Absolutely.

Obviously well off people pay more tax in that they pay more VAT because they spend more money etc, but rather than create a proper high rate tax bracket that pays a higher percentage as another tier in the system, our government seems to be happy to allow inflation to nibble away the thresholds and therefore gradually increase the number of people paying high rate tax.

 

They pay more in absolute terms already.

I think you meant progressively

They also pay a higher average rate of income tax than the average earner. They also pay the highest rate of marginal income tax.

 

Sorry. You're right. They already pay more in terms of the actual value of the tax. But i'm talking about adding another top rate tax.

 

The price of fuel does affect people's behaviour, note the massive rise in diseasel ownership in recent years. Admittedly partly due to improvements in the engines, but almost entirely due to the (perceived) lower cost.

The only thing that might spark people into action is a large single price rise such as the congestion charge in London which has reduced car use. Although that has been combined with improvements in public transport which means there is a viable alternative. The recent road pricing furore has shown that if prices are to rise significantly, many people will begin to take action.

As long as the prices continue to rise relatively slowly, a few pence at a time, there will be no protest, no revolucion.

 

They also pay a higher average rate of income tax than the average earner. They also pay the highest rate of marginal income tax.

 

Has it?

Do you have the stats?

I understood that car use reduced in the first year of introduction of the scheme, but then rose in the next year to a level not much lower than before the congestion charge was introduced.

I could be wrong though.

 

Nobody with any sense would pay it. When there was 99% tax in the 70s, everybody with money moved abroad.

We already have ~50% tax, which seems enough to me, and the thresholds do go up every year. It's gone from 33,300 last year to 34,600 this year, and that's 3.9% which is about the same as inflation.

 

At what point do we pay 50% tax?

I'm talking about having another top rate, say for the sake of arguement

 

[QUOTE=dreamer,Nov 6 2007, 09:33 AM] Another 5ppl going on in the budget next year.......

Sure another 5ppl averaging a tank a week, is

 

12.9% employer's NI before you get your salary. Then 40% on that as income tax, and another 11% employee's NI up to the threshold (which I can't remember but is relatively low). I'm not sure where the point is, but high PAYE earners will pay 50%.

No high earners with sense will pay the 40% as is, they'll create companies to work through. Or go and live in Monaco and fly in for 3 days a week. Phillip Green (M&S chairman) famously paid himself a