‘It’s all fallen flat’: households earning more than £60,000 on how they are struggling financially
-Mortgages, bills and highest tax burden in 70 years pile on pressure despite healthy incomes

“这一切都是徒劳的”:收入超过6万英镑的家庭是如何在经济上挣扎的
——尽管收入状况良好，但抵押贷款、账单和70年来最高的税收负担仍在增加压力


(Despite incomes higher than the national average, some well-paid people say they are unable to fund a reasonable lifestyle.)

（尽管收入高于全国平均水平，但一些高收入人群表示，他们无法负担合理的生活方式。）
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An annual gross income of £74,000 puts Scott, 28, a software engineer from Leicestershire, in the top 10% of earners nationally. But, he says, it doesn’t feel that way for him and his family.

现年28岁的斯科特是莱斯特郡的一名软件工程师，年收入7.4万英镑，使他跻身全国收入最高的10%之列。但是，他说，他和他的家人并没有这样的感觉。

“Ten years ago we’d have been laughing with my salary. Now, it feels like our heads are barely above water. There’s an attitude that at this level of income you’ve plenty of money, but it’s not true at all,” he says.

“十年前，我们拿着我的薪水会笑得很开心。现在，感觉我们的头勉强露出水面。有一种态度认为，在这种收入水平下，你已经很有钱了，但事实并非如此。”

The couple’s mortgage uses up more than a third of Scott’s take-home pay, the family’s monthly grocery shop costs more than £500, his student loan repayments are £300 – “money I now desperately need,” he says.

这对夫妇的抵押贷款占了斯科特实得工资的三分之一以上，家庭每月的杂货支出超过500英镑，他的学生贷款偿还额为300英镑——“我现在迫切需要钱，”他说。

“We lease a car, the cost of which has risen greatly too because of higher interest rates. After all the things I have to pay for, we’re lucky to have £300 left over for the month, which is quickly depleted by day-to-day expenses. It feels like we’ve done everything we were told to do and yet we’re still struggling,” Scott says.

“我们租了一辆车，由于利率上升，租车成本也大幅上升。在我必须支付的所有东西之后，我们很幸运这个月还剩下300英镑，这些钱很快就被日常开支耗尽了。感觉我们已经做了所有我们被告知要做的事情，但我们仍然在挣扎，”斯科特说。

“I worked hard at university to gain a valuable degree, I job-hopped to drastically increase my salary – but it’s not enough. I’ve considered reducing my pension contribution just so we can have more money.

“我在大学里努力学习，获得了一个有价值的学位，我跳槽是为了大幅提高我的薪水——但这还不够。我考虑过减少我的养老金缴款，这样我们就能有更多的钱。

“My wife, who had stopped working to care for our two children, both under five, has been looking for work for a few months, but the kind of work she needs just doesn’t exist – remote flexitime. We’ve actually considered moving to a different country because this one feels set up against families and young people.”

“我的妻子为了照顾两个五岁以下的孩子而停止了工作，几个月来她一直在找工作，但她需要的那种工作——远程弹性工作时间的工作根本不存在。我们实际上考虑过搬到另一个国家，因为这个国家感觉与家庭和年轻人格格不入。”

He believes taxation has become punitively high: “I pay almost £2,000 a month in taxes, which I can’t actually afford.” The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is under pressure from voters such as Scott and many in his own party to use Wednesday’s budget to announce personal tax cuts, most likely to either national insurance contributions or the basic rate of income tax. But the chancellor’s scope for such a move has been restricted in recent days by tighter than expected forecasts, as well as warnings that public services cannot survive further austerity to pay for pre-election giveaways.

他认为，税收已经高得离谱：“我每个月要交近2000英镑的税，实际上我负担不起。”财政大臣杰里米·亨特受到斯科特等选民和党内许多人的压力，要求他利用周三的预算宣布个人减税，最有可能是国家保险缴款或基本所得税税率。但最近几天，这位大臣采取这一举措的余地受到了限制，因为情况比预期的更紧，而且有警告称，为了支付选举前的“赠品”，公共服务无法在进一步的紧缩中存活下来。

Scott has been left feeling pessimistic about the future: “I don’t see an end to any of this: life isn’t going to get cheaper and I’ve pretty much maxed out my earning potential. It’s ridiculous and I’m so sick of it.

斯科特对未来感到悲观：“我看不到这一切的结束：生活不会变得更便宜，我的收入潜力几乎已经达到了极限。这太荒谬了，我受够了。

“We can’t afford holidays. We can’t afford to put money away for the kids. We can’t afford new things, gadgets, hobbies. What’s it all for?”

“我们没钱度假。我们负担不起为孩子们存钱。我们买不起新东西，小玩意，爱好。这一切都是为了什么？”

Scott was just one of scores of middle-class earners who shared with the Guardian how they are struggling to cope financially and can no longer afford comfortable living standards despite having household incomes of between £60,000 and £120,000.

斯科特只是众多中产阶级中的一员，他们在接受《卫报》采访时表示，尽管家庭收入在6万至12万英镑之间，但他们仍在努力应对经济困难，再也负担不起舒适的生活标准。

A report last month from the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust highlighted how Britain’s insecure jobs market and high housing costs are leading to the growth of a precarious middle class. These households are struggling to maintain a decent living standard on joint incomes as high as £60,000 a year. That compares with the median gross annual earnings for full-time employees of £34,963 last April.

英国abrdn金融公平信托基金上个月的一份报告强调，英国不稳定的就业市场和高昂的住房成本正在导致一个不稳定的中产阶级的增长。这些家庭正以每年高达6万英镑的总收入挣扎着维持体面的生活水平。相比之下，去年4月全职员工的年总收入中值为34963英镑。

Many readers who got in touch earn significantly more than this, but say they are still struggling to afford their bills and decent living standards due to rocketing mortgage, rental and childcare costs, higher household bills and the highest tax burden in 70 years.

许多与我们联系的读者的收入远高于这个数字，但他们表示，由于抵押贷款、租金和儿童保育费用的飙升、家庭账单的增加和70年来最高的税负，他们仍然难以支付账单和体面的生活水平。

Parents and single people in particular argue their relatively high incomes are not sufficient to fund a reasonable lifestyle while taxes are so high. Among them is Chloe, 38, who owns her own home with an £180,000 mortgage outstanding and earns £57,500 a year in a senior role a charity in Sheffield.

尤其是父母和单身人士认为，在税收如此之高的情况下，他们相对较高的收入不足以支撑合理的生活方式。38岁的克洛伊就是其中之一，她拥有自己的房子，还欠着18万英镑的抵押贷款，在谢菲尔德的一家慈善机构担任高级职务，年收入5.75万英镑。

“Over the past six to eight months I’ve really found myself struggling to make ends meet while also living a life completely devoid of any pleasure,” she says.

“在过去的六到八个月里，我真的发现自己在努力维持收支平衡，同时也活得完全没有任何乐趣，”她说。

To save money, Chloe says, she has stopped drinking, eating takeaways and buying new clothes, as well as downgrading both her and her dog’s food. “I’ve also borrowed money from my parents, who were concerned by how little I was putting the heating on in my property and were worried it would cause damp.”

克洛伊说，为了省钱，她已经不再喝酒、不吃外卖、不买新衣服，还降低了她和她的狗粮的质量。“我还向父母借了钱，他们担心我的房子很少开暖气，担心这会导致潮湿。”

Chloe, who is single, says she worries about not being able to afford having children, and a social life. Her current contract comes to an end in six months. “I’m very limited in what I can do socially and couldn’t afford to go even one month without working. It’s so frustrating when you hear the government say: ‘You can work your way out of poverty.’

单身的克洛伊说，她担心自己养不起孩子，也负担不起社交生活。她目前的合同六个月后到期。“我能做的社交活动非常有限，一个月不工作我都承受不起。当你听到政府说：‘你可以通过工作摆脱贫困’时，你会感到非常沮丧。

“Work is not an answer when you’re taxing people at such a high level. I definitely think that the tax brackets should be reconsidered.”

“当你如此高水平地向人们征税时，工作不是解决办法。我绝对认为应该重新考虑税率等级。”

Matt, 32, who works in housing policy, says his and his partner’s combined household income is about £80,000 a year. “We live just outside Newcastle upon Tyne and aren’t struggling, but I know that’s because we are – and I hate the term – Dinks: double income, no kids, and living in a part of the country where costs are relatively lower.

32岁的马特在住房政策部门工作，他说他和他的伴侣的家庭年收入加起来大约是8万英镑。“我们就住在泰恩河畔的纽卡斯尔郊外，生活并不艰难，但我知道这是因为我们是——我讨厌这个词——丁克族：双职工收入，没有孩子，生活在一个成本相对较低的地方。

“It does seem that the only way to be on a middle income and doing OK at the moment is to be a Dink and living in the north.”

“现在看来，要想保持中等收入并过得不错，唯一的办法就是做一个住在北方的丁克人。”
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Rose, 35, a thinktank project manager from south London and mother-of-one, strongly agrees. She earns £34,000 a year, her partner, who works in IT, makes £57,000.

35岁的罗斯是伦敦南部的一名智库项目经理，也是一个孩子的母亲，她非常赞同这种说法。她的年收入为3.4万英镑，她在IT行业工作的伴侣年收入为5.7万英镑。

“The cost of living crisis is forcing us to move outside London,” Rose says. “After our son was born we moved to a two-bedroom flat in June 2022, paying £1,500. Our landlord increased the rent to £1,700 last May. We have not been going out since 2022. No dinners, Sunday roasts, or cinema.”

“生活成本危机迫使我们搬离伦敦，”罗斯说。“儿子出生后，我们在2022年6月搬到了一套两居室公寓，花了1500英镑。去年五月，我们的房东把房租涨到了1700英镑。我们从2022年开始就没有约会过。没有晚餐，没有周日烤肉，也没有电影。”

Going on maternity leave, Rose says, pushed her into debt she is now repaying. Her son’s nursery bill, £1,200 a month for four days, became unaffordable when the rent went up. “He’s now in nursery only two days a week at £750 a month, and stays with me the rest of the time while I work compressed hours. Although my partner and I both work full-time, we basically earn to pay rent, utility bills, debt and childcare.”

罗斯说，休产假让她背上了债务，现在她正在偿还。她儿子的幼儿园费用是每月1200英镑，为期4天，随着房租上涨，这一费用变得难以承受。“他现在每周只上两天托儿所，每月花费750英镑，在我工作时间被压缩的时候，他就跟在我身边。虽然我和我的伴侣都是全职工作，但我们挣的钱基本上用来支付房租、水电费、债务和儿童保育费用。”

Although respondents with children reported more precarious finances than those without, millennial childless couples say they barely have any disposable income either.

尽管有孩子的受访者表示，他们的财务状况比没有孩子的人更不稳定，但千禧一代没有孩子的夫妇表示，他们也几乎没有任何可支配收入。

Lillian, 36, from County Durham, an environmental consultant in the corporate sector says that despite her and her partner’s combined income of £70,000, they are experiencing substantial difficulties, as their doer-upper property has required repairs costing £25,000 so far.

36岁的莉莲来自达勒姆郡，是一名企业环境顾问。她说，尽管她和丈夫的总收入为7万英镑，但他们正经历着巨大的困难，因为他们的高层房屋目前需要花费2.5万英镑进行维修。

“We just feel caught in the middle,” she says. “We find ourselves surviving from paycheck to paycheck, have no savings except pensions. We’ve worked hard, done everything we can to build ourselves up financially, have professional careers, but it’s all fallen flat.”

“我们只是觉得陷入困境，”她说。“我们发现自己只能月光，除了养老金没有任何积蓄。我们努力工作，尽我们所能建立自己的财务，有职业生涯，但这一切都落空了。”

While the couple was fortunate to get a five-year fixed-rate mortgage in the pandemic at only 2%, they are dreading the cost increase when they will have to renew it next year now that the Bank of England base rate has soared to 5.25%.

虽然这对夫妇很幸运，在疫情期间获得了仅2%的五年期固定利率抵押贷款，但由于英格兰银行的基本利率已飙升至5.25%，他们担心明年不得不续签贷款时成本会增加。

Lillian fears having to work into her 80s. “The Tories have done a lot to erode the benefits of working, from Brexit to interest rates, but I don’t know that I trust any party to improve that. We definitely need a lot more public spending, but it cannot come from my income bracket; we’re completely squeezed.”

莉莲害怕工作到80多岁。“从英国脱欧到利率，保守党已经做了很多事情来侵蚀工作的好处，但我不知道我相信某个政党能改善这一点。我们当然需要更多的公共支出，但这不能来自我的收入阶层；我们完全被榨光了。”
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Lillian believes it should be people such as Lee, 47, a father of four from Surrey who works in tech, who should pay more taxes. Earning about £110,000, he is in the top 2% of earners. “I earn more than I ever did before now and feel very privileged,” he says. “And yet, I feel much poorer now than I did six or seven years ago, when I was only on £50,000, which is crazy.”

莉莲认为，像李这样的人应该缴纳更多的税——李47岁，是四个孩子的父亲，来自萨里郡，从事科技工作。他的年收入约为11万英镑，属于收入最高的2%。他说：“我现在赚的钱比以往任何时候都多，我感到非常荣幸。然而，我觉得现在比六七年前穷多了，当时我只有5万英镑，这太疯狂了。”

His wife works part-time as a childminder earning about £700 a month as they cannot afford childcare, Lee says. Like many other respondents, Lee believes in paying taxes, but feels resentful given the state of public services.

他的妻子兼职做保姆，每月收入约700英镑，因为他们负担不起托儿费用，李说。与许多其他受访者一样，李认为应该纳税，但考虑到公共服务的现状，他感到不满。

“Nothing works. You think – where is all this money going? Nothing is getting better. Something’s gotta change.

“啥都没效果。你想想，这些钱都去哪儿了？一切都没有好转。有些事情必须改变。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


“It’s weird when papers describe the rich and I think – ‘is it people like me?’ I feel jealous of other people when they go on holiday, we can’t afford that. I shop at Aldi, we budget £1,000 a month for food and petrol for our 10-year-old car. We occasionally go to Wetherspoon’s for breakfast. I often think: ‘Is this it?’”

“当报纸描述富人时，我觉得很奇怪——‘是像我这样的人吗？’当别人去度假时，我会嫉妒他们，我们负担不起。我在阿尔迪购物，我们每个月的食品和汽油预算为1000英镑，我们的车开了10年。我们偶尔去威瑟斯彭吃早餐。我经常想：‘这就是富人生活吗？’”