Quote:
Originally Posted by NFS
The problem is that people who earn £30k a year think that someone earning £ 60k a year is loaded. Unfortunately, in my experience a nice pay rise is not quite as life changing as you expect when you have to hand 40% of it straight to Osbourne so that he can piss it up the wall.
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While I agree with the sentiment the reality is quite different.
The difference between £30,000 and £60,000 a year is around £1,600 a month (and that's after tax). That's a big difference no matter how you look at it.
If we all lived in 2 up 2 down Victorian terraces that cost £170,000 and drove Ford Mondeos then those on £60,000 a year would be rolling in it, imagine the disposable income they'd have.
But they don't, they live in 3/4+ bedroom semidetached houses and (in the case of this forum) drive BMWs, Audis, Mercedes and various other "premium" brand cars.
This is why those on £30,000 look at those on £60,000 with an element of envy.
That said, I'm not saying I don't agree with you. Like I said, it will always be the "middle" get takes the brunt of it.
The government can't take anything off the very poor because they don't have anything to take. If you strip them of various benefits/housing then you run the risk of creating pockets of poverty where the standard of living would be utterly unbearable. I am sure we can all agree, that is not the kind of country we want to live in.
The government can't screw businesses and the very rich because they're too influential. And even if they did try and tax the shit out of them they'd simply relocate their businesses/change their residency status to avoid any hikes.
So that leaves us, you and I. Included in this infamous "middle" is basically every man and woman on the street who dares to work for a living. Pretty much everyone on PAYE gets boned.
Now if you're earning much beyond £60,000 a year I think you have a little less to complain about than if you're earning less than that. Though I do appreciate that handing over 40% of your hard earned to HMRC is difficult to stomach when in return all you receive a set of sub-standard public services and MPs/public servants who are simply out to milk the system for all it's worth.
And if you're a business owner/self-employed/sole trader I think there are plenty of legal, not so legal and other (somewhat) grey, mechanisms by which you can save a shitload of money. Whether it be using your Costco account to buy stuff for home or because you pay fuck all NI or get creative with your accounts.
PAYE earners get the shaft, from the guy earning minimum wage flipping burgers at McDonalds to the educated professional who makes £50,000 a year.
In this particular instance, they're screwing the 40% rate group, which I happen to fall into. But I do not doubt for one moment that those in lower (and higher) brackets will also get hit, it's just a matter of time.