Who does "pay their fair share of tax"?

 I find the left wing phrase "pay their fair share of tax" really irritating.

It's not specific or measurable and is highly subjective. What is a fair share? Those on benefits don't pay any tax yet often are financially better off than those working full time.  Is that fair?

It's a sneaky phrase as it implies the rich are not contributing anything which a complete lie.

At least Count Binface's policy of  “I'll cut your taxes and raise everyone else's.” makes more sense than this stupid quote.

So let's start with the macro view.  Income tax raises £330 Billion. National Insurance raises £204 Billion and all forms of taxation raises £865 Billion.

The problem is Government spending is £1.2 TRILLION so there's a shortfall of £400 Billion raised from taxation.  

We have the highest rates of taxation since the second world war and we are not at war....

So income tax raises £330 Billion yet welfare spending is £156 Billion and the State Pension is £178 Billion (a total of £334 Billion) so the total welfare bill is more than ALL of the income tax receipts.

The NHS costs a staggering £317 Billion more, debt interest of our colossal £3 TRILLION debt pile if £126 Billion per year - our armed force defence spending is minuscule £66 Billion.

The problem is not taxation, our governments  spend too much on welfare and the NHS. Taxpayers are not getting value for money. Those on benefits are getting excellent value for money as they don't pay a penny.

Of the £204 Billion National Insurance tax, £144 Billion is from employers so £60 Billion is raised from employee contributions.  In theory this money goes towards the State Pension and the NHS however the NHS spending dwarfs the money raised from National Insurance.

Of course those on benefits that don't work are not paying any National Insurance and not paying any tax yet they benefit from free healthcare and state pension.

The median salary in the UK is £26,437.  In a little under 30 years Britain has become a country of low paid workers. The left mantra of hating the rich is hardly an incentive to strive to be rich. Annoyingly those on the median salary are likely better off financially on welfare and working less than 16 hours per week...67% of the working population earn this wage.

Of the UK's supposed 68 Million population only 34.4 Million people are working - roughly 50% of the population are not working. That is a drag on society and a burden on those that do work.  Are the unemployed paying their fair share? 

So we have 67% of 34.4 Million = 23 Million people paying £2,771 in tax and £1,109 in NI per year which raises £89 Billion (£63 Billion in tax and £25 Billion in NI).

So 67% of the working population pays 19% of Income tax and they pay 12% of National Insurance.

So that therefore means 33% of workers are paying 81% of Income Tax. Classic Pareto.

80% of the population pay 20% and 20% of the population pay 80%.  The very fact that Pareto is showing up in these stats suggests in fact that the rich are definitely paying "their fair share".

I personally wouldn't suggest any one earning more than £26,437 is rich but clearly anyone earning more than that is paying the lions share of Income Tax.

Income tax is very skewed.  There are 1.3 Million people earning more than £100k per year and 50k people earning more than £500k per year.  There are only 15,000 people worth more than £10M, 350 people worth more than £340M and just 157 Billionaires (this number has fallen as they decide to leave the UK for less hostile countries).  There simply are not many really rich people and they pay a disproportionate amount of tax.

The top 10% of earners pay 60% of all income tax.

The top 310,000 highest earners pay 29% of all income tax which equates to an average of £308,000 per person per year.  These guys are paying each year in tax what would be considered a lottery win....

The top 35,000 highest earners pay 10% of all income tax which means they are paying an average of £942,000 in tax per year.

Rather than making bland unmeasurable statements, maybe the left should start with naming who these individuals are.

Let's start with Ginger Angie - she failed to pay £40,000 in tax.  Surely she is not paying her fair share. She has also failed to return her £16,876 tax free severance payment for being forced to resign as a minister because of tax "error".

I really struggle to see who in the rich is not paying their fair share but it's clear that some individuals who preach that others should "pay their fair share"  are in fact not paying their fair share. Hypocrisy....

Rather than vilifying the rich and creating a lose-lose situation, if Labour encouraged a boat load of 35,000 rich people to move to the UK that would create a win-win situation and raise an additional £33 Billion in tax.  Instead the rich are leaving or opting out which creates pressure to raise taxes further down the hierarchy. Lose-Lose.  In the meantime the focus needs to be on tax dodgers like Ginger.