If I was Chancellor...

sneekymum

I would

1. Scrap insurance tax

2. Make the tax-free savings allowance that an ISA gives automatic on all savings accounts i.e. a personal savings allowance

3. Tax Debt. - A new tax on all credit card and loan payments. Applying to new debts not existing ones. Though not mortgages.

Thus creating a culture based on rewards for acting responsibly.

I might be persuaded to change my views on these things though - through convincing arguements...

ManAtHome

Dunno how convincing this is, but if you scrap any existing stealth taxes you need to move them somewhere else. Putting it on debt would really tip Uk plc over the edge (same as another point or two on interest rates) - even if it wasn't applied retrospectively it would stop high-street spending in it's tracks. Not sure why it should be applied to credit but not mortgages - getting a 50 year interest-only mortgage for 8 times your salary can't be that responsible. Mind you, it would help Mr+Mrs Bs £5 million quid property portfolio, so maybe....

You can't still believe that B&B actually want to encourage responsibility.? What they want is to encourage us to spend heaps to keep our 'stable economy' on the 'up', and if you do happen to have a few quid spare, best place is to invest it where it can be taxed (again and again). Then at some point (4 years time ish?) they can p155 off to big jobs in the EU (with their recently/greatly inflated pensions) and leave the rest of us in the !!!!!! (and blame the next govt for the mess - if it keeps going that long).

Re-instating dividend tax credits and removing the claw-back on credits for pensions should be high on the list if they're really keen on us to be a bit more responsibile.

Xbigman

How radical do you want to be?

Put the tax free allowance up to 12,000 and after that everyone pays 40% tax.

or.

Food, clothes, housing, heating fuel, IE the essentials would be tax free and cheap but VAT would be 40%.

Whatever you did would need to be revenue neutral. Cuts without anything to replace them wouldn't work.
Regards



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