Public/Private wage gap 'widens'
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Public sector workers paid 7.8pc more than private sector as wage gap 'widens' - Telegraph.
Although economic illiterates keep telling us that "public sector workers are taxpayers too" those 'taxes' are purely cosmetic. In fact they are worse than that. The bureaucracy wastes a hefty chunk of the 'tax' in administration costs before repaying it to public employees to be 'taxed' again (repeat ad infinitum). Because of that endless 'fiscal churn', it would make far more sense to pay public sector employees the net amount tax-free and save the overhead.
It won't happen because that would highlight (to the annoyance of the public sector unions) the fact that the government is ruthlessly exploiting private sector workers for their members' benefit. Bearing in mind, of course, that not only do our public servants masters earn 7.8% more than us, but also draw pensions of which we can only dream.
Do read the linked article in full for the boost to your flagging blood pressure from the snootiness and arrogance of the TUC spokesman quoted. He claims it's all because public sector workers are better qualified and more important. I imagine him saying it in the plummy tones of the Edwardian Knut (or is it cnut?) his attitude recalls.
Having read it, please calm down and consider - even he were right - what future there would be for a country that deployed most of its best people into non wealth-creating tasks.
I've checked with my sources and, currently at least, pay scales are set at gross pay, not net of taxes in the Civil Service. This is apparently because there are other things (like pension contributions) which are based on gross amounts.
Posted by: Account Deleted | Friday, July 08, 2011 at 01:27 PM
Economically, they are exempt. The law should reflect the reality and save us all the cost of the churn. It's clearly doing no good for them to be subject to notional tax. When real taxpayers complain about the cost of public services they - ludicrously - say "but we pay taxes too!"
I once saw a girl interviewed who was living permanently on benefits. She actually said "I am not living on the taxpayer. I pay taxes too - on my cigarettes and booze."
It's the same delusion.
Posted by: Tom | Tuesday, July 05, 2011 at 10:04 PM
I once asked a friend who works for HMRC why they bother to levy Income Tax on government employees. The response was that it would be too difficult/expensive to exempt them. At the time I naively accepted this. My impression now, though, is that UK income tax rules are so complicated that practically everyone is a special case anyway.
I'd be disinclined to exempt Government employees, anyway (except maybe the Armed Forces), simply on the principle that they should be subject to the same iniquities as the rest of us. While they may set their pay rules to be transparent to tax, they should at least be able to witness the rapaciousness first-hand. It might just be doing some good.
Posted by: Account Deleted | Tuesday, July 05, 2011 at 09:00 PM
That could be covered by contract. For example, the pay grade could be set in the contract as "... the equivalent, net of taxes x, y and z, of £ABC paid gross in the private sector...".
If an humble private sector chap like me can devise such a solution, I am sure all those superior public sector sorts could do even better!
Posted by: Tom | Tuesday, July 05, 2011 at 06:12 PM
But under your system, if income tax or NIC rates were increased, private sector workers would see their take home pay fall, but public sector workers wouldn't.
Posted by: Martin | Tuesday, July 05, 2011 at 05:53 PM
I defer to no-one in my respect for Inspector G. but his discomfiture is a good, but not sufficient, reason to leave a fallacy unchallenged.
Posted by: Tom | Tuesday, July 05, 2011 at 05:35 PM
If you listen very carefully you'll be able to hear Gadget's teeth grinding....
Posted by: Diogenes | Tuesday, July 05, 2011 at 04:43 PM