What extra taxes would you volunteer to pay?

GreatApe

Anyway back to extra taxes again

Increase car tax to £520 per year. ~£10B

Add VAT onto food electricity and gas ~£13B

Change the soda sugar tax to a general sugar tax of £1/kg for all sugar imported or produced that way all food with added sugar is taxed rather than just soda. £1.5B

I would also charge a higher VAT of 50% on smartphones £1B

A little over £25 billion a year

Use to cut taxes elsewhere

John-K_3

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Much wealth is generated from the inflation induced policies of post war Governments. The expansion of the money supply. Deregulation of the banks from the early 70's until the GFC. Not from people actually being productive, i.e. entrepreneurs working all hours to build a business from scratch.

Again, not an answer to the point I made.

I will give up on it now, people seem not to want to answer it.

John-K_3

Thrugelmir wrote: »

This is equally about the distribution of wealth, the ability to retire at a young age. With money it's easier to make more money. Having the capital is the key.

None of my better-off friends have made their money via acquiring capital, so it is not the only way.

The richest gained stock in his employer which was worth eight figures when it floated, and all of the others worked their way into high six or seven figure salaries through working intelligently into the better paying jobs in finance or law.

So no, having capital is not THE key, it may be one, but there are other routes that also work very well.

John-K_3

GreatApe wrote: »

Anyway back to extra taxes again

Increase car tax to £520 per year. ~£10B

Add VAT onto food electricity and gas ~£13B

Change the soda sugar tax to a general sugar tax of £1/kg for all sugar imported or produced that way all food with added sugar is taxed rather than just soda. £1.5B

I would also charge a higher VAT of 50% on smartphones £1B

A little over £25 billion a year

Use to cut taxes elsewhere

Far better would be to make tax fairer instead. Drop the tax-free allowance, flatten the tax rates, and drop tax credits.

Rates are far too progressive at present, with a few of the higher earners supporting far too many others.

westernpromise

John-K wrote: »

Again, not an answer to the point I made.

I will give up on it now, people seem not to want to answer it.

Notice the arrogance of the replies though. You didn't earn it, so it rightfully belongs to somebody else who didn't earn it; it's OK because you're dead (so presumably if I steal a dead person's car I commit no crime); the state can spend it better than you can; there's no limit on what the state can demand from you. In fact, if the state can spend it so much better, why not have the state confiscate all wealth and income? Why has nobody indicated that they are prepared to donate their own?

Note the complete failure to engage with the question of what extra taxes others would personally be prepared to pay. Despite all the sententious pietisms about how virtuous tax is, the answer to that is "nothing". It's always all about more taxes for other people - who are always the same people.

GreatApe

John-K wrote: »

Far better would be to make tax fairer instead. Drop the tax-free allowance, flatten the tax rates, and drop tax credits.

Rates are far too progressive at present, with a few of the higher earners supporting far too many others.

We already have a flat income tax in the UK. Everyone is charged 45% income tax

And then everyone gets a tax credit of 45% on their first £0-£11.5k and then a 25% tax credit on their £11.5k-£45k and then a 5% tax credit on their £45k-£150k income

:beer:

I never see lefties make that argument. I can't counter it so I'm glad I never come across it

kinger101

GreatApe wrote: »

I would also charge a higher VAT of 50% on smartphones £1B

Naturally, iPhone users would want to pay 150%, as they feel being fleeced is their moral duty.

GreatApe

John-K wrote: »

with a few of the higher earners supporting far too many others.

That too is to some degree and possibly largely wrong

A lot of the highest earners typically earn money due to their position rather than due to the individual. For instance let's imagine all the premier league footballers. That is a lot of people earning lots of income and presumably/hopefully paying lots of tax and supporting hundreds of thousands of lower earned non tax payers

Let's assume they all die. What happens do we close all the football stadiums and no longer have football on the TV etc? Or do the next 1000 best footballers get hired and pad those wages? Well clearly it is the latter. That is to say our top 30 footballers earning £1 billion a year in combined wages are only earning that due to the position created by football fans demands. If those footballers die those positions are still available and will quickly be filled.

The 20 year old with an IQ of 90 and who can barely read but can kick a leather ball around is not adding all that much value. The demand by the fans has created a lucrative monopoly position which is explored by someone. The person doesn't earn the wage or pay the tax the position does as easily evidence by the fact that if the top 1000 footballers in the UK die the game or the money into the fame won't change much at all

You can make an argument along these lines for a lot of high paid jobs.
Are we certain that all the FT100 bosses that pay themselves millions are actually worth it?
If they all died their positions would still be available and will be filled. Are we 100% sure that the replacements would all be certainly worse? I'm not saying leaders of business add no value some of them clearly do add massive amounts of value eg Steve jobs and bill gates and Jeff bezos certainly have. But I would say most high earners in all fields are closer to the football players who are just occupying monopoly positions which would exist if they were born or not.

As such even though I am a right wing conservative I would accept an 80% income tax on earnings above £1m annually. Most the 'jobs' in that category are closer to monopoly supply die to human natures weakness.

Another example would be singers. If all the singers in the top 100 charts die out does that mean music ends? No it means they end and the space is filled up with new musicians earning millions who would have been washing glasses in a pub had not the top 100 died and left apace for the new lot

So I would not object to an 80% income tax band for those earning above £1m (or even perhaps as low as above £250,000)

The only exception I would make is for business creators and inventors etc. But we already have something like that in the form of Entrepreneurs' Relief which is low tax on £10 million for Entrepreneurs. Of necessary increase that limit future but £10 million looks about right to me

Of course one of the arguments to this is that these people will just leave rather than pay the 80% income tax. I think in most cases they can be resolved.

Moby

John-K wrote: »

One argument against it is that you take massive productivity out of the economy if you tell successful people in their middle age that much of what they willl earn in the future will go to the state.

Leaving aside moral questions, the idea that you will pass wealth down the generations is a strong driver, and we tend to want able, high earners to keep earning.

I'd be very happy to take that risk. They can look after the future generations of their family when they're alive.That should be enough incentive and then when they die they'll have the incentive of supporting the general good.

Uxb

GreatApe wrote: »

Add VAT onto food electricity and gas ~£13B

The government proposed to raise the VAT on domestic energy supply to (I think) the standard rate in the mid/early 1990's.
I recall at the time an avalanche of abuse hurled at them.
They actually lost the vote on the in the commons by a small whisker.
Anyway businesses already pay at the full standard rate of VAT.

Vat on all foods as well as energy would of course adversely affect least well off who spend a higher proportion of their income on such essentials.

That said, if any government wants to raise substantial amounts of money the only way to do it is to target the masses. Fiddling around with tax and other rates at the top end does not bring in much.
I know a couple in that top 1% earning/wealth sector and they are all doing the groundwork with advisors for leaving the UK if a Corbyn government ever looks a likely possibility: and making sure their assets etc were out of his grasp a long time before he even got into power.