Why we shouldn't tax the rich

Just stumbled upon this article http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/why-we-shouldnt-tax-the-rich.html

It gives some interesting facts:

Firstly, the top 1% of tax payers paid a quarter of all income tax revenues in 2010 according to HM Revenue and Customs. That’s the same as the entire defence budget.

Although revenues were down £8billion on 2008 the sector still coughed up £53.4billion in the 12 months to March 2009. Or, in context, more than half the entire education budget.

What do people think? Are we not taxing the wealthy people enough? Or should taxes increase, potentially pushing rich people out of the country?

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Reply 1

BristolStudent96

Taxes should decrease for everyone. To fund that we need real spending cuts.

Reply 2

uktotalgamer

Original post by chigz32

Just stumbled upon this article http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/why-we-shouldnt-tax-the-rich.html

It gives some interesting facts:

What do people think? Are we not taxing the wealthy people enough? Or should taxes increase, potentially pushing rich people out of the country?

Not to mention the jobs that would be lost at companies that make luxurious goods such as McLaren and firms like that.

Taxing the rich has always been Labours "get out." It doesn't work.

Also, what the real problem will continue to be is that our budget needed to fuel the private sector is absolutely sky high with crap and admin rubbish that we don't need.

Reply 3

Snagprophet

Everyone should pay tax, and obviously the rich more, but there is a limit before they move away to tax havens.

Reply 4

rcummins1

I remember talking about this in economics...if you tax rich people a small enough amount, eventually it doesn't become worth it to try and hide it abroad, and you actually make more money than by taxing them more. Much more complex than that in reality though i would guess.

Reply 5

member520746

The rich have already moved away to tax havens, trillions have been removed from the global economy. It's a bit late to argue against capital flight

Reply 6

WhatsHisFace

Morally, absolutely we should tax the rich. Realistically the question is a little harder to answer.

Reply 7

TimHuak

Tax everybody as little as possible

Reply 8

chigz32

Hypothetically speaking, surely an easy way the 'wealth migration' is to close these tax loopholes? We may not be able claw back money but we can stop it leaving?

Reply 9

I JUST HAD SEX

Original post by Hewitt

Taxes should decrease for everyone. To fund that we need real spending cuts.

spending cuts in where? nhs?

Reply 10

Rtcw

Instead of taxing the riches, I think we should reduce their tax bills if they allow portion of that money to be invested (Most likely into labourers) instead of being taxed, thus win-win situation.

Reply 11

unclej

Take all earnings over £250,000 pa

no one needs that much money

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 12

chigz32

Original post by Rtcw

Instead of taxing the riches, I think we should reduce their tax bills if they allow portion of that money to be invested (Most likely into labourers) instead of being taxed, thus win-win situation.

With huge bills already to pay for public services, surely if you wanted investment, taxes would need to be raised? Or cut funding for public services to fund the investment.

Reply 13

Rtcw

Original post by chigz32

With huge bills already to pay for public services, surely if you wanted investment, taxes would need to be raised? Or cut funding for public services to fund the investment.

No, they still pay the tax. Maybe 10% tax from their tax can be given back to them if they invest about 7-9% of that tax. The other 90% of income goes to tax budget.

Reply 14

chigz32

Original post by Rtcw

No, they still pay the tax. Maybe 10% tax from their tax can be given back to them if they invest about 7-9% of that tax. The other 90% of income goes to tax budget.

Hmm, I see the idea. Where would you invest that extra 7-9%? Is there a fear that people many invest it back into their businesses in terms of increasing employment etc?

Reply 15

aWildPidgey

Original post by WhatsHisFace

Morally, absolutely we should tax the rich. Realistically the question is a little harder to answer.

It's moral to tax the people more who've made the most of themselves?

Reply 16

Rtcw

Original post by chigz32

Hmm, I see the idea. Where would you invest that extra 7-9%? Is there a fear that people many invest it back into their businesses in terms of increasing employment etc?

I don't know. I don't have economics degree, or anything related. But probably there could be rules on which they can invest in.

Reply 17

WhatsHisFace

Original post by aWildPidgey

It's moral to tax the people more who've made the most of themselves?

It's moral to tax people who used a monetary system that promotes greed, aggressive capitalism, and selling people short. So yes, it is moral to tax people who "made the most of themselves", as you would call it.

Reply 18

chigz32

Original post by WhatsHisFace

I think you digress; tax isn't about what's morally right but economically viable. Anyway, if we are talking about what's moral, reading the article above, you can see that most of the money that goes towards public services is coming from people who have 'made the most of themselves' (label that has been given). So would it be moral to increase that tax even more, allowing those who pay less tax to continue to do so? Should we allow these people to bear the brunt of society costs? Or should each citizen pay their way? Just a thought

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 19

BristolStudent96

Original post by I JUST HAD SEX

spending cuts in where? nhs?

Well for a start we could cut the international aid budget - why is it fair British taxpayers should be funding the Indian space program?

I don't believe we should cut the NHS. However welfare should be cut back dramatically and tighter regulation introduced to make sure it is not abused. With large tax cuts there should be a much larger incentive to work, which would probably result with less benefit scroungers for a start.

There are other areas where cuts can be made too - the civil service, energy, quangos. And within all departments I am sure massive efficiency savings can be made.

That is only the start...