Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
What a fantastic way to reward hard work, telling them they are going to loss most of their income
The higher tax rates don't apply to the whole amount earned, just the amount over the threshold. So someone on £80k wouldn't be "losing most of their income", even if the tax rate went up to 50%.
I quite agree that there will be marginal situations where people decide that earning £82k instead of £78k isn't worth it because of the additional tax. But that's not the same thing at all. And I certainly wouldn't sniff at a £20k pay rise (which is near as damn it what I earn) just because I'd have to give £10k of it to the taxman.
You also follow the age-old fallacy, of course, that any high income is purely obtained through "hard work" and that people on low income are merely not trying hard enough.
I wouldn't tax till the pips squeak, but that's not what Labour propose either.
FWIW I would abolish NICs, and I would lower VAT, and I would pay for both with higher income tax.