What taxes on other people would you support?

westernpromise

A common theme on this board is that other people are greedy and don't deserve their prosperity, so should be taxed and the money given to me. So we regularly see demands for CGT on houses, for higher taxes on landlords, for land value taxes, and so forth, dressed up piously as concern for da yoof, usually.

In that spirit, what taxes on other people do you feel there should be?

I think there should be taxes on cyclists,who pay nothing now and who are in effect subsidised by people who cannot cycle. I'd like a tax on other people's swimming pools, with the money raised used to fund swimming pools for poor people. I'd like a tax on other people's conservatories, with the money used to build conservatories for da kids.

There should be a tax on BMWs and Audis as these are selfish cars driven by people I dislike. There should be extra taxes on 2-seater cars as these are bad for the environment and are in effect being subsidised by hard working families.

There should be a tax on state sector final salary pensions as I haven't got one. There should be a tax on being Scottish.

All these are fair, moral, good for the kids and in no way driven by personal spite, envy or malice.

What else needs taxing?

System

Cyclists is a great one. Same applies to horse riders, you want to !!!! all over the road you can pay for it.

Tax on chewing gum, the streets and pavements are a mess and someone should be paying to clean it up.

Thrugelmir

If anything the tax code should be simplified. With fewer different taxes. Merge NI and Income tax as well. Cost saving would be enormous.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

If you really want to fix the overtaxation problem in this country then just get rid of all stealth taxes and make income tax the only thing people pay.

Then watch the population revolt when they realise just how much money the govt takes from them every year.

But yes - I'd make an exception for cyclist taxes.

That should be introduced immediately.

paddyrg

Some taxes are indirect and used to balance things, so saying they should all be abolished in favour of higher income tax is over-simplistic.

For instance, smokers cost the NHS money. If cigs were not taxed and cost £1 a packet, people would smoke more, and general tax would have to pick up the increased costs. Should my income tax subsidise your self-destruction?

It also dramatically affects the spend/save equation - maybe higher spending in the short term, but it means less pension provision, so the party ends when the state has to raise taxes to pay pensions of people who doesn't wildly and who'll then moan about how hard they're being done by. Alternatively you tax spending (eg higher VAT), which suppresses the economy as people save instead. It's a balancing act.

Tax reform is always controversial, and always worthy of discussion, but over-simplified answers are over-simplified. People assume that giving money to "the government" is a bad thing. It isn't. It pays for really expensive stuff like the Army, NHS, roads, schools, all the cornerstones of society without which we're back to chaos. If you don't want an NHS, Army, roads, educated population, that's totally fine, VOTE FOR IT. Post referendum you can't claim "nobody listens", so write to your MP, or start an anti-education party (or whatever your beef is, maybe anti-defence or anti-health) and get people to vote for you. Then you are in government, representing your voters.

wotsthat

There's not much left to tax these days is there?

The argument isn't that X, y or z should be taxed but that it should be taxed more this year, more next year and more the year after that.

I'd tax flavoured ciders much more and dramatically increase taxes on McDonalds. The ciders are vile and with a bit less consumption of fast food people would be healthier and litter would be reduced. It's the moral right thing to do and it's entirely coincidental that I don't purchase either.

What I would do is charge £1 as a fast food wrapper deposit returned when the, oh so difficult, task of putting them in a bin is achieved.

I don't do Facebook or Twitter either so they need to be taxed more.

mwpt

A common theme on this board is to misunderstand the deployment of taxes and see requests for taxes on other people as greed rather than a wish to put a disincentive on certain activities.

the_flying_pig

I've heard [read] it said that legalizing & taxing cannabis would raise c £1bn a year. Seems a no-brainer to me.

Herzlos

I don't agree with taxing cyclists - it's something we want to encourage and they don't do any real damage to the roads or generate much traffic.

I'd be all for a simplified tax system though.

And getting rid of VED, instead adding maybe 5p/l to the cost of fuel.

ukcarper

westernpromise wrote: »

A common theme on this board is that other people are greedy and don't deserve their prosperity, so should be taxed and the money given to me. So we regularly see demands for CGT on houses, for higher taxes on landlords, for land value taxes, and so forth, dressed up piously as concern for da yoof, usually.

In that spirit, what taxes on other people do you feel there should be?

I think there should be taxes on cyclists,who pay nothing now and who are in effect subsidised by people who cannot cycle. I'd like a tax on other people's swimming pools, with the money raised used to fund swimming pools for poor people. I'd like a tax on other people's conservatories, with the money used to build conservatories for da kids.

There should be a tax on BMWs and Audis as these are selfish cars driven by people I dislike. There should be extra taxes on 2-seater cars as these are bad for the environment and are in effect being subsidised by hard working families.

There should be a tax on state sector final salary pensions as I haven't got one. There should be a tax on being Scottish.

All these are fair, moral, good for the kids and in no way driven by personal spite, envy or malice.

What else needs taxing?

Already a tax on stste sector final salary in pensions.

michaels

Aren't smokers actually good for the tax base in that they need less pension, long term health care etc than non-smokers - and then they pay extra excise duty for the privilege of saving the rest of us some money?

I would be hit by capital gains tax being levied on your main house but given that we restrict house-building I think it would be fare that society receives some of the benefit generated by thew artificial scarcity. It would not need to kill the housing market because it could be set to be payable only when withdrawing equity from the housing market (or on death).