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blueboy43

Generali wrote: »

In the UK, taxes are paid by the rich and by the childless and it's not right. If there is a society then everyone should chip in if they can.

I'm afraid this is just nuts. In most OECD countries taxes (particularly direct one) are paid by the rich - thats were the money is and thats the price for living in a civilised democracy.

Even the bottom 10th of people are paying 31% of their earned, investment or pension income in direct taxes alone.
Exactly how much do you propose increasing this to so that it fits your definition of 'right' ?




Great spreadsheet though.

globalds

The figures seem about right for me .

My household would fall into column G

I lived in Japan for 6 years , earned more than I do now ,but felt I ended up with a lot less .The wife had 2 kids in Japan and think I paid about £1000 for each birth ...It seems being pregnant isn't a sickness.So medical insurance is not fully claimable.This was just the start and part of the timing for my move was when i learned how expensive Japanese education was and the extremely high cost of housing.

I was lucky that I bought in UK just before the boom and my mortgage is not fixed so my payments per month are at a ludicrously low level.If I were to think of it as the price for keeping a roof over my head ,rather than as an investment it seems even more absurd.

I think this is where my underlying concern comes from and to get back to your joke ...I can't see who is paying for the beer any more.

Generali

blueboy43 wrote: »

I'm afraid this is just nuts. In most OECD countries taxes (particularly direct one) are paid by the rich - thats were the money is and thats the price for living in a civilised democracy.

Even the bottom 10th of people are paying 31% of their earned, investment or pension income in direct taxes alone.
Exactly how much do you propose increasing this to so that it fits your definition of 'right' ?

Mostly I think it's interesting and in my OP I put no moral spin on the numbers, I just present them as they are.

To put a spin on the message I think it's 'wrong' that in net terms half of people are taking out more than they put in or seem to be from a simplistic reading of the numbers.

The actual punchline of the joke which I omitted goes thusly:

That’s how our tax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes do tend to get the most benefit from tax reliefs and reductions. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy and they just might not show up anymore.


For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible. Oh, and for those who have heard this one before, please don’t write to Max or me to say so. But do try to remember that it’s not always necessary to be solemn to make a serious point.

blueboy43 wrote: »

Great spreadsheet though.

I agree. Lots of people seem to want to do the ONS down. I think they do very good and interesting work and the organisation is pretty cheap, comparatively speaking from memory.

blueboy43

Generali wrote: »

Mostly I think it's interesting and in my OP I put no moral spin on the numbers, I just present them as they are.

To put a spin on the message I think it's 'wrong' that in net terms half of people are taking out more than they put in or seem to be from a simplistic reading of the numbers.

How can it be wrong ?

By definition there have to be some people who put in & some who take out. If it was a statistically normal distribution, we would have 50% on one side and 50% on the other side of the median.

Part of the underlying reason will be the number of pensioners in the bottom half. Some of whom may have spent much of their lives putting in and now are taking out.

We really need to tackle those who have never worked or have no prospect or intention to.