Just one more reason to emigrate to New Zealand.
So the UK budget is now out, and for the 2 people in the UK that earn over £150,000 a year and actually pay taxes, they will now have to stump up a whopping 50% rate. The reason for this seems to be in order to help offset the truly frightening sums of money that the UK government is set to borrow over the next four years to get them out of the smelly stuff. I think they should perhaps subscribe to Moneysavingexpert.com which clearly explains that borrowing more money in order to solve your debts is a BAD IDEA. Borrowing £606 billion over 4 years doesn’t sound too good to me. The rest of have to make savings – why don’t governments. Oh yes – they just get us to pay for it !
New Zealand’s top tax rate is a fluffy 38% with a 1.7% ACC levy on top. Now that is payable on any earnings over $70,000, but bear in mind that whereas the UK taxes just went up, ours went down for the second time. Our governments response to the recession is that we may not get the next two round of tax cuts we are supposed to be getting over the next two years.
Now in theory, it might not sound like a bad idea to most people to have anyone earning over £150,000 paying a higher rate of tax. (That’s about $375k – $$450k) Especially right now where a lot of people want to dearly understand how so many finance and bank managers got such high salaries while screwing over the entire world. But it is worth bearing in mind that people earning that kind of money rarely have to pay tax on it, as they have the nouse to work the tax system or the ability to pay good accountants to do it for them.
It is the same here in New Zealand. We have a tax system that allows people to legally reduce the amount of tax they pay. It is unfortunately not quite as simple as many people believe, and if you intend to use it to your advantage you absolutely must get some proper tax advice before trying it. If you get it wrong – the New Zealand Inland Revenue will not take “I didn’t know” as an excuse, and will hammer you with fines and interest for underpaid tax.
For a laugh – you can see the reply the leader of the opposition made to the budget. It is rather scathing, but does show quite clearly the enormity of the issue facing UK taxpayers. On the positive side – New Zealand still has need for skilled migrants and the doors are still open.
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- The NZ budget what does it mean for you
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Comments
5 Comments on Just one more reason to emigrate to New Zealand.
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Dinah on
Mon, 27th Apr 2009 6:36 pm
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Hubby on
Mon, 27th Apr 2009 8:45 pm
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Avalon on
Mon, 27th Apr 2009 8:50 pm
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Hubby on
Mon, 27th Apr 2009 8:57 pm
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Avalon on
Mon, 27th Apr 2009 10:39 pm
Very interesting reading (as usual Av). Just need to point something out though. Our combined income is nowhere near the £150k mark but I have to say that we’re financially a LOT better off living here in UK than we ever were in NZ. The days Mark spends in/out of the country due to his work makes a huge difference to the amount of tax he has to pay – unlike in NZ where – regardless of the amount of days he spent in the country each year – he was paying a whopping amount of tax due to his ‘enduring relationship’ (or something like that) with the country.
I don’t claim to be even slightly knowledgeable about budgets, income tax and various earning brackets, but I do know that the figures on our bank statements show that we’re MUCH better off living here in the UK. There’s exceptions to every rule and I guess we’re one of them.
Hmm – well Cameron’s speach started out like a dead parrot sketch – oh wait, yes, that’ll be a dead Government, that has ceased to breathe, it is an x-Government
Very good point 
Sometimes I do wonder if we are the ONLY migrants from the UK here who are so much better off. It might be that we are in fact the exeption to the rule – mostly because Hubby won’t accept this low wage nonsence , and we know how the tax system works. (Though that has cost is some $$$ to find out and make it work). We do know of other migrants who have done as well as us and better, so it really is possible to be better off in New Zealand, but as you say -it will not always be the case. Rather shortisigted of the tax office to lose a migrant by charging too much tax!
Also, Ive never really looked at this enduring relationship thing – cheers – another thing to research at some point
If nowt else – this does show quite clearly that “one size does not fit all”
On a slightly more serious note, I was listening to a podcast from the Today program on radio four discussing this very thing..
The Govt’s advice to all those hard working people who may be short of a job, err sorry, bob or two?? You should only spend what you can afford, Britons must learn that the years of extravagent spending are over, we must stop spending money we don’t have.. etc. etc.
The Govt’s own actions – we must spend more, borrow if we have to, and we should spend what we think we need to spend. In fact spending is good, so good we’re going to throw away UKP2,000 each time someone buys a new car to encourage them to spend. The money they don’t have.
Nowt to do with what the Govt. can afford then?
ID cards for UKP10-19bn guv?, plus anything up to UKP300 per person when you actually want (read have to) get one {that’s a very wide margin of error for the lower and upper costs}
New aircraft carrier, a snip at UKP5bn for two (we think, but don’t quote us on that, it might be more!)
Don’t hold back = say what you mean
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