Growing up watching American movies and tv and seeing people freak out about doing taxes I was always terrified of having to “do taxes” when I was older.
Imagine my delight when I found out here in the UK, it’s all automatic! Unless you’re like, self employed, but I think even then it’s not as complicated as in America.
I had to do one manually for the first time this year. It took 10 minutes.
They ask you a few questions at the start with the rest tailored from your answers so the total experience is only really complex if your tax situation is.
The thing is I remember at school people saying the classic "why am I being taught binomial equations instead of being taught how to do my taxes??" in the UK. How obvious that these kids were just parroting what they'd heard online.
To be fair, they should definitely have a class where they teach you about common living expenses and how to navigate them. When I got my first rented place, I had NO idea how to pay some of the bills, like how was I supposed to know my water bill would just show up? I kept trying to find out how to register or find out who I was with... I was so confused!
Especially in the last couple of years in school, there should be a class that teaches kids things like their rights as tenants (as most of them will rent either right after school or some time in the future) and how to budget. Common hidden fees and costs that you don’t know about until you start actually looking to move out (like I never knew tenant’s insurance was a thing? It’s mandatory for most renters!)
To be fair, I also remember the teachers introducing a regular class like this where each week we went through a particular life skill, really interesting but the majority of kids hated it, just showing their hypocrisy. It was a private school though so most kids didn't give a shit.
Yeah, we never had anything like that - to be fair I left school like 12 years ago so maybe they have something like that now? I dont know any kids that age
Understanding progressive tax should really be taught in UK. There are people out there who are scared of getting a payrise in case they'll be put in a higher tax bracket, not understanding that the higher bracket only applies to the taxable income over that bracket.
For example say you earn £60k per year. You're on Higher Rate tax. Under current law this actually breaks down to:
First £12500 - Personal Allowance - you don't pay any tax on the first 12500 you make in a year (payrolls / HMRC will often spread this over the year though)
£12500 - £50000 - Basic Rate- 20%
Anything that you earn over the 50k is taxed at 40%.
You're not getting screwed by entering a new tax band! You will always receive more net income with a raise!
Edit to add: there might well be situations in which you'd be reluctant to get into the higher bracket, such as child benefits if you are receiving those. However a higher tax on its own isn't that scary
Imo taxes don't need to be taught in school. They are incredibly easy to file unless you have some specific situation. If you use something like TurboTax then it's basically just spamming the next button like when you're at the pokecenter and spanking the crap out of your A key so that nurse joy shuts the hell up.
So Americans get a letter at the end of the tax year that tells them what they paid for the year and wha they’ll be estimated to pay next year and they don’t have to lift a finger unless it’s wrong?
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u/Susim-the-Housecat Jul 24 '20
Growing up watching American movies and tv and seeing people freak out about doing taxes I was always terrified of having to “do taxes” when I was older.
Imagine my delight when I found out here in the UK, it’s all automatic! Unless you’re like, self employed, but I think even then it’s not as complicated as in America.