<BLOCKQUOTE><HR>Originally posted by theMAC:
When you get paid...
What % do they take out of your check immediately?[/quote]
In the UK: This depends on how much you earn. Most people are in the middle bracket. Which basically means that income is 21% of the taxable amount in your wage. That is NOT 21% of the whol lot. If I may I will explain. We have two dedcution from wages. One is called 'National Insurnace'. National INsurance is currently set at about 8% of the entire wage packet. It is dedcuted and pays for the National Health Service (free healthcare for all based on clinical need not the ability to pay), note not all of the NI payment goes for the NHS alone, but a large majority does. Also note that if you don;t work you don't pay NI, but you still get free healthcare as everyone else.
The next thing to come off is PAYE (Pay As You Earn). This is basically the income tax. Income tax is not on the whoel amount, it is on only the taxable amount. Everyone in the UK has an amount they can earn that is free from tax. This is usually about £4000 per year ($6500). Thus anything earned above this figure is taxable. So say you earn £5000 per year, only £1000 is subject to income tax. Then it gets a little confusing. If the taxable amount is £10000 per year or less, then you are subject to income tax at 10%. This means that if your gross salary is 14K. Tax is dedcuted at 10% off the taxable amount of approx 10K. Working out to tax for the year of 1k. In my case I earn above this so my tax is 20% of the taxable amount. Those earning over 50K are taxed at 40% on the taxable amount.
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When you fill your car up with gas...
What % of the price per gal/liter?
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In the UK, taxation on fuel as risen massively in the past few years. I believe we pay about 80p per litre, which is like $1.20 per litre.
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When you buy chips or candy....
what % do you pay in tax?
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We don't in the UK. Food is not subject to VAT (Value Added Tax) it is only subject to the mark up from cost the seller chooses.
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When you pay your phone bill?
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VAT applies here. This is et at a constant of 17.5%. This is the same figure for all products with the excpetion of food, childrens clothes and newspapers.
Now as for your other points, I can't really comment on how money is spent in the US. I know that in the UK, we come from a totally different premis when it comes to taxation etc. Our premis have some basic tenats that are given and accepted as norms, like national healthcare for all, free ducation for all up to 18, social housing for the disadvantaged, public services funded by taxation. Persoanlly I don't think any of us in the uK pay enough tax. We all complain about wanting better services, more hospitals, better schools etc, then in the next pbreath we hear the same people complain that they want lower taxes??? Well excuse me, but logic as far as I am concerend says that you don;t get something for nothing.
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