Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

Well there are several hundred rubber dinghies stored along the Kent coast line going free perhaps escape to France and beyond. (I witnessed last week at Dungeness 50 migrants come ashore by the RNLI and put on a coach) they must think this country is great.

Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

Not by his own choice, he had respiratory issues and was sent there by his father as they thought the climate may be better for him.

But that's a digression.

The quote still stands, by living in a Western Country you are already in a much better situation than most of the rest of the world, that isn't.

and, as Western Countries go, I would argue that the UK is one of the best.

Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

I’m sure the climate would be better for everyone looking at their heating bills!

Is that their own choice?

Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

You start with a good argument and then you spoilt with a lazy "pretty leftist idea to tax success" cliché. Being lucky in when & where you buy a house is not "earned success". Do you "earn" a lottery win? Of course not. We bought our house in 1993 and it is now worth nearly 10x the initial amount. Did I "earn" this, of course not.

Anyway, you are setting the bar too low. I would define high net worth at, let's say £3 million in total asset valuation. I would then argue that any high net worth individual should pay the same effective tax rate as you and I i.e. P.A.Y.E tax payers, on the increase of their net worth.

Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

You are like 110+ years old :confused:

Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

Yes.

Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

Yes .. if you measure it in Tory years :)

Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

But the same could apply to any asset, you buy a derelict old car, spend years and money restoring it and if rare enough and done well enough could be worth a fortune. (Replace car with boat, aeroplane, jewellery, art work, the latter especially could be lent to museums for others to enjoy.)


Taxing wealth sounds like a typical leftist mechanism on success. I think the focus maybe should be on ensuring that the very high earners pay the proper tax on income, against that of course is if too draconian they just move elsewhere.


Wonders if we could apply VAT to football transfers, it's a purchase and a luxury, 20% on some of those figures would bring in some money.

Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

Jesus sounds a bit of a leftie.. ;)

But seriously, you are proposing very rare exceptional occurrences to bolster your argument…

Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

His brother James actually … though comparisons between the sons of Mary and Jeremy & Piers Corbyn, while tempting, would be wide of the mark :D

James had clearly been spending a lot of time with the Old Testament prophets when he penned that letter, but that was no bad thing. Those guys had a very dim view of injustice and social inequality, especially as there were provisions in Jewish law that were supposed to have prevented poverty becoming a generational problem.

Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

The problem is that increasingly people just accumulate huge amounts of wealth and they don't have an easily defined income stream to tax that is proportional to their wealth. An alternative would be brutally high inheritance tax over a certain amount but that wouldn't be popular either.

I also think lower income taxes but higher wealth taxes would incentivise people to earn money rather than hoard it and make it easier for people who are just starting to build wealth to do so. For example, it's probably not fair that someone who has no assets but has just started to earn a high income is taxed at the same rate as someone who is already loaded.

Land is the obvious issue here as well. It isn't 'success' if you were born early enough to get lower prices or if you inherited it.

The main argument against is it's probably really hard to implement.

Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

I think it would be popular, very popular over a certain amount, inheritance tax was never meant for the little people but thanks to stupidly high house prices more people are falling into it, making corporations actually pay some tax would be popular to.

Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

And putting even a little bit of effort in to closing the tax gap would help pay a few fuels bills.

Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

£32 Billion would certainly help.

Re: Is it time to leave the UK?
 

You are missing the obvious point here and that is the high net worth individuals proactively avoid income as you & I would define it. They have a myriad of vehicles to minimise their tax burden. This is why it is the increase of their total net worth that should be taxed at the same rate (or higher) as P.A.Y.E individuals.