Originally Posted by martyh

We are talking anyone earning over 150k and before you start slagging off people on such a wage remember that is not such a high wage as you think and many have worked hard and paid a lot of money to be in that position .

Originally Posted by Stuart

While I don't believe the rich should be penalised as such, it's worth pointing out that if you earn over £150,000 you can still have a nice life on the remaining salary after income tax (even at the highest right). If you are earning under £20,000, paying income tax may mean you have to skip things so your family can afford to eat.

That's one thing the figures fail to take into account. Another is the amount people earn. The rich have become excellent at tax dodging so while they still pay the higher rate of income tax, they only do it on a fraction of their income, the rest being diverted to off shore companies.

Not all rich people are like that, I'll agree. Some do pay their taxes (I have one cousin who is in the six digit salary group, possibly 7 and considers that because the country helped him, in the form of benefits, when he and his family needed it, he owes the country). Over the years the tax he has paid has paid for the benefits claimed dozens of times over, but he is happy with the thought the money might be helping someone else in his situation.

If just one rich person stopped offshoring 10s of millions of pounds a year and actually paid tax on the FULL amount of their income rather than a fraction of it, how many people would that benefit? The money could pay to keep several schools operating, and upgrade them with state of the art equipment. It could probably build a couple of hospitals.