Quote:
Originally Posted by Escapee
I'm not constrained, those who decide how people are taxed are the ones who are constrained. Taxing those on PAYE is easy, it's lazy, it's taken at source, the profit can't be hidden in overheads so there's no way for the person to avoid paying it as they never get their hands on it to start with.
I don't think taxing wealth is fair either, if person A earns a £100 and invests it, and person B earns a £100 and spends it on drink and drugs, I don't see why person A should be penalised with a wealth tax because they are saving for the future.
I have been forced into PAYE, because one of my contracts was placed inside IR35 as a result of a blanket assessment of all contractors by a jealous and lazy civil servant. This means to satisfy HMRC I'm now being employed via a fictitious umbrella company to which I am paying fees. I'm paying employee and employer NI, Apprenticeship levy and I'm not able to claim any expenses.
As a result of the IR35 blanket decision, the end client has lost a lot of very difficult to replace resources, some have reduced the days working for the client and the day rate costs for those that have renegotiated have increased with projects delayed or in some cases scrapped.
I said no thanks to the renewal, and then they wanted to negotiate so I screwed them for a large increase to cover the PAYE costs, so they are paying more money and they are getting a lot less for it.
The contract is soon up for renewal, and I have made them aware that I will only agree a contract with a reduced number of days as I have one customer with work outside IR35 who wants to increase the work that I am undertaking for them.
The government and HMRC have been screwing small businesses by forcing them into PAYE, yes there was abuse of the system in many cases, but I would have been quite happy to provide the evidence to HMRC that I was providing a service via my company.
The last Conservative government hit small businesses as they are also an easy target and I certainly don't see Labour doing any different.
|
You said that "They know they can't tax the rich" and you are just wrong. They can tax the rich* but (currently) are choosing not to.
Your example of taxing wealth is flawed in so many ways. First, you need to define "earn". If you have £1 million invested in company shares and you get regular dividends, you are not "earning" this money as most people would define the term. In fact, your capital earned it, you did not.
As for your IR35 story, you are are just peeved that you are paying more tax, just like a PAYE employee would be which is what IR35 was all about
:
Quote:
Why was IR35 implemented?
Seeing how complex the rules can be, you may wonder why they were put in place. IR35 is part of an effort from HMRC to stop contractors and businesses working together as employers and employees. By doing so, they were avoiding certain taxes. Employers saved by avoiding a share of National Insurance Contribution. They also did not have legal obligations that apply to employment rights and associated benefits. On the other side, contractors could pay less tax on their income.
|
* just to be clear, this covers those whose net worth is > £5 million before people conflate "rich" with the middle income tax payers