What's a good salary?

[aguerrrroooooooooooo]

Because they only have one lot of costs, one mouth to feed, one person's holiday to pay for, one car to run. We have two lots of those things. We are worse off, we only have half the income (each) compared to a single person earning the same amount.

And I am still not sure you've got it, because you keep going on about my wife who pays zero tax per year. But I pay my tax, AND her tax AND an extra £12k. Compared to a couple earning the same.

Can you come up with a fairer system than the current one which wouldn't be open to abuse and workarounds? I certainly can't

 

[Henkeman]

But why should couples be given preferential treatment to single people?

There used to be a married couples tax allowance. It was abolished about 25 years ago. As you see, it's a matter of swapping one inequality for another.

 

[Chippy_boy]

And that is why it’s so difficult to find the perfect solution. How would you distinguish, in a couple, who is staying home for a lifestyle choice and who is staying home because of illness. The tax system cannot possibly copewith that

It doesn't need to and neither should it.

As a married couple, or couple in a civil partnership, you've made the choice to live your lives as a pair. It's not unreasonble that you should get 2x the single person's tax free allowance to use as you see fit. I'd argue that you should get 2x the higher rate band allowance as well, but that's pushing it. As it stands, a simple gross unfairness exists (as i have explained), which could simply be avoided.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Can you come up with a fairer system than the current one which wouldn't be open to abuse and workarounds? I certainly can't

I keep suggesting it! In fact the government recognises the problem and started to do something about it, by allowing transfer of unused personal allowances between couples. But they limited it to £1,000 and then said if you're a higher rate tax payer you're so rich you can fuck off.

This restriction is illogical, unecessary, over complicates things and imo wrong. The mechanism is already there to fix this.

 

[aguerrrroooooooooooo]

I keep suggesting it! In fact the government recognises the problem and started to do something about it, by allowing transfer of unused personal allowances between couples. But they limited it to £1,000 and then said if you're a higher rate tax payer you're so rich you can fuck off.

This restriction is illogical, unecessary, over complicates things and imo wrong. The mechanism is already there to fix this.

So the problem there is that the single person would be paying more tax in that system while you would be paying less tax per person in your household while working less hours.
Hardly seems fair to punish someone because they aren't married for whatever reason that may be

 

[andyhinch]

£1.00 a week more than you need.

 

[dickie davies]

£1.00 a week more than you need.

I don't know if you meant that as a joke (no smiley face) but I totally disagree

 

[halfmist]

It doesn't need to and neither should it.

As a married couple, or couple in a civil partnership, you've made the choice to live your lives as a pair. It's not unreasonble that you should get 2x the single person's tax free allowance to use as you see fit. I'd argue that you should get 2x the higher rate band allowance as well, but that's pushing it. As it stands, a simple gross unfairness exists (as i have explained), which could simply be avoided.

Your problem Chippy Boy is as much down to your circumstances as to the tax system. I assume you work for someone under PAYE. There will be someone in exactly the same position as you but running their own business. How they get round the anomaly, is to either form a partnership and split profits 50:50. (There is no tax law that states profits must be shared on exactly the same basis as effort) OR, they form a limited company. Pay wifey a salary, but that can be challenged, if she is doing nothing ( but difficult to prove that) or, make her a 50/50 shareholder. Again no tax laws state dividends must be in pro portion to effort. If you were able to do this your overall tax bill would be lower than your next door neighbour if you went down the dividend route. As it stands if you are working for someone else under the PAYE system your stuffed. So your gripe is genuine.

 

[halfmist]

That’s a fair point Agueroooooo and the other side of the coin. On the assumption that marriage brings certain perks in life, otherwise nobody would bother,it would be easy to argue that a single person is being penalised here. Somebody earlier mentioned a lodger. It could be argued that he was supporting his girlfriend through Uni so can he have her Tax allowances. Before long there would be a market for unused tax allowances for sale

 

[Kompany Car]

Thinks the bottom line with the whole tax thing is there is no one size fits all and someone will lose out somewhere.
When I look at my tax and NI it’s eye watering but don’t have an issue if the money collected is being spent wisely.

As @halfmist said the unfortunate thing is it obviously isn’t, the NHS is in crisis, social care is threadbare, policing all but non existent...

Yet we spend 10s of billions on projects like HS2, the NHS IT programme et al which are poorly managed and executed for little to no gain. Most of the money ending up with one of a small cartel of companies contracted to do the work or lost by sheer incompetence e.g. rework.

Anyway that’s well off topic and for all it’s failings if you earn a “good salary” the UK ain’t that bad a place to live.