Being middle class sucks - in the UK as well

An interesting and thought-provoking post from US blogger, Taxgirl, about how 'being middle class in America sucks'.

I understand her point. She highlights the injustice in the tax system when one is not 'poor' enough to take advantage of particular tax breaks, or 'rich' enough to arrange one's tax affairs in a way to reduce one's tax liability. Being stuck in the middle, one is clobbered by all manner of taxes, but has no recourse to certain reliefs, because one is deemed 'too rich', as it were, to qualify.

That happens here in the UK as well. Take the case of an employed earner, earning, say £48,000 per annum. Such a person is taxed at the higher rate of income tax, and given the strict rules for tax on earnings, he has very little scope to order his tax affairs, as say, a similarly earning self-employed businessman. His income is too high to claim working  tax credits. He must take the full tax hit.

On the other hand, someone earning far more than him, while subject to the same tax rate, would, in theory, have at his disposal, access to good tax planning advice, and more scope to order his affairs so as to reduce his tax liability.

So that is the situation: too 'poor' to take advantage of the tax breaks enjoyed by the very rich, and 'too rich' to benefit from targeted Government help for the lower earners. Taxed in full with no hope of respite from anywhere. Yes, being middle class sucks.