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Original post by Anonymous1502
Question above^



Yes. I would have zero income tax for anyone earning less than Β£20,000 then have low tax areas in Northern England to get investment and encourage companies to move there. People spending more money and more jobs! Sounds good to me.
yes
essentially the middle class in this country pay the same % as the rich in the united states
taxes should definitely be flattened, if not completely flat, for the sake of legal equality as well as capitalism in general
spending should be lowered as a prerequisite to that
Original post by sleepysnooze
yes
essentially the middle class in this country pay the same % as the rich in the united states
taxes should definitely be flattened, if not completely flat, for the sake of legal equality as well as capitalism in general
spending should be lowered as a prerequisite to that


Thank you for sharing your opinion much appreciated.
No.
Well too high for low earners, not high enough for high earners.
Original post by United Britain
Yes but you need to look at the reasons why people have to pay tax, it funds public services such as police, fire service and health-the rich do not actually pay tax, or pay very little i know someome who was self employed as a sole trader he made 40k and kept his tax and NI contributions below Β£10 . Also part of the problem is the population of our country we have too many foreigners who use our services free of charge IE NHS, and they are likely to never pay into the system, my next door neighbour is African never had a job he mowes lawns cash in hand people like him are taking away ftom society. With a growing population the percentage of tax will never change


Of course all those are very important to fund. Having high taxes doesn't nessecarily raise more money in the long term.
It's high because we pay into the system and get a free NHS and social welfare system when we need it.

For lower taxes all of that would need to be privatised and you would need to pay for medical insurance like other countries.

The only tax related thing I want to change is how they enforce the payment from big companies. Taxes pay by Facebook(among others) is a joke.
The first thing to remember is that taxes nowhere near fund our public services. However, I do think if they lowered income tax they'd probably take more revenue as people would spend more money which can be collected through VAT, Corporate Tax and economic growth.

My view is:

1. National Insurance should be scrapped so we just have one very clear income tax.

2. The tax bands should increase each year with inflation.

3. The personal tax free allowance should apply to everyone and not just those earning less than Β£100,000 per year.

4. The personal tax free allowance should increase in line with the minimum wage so no one on the minimum wage pays income tax.

5. Benefits should be capped at the tax free allowance.

6. The 40% tax bracket should not kick in until Β£75,000 or where it should kick in if it had moved with inflation.

7. The 45% tax bracket should kick in at Β£250,000, again to ensure it moved with inflation.

8. There should be a super all-in tax of 49% on those earning more than Β£500,000 in basic salary (i.e. celebrities, senior bankers and corporate executives)

The problem with our tax system is that everyone is taxed heavily rather than the super top earners, who are taxed nearly the same as those on extremely modest incomes.

I've always found it bizarre that a middle class earner on Β£150,000+ basic salary is in the same tax bracket as a CFO on Β£800,000 who in turn is in the same tax bracket as a hedge fund manager on Β£10,000,000. No idea why our tax system doesn't account for the large disparity in earnings.

They need to address corporate tax too as many companies aggressively avoid this.

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(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Commercial Paper
The first thing to remember is that taxes nowhere near fund our public services. However, I do think if they lowered income tax they'd probably take more revenue as people would spend more money which can be collected through VAT, Corporate Tax and economic growth.

My view is:

1. National Insurance should be scrapped so we just have one very clear income tax.

2. The tax bands should increase each year with inflation.

3. The personal tax free allowance should apply to everyone and not just those earning less than Β£100,000 per year.

4. The personal tax free allowance should increase in line with the minimum wage so no one on the minimum wage pays income tax.

5. Benefits should be capped at the tax free allowance.

6. The 40% tax bracket should not kick in until Β£75,000 or where it should kick in if it had moved with inflation.

7. The 45% tax bracket should kick in at Β£250,000, again to ensure it moved with inflation.

8. There should be a super all-in tax of 49% on those earning more than Β£500,000 in basic salary (i.e. celebrities, senior bankers and corporate executives)

The problem with our tax system is that everyone is taxed heavily rather than the super top earners, who are taxed nearly the same as those on extremely modest incomes.

I've always found it bizarre that a middle class earner on Β£150,000+ basic salary is in the same tax bracket as a CFO on Β£800,000 who in turn is in the same tax bracket as a hedge fund manager on Β£10,000,000. No idea why our tax system doesn't account for the large disparity in earnings.

They need to address corporate tax too as many companies aggressively avoid this.

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Thank you for taking your time to share your view much appreciated.
Original post by james813
Of course all those are very important to fund. Having high taxes doesn't nessecarily raise more money in the long term.


Obviously but reducing it will increase the strain in the short the rich and the big corporations generally do not pay any tax- they have their corporations set up to pay taxes in Jersey or the Cayman Islands. I would go for a new tax profile which I am not going to get into as i would be banned.
Reply 10
Original post by United Britain
Yes but you need to look at the reasons why people have to pay tax, it funds public services such as police, fire service and health-the rich do not actually pay tax, or pay very little i know someome who was self employed as a sole trader he made 40k and kept his tax and NI contributions below Β£10 .

Making Β£40k a year through a business is hardly rich. But yes, of course, there are ways to offset tax liabilities (but these are generally through ways that re-invest in the business, move liabilities around etc).

If you're suggesting the rich don't pay a large amount of tax, it's worth noting that before the 2008 recession, the top one percent of earners paid 24% of income tax - it's now 28%. Indeed, if anything our reliance on the very rich at the top is the problem. As the IFS pointed out--

"Increased reliance on a small number of income tax payers follows a longer-run trend driven by above-average increases in top incomes. Since 2008, this reliance has been largely driven by increases in taxes on the rich and tax cuts - mostly via a higher personal allowance - for low- and middle-income taxpayers"
Reply 11
It's an easy thing to say you want tax lowered, but a rather different one to suggest how the Government makes the necessary trade-offs to afford it. Let's not forget we are already spending more than we earn - and our deficit now won't be eliminated in this parliamentary term. I think it's quite unlikely we'll see major tax changes in the short or medium term.

The major target probably wouldn't be income tax for me, but the taxes and indirect costs that reduce our standard of living. The level of fuel duty in the UK is ludicrous and has a huge knock-on effect for the economy. Indirect costs on heating should probably be addressed for some of our lowest earners. We should aim to reduce the cost of housing dramatically, and that can only be done by massively increasing supply; throw open a great deal of our greenbelt land, reduce incentives on speculators to sit on brownfield sites doing nothing and simplify the planning process.

But as I say, tax reductions are not the main issue in our economy. So a couple of wider thoughts--

1. There are no easy ways to gain more tax revenue or to refocus tax in a way that avoids the middle class. An increasing majority of our tax burden falls on the wealthiest and concentrating the tax pool in such a small number of people is unsustainable.

2. Tackling tax avoidance is suggested by stupid people as a panacea for all our economic troubles. It is not. Tax compliance activity requires considerable investment, and tackling avoidance is inherently a tax increase mainly falling on our higher earners.

3. The Government has done well in increasing the proportion of people in work, but this has a limit to its usefulness: our long-term unemployed are now some of the most difficult people to get into the labour market. They have a higher likelihood of being unskilled, having diagnosed or diagnosed health issues (particularly mental health), troubles with crime and addiction and so on.

4. We are essentially a lower-wage economy than many of our competitors. We need a considerable surge in productivity and associated wages. Measures such as increasing the National Living Wage are very limited in their effectiveness. Britain has had a long-term problem with increasing productivity and despite warm words there is not a coherent plan to do it. This will of course have benefits for our tax revenue.

5. We seem to want Scandinavian levels of public spending with American levels of taxation. There is no scenario where that is a credible fiscal policy. If we want to make public spending cuts, the unfortunate thing is that the biggest savings are to be found in the nicest areas: NHS spending, social protection, pensions and so on. We have also create public spending decisions that are fiscally unsustainable: not just the triple-lock of state pensions, but the huge expansion of tax credits or the universal Winter Fuel Allowance. This boxes politicians into a corner: they do not want to be seen as taking away from the deserving, yet the cost of administering these measures is enormous.

6. We need to refocus public spending. This involves fairly tough measures to change the balance of care away from hospital treatment, using "preventative spend" as more than just a buzzword term and so on. This will unsurprisingly annoy a lot of people who see services they use get cut to invest elsewhere.
Original post by Anonymous1502
Question above^


I would say it is about right. I started working in 2000 and taxes were much higher then than they are now. The tax free threshold was around Β£4000, as was the ISA limit and the lower rate of taxation was 22% which was then lowered by Brown to 20%. Admittedly VAT was 17.5%, but VAT is only levied on "luxury" items which by-and-large have fallen in price massively in the last 16 years more than offsetting VAT.

I used to earn Β£22k which into my account gave me around Β£1300 a month. Now, the same income will give you Β£1500 a month. When you think what you get for that level of taxation in return, it is incredibly good value for money.
The conservatives have been gradually increasing the lower threshold which is a good thing for low earners.

However VAT is way too high, can't believe they've managed to get away with keeping it at 20%. In the USA it's only about 11% (varies by state).

Council taxes are also being hiked up to the max on an annual basis like train fares because people generally don't have a choice about where they live (at least it is quite a hassle for most people to move to another borough).

Also the national insurance system is convoluted makes no sense. I'm sure a sensible government would come up with a different system if they were to do that from scratch.
Yes. To put it quite simply, taxation is theft. There should be one small flat rate income tax and nothing else. We need to scrap the welfare state, and privatise healthcare and education. Too much of our hard earned money is wasted on people who contribute nothing to society.
If we lowered tax the state would be able to provide even less services, and at the moment things are already running a bit short. Given the deficit, I wouldn't lower taxes in the short to medium term. That said I would like to see business rates lowered, and council tax abolished.
Yes.

The level of theft in this country is too high.
Tax is far too high, we should be lowering tax and tightening down on welfare for those who are abusing our system along with NHS and other services I do not think taxes should be abolished but far lower.

I also think the price of NHS prescriptions needs to go up to Β£9 or possibly a bit more for certain items
Reply 18
Original post by AperfectBalance
Tax is far too high, we should be lowering tax and tightening down on welfare for those who are abusing our system along with NHS and other services I do not think taxes should be abolished but far lower.

I also think the price of NHS prescriptions needs to go up to Β£9 or possibly a bit more for certain items


So reduce state pension for high earners?
Reply 19
Original post by #ChaosKass
Yes. To put it quite simply, taxation is theft. There should be one small flat rate income tax and nothing else. We need to scrap the welfare state, and privatise healthcare and education. Too much of our hard earned money is wasted on people who contribute nothing to society.


How would most folk pay for primary education?

I guess a paper round would pay for secondary education, but until 7-8 years old it's hard to get any value out of a child which would be worth paying for.

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