What do you think of the 5% tax hike for those earning more than £150k - good or bad?

[soapbox]

????

ultimately this is about one thing.

Jealousy.

No it isn't wannabe.

That's a politically and philosophically illiterate thing to say.

Many super rich people believe that they should pay more tax.

I don't think you can accuse JK Rowling of financial jealousy

But LB JK rowling is hardly in the category we are talking about is she ??? !!

besides Wannabe was talking aboout the havenots being jealous of the super rich not the super rich being jealous of those who dont pay tax !

I think j.k. rowling earns signifficantly more than £150k a year though...

and it's not the higher earners who are jealous (and I don't class £150k a year as being rich), it's the lower earners who are jealous. You only have to read the thread to see that.

no it's not about jealousy, wannabe.

ONly whizzed through today's posts, but poppins, you make yourself sound so superior, as if you are one of the few people in the world who has worked hard to get where they are, as if you are one of a small few who started off with very little in life. The threats about moving to a sunny paradise and making people lose their jobs if government doesn't do enough to please you.

Allthese small points combined make an unpleasant attitude.

I understood wannabe to mean that anyone who believes in a progressive tax system, only does so out of jealousy, rather than out of any philsosphical or political standpoint.

How do you know what people earn Wannabe?

Have you not read Countess Dracula's posts?

pointy there's a real attitude though that people who earn decent money don't actually work for it which is categorically not true.

My dh is a higher rate tax payer (doesn't earn £150k though sadly), but he earns a decent salary, decent enough that I can afford to be a sahm. But he works bloody hard for that salary - commutes to London so leaves the house at 6 in the morning and doesn't get home till gone 7, often has to work weekends etc. And yes, I begrudge the higher rate of tax. I personally don't see why, just because someone earns more they should pay more - we don't live in a socialist society.

I personally think there should be a flat rate of tax for everyone.

I'm sorry but it's not up to you to "class" people as rich or not.

Objectively, it is not a matter of opinion that if you earn £150,000 p.a., you are in the top 1% of income earners in this country.

What percentage do you have to narrow it down to, before you will allow someone to be described as rich? 0.000000000005%?

Wannabe, my DH is a chef and works 9am till midnight 5 or 6 days a week. I am SAHM and honestly can't believe how lucky money wise we are. We aren't at the £150k threshold but I would be doing cart wheels if we were.

pointydog.........thats a tad unfair. I did start with nothing and I have worked damn hard. Why should I share my success with others who sit and wait for hand outs ?

LOL at "and he works bloody hard for his salary"

Why do high earners always say that? Low earners work bloody hard for their salaries too, in the main. Go and be a carer in an old people's home for minimum wage if you don't believe me. Or even try one of the low-ish paying professions. Like teaching or nursing or the police. They work hard too.

Thinking about it, I don't really know why how hard you work, has anything to do with it. It would only be relevant if you were advocating that wages ought to bear some relation to the hardship of the work.

"I'm sorry but it's not up to you to "class" people as rich or not." bollocks. I am entitled to my opinion on whether someone is rich or not in the same way as others are entitled to their opinions on whether someone is living in poverty or not. You may have a different opinion but that doesn't make mine any less valid.

Good post Little Bella. The attitude that people on lower wages don't work hard stinks.

nobody said that people on low wages didn't work hard.

But there is a lot of inference that people on higher wages are handed their money on a plate, and that is simply not the case.

mummypoppins do you mean by those who "sit and wait for handouts" those bastards who use the NHS for operations, the carers who are looking after their elderly relatives or their children with SN, those bastard children who go to school and expect to be educated, those selfish fuckers who want street lights so that they can see where they're going when they're out at night, those lazy gits who expect people to build roads to travel on, those selfish gits who expect the police to catch criminals etc.?

Because that is what our taxes are for. Among many other things.

IMO It is absurd to state that the top 1% of income earners are not rich.

You haven't answered my question Wannabe, at what percentage level of the population would you allow someone to be classed as rich?

crack fox its no different to the attitude that high earners dont deserve it........in a free market economy how can thatbe ?

These threads always bring out the worst on MN.

The jealousy is unbridled.

mummypoppins, because people who have the talent and drive to earn as much as you, and work just as hard as you, instead chose to help you and your family by being nurses, teachers, university lecturers, etc etc. They, of course, are just pissing about while you do all the work. There are very good arguments on both sides on this thread. Your point is not, in my opinion, amongst them.

MP - I am astounded my the number of people who do not understand the operation of a free market economy...

..that said of course we are not in one with our interventionist government...

It's naive to think it's all about jealousy. I don't want or need to earn a high salary. I am genuinely happy with what we have. It doesn't mean that I think that we shouldn't pay higher tax than those on lower incomes than us. I do. We're just about over the first tax hike threshold - 38k, is it - something like that, anyway. I'm glad we pay the extra.