Half of DPs wages are taxed

[summerfinn]

My DS got paid his first month of his new salary yesterday. Which was eleven thousand euro he go taxed half of that which only left us with only 5500 as his monthly pay. The tax is system is disgusting in the country I live in. Even with that wage it's difficult to get by these days with the cost of everything.

This doesn't make sense.

The calculation for total tax (PAYE, PRSI and USC) for someone with a gross income of €132,000 a year is €53,885.

That's an overall tax burden of 41%.

Not 50%.

And someone with €132,000 would have income after tax of just over €6500 a month, not €5500.

That's assuming no pension contributions - if he is paying into a pension, then his tax liability would be lower still.

There comes a point where if you tax people too much they stop working as they are disincentivised.

This is the theory behind the Laffer Curve

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/laffercurve.asp

It's used to insult people and it was used a lot back in the day on Mumsnet.

Our family income is around €130,000 if you include my company car. There are two of us working but I earn about two thirds of that.

I don't think I ever imagined we would be rich on this kind of income. We live in a three bedroom apartment which we only bought four years ago at the age of 33. I drive a Peugeot 308, which was admittedly brand new when I got it two years ago, and which belongs to my employer, who also covers insurance, maintenance and petrol. We have one child in nursery full time, which only costs us €600 a month because childcare is much cheaper here. We eat well and spend a lot on food, get a takeaway every week or two, which is incredibly expensive, cleaner about once a fortnight. We don't go on expensive holidays or city breaks anymore. We eat out occasionally, but much less than we did before kids. We might one day be able to afford private school fees, but that is much, much cheaper here. If we were in the UK on an equivalent income, private school would be completely out of the question. We also pay for health insurance and it doesn't always cover the full cost of our healthcare.

We pay a lot of tax, and once our unavoidable bills have been covered, we aren't rolling in it.

So I get what you mean. It sounds like a lot of money but in reality it is nowhere near enough to afford what I would consider a life of luxury.

But at the same time, I know that nearly all of our friends, who seem to be getting by just fine, have a lower income than we do. And at a population level, the very vast majority of other families have a lower income than we do.

I can't pretend that I don't worry about money because I do, a bit. But we don't have serious money worries. We are secure. We don't have debt other than our mortgage. We spend less than we earn, even without particularly careful budgeting. We could be doing a lot better but we could also be doing a lot worse.

And that in itself is a luxury, these days. If you are in your 30s and you are a homeowner whose income comfortable exceeds your expenditure, you are one of the lucky ones. You are living a life of comparative luxury.

But if you compare yourself to people living in massive houses with kids in private school and regular skiing holidays - people who probably aren't paying for all of that out of their post tax earned income - then of course you will feel hard done by.

You need to compare yourself to the whole of society, not to the extremely privileged.

I had two babies in Ireland. With the second, I went through the public, midwife led public system and had excellent care which cost me pretty much nothing. I had regular free appointments with either midwives or GP, free stay in hospital, visits from the PH nurse afterwards. So it does not have to cost anything, much less a lot a money to have a baby in Ireland. And when people talk about private health care in Ireland, its nothing like the cost in someplace like the US. I pay something like 550 per annum for myself, I'd rather not but it's hardly extortionate either

I ddon't think it's fair that they take almost half from you, when you're a high earner.

They don't though. OP's figures don't make sense.

Total tax liability for someone on €132k a year is 41%, not 50%.

Yes. It seems my info was out of date.
I was relating it to my cousins having kids but things have now changed.

Apologies for misinformation to MNs !

fucking hell thats cold

Yeah also live in Ireland and is really not the case that these things are better here.

Also are some very high rental rates depending on where you live but €5500 is a lot.

To live on.

That’s not really a true representation, is it…?

Agree

This was in response to someone 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Agree with this point.

Not sure if she was maybe looking at total deductions such astax + usc (8%) +prsi not sure percentage figures on this.

It is relevant because People on low wages do not get pile on here. But in this case, majority of posters are insulting to OP

I was asking OP what this has got to do with whether her OP is taxed too much. Your comment doesn't answer that.

Are you sure there's not emergency tax added on as it's his first paycheck? That seems very high. I'm in ireland aswell and your right everything is ridiculously expensive.

OP I think you have a very negative and reductivist view of Ireland. I see it's faults as much as anyone but I also see that it generally has very high levels of volunteerism and social capital, a very strong cultural identity, lots of things to do free or very cheaply (including using the amenities naturally present in our fantastic environment). I also think that our welfare system is generally pretty decent, child benefit is very high, we generally have a really child centred education system at primary level especially, relatively low crime rates and older citizens get a lot of benefits not available in other countries. Some of these things (though not all) come from taxation that your partner (not even you!)and I pay. One doesn't only pay tax in order to get things of direct benefit to oneself but to live in a decent society with good public services. There are gaps, there are challenges, there are places where money could be better spent but overall, people in Ireland have a pretty good quality of life . I say that as a lone parent on a third of your partners salary. Oh and I have a PhD and work pretty damn hard too in a job in the community sector.

But Ireland is 2nd highest after UK. Well done to @Goodoccasionallypoor for making it a competition but Op's point still stands that childcare is eye-watering expensive and despite earning a high salary, they are left with very little. It is not a competition of who has it worst.

@MargotBamborough

You need to compare yourself to the whole of society, not to the extremely privileged

that’s exactly my point. But at the same time we’re sold a story that all the things I referenced are not a “luxury lifestyle” but a “middle income” lifestyle.

alongside that it shouldn’t be unreasonable to expect to live in a family size house and have a decent holiday on a regular income

Still annoyed at the OP. She's just absolutely taking the piss.

I've put your DP salary into a calculator and he should take home €6510 per month. Which is a take home if €78,000 per year. So listen to my tiny violin playin 🎻🎻🎻

But they don't need childcare. The op is not working.