Tax in UK

aspiring said:
What do you mean by reassuring? 5k net a month should certainly give you comfort even after all those things?
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All depends how much all those things are... If you have a 2.5k mortgage and expensive childcare then that 5k isnt going to go that far.
If you have a 1k mortgage and low child care costs (say if you have kind grandparents or whatever) then it will.

I expect the average person earning 5k/month isnt going to be living in a £700/month house
 
Taxes in the U.K. are not high for an economically developed country, particularly in Europe.

They are historically high for the U.K. but if you look across the English Channel, they are a lot lower here.

Tax isn’t just about the rates, although it’s seemingly the only thing people talk about. You need to take a really really close look at what is actually taxable, that’s where things get very complicated but it can have a huge impact on the outcome. Then you have to factor in other indirect taxes (VAT, council tax etc.) and what’s taxable within those taxes.

Just looking at headlines rates is just too simplistic and only tells a very small part of the story.
 
TBH I think people in the UK worry too much about tax. We love our "free" services but hate paying for them. It always struck me as odd. Most countries either seem to hate tax and accept zero free services, or don't mind tax and love the free services. Typical Brits want it both ways.
Personally, I love the British system and really do think that we should raise taxes to pay for the services properly. We used to get so much more forty years ago, including completely free education.
True, the government does waste a lot of money, but that's a different matter...
Australia? Not a clue. Lol. :cry:
 
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Guest2 said:
All depends how much all those things are... If you have a 2.5k mortgage and expensive childcare then that 5k isnt going to go that far.
If you have a 1k mortgage and low child care costs (say if you have kind grandparents or whatever) then it will.

I expect the average person earning 5k/month isnt going to be living in a £700/month house
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Indeed. It depends on what end of the scale you are.

2 kids who aren't at school age, and remember earning over 100k you don't qualify for the 30hrs of childcare or tax free childcare. Then you have the food, extra washing, car seats etc....

Whilst I hate to wish my life away not having to pay for childcare does release a lot of cash and having to only pick them up from one place makes life easier.
 
SpellowHouse said:
TBH I think people in the UK worry too much about tax. We love our "free" services but hate paying for them. It always struck me as odd. Most countries either seem to hate tax and accept zero free services, or don't mind tax and love the free services. Typical Brits want it both ways.
Personally, I love the British system and really do think that we should raise taxes to pay for the services properly. We used to get so much more forty years ago, including completely free education.
True, the government does waste a lot of money, but that's a different matter...
Australia? Not a clue. Lol. :cry:
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The free services are crumbling because people are living longer and more people seem to be getting ill.
Private healthcare ive had recently has been 100x better than state care.

Don’t know, i think it would be fairer to pay for what you use and pay for your own private healthcare (not you, i mean generally for everyone)

It boils my **** when family members (sort of family) talk about getting their pension when they have never paid a single bean into the system, live in a council house on benefits for 30 odd years.
 
Guest2 said:
The free services are crumbling because people are living longer and more people seem to be getting ill.
Private healthcare ive had recently has been 100x better than state care.

Don’t know, i think it would be fairer to pay for what you use and pay for your own private healthcare (not you, i mean generally for everyone)

It boils my **** when family members (sort of family) talk about getting their pension when they have never paid a single bean into the system, live in a council house on benefits for 30 odd years.
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But it's wrong to penalise the people who did pay in to the system just to get back at the people who didn't. Me, for example, I have paid "National Insurance" for a very long time, why should I suddenly lose all those benefits I might need one day?

The problem there is not the theory, it's the practice. The government has a terrible record of failing to filter out the scroungers. I am absolutely certain we could devise a much better and fairer system without resorting to completely scrapping it.
 
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Freefaller said:
So what's happened in your opinion? How do you think we'll fix it?
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Start building up in house skills, but slowly reducing private contract's.

Rather than contract out cleaners in the NHS, close all private cleaning contracts and direct hire cleaners.
Most of the money in the NHS is being passed onto the private sector. Lots of people have become millionaires, I know 2 people and spoke to a few others. They have made millions from the NHS by providing services.
 
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Mrwong said:
Start building up in house skills, but slowly reducing private contract's.

Rather than contract out cleaners in the NHS, close all private cleaning contracts and direct hire cleaners.
Most of the money in the NHS is being passed onto the private sector. Lots of people have become millionaires, I know 2 people and spoke to a few others. They have made millions from the NHS by providing services.
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The reason it is contacted out is because its usually cheaper and can be a lot cheaper - particularly for things like building services.

Like it or not, outsourced cleaners are paid less, have less employment perks because they basically get the statutory minimum which is well below what a directly employed public sector worker would get. All of these things have a significant cost, the big ticket items are career average salary pension scheme, 2 more weeks paid holiday, 5/6 months full sick pay 5/6 months half sick pay (10/12 months total), full maternity/paternity pay etc. They are also not bound by public sector procurement rules for acquiring equipment and consumables - a huge cost saving.

Hospitals need maintenance staff on standby 24/7/365 but they don't necessarily have enough work to employ people from specific niches 24/7/365 so outsourcing makes a huge amount of sense. Those workers can be deployed across multiple contacts which lowers the price to the NHS.

I'm not saying that is right (particularly the worse treatment of workers), I'm just saying that is why it is what it is.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Hospitals need maintenance staff on standby 24/7/365 but they don't necessarily have enough work to employ people from specific niches 24/7/365 so outsourcing makes a huge amount of sense. Those workers can be deployed across multiple contacts which lowers the price to the NHS.
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It's not always that effective/efficient, dispite it looking so on paper. So, I rock up to an NHS site because they have a loss of power in one area, ok then, ok then, establish which areas are off and what they have done, quite a few rooms, and they don't know what to do, they've called it into maintenance and because its out of hours its been passed through a chain of subcontractors until its got to me, so need to find the dist board for the area, no one seems to have a clue (why would they), someone manages to track down a key holder, and we have a bit of a search and manage to to find it and generally there is no fault, its been an issue with a kettle or toaster in a ward kitchen and just needs reseting. Or we manage to find a door thats clearly got the distribution equipment in but no one has a key "Oh we thought you'd have a key" Normally end up with at least an hour of premium billable time wasted just because I'm not familar with the site, and have been issued no information or keys, sometimes I am unable to do anything. Its actually worse when there is normal hours maintenance team and they just use you for emergency stuff out of hours, contracts where you do other stuff you get to know the sites, who keeps various keys etc. I got talking to a chap who works in the water industry and they have actually moved away from sub contracting stuff like this due to these kinds of issues (plus its possibly worse because there would be a lot of plant, with its quirks that an outsider would not necessarily know) this was on a call out to fire station (the chap was one of the senior retained firefighters) and we had a bit of a run around trying to locate keys to the mains room.
 
Guest2 said:
All depends how much all those things are... If you have a 2.5k mortgage and expensive childcare then that 5k isnt going to go that far.
If you have a 1k mortgage and low child care costs (say if you have kind grandparents or whatever) then it will.

I expect the average person earning 5k/month isnt going to be living in a £700/month house
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So what would you say is a comfortable wage to bring 2 kids upon?
 
Guest2 said:
The free services are crumbling because people are living longer and more people seem to be getting ill.
Private healthcare ive had recently has been 100x better than state care.

Don’t know, i think it would be fairer to pay for what you use and pay for your own private healthcare (not you, i mean generally for everyone)

It boils my **** when family members (sort of family) talk about getting their pension when they have never paid a single bean into the system, live in a council house on benefits for 30 odd years.
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Free services also crumble due to nature of misuse. Some.people take the NHS as a joke and abuse it. Those need paying tbh.
 
aspiring said:
So what would you say is a comfortable wage to bring 2 kids upon?
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All depends how you want to bring them up I suppose. People manage to bring up kids on little money but I guess its a different lifestyle to private education.

Private school and childcare I hear costs a lot of money. I'm not a parent myself (yet) but I have seen some of the prices private schools are charging. My kids certainly wont be going to private school (as I didnt either) sure, it would be nice too but its not possible on wages up to about 60k. Well, not with a mortgage and all other expenses
 
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The current system is clearly designed to keep anyone on PAYE down by making it difficult to really become wealthy as a salaried employee. The only viable ways are own a business or inherit. All the envy over higher paid employees and the tax policies and suggestions targeting them is really misplaced.
 
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