AIBU to refuse extra hours when most of the pay goes in tax?

[oldFoolMe]

Would you work extra hours if you had to pay 67% tax on it? Thats without additional childcare, or commuting costs.

67%?

It would depend how much was left over. For £100 a day to keep £33 no; for £1000 a day to keep £330 maybe.

Of course not, everyone needs to stop doing this!

Absolutely not.

Yes because we are really skint.

67%?

I think OP is either trying to make a point about the new potential double tax on unused pensions once they fall within the scope of IHT from April 2027, or she's getting confused with the effective 60% tax rate which results from the personal allowance being withdrawn for these who earn between £100k and £125,140.

But to answer the question - yes I would. Because I'd still be getting more money, and ultimately I'd like my pay to go up and my career to progress. I'm a long term thinker.

Nope! I have dropped a day at work as it would take me into the 42% tax bracket. We are fairly comfortable though. If I needed the money then I would as every little would help.

I have paid the highest marginal rate for the last few years but have now cut my hours this tax year and am checking every month. Enough is enough. I am not a modern day Slave and neither are you OP. Sometimes you have to do it out of principle to make a point (assuming you have an actual choice at work and can actually say no without repercussions). If you are working extra to get to a promotion above these ridiculous marginal tax rates it would also be another matter.

That’s the marginal tax rate in Scotland on earnings between £100-125k

Is it an option to refuse it?

In a similar situation, it wasn't worth it to me as I had to pay childcare etc on top of it...would have been working for something like 30 a day.

If I had an amazing career I loved...probably wouldn't even be doing the sums and just be working.

Used to be 65% but the Scottish Greens egged on the SNP to up it to 67% as 65% wasn’t enough. That’s the economic literacy of the ruling party we have to endure here. Thick as mince.

I agree, what’s the point.

Every other parent I know is cutting hours and using pension contributions to avoid an effective 100%+ tax rate.

The country talks about growth but then heavily incentivises its biggest tax payers to… work less.

I lose £25,000 net if I earn a penny over £100k. Equivalent to earning a 60k salary instead. To regain that lost £25k net, I need to earn £155k. Utter madness.

The worst part is that the £100k threshold has been stuck there for 17 years, no accounting for inflation whatsoever, and yet it’s now creating an effective upper limit on earnings for many.

Ah, my apologies. I'm trained and work in E&W tax so that's where my mind defaults.

It’s the reason I work part time.

Nope, and when enough of our higher contributors do this more and more, maybe the left will start to understand that you can’t just ‘tax the rich’ because at some point, they’ll just say no.

No, of course not.
I might work extra if they converted them
into extra holiday days off.

They just need to scrap the removal of the personal allowance. It makes no sense for tax to go up, then down again.

No one seems brave enough to do this, as it will lead to cries of ‘tax breaks for the rich’, despite its negative incentives (and being completely illogical or fair).

Move the additional rate down to £100k if they really must.

No

I would maybe cut my hours.you aren't going to get this time back in your life.

Yes, because it’s pensionable and I am close to retirement

Even if they gave everyone the personal allowance and upped the top rate of tax people would scream about tax cuts for the rich. Even if they were shown the way that it would boost tax take. A lot of people LOATE rich people, even when they pay lots of tax.

I wouldn’t personally especially if you are relying on any childcare support which stops at £100k. If you aren’t and turning it down would stop you earning over £125k in the future then it might be worth gritting your teeth.

It’s so counterproductive, high earners paying into pensions, going part time, taking unpaid leave etc instead of just letting people pay a normal rate of tax and not losing childcare help.

Isnt stats wise only 4% of people in england earn over 100k?

Well at least in Scotland you still get childcare hours on over £100k. For now. But they’re heading for a massive fiscal reckoning in Scotland soon and they must be in the list for the chop.

I can't get worked up over it, this doesn't affect 95% of the population.

It does affect the 95% because the top 10 per cent are funding the country disproportionally. So if they do not and become inefficient deliberately due to tax policy, then the bottom suffer the most and so do services. It is why you get recessions.