilst also taking on extra responsibilities like homeschooling. We are also seeing significant pay cuts in some sectors as companies try to stay afloat, many at higher pay levels and there’s only a certain extent to which outgoings can be adjusted to accommodate this. Those who worked hard throughout, keeping the economy ticking over, have already been asked to pay in other ways for people on furlough and grants to self employed. I personally don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask those who benefited from furlough to contribute to paying for it in some way. Yes we all benefited to some extent but you can understand why the family who is homeschooling, working two FT jobs and has taken a pay cut all whilst their neighbour has a few months off work already feels like the costs are unequally distributed. Most (like us) will see it as doing their bit, but the costs of recovery should be shared to a manageable level and not just passed on to people we think have more than us.

The areas that need to be changed are loopholes of course and also some of the structural factors. Self employment rates need to be brought in line with PAYE, the triple lock on state pensions should be reviewed (personally I think they should be means tested but that’s another story!) and CGT should be increased to same level as income tax. Likewise, we need to find a way of accessing some of the huge amounts of untaxed wealth accumulated in property over the past 30 years, much of which is disproportionately owned by retirees who draw significantly less taxable income and actually underspend relative to their wealth position than working age groups (again averages distort reality in this group but overall that’s the picture).

Overall my point is that everyone needs to contribute to recovery, including those who benefited and those who have broader shoulders, but in addition we need to find better ways than income tax to offset costs. Oh, and don’t forget the inflation we will all need to factor in to prices over the next few years as businesses try to recoup their losses from us too. It will be a double whammy of higher taxes and higher prices all around. But hopefully flexible working is here to stay at least?? I think many people would gladly pay a bit more to have a lifestyle benefit (and travel / lunch etc) savings) like that!

Not sure if it's been mentioned already, but £50k in London, for example, might afford you a lower quality of life than £35k somewhere else. Aside from this, I've never really understood people's sense of entitlement to other people's money. I've actually turned down a pay rise before which would've made me worse off in real terms.

They pay more in council tax for their home too.

Council tax is based on the location and value of your home, I thought? Not on earnings.

What's the alternative though?
Someone will have to pay for this. Should it be those on a low income, many of which have found themselves poorer and poorer year on year after austerity hit them hard?

I think a tax on inherited wealth over a certain amount would be a good start.

...on property.

Sorry, it's early. I know inheritance tax already exists. Another cup of tea I think.

Of course we should address income inequality. Income inequality is getting out of hand.

No I don’t agree 2X £50k earners should be entry into what is seen as “filthy rich”.

But you sound like an entitled spoilt brat. No one has much in the way of disposal income left after their bills and mortgage. In fact, most people don’t have anything left or are scrambling to find the pennies to pay those bills in the first place.

50k even with two household it's not necessarily wealthy. For some it might be classed as a high income, but that doesnt always translate directly to wealth.

Yes theres a bill to pay, but that should be shared by all. Add a few p to every tax bracket. The higher incomes will still contribute more as a proportion but I dont believe 50k earners should foot the bill.

No-one should be getting a free ride here.

@caringcarer council tax is based on the size of your home. If you bought a house with high council tax that's entirely your choice, no one forced you to do that.

It depends how much the tax is - we don't seem to know yet but it should be individual income, not penalise working couples.

@hadenoughbleach

Higher earners already DO pay more tax; those earning over £50,000 pay 40%, which is double the rate of those lower than that salary, then the top rate of 45% kicks in at a basic salary of £150,000...how much more do they want from people???

This^^ with bells on.

"And you too when hospital consultants have to cut their hours because of the impact of tax meaning you have to wait longer for an operation"

Oh god really? You mean they will get a better work/life balance whilst maintaining a high salary? How will they cope? Yes the consultants and surgeons really will be the ones baring the brunt of the financial crisis

Meanwhile the cleaners and porters of the same hospital are on low wages carrying out vital services. The nurses have been fighting against their low pay for years. Should they pay it then?

@Jrobhatch29

"And you too when hospital consultants have to cut their hours because of the impact of tax meaning you have to wait longer for an operation"

Oh god really? You mean they will get a better work/life balance whilst maintaining a high salary? How will they cope? Yes the consultants and surgeons really will be the ones baring the brunt of the financial crisis

Meanwhile the cleaners and porters of the same hospital are on low wages carrying out vital services. The nurses have been fighting against their low pay for years. Should they pay it then?

How do you know what the personal financial situation is of the hospital consultants?? They have studied and worked to achieve their careers. Having a high paying job does not equal independently wealthy. Anyway- just because someone has money doesn’t mean you or anyone else is entitled to take it because they have more than you.

Wow. This is why I hate the attitude in this country. If you earn a bit over you are expected to give it all back and then not get any of the the benefits available. At least in Scandinavian countries where they have high tax the benefits such as childcare are for everyone. Everyone pays in everyone gets out. No one is sniffy about the middle classes. In this country it’s like earn over a 100K, no you don’t deserve anything but give us all all your money. Never mind that you work all hours of the day to get that money.