got my pay slip today
first one post the bonus/pay rise i worked my arse off to get.

the new amount of tax/NI on there is enough to make a circus strongman weep like a little girl. and i might as well have tipped it down the drain, given what cross eyed gordy will spend it on. probably a new shaker kitchen for his butler's third staff apartment or something.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 14:14, 70 replies)

Nyaah.
I've just been told that, in addition to the new powerpoints in the kitchen, I need a new fuse-box. Cost: less than your new handbag, but so's Trident, so there you go.

And the rest of the house might need rewiring, too.

Arse.

EDIT: Yet I'm still spending money on a new icon. Perverse, you say?
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 14:15, closed)

cry me a river,
I just got the building insurance bill, plus the knowledge that my commute in autumn term will cost me £200 per week, roughly.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 14:17, closed)

i might
have to pimp out the new handbag after this.

insurance sucks. you are paying for something you never want to need. i think you should get your premium back at the end of every year although i realise this is not how it works


( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 14:19, closed)

Well
I just had my house rewired, I've had new radiators installed, I've paying car tax this month as well as building insurance, and I have to sand down the living room floor replace six of seven sections of floorboard and re varnish the lot.

And then I need to redecorate.

So nerrrrrrr.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 14:23, closed)

well
I got toothpaste in my eye this morning. That about sums things up, I think.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 14:25, closed)

Nah, they'll spend it on something useful
Like this:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/2590109/Downing-Street-wastes-money-on-anti-Jeremy-Clarkson-video.html

It's been claimed to have been knocked up in a lunch hour, but knowing this government's ability to spluff huge sums of money on cock all, they probably had to close off the surrounding streets to shoot the film at huge cost, hire a cameraman at huge cost, employ an outsourced IT consultant to photoshop the picture at huge cost and then take everyone out to lunch at huge cost to the taxpayer.

And then they probably gave themselves a massive payrise.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Wed 20 Aug 2008, 14:29, closed)

I can beat that.
I drank some excellent beer last night, which unfortunately included the yeast. I now have the Death Farts.

I'm trying hard not to pull a Pooflake. *snerk*
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 20 Aug 2008, 14:30, closed)

@CHCB
at least it was just toothpaste!
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 14:31, closed)

^hmmm
you're thinking of Monday morning.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 14:32, closed)

You got vinegar in your eye
on monday morning?

It was vinegar you were thinking of wasn't it?
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 14:34, closed)

Of course.
And she slammed her shin against the coffee table on her way to give someone a bollocking. No one performed an Angry Pirate on her.

How dare you think otherwise...

*runs like hell*
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 20 Aug 2008, 14:45, closed)

@TRL
I think it was a TONY DANZA!

*runs after TRL*
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 14:54, closed)

I get this quite a lot Miss Swipe
friends coming up to me with their wage slip explaining that they have worked their arse off for a pay rise/bonus but the extra tax & NI seems to have eaten it. My usual response is "You might as well have gotten a paper round" (if that makes any sense).
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 14:58, closed)

Even more crap than that...
I'm told that if they take me on here as a permanent employee I may have to take a pay cut.

This does not make for a happy Loon.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 20 Aug 2008, 15:00, closed)

*puts arm round TRL*

There, there

*slaps in face*

WHO'S THE BOSS!

*runs*
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 15:17, closed)

Time to call for reinforcements...

( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 20 Aug 2008, 15:22, closed)

Well!
Deppending on how much you're being paid next month can either be good or bad. For those tarts out there being paid 34800 or over then you're going to suffer the wrath of the 40% tax band (as opposed to now which sets it at 36000), anyone who is earning nowhere near that such as myself gains £600 greater tax free earnings, woo for £120 a year extra!
(Vikingheadache, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 15:29, closed)

i honestly
wouldn't mind the amount of tax i pay if:

(i) they spent it on worthwhile things;
(ii) there weren't so many third generation spongers squandering it; and
(iii) i didn't also get clobbered with vat and council tax and IHT and CGT and breathing tax...
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 15:37, closed)

Pretty much anywhere
You live will have taxes.

Why not run for a post in government, make a difference?
It's all good and well to complain about stuff, but if you sit there and take it will that really change anything?
( Cawl, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 15:47, closed)

nope
which is why people who don't vote and then whinge really wind me up. i wouldn't mind going into politics at some point - reasonably natural career progression for a lawyer anyway - but not at this stage.

but i've got no alternative other than to pay it at this stage. my employer deducts it at source!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 15:50, closed)

Or
become The Goats hero and don't pay any tax*

*I take no responsibility for you becoming a delusional fool like the goat.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:03, closed)

oh, i do like my job
it's very demanding and stimulating. there's also a lot to whinge about though (which there is for any job, except that i actually whinge instead of shutting up about it!).

horses for courses. buying things that i think are nice for me or presents for my friends makes me happy. holidays make me happy. living in central london makes me happy. this is why i do it. doesn't mean it would make everyone happy or that anyone else has to agree with my idea of personal happiness!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:06, closed)

The juxtaposition
Of that post with your signature made me laugh out loud there!
( Cawl, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:10, closed)

*grins*
true. but that was in the context of leaving all my family on the beach and flying home a week early because my second week clashed with my boss' holiday that he had booked first.

usually i skip into work singing with glee!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:12, closed)

Hmmm...
I'm gonna avoid getting dragged into a money-related debate.
If you enjoy what you do, and that happens to be a high-paid job that shoves you in a painful tax-bracket, fair enough, it's kinda a "have your cake and eat it" situation.
( Cawl, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:17, closed)

quite right
i just don't feel that the result justifies how much we all pay for it, is all. if we had clean hospitals, good dentists and doctors without waiting lists, great schools, transport that actually worked, free heating for the elderly etc etc, i wouldn't be whinging at all. but paying £3k a month in tax when we have none of the above is what is painful.

and yes i know there are many places to live that have not a single one of the advantages we do have, but it was only meant to be a tongue in cheek post in the first place!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:21, closed)

@rachel
I have an excellent dentist, my doctors are lovely and personally I think the public transport in london is great, especially when compared to my mum and dads village.

So I think i've just worked out where your taxes are going. Thanks!
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:23, closed)

yeah but
taxes don't pay for the public transport in london - the users do! i meant more like the m6 *rage rage rage*.

anyway, i'm now sorry i started this as everyone is bound to have very different views, let's talk about cake made out of kittens or kittens made of out buns or something...
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:25, closed)

M6?
Isn't that what road tax is for?

Sorry, but this conversation has got momentum now, ain't stopping.
( Cawl, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:28, closed)

stop it
you're making my blood pressure rise!

i think humpty posted something about sweden on here once saying that they all pay 40% tax but that covers everything so there's no stealth taxes and it is all immaculate and clean so nobody resents paying it. this is how i would like to be, please.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:29, closed)

*shrugs*
What's gonna happen?
Explosion?
( Cawl, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:30, closed)

@Kaol
Ostensibly yes, but road tax on it's own probably wouldn't cover the upkeep of the vast network of roads we have.

Not that we are actually spending all the road tax money on keeping the roads up to scratch. Which is part of the problem.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:34, closed)

nah, no explosions
this isn't /talk.

al - 100% agreed.

it's all relative. fine if this makes me a c*nt, but i worked hard at school, then uni, then law school for a total of 19 years, and now often work in excess of 60 hour weeks to earn that amount. i often have to cancel social events and holidays if an urgent case comes in at the last minute. that is why they pay me and my colleagues. so i'm not going to feel guilty that not everyone earns that amount, because i know how hard it is to do.

to labour the original point, 40% of all that effort goes elsewhere. which is fine, APART from what a lot of it gets spent on, which is the only thing i am whinging about!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:35, closed)

Al
There's a lot of tea to pay for, and a fuck load of standing around.
( Cawl, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:35, closed)

"but paying £3k a month in tax when we have none of the above is what is painful."
What. The. Fuck.

To be paying £3k a month tax on a normal 543L tax code you're going to have to be on a wage of about £100,000 - which means 1 of 3 things, if you're on a lower tax code then you must be recieving benefits to justify the higher tax; the payroll department at your company is shit and you're being screwed over somewhere or you are indeed earning near £100k a year and in my eyes should be quiet about your tax and finish eating your grey poupon.

You seem like a lovely person but if you're earning that obsene amount of money I am shocked as us up t'northens people have a similar cost of living with a severely reduced wage (point of reference I get just over 13% of £100k.)
(Vikingheadache, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:38, closed)

Plus
Those JCBs ain't gonna stand there and do nothing by themselves, they need a fat bigot to sit in them scratching himself and reading the Sun.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:38, closed)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3k a month in tax! You must be on around £200,000 a year to surf b3ta.

I'm glad I'm not paying you.

EDIT: Sorry didn't see the post above! My calculations aren't very reliable. But still, 3k a month!
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:40, closed)

Hang on peeps
this isn't /talk, we aren't in the business of having a go at people, especially swipey, she's lovely.

Lets keep the debate on a rational level.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:41, closed)

ha ha ha
Yeah she's even lovelier now you know she's got money coming out her ears, gold digging Geordie.
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:42, closed)

Hahahaha!
James, you're my new favorite poster.
That was quick, witty and made me get frowned at for laughing out loud in the office.
( Cawl, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:43, closed)

Tax! Tax! Tax!
It's worth remembering that 47p out of every single pound in your pocket will have found its way back to the Treasury before the end of the tax year thanks to taxes, both on your salary and your purchases.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:44, closed)

@James
Well, that's true, but she's got massive tits as well.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:44, closed)

and
this is only the internet, as /talk love to say. i might well be a tramp on the free internet in mcdonalds.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:46, closed)

McDonalds has free internet?
You mean I don't need a job to be online?

*quits*
( Cawl, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:48, closed)

kaol
well, they make you buy something. but you can get a tap water and small fries for a quid.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:49, closed)

You can get a packet of ketchup
For 10p.
( Cawl, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:49, closed)

better yet
you can pull other people's left overs out of the bin for free and look as if you bought them yourself
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:51, closed)

I'm now picturing
Kaol sat in the corner of McDonalds licking a satchet of ketchup whenever a staff member comes near him.

edit - I'm now imagining him rummaging in the bins. Strange how it's a not a huge mental leap.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:51, closed)

Now you're talking.
Wouldn't be the first time I've been through the bins for food, I hate to say.
( Cawl, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:51, closed)

made me laugh
so what colour are you redecorating mrgeordieman?
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:53, closed)

Well
We are currently debating on what colour to varnish the floorboards once we've sanded them. I've got some antique pine, but we tried it and it's a bit orange, so we think we might go for a lighter oak, or maybe clear. And then the chimney breast is purple so it'll stay that colour but get repainted and the walls will be a very pale purpley/pink colour with nice white skirting boards and door surrounds.

And we are hoping to buy a light shade at some point, but no-one bloody sells them any more.

How is your handbag?
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 16:56, closed)

very nice indeed
i want to strip my lounge floorboards, you can practice there if you like??

the handbag hasn't been seen for a few weeks as i foolishly lent him to a mate who begged to borrow him for a date and haven't seen him since!

NEXT have nice light fittings/shades.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 17:01, closed)

*double takes*
You loaned out a handbag that cost the best part of a thousand pounds!

I own power tools worth less than that I wouldn't loan to my own family!

If it's just you on the floorboards I would get someone in, the only reason we're doing it ourselves is 1) I enjoy that sort of thing and 2) It's cheaper to buy a sander and do it myself than pay a builder. It's a manky job though, everything gets covered in dust and it's bloody hard work.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 17:08, closed)

well yeah
i'm shallow and selfish in that i love teh stuff, but i'm always happy to share it!! and it was a very important date for her.

the titrash who owned the flat previously has painted the 'boards black in that room. lovely fat victorian floorboards, covered in black paint and what looks like TAR. i think it would be far above my non-existent capabilities to restore them!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 17:11, closed)

It might well be tar
You would need one of the industrial sanders from HSS.

edit - I'm very impressed with your bag generosity!
(Bazongaloid, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 17:13, closed)

what can i say
if ever you want to borrow a bag, you know where i am!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 17:30, closed)

Point in fact
I'm one of these miserable paupers that earns roughly half what rachelswipe pays in tax each month. I count myself as an online mate of hers and I know roughly how hard she has to work to earn the money she's on. It's hard. Very hard. I couldn't do it and I wouldn't want to do it.
( Kroney, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 23:21, closed)

weeeeeell...it's alright for some of us...
We're tax-dodging bastard students! :) although on the budget im on, when I'm taxed 50 squid because i've done a few more hours at work it seems crippling...50 quid buys a helluva lot of baked beans and silly string...
(the_biochem_ninja can resist everything except temptation, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 1:27, closed)

One solution that nobody has mentioned...
...as an account I know once said "Anyone pulling in over 100k a year who pays more than 16% tax is an idiot".

Well, it's given me something to work for, no matter how unlikely :)
(davywavy, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 9:25, closed)

ah but
that was my point, really - see, i don't mind paying 40% tax. there's plenty left after the tax cut to keep me in the spoilt style to which i have become accustomed!

it's just when i see the state the country is in, compared to what i pay (and what i take out, as i have private healthcare, no children, won a scholarship that paid for my own education from 8-21 etc etc), that it feels like a huge waste of my money and i feel like taking it all back!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 10:01, closed)

Glass half empty
try to look on the positive side.
The streets are lit, the rubbish is collected, the roads are maintained, the sick and infirm are cared for, no one will starve, right now there are ambulance drivers, Police officers, Firemen all on standby should you need them, athletes are supported, children are educated, ...

And its your government, spending your money on you. Even Gordon's new kitchen will employ some builders, and put money into the local B&Q, who will pay some 17 year old wages who will buy his lunch at McDonalds which will provide you your free internet.
(Rich T has a clever and witty sig, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 10:56, closed)

all true
although i think i may have lied about the free internet. i never go to macdonalds but my room mate here tells me it's about £1 for 15 mins or something.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 11:04, closed)

Free Internet
Room mate? Blimey, paying all that tax and you have to share a room?

McD's and JDWeatherspoons can be abused for free internet.
www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-mobile-broadband
(Rich T has a clever and witty sig, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 11:32, closed)

at work!
office mate, i should have said. i don't think i'd want an office to myself. i'd get all lonely. and have noone to bounce ideas off about "does this wording mean the client has the right to apportion rent or not if it's levied in advance?"

will remember the interweb abuse for the frequent occasions when i've forgotten to charge up the blackberry!
( rachelswipe with a fork, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 11:40, closed)

Sorry if I seemed abit heated about the whole thing,
I did get the wrong end of the stick thinking you were simply complaining about paying too much tax full stop. I didn't like the way you pulled out the education card but thats because I would have loved to have stayed in education for longer, but couldn't because of matters beyond my control, so hold no compassion when people turn round and say things like "I've had to go through 6 years at uni to get to where I am!" when rather that then work as a shop assistant for 6 years knowing you have very little advancement opportunities or prospects.

I'm not trying to get at anyone when I come out with these things, I don't like conflict but I do like debate so I may seem a little challenging.
(Vikingheadache, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 11:58, closed)

^^^
I will never get a job in the City until I can work out what 13% of 100 is.
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 12:12, closed)

@ scarus
not at all - firstly, everyone's entitled to an opinion and they're all equally valid however different and secondly, money is arguably the most contentious of topics in any event!

ah well, my dad made me work weekends and holidays throughout my 3 years at uni because he thought it was good for me. and it was!! but it's a horrible shame if you wanted further education and didn't get the opportunity. so many people don't appreciate it. others go on courses that aren't really worthwhile just because their parents can afford the fees, whereas others who are much brighter and often much harder working don't get that chance because they can't. i'd have no whinge at all if my taxes paid for someone bright and hardworking but without the cash to get a degree. i'd be thrilled.

on the other hand, i really resent it when people get given free houses and free rent and free fittings and free dole money for contributing nothing. that winds me up no end. partly because we act for one of the major london councils, and i spend a portion of my day dealing with properties where tenants have ripped out all the new fittings - boilers, cookers, the works - and sold them. so the council re-fit them at a cost to the taxpayer of a fortune... and it happens again. and again. and again. also when i was a letting agent, i worked hugely long 6 day weeks for £9k a year. and tenants would come in and ask for 3 bed houses, sky tv, new furniture, the works - then when i asked for proof of earnings, they'd shrug a designer clad shoulder and say, "housing benefits innit".

it's this something for nothing attitude that gets to me. if i could see my money going somewhere worthwhile, great. when i see it being squandered, it makes my blood boil.
( rachelswipe with a fork, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 12:14, closed)

Well, quite
From your reply above.
I have no problem with paying for anything if I feel like I'm getting value for money, and that's where the tax system breaks down for me. Something which is increasingly confusing me is
a) The tax burden is now the highest in recorded history whilst
b) Services are getting cut.
I'm genuinely confused as to how this can be; where's all that extra money going? I don't believe I can name a single person whose life has got better as a result of all this, and so the quicker I'm rich enough to opt out of a system I no longer believe in...
(davywavy, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 14:46, closed)