What is a good salary?

It seems to be that the powers that be
Keep themselves in splendour and security
Armoured cars for megastars
No streets, no bars, yours wealth is ours
They make the masses, kiss their asse(t)s
Lower class jackass, pay me tax take out the trash
Working for the world go round
Your job is gold, do as you're told
They pay you less then run for congress
 
halfmist said:
With around,I would guess, around 80% of those who bother to vote, having some sort of vested interest in property, it would be a very brave or foolish Party who removed the tax free benefit of home ownership. If the tax was based on profit on sale , nobody would bother moving which would kill the housing market, labour mobility and downsizing by those in larger properties. It would be a disaster.
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I agree it’s never going to happen, we as a country have put way too much importance into property ownership that the ships long since sailed. I was talking more about second property ownership and doing more about that though, which might have more traction.
 
To compound the issue:

The average person earning £30,000 pays 38% tax.

People with an income over £500,000 pay an average of 21%.

When politicians say that essential services are not affordable, it is because they refuse to address this issue.
 
oldius said:
My parents are of the opinion that things were 'just as hard'. They were working class - my mum a cleaner and my dad an electrician. We worked out that 90 weeks of net take home pay (all of it) would have bought their house, in Sale, outright. 90 weeks of average take home pay now would pay £45 - £50k. Things are simply not the same and my parents were shocked when I did the calculation.

BTW, their first house (council flat before) was £2750. My dad was on £31 a week take home pay.
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Things were just as hard for us, saving up, buying a house, getting married, working all hours etc etc blah blah blah....but we did it and went through the hard times. At the risk of sounding like my parents there are more distractions, more crap, ' better ' consumables etc to spend/waste your money on nowadays. This discussion will carry on until the human race ceases to excist I'm afraid.
 
oldius said:
Indeed, that is fact. Nevertheless, 90 weeks pay bought a terraced house in Sale. The average price of a house on that road, in 2023, is £308k. At the current median UK salary, that would take 616 weeks to repay, using full net pay.
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The difference being those that could not even risk it couldn’t invest at all whereas today you could try buying a house outright and still have a market to sell it back to and hopefully some equity (vs lost rental payments). Mathematically one looks much more expensive than the other but if the cheaper one cannot even be considered then who had it harder? Personally I think it’s wrong to compare too much because the situations are so different.
 
oldius said:
To compound the issue:

The average person earning £30,000 pays 38% tax.

People with an income over £500,000 pay an average of 21%.

When politicians say that essential services are not affordable, it is because they refuse to address this issue.
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Not sure how you have arrived at a tax rate of 21% for earners over £500k.
 
meltonblue said:
I agree it’s never going to happen, we as a country have put way too much importance into property ownership that the ships long since sailed. I was talking more about second property ownership and doing more about that though, which might have more traction.
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It needs to start with the taxing of capital gains at the same rates as income tax. There is a tax free capital gains allowance at the moment of over £12k per annum. It was put there to stop minor gains having to be declared and a tax return completed. Once that annual allowance has been passed by the gain, the gain should be taxed in full. It’s unfair that unearned income is taxed more favourably than earned income.
 
halfmist said:
It needs to start with the taxing of capital gains at the same rates as income tax. There is a tax free capital gains allowance at the moment of over £12k per annum. It was put there to stop minor gains having to be declared and a tax return completed. Once that annual allowance has been passed by the gain, the gain should be taxed in full. It’s unfair that unearned income is taxed more favourably than earned income.
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Yep completely agree.
 
meltonblue said:
Yep completely agree.
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If Labour get in to power next year they have said they will not adjust income tax rates.
In their first budget it’s a dead cert they will correct this anomaly and tax capital gains at someone’s marginal rate of income tax.
You heard it first here.!
 
halfmist said:
Not quite sure of your point but if someone charges VAT on their labour the VAT element doesn’t form part of their income.
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Wasn't my point it was @odius who posted it. I am assuming he is meaning total tax not just income tax therefore someone with £500k income would pay the same tax as someone on £20k on purchased goods bringing the overall average down. Although I could be reading it wrong.
 
The time has come to stop the ridiculous benefits bill this country has.
We as a society are obliged to look after Children,The Elderly and the Disabled physically and mentally.
If you want benefits you should be made to work for them picking up rubbish,Graffiti cleaning etc no one who is able to get out of bed should be getting anything for free.I have a mate who has 9 kids him and his wife have never claimed a penny apart from the child benefits.
Another mate thinks we are all mugs for working.There is something wrong with a system that allows this.
 
melrose40yarder said:
The time has come to stop the ridiculous benefits bill this country has.
We as a society are obliged to look after Children,The Elderly and the Disabled physically and mentally.
If you want benefits you should be made to work for them picking up rubbish,Graffiti cleaning etc no one who is able to get out of bed should be getting anything for free.I have a mate who has 9 kids him and his wife have never claimed a penny apart from the child benefits.
Another mate thinks we are all mugs for working.There is something wrong with a system that allows this.
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100% agree. You hear it time and time again “ I am not working for £40 quid a week. The amount claiming Disability Living Allowance or whatever it is called nowadays has increased massively over the last few years. There are some , not all, who see claiming benefits as a lifestyle choice topped up with a bit of cash in hand here and there.
 
halfmist said:
If Labour get in to power next year they have said they will not adjust income tax rates.
In their first budget it’s a dead cert they will correct this anomaly and tax capital gains at someone’s marginal rate of income tax.
You heard it first here.!
Click to expand...
halfmist said:
If Labour get in to power next year they have said they will not adjust income tax rates.
In their first budget it’s a dead cert they will correct this anomaly and tax capital gains at someone’s marginal rate of income tax.
You heard it first here.!
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Good.
And dividend tax as well I hope.
 
halfmist said:
100% agree. You hear it time and time again “ I am not working for £40 quid a week. The amount claiming Disability Living Allowance or whatever it is called nowadays has increased massively over the last few years. There are some , not all, who see claiming benefits as a lifestyle choice topped up with a bit of cash in hand here and there.
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DLA is now PIP. And if you qualify for it, you still get it even if you are the MD of a FTSE 100 company and work 70 hours a week. It is intended to meet the extra costs of being disabled, which are substantial.

As to the rest, the elephant in the room is that a major chunk of the 'welfare' bill is state pensions. What is paid to the unemployed is a relatively small sliver of the total, and if it was abolished completely tomorrow it would probably not make a massive difference to tax levels.

The real issue is to deal with the unemployable. For example, getting crack heads off their habit. Teaching people who can barely read and write the basic skills to do at least a basic job. While this is desirable and I am all for it, it would not save money in the short term but add to costs. It would be a good, long term investment though. But we don't do that stuff here. See also, rehabilitating prisoners.
 
oldius said:
My parents are of the opinion that things were 'just as hard'. They were working class - my mum a cleaner and my dad an electrician. We worked out that 90 weeks of net take home pay (all of it) would have bought their house, in Sale, outright. 90 weeks of average take home pay now would pay £45 - £50k. Things are simply not the same and my parents were shocked when I did the calculation.

BTW, their first house (council flat before) was £2750. My dad was on £31 a week take home pay.
Click to expand...

Indeed. My dad, a regular teacher, bought a 4-bed semi in his early 30s. No 'bank of mum and dad', a wife without a salaried job + 3 kids.

We just sold the house for 380K. Could a person in the same situation today afford a 380K home?
 
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