How bad will tax get?

*MF*

Personally, I think it IS worse than we have experienced in the past - and going to get worse than we can imagine right now.

For example - What's the first thing to leave a sinking ship?

The proportion of companies considering leaving the UK has more than doubled since 2007, according to KPMG’s third annual survey of the UK’s tax competitiveness.

Helen Sant, Head of Tax for KPMG in Cambridge said: “In last year’s tax competitiveness survey, we cautioned that the UK was at a tipping point and was in danger of losing jobs and investment because of its tax laws. Since then, we have seen a number of companies leave the UK and tax competitiveness become an increasingly high priority for the authorities and government. If the trickle of companies leaving is to be prevented from becoming a flood, further action is needed, and quickly.

Extracts from here:

http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/2009012732880/kpmg/kpmg-tax-competitiveness-survey-more-businesses-considering-moving-tax-residence-away-from-the-uk.html

dandy-candy

So if we're running out of money can we dump the Olympics now please?!

StevieJ

Ballymackeonan wrote: »

I remember the 1970s, where the starting rate of income tax was 33% in 1974, and rose to 35% for a couple of years. The top rate went up as far as 75%, with an "investment income surcharge" on top, and that could take the tax to 83%. Against that, the rate of VAT was mostly 8%, so the tax take was more on incomes than on spending, but "luxuries" were at 25% for a couple of years then as well. So that is how high tax rates have been in the past....

I think the top rate was actually 83% plus IIS of 15% taking the top rate to 98% :eek:

amcluesent

It'll soon be worth paying a %tage to the accountant to help minimise tax as the marginal rate shoot over 50%. I expect a huge increase in peeps working 'on the black'.

kabayiri

*MF* wrote: »

Helen Sant, Head of Tax for KPMG in Cambridge said: “In last year’s tax competitiveness survey, we cautioned that the UK was at a tipping point and was in danger of losing jobs and investment because of its tax laws. Since then, we have seen a number of companies leave the UK and tax competitiveness become an increasingly high priority for the authorities and government. If the trickle of companies leaving is to be prevented from becoming a flood, further action is needed, and quickly.

Hmm, that old chestnut eh?

Businesses hate paying tax, full stop. This competitiveness argument is a grand excuse to avoid paying tax.

Would this be the same KPMG which decided to create a range of tax avoidance products, and not get them pre-approved by the US government.

They decided that taking the hit on the fine from their illegal actions was outweighed by the profits they would make. So that makes it all right then?

Btw, they were fined $456m in the end, a record in the US I believe.

I'm so glad this bunch of shysters are advising our lot on future tax policy.....:eek:

LilacPixie

PasturesNew wrote: »

If only that were the case. If you aren't in a well paid job it's quite likely that those around you who aren't working are a lot better off.

I did some quick calculations the other day that said if I were over 25 and living alone and paid £6/hour and worked just 16 hours/week - after WTC top up I'd be just a couple of quid worse off than if I were working 40 hours - and along with work comes the cost of getting to/from work and so it balanced out pretty much. I'd have an extra 24 hours/week to enjoy myself, catch some sun, shop when food reductions were in the shops etc and have a great life.

All those tax credits shovel money at people... it's a system that was supposed to 'help' some people, but ended up doing the opposite as the system can be "worked"

I thought you had to work over 30 hours to claim tax credits if you had no kids and no disabilities??

Anyway I agree tax credits need replaced but I don't know what with. I guess every system can be 'worked' if people are intent on that.

I claim tax credits, a whole £41.75 every 4weeks. an to me I would not really notie if we didn't have them

baby_boomer

I'm going to maximise my ISA investments.

Even if the tax breaks aren't great now, whose to say that they won't be significant in 15 years when I retire.

vlad_the_impaler

*MF* wrote: »

Personally, I think it IS worse than we have experienced in the past - and going to get worse than we can imagine right now.

For example - What's the first thing to leave a sinking ship?

The proportion of companies considering leaving the UK has more than doubled since 2007, according to KPMG’s third annual survey of the UK’s tax competitiveness.

Helen Sant, Head of Tax for KPMG in Cambridge said: “In last year’s tax competitiveness survey, we cautioned that the UK was at a tipping point and was in danger of losing jobs and investment because of its tax laws. Since then, we have seen a number of companies leave the UK and tax competitiveness become an increasingly high priority for the authorities and government. If the trickle of companies leaving is to be prevented from becoming a flood, further action is needed, and quickly.

Extracts from here:

http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/2009012732880/kpmg/kpmg-tax-competitiveness-survey-more-businesses-considering-moving-tax-residence-away-from-the-uk.html

No, it was much worse at the tail end of the last labour govt. I have a book written in 1976 by the then Telegraph economics editor about the decline of the middle classes. The chapter on tax makes some pretty serious reading.

35% minimum income tax is correct, going up to 98% on unearned income!

The ones that are really frightening are the since abolished taxes.

Capital transfer tax. This was to tax the transfer of money, a business and/or assets to the children in a family. It was actually possible to pay MORE tax than the value of the assets.....

On £100,000 1975 pounds, you paid £19,525, or 20%. on £750,000, you paid £1,248,000!!!!! And these figures were on transfers at least three years before death. Transfers through wills were even higher. On top of that you have lunatic unions to content with. How did we suvive? Government spending as a proportion of GDP went from 46% in 1966 (the first year of Wilson's govt), to 64.8% in 1976, the last year. So, you know where all the money went then.

Is anyone else seeing any patterns here at all? Labout govts get in, tax the balls out of all of us to finance their idiot social engineering, and then run out of money 10 years later. Sure, the method of tax is different. Last time it was direct, this time they learnt their lesson and taxed hidden things like Pensions and NI, but the net effect was still exactly the same. Loads of money raised, massive damage done raising it, and the net result of b*gger all. Last time the money got soaked up by unionised layabouts, failing businesses and p*ss-takers, and this time it was robbed from us by bent businessmen working for large foreign corporations. And of course, unionised layabouts, failing businesses, and p*ss-takers.

Will we ever learn?

harryhound

lynzpower wrote: »

PFI has a lot to answer for- one major PFI player charged one local authority I work with over 750 quid of your and my money to stop a dripping tap. You could get 2 weeks wages of a handyman for that - which was a 5 minute job if that.

Be fair, even by freezing the the water supply because the secondary valve under the tap is missing or choked with lime scale, changing a washer does take a bit more than 5 minutes;); are you sure it was not one of those fancy new ceramic jobs and perhaps the whole tap needed replacing? .
I'll bring my tools round and have a look at it for 50 quid.

Harry.

harryhound

Quote:
Originally Posted by LilacPixie
I thought you had to work over 30 hours to claim tax credits if you had no kids and no disabilities??
I claim tax credits, a whole £41.75 every 4weeks. an to me I would not really notice if we didn't have them

True but it includes the self employed, who we all know work 24/7.
It is a subsidy for not cluttering up the job centre.

vlad_the_impaler wrote: »

On top of that you have lunatic unions to content with. How did we survive?

Thanks for highlighting NI - that is just a surtax like any other. Take a penny off income tax and put it on NI and the sheeple think they have had a tax cut.:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

We didn't survive, we ended up with the IMF running the country, just like Iceland.

Fortunately God came to the rescue in the form of a lake of oil under the North sea;
it is rapidly running dry; she won't be doing it again, this time round.

The really worrying thing is that the government will carry on lying to the people and taking no action this side of the election.