I do however think that everyone should pay tax (even at a very low level) – the reason being that you need to feel part of society and contribute to it. There seems to be a lot of people who think everyone else should pay more tax…
You might need to deliver some serious pay rises to people then or is this something we should be bundling in with universal credit?
Just to add everyone does pay tax, just some pay it in different ways.
Try reading back earlier in the thread, taking NI into account bumps up the overall percentage tax take quite considerably for someone on 60k.
I pay 32% on my standard rate earnings and 42% on my higher rate earnings. Not quite the gulf that some would like to make out. I also get 40% tax relief on higher rate pension contributions.
I'm a higher rate tax payer and have been for ages. Whilst I don't pay more tax than I have to, I'd not really have much problem paying more tax. It's not going to make my day, but I believe in progressive taxation. An extra 5% tax or whatever wouldn't really make any odds to me. And that's kind of the point - tax those who are lucky enough to be able to afford to pay more, more. (and it is luck to a larger extent from my experience...)
Yes
And what's more that's what the Scottish government has done. I pay a bit extra tax. I can afford it. I hate seeing the poverty we now have as a direct result of tory ideology
Privatisation of schools so parents pay or if the grades are 5hit, send them on to vocational skills.
Good grades= scholarship for poor kids.
Privatisation of schools so parents pay or if the grades are 5hit, send them on to vocational skills.
The Education System wasnt kind to you was it!!
With reference to the discussion further up the page, I'd like to say:
If Y is some general problem that will never be 100% solved in a complex society, like "tax loopholes" or "inefficiency" then saying "let's do X, but do Y first" is not support for doing X, it's just an evasive and dishonest way of saying "I don't want to do X".
You also need the right government to actually do X and use the money from X in the right places and not just ignoring X and doing more Y