SSwift: Most people in the UK don't have to file a tax return, most tax is taken as you earn it by their employer and they have no opportunity to claim expenses, you can only do that if you are a business. As a result things that might seem logical and simple for someone in the US are different here. I'm pretty sure a UK accountant will tell you the same as me; that is unless you have a totally huge income in which case you will probably pay no tax at all, but that's another issue.
Gabriel: Don't forget you have to pay 11% of any income earned in National Insurance (what a joke) no matter how much you earn with NO threshold, making it one of the most unfair taxes. I reckon I also pay about 17% of my income in stealth taxes (TV License, Council Tax, VAT etc.).
Oh and in the UK you don't get "free healthcare", you get a basic, crappy level of care, if you want to see a specialist BEFORE you die on the waiting list then you pay for private health insurance. People in the UK have been kidding themselves for years that we have a health service that is the "best in the world", in reality the state system is pretty damn poor and if you want decent care, you have to pay, just like everywhere else, if dying from preventable diseases and conditions doesn't bother you, stick with the NHS and NICE.
Darkheart
Gabriel: Don't forget you have to pay 11% of any income earned in National Insurance (what a joke) no matter how much you earn with NO threshold, making it one of the most unfair taxes. I reckon I also pay about 17% of my income in stealth taxes (TV License, Council Tax, VAT etc.).
Oh and in the UK you don't get "free healthcare", you get a basic, crappy level of care, if you want to see a specialist BEFORE you die on the waiting list then you pay for private health insurance. People in the UK have been kidding themselves for years that we have a health service that is the "best in the world", in reality the state system is pretty damn poor and if you want decent care, you have to pay, just like everywhere else, if dying from preventable diseases and conditions doesn't bother you, stick with the NHS and NICE.
Darkheart