Benefits

Spendless wrote: »

Is that figure accurate? Me and my DH have a similar household income and have nothing like that amount of money coming in. If it is accurate then it is due to my husband's 'benefits in kind' ie company car and fuel that he pays tax on.

That is something to be taken into account when commenting on posts like this, that one party may be heavily taxed, so though the gross figure looks great, the net salary into the household may not be.

Our household income is higher than OPs and we don't have that net income. That would be the gross and won't take into account tax, nic, pension, student loan deduction etc.

bigbulldog wrote: »

No it's a approx that was taken from the 66k (in which I assume is gross )posted earlier on this thread however even though one party might or might not be heavily taxed really does not come into it as it's still earned income giving higher than the norm ave weekly income.

Company car yes you pay extra income tax,but then you don't have the worry of the purchase price of the car and none of the other bills owning the car the apart from the major difference between the two is one is paid at source and the other falls into household bills and the one paid at source would be generally cheaper than the other.

You might still have a car in the household though. We do, to get me to work as I work in the sticks, so you have all the associated bills with that.

Ok, it's not running 2 cars, but part of a higher salary can mean working longer hours and being away from home more often. On a lower salary with a more local job me and DH could share one car.

And of course, whether you're heavily taxed comes into it. We all live off the income we end up with in our bank accounts, not off what the top line says. It seems to me that if you are a lower earner, it's ok to 'forget' to include any income into the household such as tax credits, but when you've got a higher salary, you're not allowed to point out that the net wage may indeed be lower or equal to someone earning a lot less.