Pay day

It is not uncommon that Burmese fellows working abroad grumble about how much they have to pay tax to both Myanmar government and the country where they live. Someone from Singapore claimed that he had to queue at Myanmar embassy for tax purpose since mid night. Weird!

It is true that Myanmar passport holders in Britain do not need to pay tax to Myanmar embassy in order to renew their passport. But every month, the PAYE (Pay As You Earn) tax taken from salary is too much for me. It is a sort of pain with the appearance of news about members of parliament (လႊတ္ေတာ္အမတ္ ) are using our tax payers' money for their luxury items and mortgage payments.

This is the income tax rate for 2009. If you earn more, you have to pay more.

Income Tax rates and taxable bands

	2008-09	2009-10
Starting rate for savings: 10%*	£0-£2,320	£0-£2,440
Basic rate: 20%	£0-£34,800	£0-£37,400
Higher rate: 40%	Over £34,800	Over £37,400

After tax, another deduction is NI ( national insurance ) contribution. I think it is about 11% of salary. According to the law, you can claim benefit if you are not capable of working or if you become jobless after an enough NI contribution. But I saw many people who are entitled to claim such benefits without working properly before. Fine, this is the democratic country with full of human rights.

Anyway, for this month, the total deduction from my salary is over £2000. I still don't know how much Burmese double tax payers across the world are paying tax. For me, this single tax makes me suffer enough. I have loads of bills to pay every month. So I have to work extra hours when I have a plan to go holiday nearby country. That is one of the reasons I can not visit Burma for many years. I still believe that some people, such as KOM , are still lucky wherever they work at burger shop or warehouse. They can go back home regularly, spending packs of currency notes. Really nice life style.