global warming again

[RogerS]

My neighbour is a QC and earned £1 million reputedly the other year. No idea how much tax he paid. Probably not a lot. At that level you can afford the best in clever accountants.

 

[Mike.C]

My neighbour is a QC and earned £1 million reputedly the other year. No idea how much tax he paid. Probably not a lot. At that level you can afford the best in clever accountants.

And lets just say that his accountant could not find anything to claim for, he would end up paying £500,000 to the goverment. :evil:

To become a bit of silk/QC you are looking at many years of hard work.

Cheers

Mike

 

[big soft moose]

To become a bit of silk/QC you are looking at many years of hard work.

much like becoming a rights of way officer then - or a self employed cabinet maker or any other job requiring intellect and skill

Personally i'm philosophical about the tax i pay so long as the government makes good use of it - what annoys me is when they waste it rather than spending it on things that matter.

I tend to look at my wage packet in net terms anyway so if someone decided rights of way officers should be paid the same as QC lawyers (flying pigs etc) I wouldnt be too bothered about the govt taking half of my million pound salary as £500,000 pa is more cash than i could possible spend anyway. (being roughly 475,000 more than i get at the moment)

(incidentally if someone earns a million they wouldnt be paying 500,000 tax anyway - they would pay nothing on the first 6 k - 20% on the next 28k, then 40% on the next 115k then 50% on the rest)

 

[jlawrence]

Correct BSM, they wouldn't be paying 500K in tax.
Very roughly (assuming no deductions) they'll pay just under 390K in tax and a further 13.5K in NI. That's rough calculations from http://listentotaxman.com/
At that level you WILL have deductions that you can offset against your tax liability - if not then you need a better accountant.

If you want to earn the big money then you have to put lots of hours in to get there. This 'normally' isn't a problem as it will be a job that a) you're good at, and b) you actually enjoy. If you have a family you also need a very supportive partner at home - trust me being the one at home is definitely stressful at times.
SWMBO earns a pretty good wage - not above 150K though - and she works 12 hr days (in the office) + more hours at home in the evening. She's not at the top of the ladder, but not a million miles away. Holiday - what are they then, at that sort of level you are contactable at almost any time - assuming you actually have the phone switched on.


ADDED: Just to be fair to her employers incase someone happens to be reading. Her work are very good about not contacting during holiday periods etc unless absolutely necessary, and they also put on lots of activities throughout the year for kids. All in all a very nice company to work for.

 

[Digit]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/n ... 980016.ece


70000 jobs, or jobs going over seas. Heads or tails?

Roy.

 

[Mike.C]

Correct BSM, they wouldn't be paying 500K in tax.
Very roughly (assuming no deductions) they'll pay just under 390K in tax and a further 13.5K in NI. That's rough calculations from http://listentotaxman.com/
At that level you WILL have deductions that you can offset against your tax liability - if not then you need a better accountant.

If you want to earn the big money then you have to put lots of hours in to get there. This 'normally' isn't a problem as it will be a job that a) you're good at, and b) you actually enjoy. If you have a family you also need a very supportive partner at home - trust me being the one at home is definitely stressful at times.
SWMBO earns a pretty good wage - not above 150K though - and she works 12 hr days (in the office) + more hours at home in the evening. She's not at the top of the ladder, but not a million miles away. Holiday - what are they then, at that sort of level you are contactable at almost any time - assuming you actually have the phone switched on.


ADDED: Just to be fair to her employers incase someone happens to be reading. Her work are very good about not contacting during holiday periods etc unless absolutely necessary, and they also put on lots of activities throughout the year for kids. All in all a very nice company to work for.

So I never bothered to work out the EXACT figure, shoot me. And I said LETS JUST SAY that there was no deductions so that I could keep a round figure of £500,000.

£390,000 is still to much to expect anyone to pay especially when they are working 12plus hour days and more when they get home. And on top of that they are on call at any time.

And before you say it I am not talking about your wife because she does not earn £150.000.

Cheers

Mike

 

[big soft moose]

Correct BSM, they wouldn't be paying 500K in tax.
Very roughly (assuming no deductions) they'll pay just under 390K in tax and a further 13.5K in NI. That's rough calculations from http://listentotaxman.com/
At that level you WILL have deductions that you can offset against your tax liability - if not then you need a better accountant.

If you want to earn the big money then you have to put lots of hours in to get there. This 'normally' isn't a problem as it will be a job that a) you're good at, and b) you actually enjoy. If you have a family you also need a very supportive partner at home - trust me being the one at home is definitely stressful at times.
SWMBO earns a pretty good wage - not above 150K though - and she works 12 hr days (in the office) + more hours at home in the evening. She's not at the top of the ladder, but not a million miles away. Holiday - what are they then, at that sort of level you are contactable at almost any time - assuming you actually have the phone switched on.
.

I still cant feel that sorry for someone who would still have over £600k per year to spend - unless they have very expensive tastes and a cocaine habit (and if they do more fool them) thats far more than any reasonable person needs - and if the price for taking home in a month more than twice what i earn gross in a year is that tax bill, then so what

so yes they work hard for it but so what - I work hard for my salary and come to that some working stiff pulling down minimum wage in a factory knows a thing about hard graft too

 

[Streepips]

This is a whole aspect of global warming that I was not aware of.
It has many guises I suppose.

 

[Smudger]

A good explanation of what seems to be happening.

 

[jlawrence]

Mike, I doubt very much whether anyone in that salary bracket is strictly PAYE. So I doubt they'd ever be paying that level of tax.

BSM, can't say as I disagree. Tax is what it is and that's that. The high earners new that prior to earning at that level. OK, the 50% is new but I doubt that many are worried about the 50% tax - they'll be advised of ways to lower it.

 

[Creampuff]

Having just read through this tread with a smile on my face, I must congratulate you all on proving the point that us humans just love a good heated discusion.

And all this from a simple post labeled "Global Warming Again" :lol:

Just to bring things back to the start, I must say i've seen some beautiful snowy scenes on my way to work this week, wish id had my camera with me!!

How about you lot?


Andy

 

[Jake]

For an obviously intelligent man who probably had many sleepless nights studying for the exams you had to sit on your way to becoming a solicitor I cannot understand why you do not object to paying upto 30% more tax then lower paid workers. So can you enlighten me?

For avoidance of doubt I am not in the 50% bracket, but it would be a reasonable ambition to be if I was that way inclined. I don't feel awful sympathy for those of my colleagues who will be, they will have plenty of money anyway. No-one needs the extra money that much when you hit that sort of level - its always nice to have more but need doesn't come into it.

I don't pay any more tax than the person paying (only) 20% tax - on the part of my salary that equates to their pay. It seems fair enough to me to have a higher rate tax which kicks in on earnings over a given level, and equally I have no objection to a slightly higher rate still for earnings over an even higher threshold.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that a partner in one of the bigger law firms earns around £167,000, but this solicitor stated that he had to burn the midnight oil and work many long hours to get to the position and pay grade he had attained, and I suspect that more than a few lawyers have to stay at the office the night before a big case.

You can times that figure by a large multiple for the people at the top of the profession. Anyway, there are plenty of people who work very hard indeed and never see that kind of money or anything like it. My sympathy is non-existent we are very well rewarded even taking into account all the late night working.

Ok if a man earns more he has to pay more, but IMHO at 20% (from £150,000) he would be paying £30,000 which is a much fairer system

From the maths of this example I think you misunderstand how the higher rates work - everyone has tax-free earnings up to the exemption, pays 20% tax on their earnings which fall within that band, then 40% on their earnings in that band. When the 50% rate comes in, your man on £167k will only pay 50% on the 17k he earns over the 150k starting threshold. He'll be taxed just the same as anyone else below that.

 

[big soft moose]

Anyway, there are plenty of people who work very hard indeed and never see that kind of money or anything like it. My sympathy is non-existent we are very well rewarded even taking into account all the late night working..

my point precicely - some posters seem to be labouring under the misaprehension that only the well paid work hard or long hours

When i was a ranger it was entirely usual to be called out at all times of day and night for emergencies , plus it was common to be at work by 8 and not leave til gone 6 on a day to day basis - in the run up to big events hours could be even longer - I remember one week in the run up to MK4U ( a sort of mini glastonbury) I did 3 14 hour days then followed them with 2 16 hour days for the event itself and then another 14 hour day for the take down

for this work i got paid a princely £17k pa

 

[Jake]

Quite - I've been on that side of the fence (as it were) myself. It's all self-justificatory nonsense.

 

[jlawrence]

I think that there are many factors as to why people at the top of their field earn the amounts that they do - assuming that field can command the high sums of money.
Some get it (possibly very few) simply because they are stunningly brilliant at what they do. Others perhaps because they hold an immense amount of responsibility - or should do. This is one of the issues I had with the banking collapse in that they didn't take that responsibility.
At the top level we're not talking about people working 12,14,16 hour days for 3 or 4 days at a time, we're talking about people who have been working those hours for years.
What drives them to do it is beyond me.
Like Jake, I feel no sympathy as such towards those that are in the highest earning bracket. But equally I know that many of them will never pay anywhere near the amount of tax talked about by the government.

When I was at school I distinctly remember on of our history teachers setting us a question:
"The tax system was setup by the weathly to give the illusion of taxing the rich to help the poor - discuss."
The poor and middle earners pay way more tax than the wealthy simply because there are so many more people in that bracket. The 50% tax won't change that.


Anyway, how the heck did we get this far off topic.

 

[RogerS]

.....
Anyway, how the heck did we get this far off topic.

Back on Page 1 with a post from dw :wink:

 

[big soft moose]

Anyway, how the heck did we get this far off topic.

you mean this thread has a topic :shock:

 

[Digit]

The BBC news is currently blithering on about off shore wind turbines will provide power for up to 17 million homes.
Question, exactly how will this help gas, oil or coal users?

Roy.

 

[big soft moose]

At the top level we're not talking about people working 12,14,16 hour days for 3 or 4 days at a time, we're talking about people who have been working those hours for years.
.

bottom line is that its their choice to do so and they are well rewarded for it taxation not withstanding.

also i'd note that i used to work at a golf club and we got loads of well of members (may of whom were ceos etc) who would regularly be on the course by two or three in the afternoon.

while i have no doubt that some well of folk - including your missus and jake -work hard for their salaries it is a falacy to believe that they all do, there are numerous consultants and executives who are handsomley rewarded for doing nine tenths of pipper all, all day

 

[big soft moose]

The BBC news is currently blithering on about off shore wind turbines will provide power for up to 17 million homes.
Question, exactly how will this help gas, oil or coal users?

Roy.

by providing an alternate source of electricity meaning the power stations will need to burn less fossil fuel perchance