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> On waiting for services: I was actually (and still technically am) on an NHS waitlist which I've been on for the last 5 years, my new employer is just paying a private doctor to handle everything which begins next week.

Don't you pay something like 60% taxes for this?

> of immigration raids being stopped by hundreds of people surrounding the vans until the police leave

I suppose illegal migrants are ineligible for public healthcare. Else it's a little counter productive for people to block immigration enforcement isn't it?

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> Don't you pay something like 60% taxes for this?

Noone pays 60% tax, the UK taxation is at a similar level to the US for most people, they will pay between a 20% and 30% effective rate although there are progressive bands.

The higher rate is 40% and that's before National Insurance Contributions, Student Loan Repayments through HMRC, Personal Allowance removal, etc

To be fair folks in the US also have to pay for college, but to give an example of the typical situation in the UK: £55,000 loan on a 7.3% interest rate (it was going to be 12% but the government decided to reduce it https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-61765891) in a country where the average income is £31,722 per year

It really depends when you went to uni. My sister had free tuition and a grant. I had a small tuition fee and student loans (totally 9k at below inflation interest rate, now paid off). New students are unfortunately likely to face the kind of debt and terms you describe.

It’s a very sad situation. The conservative government have been running Britain into the ground since they took power after 10 years of very good governance by labour (reduced NHS waiting times, good economic growth, ability to deliver infrastructure projects in time and on budget, reduced crime, reduced child poverty, etc etc.) that was soured by the financial crisis. Then the conservatives grabbed power and shoved the country into reverse, doubling the national debt in the first four years through “austerity” policies designed to reduce spending that instead caused a double dip recession and negated any savings through reduced tax receipts. Then poverty and crime rose while the economy tanked and the social safety net and police and health services were gutted (my local area lost 1/4 of its police officers, for example). And all of that had to be blamed on Eastern European immigrants and Europe so we had Brexit.

David Cameron has to go down as the worst prime minister in the history of Britain. He’s been a complete disaster on every front. The current clown is just a sick result of Cameron’s incompetence.

As a 2019 graduate I just feel lucky that I'm fortunate enough to be able to pay the whole thing off rather quickly. The same can't be said for everyone else in my cohort.

Honestly I don't think they'll ever write Plan 2 loans off, these people will spend their entire life paying their 9% loan repayments, with no hope to ever pay off the total sums as they climb by 5% a year.

Cameron was so terrible the British people keeps voting in his entourage. Imagine seeing May and Johnson as the saviour of the country. This is the same people that stopped voting Lib Dem because they lied, that time. How daft is that.

The voting majority is completely irrational, however one tries to rationalise their behaviour (it was a protest vote!)

I expect Tories to be voted in again next election.

You will pay 60% tax if you earn salary between £100,000 and £125,000. It’s not a myth and has been around for years.

Then add VAT at 20%, fuel duty (approximately 50% tax on the cost of fuel and the duty also has VAT added to it, so you’re taxed on the tax), vehicle excise duty, student loan repayments, council tax, National Insurance (which has just gone up by 25% as well) to that.

https://www.buzzacott.co.uk/insights/exposing-the-60-income-...

If you make £125,000 a year living in United Kingdom, you will be taxed £48,323. That means that your net pay will be £76,677 per year

48,323/125,000 != 60%

It's the marginal rate, not the overall rate.

Further, the 120,000th pound is taxed at 40%. The effective marginal rate of 60% comes from losing the 0% rate benefits for low earners on the 10,000th pound you earnt.

The same thing also happens at 50,000 where you lose your child benefit government handouts, but funnily enough its less discussed yet the comparable rate is 65%.

Now it’s 50K£, because the government increased NI. So you pay roughly 40%, which is quite a lot considering that if you want access to decent healthcare you have to pay privately. Also nurseries cost 2K£ per month and public education is extremely bad.

40 is approximately 20 numbers (all the fingers and toes) smaller than the number 60.

The education systems really is bad that I have to point this out.

60% _marginal_ tax, not everall.

> I suppose illegal migrants are ineligible for public healthcare

They're eligible in the US.

> Else it's a little counter productive for people to block immigration enforcement isn't it?

Public healthcare is rarely someone's only interest.

> Don't you pay something like 60% taxes for this?

Yep, my effective tax rate is roughly 55% over the year

I've previously applied to go work in the US, particularly at Stripe. Basically got told unless I have something ridiculous (so they can get me an EB-1A) the waiting times for Visas is way too long.

Are you sure your tax rate is 55%? You’d have to be earning £500k+ and paying off a Plan 4 student loan for that to be the case.

Part higher, part additional rate + 9% student loan repayment + national insurance contributions

I'm nuking the student loan as fast as possible, especially with the interest rates being near extortion, so hopefully that will mean I get more take home in the future

Ah so you’re choosing to repay a loan faster and calling that tax. Be honest please

I'm not counting my voluntary repayments in that figure.

45% Income Tax + 9% Student Loan Repayment (mandatory) + 3.25% National Insurance Contributions

Gives 57.25%, but this is off because:

- Student loan repayments start somewhere above 20k, which decreases it

- National insurance runs at 10.25% before going down above a certain income, which increases it

- Higher rate and basic rate apply to some income (but no tax free allowance), which decreases it

Hence to a round(ish) number roughly 55%

Honestly I think these kinds of calculations should also include all the VAT you pay out over the course of a year, which I imagine is also reasonably substantial.

Also, you're not paying 45% income tax on the total amount right (that's the highest bracket in the UK).

This is highly misleading. The 45% rate only applies to the portion of salary over £150k. Someone earning £200k will pay 75k in income tax. That’s 37.5% overall.

Impressive you can earn >200k and yet be unable to do basic maths.

You haven’t included VAT in your effective tax rate.

As sibling comment said, you are NOT paying 55% tax unless you're well above the £300k mark. Do not use hyperbole for sake of argument.

I'm in the higher tax bracket and still I'm far away from that percentage. I see that >50% tax rate in Italy, which is the leading cause of tax evasion, with some actually moving their companies to the UK to pay less tax.

> Basically got told unless I have something ridiculous (so they can get me an EB-1A) the waiting times for Visas is way too long.

Just get an O-1.

Wait time for the UK shouldn't be that long anyways.

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