Taxpayer's Alliance
In the top right-hand corner of its webpage the "Taxpayer's Alliance" has what are presumably real-life stories of Britons who are mad about higher taxes (if you refresh the page you'll get a different one).As an aside, "Bob" from Liverpool looks remarkably like Alex Singleton.
Anyway it's not Bob that I was interested in, but "Matt", from Newcastle. He tells us that:
This seems terrible. Band D Council Tax in Newcastle is £89 a month. So "Matt"'s disposable income after rent and tax is less than £178 a month. What must his rent be?
If he is earning £10k a year then he is paying at least £530 a month in rent, if he is earning £15k a year he is paying £810 a month in rent, on £20k a year he would be paying £1090 a month on rent, and if he is earning £30k a year he would have to be paying a whopping £1650 a month in rent.
Looking at a Newcastle property website you don't find many properties at the upper end of this scale. So I think we must assume he is earning about £10,000 a year, and living somewhere like this:
Gosforth - Lanesborough Court - the Penthouse:
Located within a prestigious development, within walking distance to all amenities & approx. 5 minutes into the centre of Newcastle - fabulous 2-bedroom/2-bathroom penthouse apartment with all the trappings of 21st century living. The visual impact is stunning with high vaulted ceilings to amazing hardwood flooring throughout. Décor and quality of fixtures is very high. Comprises Upstairs Lounge, downstairs open plan lounge & cinema area with 50 inch plasma screen, dining area, beck deck with bathroom, dressing room, 2nd bedroom with en-suite, fully fitted kitchen, study, security system. Garage. £1350 pcm. Contact 0191 258 7340 or e-mail (updated 6 December)
Now admittedly he is paying about £124 a month in tax, if he wasn't taxed on his income at all he would have that much more spending money. But there are other things to consider, he would most likely have to pay for private healthcare, he wouldn't get any benefits which someone on £10k a year is probably entitled to, so I can't really believe the income tax/benefits system is making him worse off.
I would, if I was him, look at his spending. He is spending at least 60% of his pre-tax income on rent. This is far more than is wise. It's not -- as far as I can see -- even necessary. There are many far cheaper flats in Newcastle, most of which sound perfectly pleasant.
posted by Matthew @ 1/02/2006 06:21:00 PM
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