If I was Prime Minister...

[keith_d]

Originally Posted by Bibio

only thing i disagree with Keith is higher rate of tax for high earners over 100k. why should they pay more, think about it if someone is getting paid £100k they are already paying in more tax than someone earning £40k.

From a practical perspective, when you get to £100k you've met all the necessities of life, even in London. At that point you can afford to contribute a little more to society. Currently the top 1% of earners contribute around 30% of income tax (The Guardian, January 2014) so clearly society as a whole has accepted that idea.

I don't subscribe to the philosophy that the rich should be taxed "til the pips squeak". I would prefer a simple system which is hard to avoid and doesn't favour people who can afford an accountant to find loopholes and avoid paying their taxes.

It would be great to have an application that allowed you to specify a tax rate, threashold and it would show you how much tax was generated. I have wondered where it would have to be to allow for one tax rate and generate the same amount of money for the government coffers

[keith_d]

Originally Posted by Amadeus

It would be great to have an application that allowed you to specify a tax rate, threashold and it would show you how much tax was generated. I have wondered where it would have to be to allow for one tax rate and generate the same amount of money for the government coffers

If only life was that simple. Changing taxation in any significant way affects an enormous number of economic variables.

There is a group sponsored by Ernst and Young called the ITEM Club (Independent Treasury Economic Model) which runs the same economic model as used by the government. But even with 40 economists and a stack of computer power they can only run a range of scenarios and give you some likely outcomes. Predicting things like consumer sentiment when faced with tax changes is notoriously difficult.

[Bibio]

dont matter it the grand scheme of things as the treasury need a certain amount of money flowing in to keep the country afloat. they can juggle all the figures they like but the public will still be paying what they are paying or more just in different ways.

if a shop keeper reduced the price on a loaf of bread he will off set this by raising the price on butter in the hope that the customer will buy both at the same time. the customer thinks they are getting a deal on the bread and blame rising prices of the butter on inflation. the shop keeper still makes the same money when all the bread and butter stocks are depleted as one offsets the other.

[Trev B]

Does anyone know if any other country in Europe has a PAYE system,here in Spain you can do it yourself OR through an accountant,Tax year 1st Jan - 31st Dec!!!

Originally Posted by Bibio

only thing i disagree with Keith is higher rate of tax for high earners over 100k. why should they pay more, think about it if someone is getting paid £100k they are already paying in more tax than someone earning £40k.

0-6k = 0%
6-12k = 10%
12-18k = 15%
18k> = 20%

i would also do away with rebates of VAT and Duty for business. why should a business get a rebates when workers cant on such things as fuel. only exemption to this would be raw materials for manufacturing and trades and the company will have to have a VAT exemption certificate and when buying raw materials they wont be charged VAT at source.

raise company profit tax in line with personal allowances.

i would also reclassify VAT on a lot of the goods that i would consider a necessity in this day and age, such things as washing machines and sanitary towels for instance.

raise base rate interest rates to 5% but cap high street rates to 20% on any borrowing inc credit cards, finance, 'pay day' loans etc.etc

ban adverts for gambling.

I'm not sure I agree with you on the VAT rebate thing - the problem is that things which are luxuries for citizens are sometimes required for the business to operate.

[Trev B]

All the suggestions up to yet are fine,but how would you collect it PAYE or self assessment ???,

[BanannaMan]

A fecking Yank as Prime Minister????


There'd be rioting in the streets!!!!!

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by BanannaMan

A fecking Yank as Prime Minister????


There'd be rioting in the streets!!!!!

Dunno Bill, sometimes it feels like we're the 51st state. Lots of our old British companies are US owned, Cadbury, Tate & Lyle etc.

Personality wise I prefer Obama to Cameron.

[ophic]

Originally Posted by Bibio

dont matter it the grand scheme of things as the treasury need a certain amount of money flowing in to keep the country afloat. they can juggle all the figures they like but the public will still be paying what they are paying or more just in different ways.

Whilst this is true, it doesn't take into account the inefficiencies of having an unnecessarily complex system - mainly the extra hours invested in administering it. This affects business owners who have to spend time calculating their tax, and also requires a huge number of people employed by the government to process it all.

Make it simple, this expenditure reduces and we could all pay a bit less.