Do bankers pay a 45% tax?

I'd like to see banking compared side by side with other "skilled" professions like Engineers, Doctors, Police Officers, Lawyers etc.

They earned it. They didn't steal it.

It has nothing to do with greed. They've probably trained through hell and are working obscene amount of hours to reach 500k and above.

Just because you can't do it doesn't mean others shouldn't. Jeez.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Aye, you mean the doctors who have the option of going private and making several hundred thousand pounds a year? Or the ones who choose to move to the US, Aus, UAE etc to get higher pay because they don't feel like their labour is as valued in the NHS? Or the Partners at a range of law firms pulling in high six to seven figure payouts based on firm profits? Or the police officers that choose to go into private security for either rich families or highly valuable private businesses because they want a better livelihood? Or the police officers that start their OWN security firms and pay themselves handsomely because their firm is making profit?

Or the engineers who are whisked away on cushy expat packages to go and apply their specialist knowledge elsewhere in the world?

Come on mate, bankers are the same as pretty much any profession where you're responsible for producing profit, utilising high level relationships and making use of specialist knowledge. If people want to earn the same they should move into a position with that responsibility, not look onwards with jealousy and self-righteousness as to what they think someone should get paid.

The economy is not a charity, you either produce or you help those to produce.

Aye, you mean the doctors who have the option of going private and making several hundred thousand pounds a year? Or the ones who choose to move to the US, Aus, UAE etc to get higher pay because they don't feel like their labour is as valued in the NHS? Or the Partners at a range of law firms pulling in high six to seven figure payouts based on firm profits? Or the police officers that choose to go into private security for either rich families or highly valuable private businesses because they want a better livelihood? Or the police officers that start their OWN security firms and pay themselves handsomely because their firm is making profit?

Or the engineers who are whisked away on cushy expat packages to go and apply their specialist knowledge elsewhere in the world?

Come on mate, bankers are the same as pretty much any profession where you're responsible for producing profit, utilising high level relationships and making use of specialist knowledge. If people want to earn the same they should move into a position with that responsibility, not look onwards with jealousy and self-righteousness as to what they think someone should get paid.

The economy is not a charity, you either produce or you help those to produce.

How is that not greed?
You say the earned it... but how do you decide how much a person is entitled to for their services?

You get your salary monthly. And remember, you're paying outrageous amounts of tax so you don't see all of that money..

All I'm saying is the wealth gap between equally hard working people needs to be adressed. The examples you've used are few and far between with the exception of Lawyers maybe, pretty common for them to have 5 figure salaries if they're experienced.

I'd like to see banking compared side by side with other "skilled" professions like Engineers, Doctors, Police Officers, Lawyers etc.

I think you're grossly over-exaggerating how many bankers there are and how many of them actually earn the sums we are speaking about here - especially if you think the examples I've given are 'few and far between'

Another thing I forgot to mention too is the importance of their job to society vs say... doctors/soldiers (who are woefully underpaid btw) but that doesn't seem to matter too much in deciding their pay.

I've already stated that someone working in tesco obviously should be paid far less, same goes for any other low skilled job. The issue is the minimum wage being too low and bankers and other similar professions being paid too highly. Bonuses for people doing a horrible job of managing are too high.

Ok. So without traders, bankers, salespeople, investment analysts how would a) people invest for their retirement? b) companies and individuals represented by funds access the markets? c) companies raise financing that is more sophisticated than a bank loan? d) negotiate and come to agreeable terms in an acquisition or merger without inaccurate advise that could lead to potential doom for both parties?

Just because a service is from one entity to another does not mean they aren't"t 'needed' or 'valued'. Doctors help individuals one by one, what do they have to do with helping millions of people? Soldiers consciously choose to go and fight other human beings under the guise of 'something' (be that protecting their nation, having something to prove, pressures from the government).. Where do they fit into the large scale nature of the economy?

Everyone keeps misconstruing individual human to human services as the best and most valuable services whilst casting everything else as corrupt and evil. I think that misguided.

Ok. So without traders, bankers, salespeople, investment analysts how would a) people invest for their retirement? b) companies and individuals represented by funds access the markets? c) companies raise financing that is more sophisticated than a bank loan? d) negotiate and come to agreeable terms in an acquisition or merger without inaccurate advise that could lead to potential doom for both parties?

Just because a service is from one entity to another does not mean they aren't"t 'needed' or 'valued'. Doctors help individuals one by one, what do they have to do with helping millions of people? Soldiers consciously choose to go and fight other human beings under the guise of 'something' (be that protecting their nation, having something to prove, pressures from the government).. Where do they fit into the large scale nature of the economy?

Everyone keeps misconstruing individual human to human services as the best and most valuable services whilst casting everything else as corrupt and evil. I think that misguided.


Posted from TSR Mobile

Pretty sure people would be just fine without those aforementioned services. Would you rather we got rid them or our police force? Thought so. (Not saying those services don't matter, but still...)
A soldier's primary duty is to defend his/her country, without an adequate defence force, your economy is pretty screwed.

So bankers etc. are getting paid too highly? Would you prefer companies to reward their workers LESS and hoard more of the money themselves, which then gets distributed to shareholders who are inevitably the richer people in society anyway?

We can all agree that people who do a horrible job of managing should not get bonuses. Sadly I think you're naïve if you think that is confined to banking.

Yes, I'm sure those guys will do great when the Police Force cannot raise sufficient financing to pay them a salary...Same for soldiers and our defense services.

Most government borrowing which pays for these services is done through investment banks. If the government cannot raise the financing at a cost-effective rate, then those services disappear.

Well... a lot of the money a company makes gets reinvested, you pay dividends to shareholders if you're a big PLC yes, but not all companies are. How about you give bonuses to normal, hardworking employees who need it more than the guys at the top?

I'm pretty sure a country like ours can afford to pay our officers + soldiers a salary without borrowing....

I wish I could say that was the case but unfortunately it is not. Our government borrows money every single month of every year. In some cases, it is just borrowing money to pay off or refinance pre-existing debt. The tax the UK government receives nowhere near covers our basic services or debt repayments to investors hence the excess borrowing and deficit we have.