A UK headline wealth tax? It may be simpler to put up existing taxes

Comments

• HumanPenguin@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Well guh. The wealthy already know how to avoid current taxes. Of course they would rather that then Any change in how they are taxed.

  Guess who’s side this article is on.

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• deadcatbounce@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  The ‘economist’ apparently was sick on the day they studied diminishing returns. And she has never met anyone who lived through the seventies like an early Gen X or older.

  We went to the the IMF for 13% of GDP then, but it would be 100%+ of GDP now.

  But yeah you put the taxes up. Doesn’t really matter how much anymore.

  Denis Healey (Chancellor at the time) later joked about “squeezing the rich until the pips squeak.” when marginal tax was 98%. Meanwhile millionaires are leaving the UK in droves.

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  • Elkenders@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    The 70s comparison doesn’t really hold. Healey’s 98% rate was on paper but almost nobody paid it because of loopholes and avoidance. The IMF bailout then was about 13 percent of GDP, but scaling that up to 100% doesn’t make sense. The UK borrows differently today and isn’t in that situation.

    The idea that millionaires are leaving in droves is exaggerated. A few go, most don’t, and the UK still draws plenty of wealthy people in.

    The real point is that the very rich don’t take salaries. They hold assets. Income tax doesn’t touch most of their resources, which is exactly why a wealth tax is being talked about. Saying we’d just be repeating the 70s misses what the debate is actually about.

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    • deadcatbounce@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      You might have read that I wrote only the poor pay tax. There were no poor people within the 98% bands and high income/HNW people wouldn’t have paid it anyway.

      Oh so the rich are completely different from the rich of yesterday year. I don’t think so. Drawing plenty of wealthy people in? I bet you’re going to say trickle-down wealth next, you know you want to. G’wan.

      You know, of course, a person can voluntarily pay amounts to HMRC or other authorities whenever they like. They don’t have to wait for a request by the authority. The amount on their tax demand is a minimum value.

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