'Do you think you get good value from paying tax?' poll discussion

zierisaver

I have worked hard all of my life and now find myself paying 50% tax on all of my earnings. Yes, those earnings are quite high, but I feel that by taxing high-earners so much we are in danger of removing the aspirations of those who want to do well and earn money. I'm not talking about greed here, I'm talking about those who have grafted, worked their way up, promotion after promotion, put the hours in and then see half their earnings taken on pay day.

Then I see Jeremy Kyle and I understand where it all goes.

So no, I don't think I get value for my taxes.

bigjimmer

I voted 'A little less', i was going to vote 'a little more' as i/my wife get Child Benefit and Tax Credits. But me and the wife both work (me full-time, her part-time) and earn a working class wage which when put together equals the national average before tax, and when i think about how much tax i pay, income, n.i., road, petrol, vat, council, it all adds up. I even pay 5% on my dogs pet insurance for crying out loud!

Might i add though, that it is the younger generation (i'm not quite 30 yet) that is paying all this tax to keep the older generation, but at the same time having to save alot more of our own than the boomers were encouraged to as we will be expected to fund ourselves when the time comes. Which is ironic really considering the boomers are/were the richest generation ever, but they don't like to share, just try for more.

I'm not sure how much that has to do with this vote, but it's why i believe we are all in a tight squeeze.

Oh and, i didn't ask for these benefits, and we will be better off when the wife can go back full time.

FATBALLZ

This poll is useless without providing more information about how much these public services actually cost to provide. I'm sure I've read that only the top few percent are actually net contributors to the tax pot, so many of those who are on decent salaries and think they pay in a lot actually do not, and gain more from public services than they actually pay in.

My household (2 adults) pays in comfortably over £25k a year in various taxes but even I wouldn't be sure we are net contributors - there are so many things - police, roads, council services, libraries that people forget tax provides for them and don't realise they are benefiting from when they use. We had a baby last year how much would that cost the NHS to deliver etc?

MSE_Martin

FATBALLZ wrote: »

This poll is useless without providing more information about how much these public services actually cost to provide. I'm sure I've read that only the top few percent are actually net contributors to the tax pot, so many of those who are on decent salaries and think they pay in a lot actually do not, and gain more from public services than they actually pay in.

My household (2 adults) pays in comfortably over £25k a year in various taxes but even I wouldn't be sure we are net contributors - there are so many things - police, roads, council services, libraries that people forget tax provides for them and don't realise they are benefiting from when they use. We had a baby last year how much would that cost the NHS to deliver etc?

It quite deliberately asks "do you feel" not "do you" for this very reason.

Its the perception of taxation I'm interested in. Of course the answer is likely to be calculated by ONS. Yet this is about what people feel - its indicative of the difficult of taxes in genreal.

Of course few really factor in the cost of safe streets or the armed forces, availability of ambulances and how much we'd need to pay in insurance to get all the same if the state didnt provide it.

That's part of the point of the poll.

yorkshiremeat

The results of this really made me smile!

People seem to have the impression that THEY are the hardworking ones and its OTHERS who are robbing the state blind.

Bloomin' lazeabouts... probably at home with their 7 kids, smoking weed, drinking stella and watching Jeremy Kyle. He he he. :-) I think people are much higher "users" of services than they actually realise.

I am a specialist nurse in the NHS. I regularly have to cope with patients telling me that the NHS and/or "country" does nothing for them, "going to the dogs" etc etc etc.

Please be aware these a wide range of people from all backgrounds, but the jist is generally the same, "paid my taxes all my life", "paid my stamp", "worked every day without a sick day for 40 years". Yes, you probably did (most of you, some I am VERY suspicious) and thank you very much, taxes are vital to the everyday running of our country and services, but they all seem to think that they have had nothing back!

I did once have to gently explain to one gentleman affected by cancer (classic NHS bemoaner), that just ONE weeks supply of his pain killer (at his dosage).... cost just over £1100. This was ONE of SEVENTEEN medications. We could have treated his pain much more cheaply, perhaps £30 per week, but that would have given him lots of others undue side effects, nausea, tiredness etc. We did it because we wanted to give him the best quality of life, and I think that any tax payer in that situation would want the same.

And don't forget, alright you might not get out, what you paid in (and why should you, its not a bloomin bank account) but you support a safety net for the sick, vulnerable and infirm in our society and I think the country really would "go to the dogs" if we didn't. We all could end up in situations which we didn't anticipate and need support that takes extra from the pot.

onlyme65

The reason nearly 75% of the respondants to this poll on this site think they get less than they pay in is because most people on this site work for a living and need all the help and tips they can get to survive. Whereas most people who drain the system of money and get much more than they pay in is because they dont need mortgage tips as they get their houses paid for. They dont insure their houses so dont need insurance tips. They dont need travel advice as they get DLA allowances to get free cars. Am i just sceptical, but that covers a lot of the headings at the top of the page?
So maybe it is the struggling masses that are trying to keep their heads above water that use this site most.
Maybe I am just getting bitter as I see ordinary people becoming worse off as the government seem to bend over backwards to accomodate those that contribute nothing but take everything..
Sorry,, forgive my rant.

Gordon_the_Moron

I voted I pay in more than I receive, I figure that I probably do as I have not used any NHS service in the last 9 years, I don't claim any benefits whatsoever and I work and pay income tax, I also pay VAT, fuel tax on my car (which I think more than covers my use of the roads !) and I drink regularly so pay tax on that too.

I might be wrong but I can't think what I take out that could cost more than I put in, I'm not selfish enough to complain about that though.

jonesjw

We have a high tax economy with too many spongers unfairly living off the efforts of others. Taxes and public spending need cutting hard and fast.

sunstarrr

Personally I think the amount of council tax and income tax etc I pay is very good value for receiving so many public services. Reading the above comments it seems almost everyone is hung up on the fact that they don't claim benefits. But the "benefits" we get from paying tax go much further, they pay for the following...
Schools
Hospitals, doctors' surgeries
Refuse collection and recycling
Social services (old people's homes, meals on wheels, home helps, children's homes, social workers, day centres etc)
Parks, leisure centres, swimming pools
Village halls and community facilities
Public libraries
Public footpaths and bridleways
Roads and street lighting
Parks and open spaces
Waste disposal
Cemeteries
Country parks
Police, ambulance, fire services
and much more besides...

I think all this for what I pay is good value but then I seem to be in the minority!!

Gordon_the_Moron

sunstarrr wrote: »

Personally I think the amount of council tax and income tax etc I pay is very good value for receiving so many public services. Reading the above comments it seems almost everyone is hung up on the fact that they don't claim benefits. But the "benefits" we get from paying tax go much further, they pay for the following...
Schools
Childless, don't use them
Hospitals, doctors' surgeries
Not used either in the last 10 years, luckily in good health
Refuse collection and recycling
Don't live in my own place so don't pay council tax which pays for this
Social services (old people's homes, meals on wheels, home helps, children's homes, social workers, day centres etc)
Don't use them
Parks, leisure centres, swimming pools
Village halls and community facilities
Don't use any of the above apart from leisure centre, which I pay for and don't believe is a big loss maker
Public libraries
Don't use
Public footpaths and bridleways
Roads and street lighting
I think if everyone paid as much fuel tax as I did, that would cover this, I also pay other taxes !
Parks and open spaces
Waste disposal
Again on this one, don't pay council tax
Cemeteries
Country parks
Police, ambulance, fire services
Not used any of these in the last 10 years either
and much more besides...

I think all this for what I pay is good value but then I seem to be in the minority!!

I agree we get good value for money in MOST things, I also don't have a problem with taking out less than I put in, I just can't believe I don't.