UK income tax too high and wages too low

Everyone is aware that most people on paye pay income tax at around 20% and its a hot issue. BUT does anyone actually realise what their REAL level of tax is? If you add your income tax and your rates and your vehicle tax and your vat tax you will find that your total tax loss from your income approaches 44%. Yes you are paying nearly half of your income to various government and council agencies. So how about it? When are we stupid sheep going to wake up and realise how severely taxed we are and what a much better life we could have if the government stopped grabbing half our pay and wasting it over and over again. We assist in the conspiracy by only complaining about income tax and the newspapers also let us down by never mentioning the real level of total taxation burden carried by the average working person. So when is someone going to find a way of making a real fuss about it?

Mr Freddie,

I will be paying most of these taxes, at the rates suggested. I am not rich enough to go offshore so I am got here.

OK if you don't want to give half your wealth in Capital Gains or Inheritance Tax: spend spend spend. At least VAT/Sales tax is less than Inheritance Tax [on those average of us to have wealth way over the threshold].

Not a sound argument though is it!
Firstly most people are in the 20% not 40% tax bracket. (had you forgotten the 50% bracket for real high earners?).
You only pay VAT on spending, not income.
You don't pay inheritance tax (which is generally at a much lower rate than you post) on your income either.

If you added the percentage of every type of tax together it would probably be in the thousands, not hundreds. The truth is that you'll never pay most of these in your lifetime.
Your post was about as inaccurate as it could be.

The tax system in the UK is designed to take ALL and even MORE of the money you have ever earned. You cannot save a penny:

Income tax 20% - 40%
National Insurance 11%
VAT 20%
Council Tax 5%-10%
Inheritance tax 40%

Total over 120%

I agree, provided it is naturally so as a result of being in proportion to the income. I'm not sure that a higher rate is fair though. I've always felt that is a bit like punishing people for being successful.

"Just because you earn more, does the government the right to steal more off you? "

Err.. yes it does, because you are in the unique position of earning in the first place and can help those who can't. You may come to depend on public handouts one day yourself, the future is uncertain.

Does anyone listen when hundreds of thousands of motorists speak out against speed cameras? Do the government pay any heed to the prediction that over 15 million people are so deeply opposed to ID cards that they will break the law and risk imprisonment? And do they take any notice when millions of people tell them - on their own petition website - that their plans for Road Pricing are flawed and unwelcome?

Do they b*gg*ry. They're in charge, they say, and we can all do as we're bl**dy-well told.

As Bertolt Brecht said, "When government doesn't agree with the people, it's time to change the people"!

We all know Nu-Labour is useless,all they do is hand out targets and hope they make everything all better!
Nu-Labour love their targets, don't they? Targets are virtually the only solution they have to any problem, and a very useful one to politicians because it enables them to shift the blame onto someone else. Hospitals falling down and filthy? Give the Health Trusts another target! No, not shedloads of cash, just a target. Patients dying on the corridors? Give 'em a target!

Schools failing? Children leaving unable to read, write or spit straight? Give those idle teachers a few targets, that'll sort 'em out!

Banks going bust? Credit collapsed? Homes being repossessed by the thousand? Businesses failing? GDP falling? Pound worth less than the Zimbabwe dollar? Give the b******s a few targets! What? Why won't it work? Oh, I see. Right, let's give them shedloads of money instead.

Thisis what happens when you have a government that believes it has the right to shape society. This is what happens when public servants forget that their job is to serve the public. This is what happens when ?belief? enters politics. ?Belief? is our enemy. ?Belief? will destroy us.  And that's what worries us about all this sudden public interest in politics. It's not our fault ? as more and more parliamentary abuses have come to light it was inevitable that we would perk up and start taking notice. But heaven forfend that our new government, whatever colour or complexion it may be, should decide that it's actually got to dothings.  We've been there. It's damaged our society more than we know. What we need is a government that will keep quiet and do as little as possible. A few parliamentary expenses are a small price to pay, just so long as they LEAVE US ALONE.

They have interfered in our family lives, told us how to discipline our children, relieved us of the right to defend ourselves against attack and theft, placed limits on the free expression of personal opinion, tinkered with our attitudes to religion, restricted what we can take with us when we fly on holiday, interfered with our humour, lectured us through the captive media to make us believe in global warming, indoctrinated our children about homosexuality, race and the environment, and created specially favoured minority groups with rights to grab land and receive benefits that are not enjoyed by the bulk of the population.  In order to carry out their agenda of creating their own vision of a neo-socialist utopia they have spied on us in the streets and on the internet, tagged and labelled us in national databases like a herd of cows, taken our fingerprints and DNA just in case we might ever decide to commit a crime in future, and photographed and recorded our movements on the roads. All for our own good,

We have just experienced thirteen years of a government that really believed it was entitled to enact legislation to force people to live their lives in the way the government thought they should ? social engineering, it has been called. In an unprecedented plethora of new laws, politicians have genuinely believed that it was their right to makeus recycle, to cut our ?carbon? emissions, to drive our cars in the way they wanted us to, to adopt or abandon the marriage customs they thought would be good for us. They appear to have deliberately manipulated immigration to their own ends. They have given away our rights as a nation to bureaucrats in Brussels.

The problem with this country is taxes are too high and there is too many people earning too much for doing too little we are not producing anything good are selfs and we are just paying for huge amounts of admin staff producing nothing but a wages bill this country will come to the end if we dont change its foolish greedy ways

well written, I for one am sick of working hard and having nothing left after all the bills are paid. I now need to find a second part time job just to survive. What a joke this country has become paying for the feckless ignorant millions to to do nothing all day.

You have no idea oh dear same old middle england I thought you guys had degrees and phd's - you really think it is the fault of unemployed and disabled people...oh I forgot those immigrants spend all your money also?

Sorry it is much bigger mess than that and going after the vulnerable will just make things worse. Believe me it will make things a lot worse.

I agree tax is too high but you are blaming the wrong people. Are there enough jobs, do universities and schools do a good job at an affordable rate, should we abandon disabled people, is government spending too much on ITSELF.

I wish people for once would have a good think and realise government itself is broken and it is NOT the fault of the vulnerable.

You know by providing benefits we stop chaos on the streets. How would like your tax back and to live behind gates and be fearful of people, not to mention that they always spend it re-turning the wheels of economy. You know hoe many jobs would be LOST if we stopped caring.

I agree there is a minority of benefit cheats and bad lazy people but they are tiny stat on your tax burden. The overwhelming unemployed want to work but there is no jobs or education they can afford. Disabled people; to abandon them is down right stupid we would live in a horrid country then. I would leave this nation if vulnerable people were abounded (as it could be me one day if I am in an accident etc) I am not not liberal I have a heart.

It is so much bigger than your moan - and what comes down to is broken government not the vulnerable stop blaming them you do yourself no justice.

You know what I agree with you until you make the same old mistake so many of us conservatives make - blame the vulnerable. The new prime minister I think sees this but I don't think his party does. If they backed him 100% we would be a string nation again. We all know he is checked by his back benchers.

Correction. In my comment, in the third sentence I meant to say 'I'm not saying this should happen'. Terry

The Government penalising us with high taxes are basically legalised thieves. It would be funny if someone made a citizen's arrest on them for theft. I'm saying this should happen but in an ideal world it would be highly amusing if it did.

You do realize that income tax was significantly higher, across the board before Blair took over.

Income tax was 24% in 1996.

I see Alistair Darling is putting up the national insurance tax,

They have got to find the extra pay and pensions, (not forgetting bonuses and expenses) for all the administrators of this country from some-where.

If that was a parody of John of Gaunt's speech then it was really bad.

There we have it. The average person who is in work is going to be taxed to death, all thanks to a greedy few bankers, none of whom have been brought to justice for their economic crimes.

This demi purgatory. This Hell. This other seedy nation
This sceptic tank. This sheit of mire.
This public toilet of muck
This floating turd set in the dank sewer
This putrid land
This unhappy breed of toads
This cursed plot. This groaning land
This distressed kingdom