I have a bone to pick with our tax system

jiggy2

john_kane wrote: »

ahh thanks for reply. i had been told before that it was 18% but then i checked on the website when looking at income bands today on the hmrc website and they just mentioned about the same 10/20/40 bands:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/cgt.htm

pretty terrible they havent updated their website. i remember reading about some change like this. so basically it favour higher rate people this tax change?

also, i am kinda unfamiliar with this concept, as rather than with income it is every year, here it is only when you sell. is there anyway to take advantage of this? i read how you can sell £9ks worth (above allowance) to avoid paying tax, but surely you still have to put this £9k into something anyway, and if its for a long term investment, i suppose you can only use the £9k capital gains tax allowance when you stop investing and start cashing out for retirement?

thanks again

hi,

like u i work in an accountancy firm (tax dept) but they only contribute 4% if u contribute 4%.

with regards to how u could utilise the cgt annual exemption....say u buy shares worth £100k (just as an example) and they go up by £10k in 6 months (Again for arguments sake)...u sell it and then buy back a few days later (£110k)...u have utilised your allowance and the gain has been crystallised....say u sell it for £120k in the following year...your gain will be only £10k which if happens after 6th april is covered by that year's allowance

personally (and don't take this as advics) if you look at some unit trusts/oeics you could make 10% profit in the year however it depends on your risk attitude

just as an example i bought £1k of jupiter india in around march 2008 and they are up about 8%. it could ofcourse have gone down by the same amount but i am in it for medium to long run...

Jig

cheerfulcat

jiggy2 wrote: »

with regards to how u could utilise the cgt annual exemption....say u buy shares worth £100k (just as an example) and they go up by £10k in 6 months (Again for arguments sake)...u sell it and then buy back a few days later (£110k)...u have utilised your allowance and the gain has been crystallised....say u sell it for £120k in the following year...your gain will be only £10k which if happens after 6th april is covered by that year's allowance

The ability to " bed and breakfast " shares was done away with by G Brown in 1998...
LINK

MrSafeGaz

RayWolfe wrote: »

So you don't like the concept of society?
We don't pay taxes in order to take out what you put in, any more than you do for insurance. We put in, in order to provide for the whole and some will need more than others. One day, it might be you, or your mother or your child. Even "Dave" realised that the NHS was not only brilliant but entirely necessary when he fathered a handicapped child.
So if you don't want to put in according to you ability, then you might be happier in a country where greed, self and avarice rules.

I wouldn't class myself as greedy and of course understand that if everyone took what they put into the system then the country would fail. However, I still don't have to like the fact that I pay for a service that myself, nor my immediate family have to use due to having access to a better quality alternative. Nor do I have to like the fact that hard earned money is used partly to subsidise scroungers, immigrants etc. etc.

It would just be nice to know that money we pay to the government would be utilised in a better way than it appears to now.

MrSafeGaz

nicko33 wrote: »

and that's the discrepancy with Council Tax. Size/location/market value of house is not necessarily a good indicator of ability to pay.

As with everything there are exceptions to the rule. I think on the whole it's fairly reasonable to say that people who live in better areas than others, people who live in bigger houses than others and people who live in houses worth more than others are generally better equipped to pay more.

I see what you were saying earlier about the services offered for council tax being the same. I guess from my point of view council tax is essentially based on the value of your property, so you buy a bigger place, you accept paying more

MrSafeGaz

purch wrote: »

So I guess if you are unfortunate enough to be involved in a Car crash or similar, or if you collapse in the street with a knife in your neck after being mugged you will refuse all help from the Ambulance that arrives to help you, and call a Taxi to take you to the nearest Nuffield Hospital

Beautifully written. Yeah of course, that is exactly what I meant, you nailed it.

Well guessed.

nicko33

MrSafeGaz wrote: »

I see what you were saying earlier about the services offered for council tax being the same. I guess from my point of view council tax is essentially based on the value of your property, so you buy a bigger place, you accept paying more

When a house is originally bought, the purchasers go in with eyes open and know the costs.
All well and good if peoples circumstances never changed.

King_Weasel

Why should we bother giving you financial advice, john-kane? What's in it for us?

earlgrey_3

nicko33 wrote: »

When a house is originally bought, the purchasers go in with eyes open and know the costs.
All well and good if peoples circumstances never changed.

There are fair taxes and unfair taxes. Fair taxes are the ones other people pay. Unfair taxes are the ones I have to pay.

Paying tax is rotten but living in a country without a tax system would be even rottener.

bored_of_debt

MrSafeGaz wrote: »

I wouldn't class myself as greedy and of course understand that if everyone took what they put into the system then the country would fail. However, I still don't have to like the fact that I pay for a service that myself, nor my immediate family have to use due to having access to a better quality alternative. Nor do I have to like the fact that hard earned money is used partly to subsidise scroungers, immigrants etc. etc.

It would just be nice to know that money we pay to the government would be utilised in a better way than it appears to now.

I agree with that... most of us require an output from from our input but it's seems to me that it's the typical hardworking tax payer that suffers most.

Anyway... we cound talk for years about this, but it won't change anything :rolleyes:

baby_boomer

The OP's gripe is minor.

The real tragedy is that a low paid worker probably has a marginal tax rate of 70p in the £ when taxes and benefits are taken together. In other words a low paid worker keeps 30p of every extra £ earned

But the top tax rate for Bill Gates or the Duke of Westminster is only 41p in the £. So the Bill & the Duke of Westminster keep 59p of every extra £ earned. (That's before they get their accountants to work on it.)