AIBU to ask what amount of tax you would pay if you earned £30k and what amount of tax you would pay if you earned £60k?

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have just read here as poster saying a person on £60k would pay more tax than couple who both earned £30k each

is that true?

ok, say no childcare costs too

If a couple on 30k each have children under 11ish then the 4k tax saving may be taken up by childcare costs. Whereas the 60k earner with sahm is likely to need very little childcare (bar some scenarios).

I have found myself in both these brackets over the last 10 years and both have their pro's and cons.

People should look at the whole picture and do whats best for their faml

According to this working couple would get £655 pa in Tax Credits if they did not pay childcare

If they did pay childcare they would get up to £11,575 towards their childcare costs

...family and cirumstance.

Ignore my last post - I was looking at £30k

I see this has already been answered in some detail but I just wanted to recommend a really good tax calculator website:

listentotaxman.com/

I have used this to compare the take home on different salaries before and found it v handy. It doesn't add in child benefit or tax credits though.

What if the person earning £60k is a single parent? Why the assumption that the person earning £60k is part of a couple with the advantage of a sahp?

My friends are on 34k between them and have been told they get no help at all towards childcare costs.

If they are a single parent then yes they would have childcare as well but the salary would also be supporting one less adult too. In any case 60k in any scenario is a decent income even with variable tax allowances.

...and the childcare would cost the same as it would cost a couple, but would come out of the single (lower net) salary. I don't think the fact that there is one less adult to support is justification for the difference in treatment, particularly when the point of child benefit is that it is for the child, not the adult(s).

Either make it means tested based on household income, or keep it universal IMO.

"In any case 60k in any scenario is a decent income even with variable tax allowances."

Yes, and 2 x 30k is an even more decent income surely? Given that it's around £5k net more a year?

this may come handy: www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php

I do agree emsyj. The calculations should be means tested and fair but I don't think someone on a 60k salary, single or married are going to be in too much strife assuming they are not in massive debt etc...It's people on much lower incomes that will be more affected by continuing cuts and rises in living costs. CB for HR tax payers is probably the tip of the iceberg.

That would be looking at household income then, soverylucky - which I think has to be the only fair way to apply means testing.

I guess it depends where you live tho themightyfandango - I can imagine £60k feeling quite tight if you live in London and, say, have 2 DCs of under school age. Nursery places in London seem phenomenally expensive (my friend pays £1300 a month for one child at the on-site nursery at her NHS hospital job !) and of course rent/house prices are through the roof too, plus commuting... I dunno. It sounds a lot but the cost of living these days is just eye-watering.

It does depend on individual circumstances as to how much the loss of CB will affect a family.We will lose ours (2 adults, 3kids, one HRTP) and I will notice the lack of it but it feels wrong to moan about it when I am surrounded by people that have much less. Even if the administration of it is deeply unjust.

If the gist of the thread is 'would 2 people both earning £30k take home more than one person earning £60k?' it's an emphatic yes. They get two personal allowances and pay 20% income tax on the remainder. The £60k earner gets one personal allowance and pays 40% income tax on everything over about £42k -ish. It's why some people want personal allowances to be transferrable.

Cognito- if that was allowed would it not play into the hands of domestic abusers. The non working partner would not easily be able to reclaim their own allowance in order to work. Or have I misunderstood?

Although of course if both parents are WOTH parents, then you have to factor in high amounts of money being paid out for childcare..... a lot more than the £5000 ish a year they would be better off in income. Whereas if you have one £60K earning parent and one SAHP then you aren't paying out for childcare.

Emsyj- the only fair scenario is that both parents should continue sharing the childcare costs, even if they decide to separate, just as they would if they stayed together . I am not naive enough to think it all works as smoothly as that. But I do think one of the biggest mistakes made by previous govts was to make the state almost an alternative to one parent. It has become socially acceptable, rather than shameful, to leave a relationship and abdicate parental responsibility with it.

It is utterly ridiculous that a couple can split, the woman (and it's usually the woman) can be receiving all sorts of state funding, while the absent parent may be raking it in elsewhere. As long as both parents are still alive and capable of work, then really the scenario needn't be totally a world away from a couple who remain together.