Ed Balls calls for emergency tax cut

vax2002

A lot of well off folk just set up a PR company to represent their own name as a trading asset, just about anything they buy becomes an asset for the company and the company is VAT registered which can be optional for any company at any value, they pay the PR company to represent the image and VAT is claimed back on all expenditure and assets along with 25% per year in capital allowance, they bill themselves for the work and round and round goes the money.
As I said only the poor pay it, those who are of a financial understanding of merit, are more than aware of how to avoid tax and VAT.
Do a credit check on your Local MP, Footballer, Factory Owner, celebrity you will see that the names are trading fronts for companies with checkable accounts from Company house.
Yes its a lot of hassle setting up your own name as a company, but its how the rich stay rich.
VAT is for the working poor, small business owners and those who have scrimped to scrape a few quid together.
It should be cut and the deficit should be tackled the way it was created, by stacking Government departments and Quangos with top heavy non jobs, your eyes would water if you could ever see what was lavished at the top of local councils, housing trusts NHS, DPW and the like.
The only cuts we will ever see will be the man who oils the machine, the front line skilled workers, the tea and biscuit non jobs will remain and so shall the waste.

grizzly1911

Graham_Devon wrote: »

So, to bring the thread back to the point.

Would a tax cut, at the moment, be a good idea?

Remember, we are still spending more than we bring in. Cutting tax will add more debt to existing increasing debt.

Personally, I don't think it would be a good idea. This isn't a political statement.

A short term tweak of VAT is going to achieve little.

A longer term meaningful cut in tax ain't going to happen.

It isn't the tax levels that are the issue it is the fact there is insufficient volume of tax being generated.

Unless we can create real jobs, increase "exports" or reduce imports then fidling with the tax will not create the lift required IMO.

Don't forget that the Government has devalued sterling too, our imports are more expensive but exports are still struggling..

chewmylegoff

if you want to avoid VAT it's easy. don't buy new stuff. by buying secondhand goods the "poor" people who are apparently so unfairly targeted by VAT could avoid VAT and get the thing they want for less money. "poor" people only pay VAT because they choose to buy new stuff (obviously this is a sweeping generalisation, as you will have to pay VAT (at lower rate) on fuel, and some other stuff that you actually need but which has been bafflingly defined as "luxury goods" - i wouldn't suggest going second hand with 'female sanitary products', for instance).

grizzly1911

vax2002 wrote: »

A lot of well off folk just set up a PR company to represent their own name as a trading asset, just about anything they buy becomes an asset for the company and the company is VAT registered which can be optional for any company at any value, they pay the PR company to represent the image and VAT is claimed back on all expenditure and assets along with 25% per year in capital allowance, they bill themselves for the work and round and round goes the money.
As I said only the poor pay it, those who are of a financial understanding of merit, are more than aware of how to avoid tax and VAT.
Do a credit check on your Local MP, Footballer, Factory Owner, celebrity you will see that the names are trading fronts for companies with checkable accounts from Company house.
Yes its a lot of hassle setting up your own name as a company, but its how the rich stay rich.
VAT is for the working poor, small business owners and those who have scrimped to scrape a few quid together.
It should be cut and the deficit should be tackled the way it was created, by stacking Government departments and Quangos with top heavy non jobs, your eyes would water if you could ever see what was lavished at the top of local councils, housing trusts NHS, DPW and the like.
The only cuts we will ever see will be the man who oils the machine, the front line skilled workers, the tea and biscuit non jobs will remain and so shall the waste.

Yep I know a lot of "permanent" IT contractors as well who are more than happy not to be "employed".

angrypirate

Love the tories comeback
"Our deficit reduction plan is backed by international organisations including the IMF, the CBI, the OECD and the Obama administration. Ed Balls' plan isn't even backed by Ed Miliband"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13787108

Loughton_Monkey

• Any tax cut can't be universal. Far too 'weak'. It needs to be targeted.
• It can't be targeted at the poor. They will only spend it on imported goods. It has to be focused on the more well off.
• It musn't be targeted at the young. They have not paid enough tax yet and need to learn to budget. It should go to over-60's.
• Reducing tax on income would be too expensive. Best to concentrate on pension and savings income.

So there you have it.

1. All pension income to be tax free up to, say, the Higher Rate Earnings limit.

2. Retired people over 60 to be given unlimited ISA allowances.

Presumably this is what Balls is getting at.

chewmylegoff

vax2002 wrote: »

A lot of well off folk just set up a PR company to represent their own name as a trading asset, just about anything they buy becomes an asset for the company and the company is VAT registered which can be optional for any company at any value, they pay the PR company to represent the image and VAT is claimed back on all expenditure and assets along with 25% per year in capital allowance, they bill themselves for the work and round and round goes the money.

well if they bill themselves for the work, they'll have to charge output VAT on the bills, rather defeating the whole point of this so-called "avoidance" scheme - which actually looks rather more like evasion to me.

depends what you buy in the "PR company", if you buy a new kitchen for your house, put it through the company and reclaim the input VAT then that is tax evasion. whether or not HMRC actually enforce the law properly is another matter entirely. i should think that any company which a long track record of constantly claiming large VAT refunds without ever making net payments is going to subject to rather intense scrutiny.

also, claiming capital allowances is rather pointless unless you are actually paying corporation tax - would seem a bit stupid to create a corporation tax bill by recycling cash round and round, just so you could offset capital allowances.

it seems to me what you are referring to are companies which are set up to receive image rights payments, where there is genuine (by genuine i mean that it exists) external income coming into the company. even in these cases you can only (legitimately - again, whether the law is actually enforced is a separate question) put expenditure through the company which actually relates to the image rights you are receiving. so, again, trying to claim VAT back on a domestic kitchen and its instalation would not be legitimate in these circumstances. you could have a company car, but then you cannot claim the VAT back on a car, so it wouldn't really help you much. you can claim the VAT back on a van though, so maybe wayne rooney will soon be seen driving around in a transit. he could save himself the hassle by buying it second hand from a private individual though.

vax2002

Why not just stop the foreign Aid budget to pay for a tax and NI reduction and give us some help for a change.
Should we be doling out Your Tax money taken of YOUR wage to countries with space programmes and Nuclear weapons ?
PS Cameron has just INCREASED the Budget, whilst sticking his boot up our !!!!!! with a VAT hike

grizzly1911

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

• It can't be targeted at the poor. They will only spend it on imported goods. It has to be focused on the more well off.

Unless you are spending it in Betty's Tea Room or paying for your house to be done up in some way then most things all of us consume, or core elements, are imported these days or the profits go overseas, that is the issue.

Any one who knows who owns Harry Ramsden's these days?

Really2

grizzly1911 wrote: »

Unless you are spending it in Betty's Tea Room or paying for your house to be done up in some way then most things all of us consume, or core elements, are imported these days or the profits go overseas, that is the issue.

Any one who knows who owns Harry Ramsden's these days?

But if they operate in this country (like harry ramsden) they pay tax on all their UK workers, Sell a VATable item and pay UK tax on their UK profits.

To the government what they receive has not really changed.