According to the BBC:
George Osborne told the Daily Telegraph the very wealthiest should be paying around a third of their income in tax.
In that case, why doesn’t Mr Osborne follow the simple expedient of just taxing them 30%?
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15 responses to “The wealthiest should…”
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This “bash the rich” nonsense by Osborne is absurd. Surely he can not be so stupid as to generalize from a hanfull of cases picked out (and shown to him) by Civil Servants?
Firstly he (like Cameron and others) is a trust fund kid who had never really had to work in his life. So this pose as the great foe of the evil rich convinces no one.
But, more importantly, it obscures the fact that most rich people are actually paying very high taxes.
For example, the budget is presented by just about everyone as “tax cuts for the rich”, yet the cut in the top rate of income tax (from 50% to 45%) does not happen till April 2013 (i.e. will likely not happen at all – it will cancelled in the crises budget of 2013).
But the tax INCREASES (via property taxation) on the rich will happen – and are five times larger (in terms of money) than the proposed cut in the top rate.
So the government is getting all the political heat for “cutting taxes on the rich” whilst taking the economic harm of INCEASING taxation of the rich.
And the government is also (by absurdities such as this interview in the Daily Telegraph) spreading the myth that most rich people do not pay much in tax.
I just do not understand what Osbourne and co are doing.
Their words and actions make no sense – even in their own terms.
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Excluding Employers NI, the marginal tax rate on income at the bottom is 33% or so for those of us on PAYE.
If Osborne really wanted to do something useful, perhaps he should simplify the ridiculously large tax code and give us all a tax cut.
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Daria (I mean Clarissa)has got it right.
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Problem is the system is too damn complicated. Therefore I suggest a modest set of reforms:
1) Merge NI and Income tax (already on the cards)
2) Increase threshold to 50% of the UK average salary (and raise it as ave salaries rise too)
3) Flat tax rate
4) Abolish all loopholes, breaks, etc
5) Abolish PAYE- everyone should fill in a tax return (which due to the previous changes should now be 2 sides A4 max)Any takers?
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Raise the “threshold” to half average wages?
Why?
Why not just have lower taxes, a lower rate of income tax for everyone? Why have vast numbers of people pay no income tax at all?
That would be fine if no one paid income tax – but if some people pay income tax and some people do not, how do you think that people who do not pay income tax are going to react to suggestions to increase government spending (even more) by increasing income tax?
However, the “national insurance” sysetem is indeed nothing of the sort – it is one big Ponzi scheme.
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Employer NI should be abolished asap. It’s true NI is a ponzi scheme, but I would actually prefer that it isn’t merged with income tax, but rather changed so it’s no longer a ponzi scheme. The advantage of this would be that, if people had an individual account, they would gain an idea of what they had paid in and taken out, and it would be a step towards returning social insurance to the voluntary sector (voluntary as opposed to coerced, government sector).
If NI is rolled into income tax, on the other hand, we end up paying the same as now, and we completely lose the connection – fictitious as it is – between contributions and benefits.
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Well given that the poverty line is defined (rightly or wrongly) as 40% of average income I tend to agree with the likes of Tim Worstall and the ASI that it is daft to expect people earning this or less to pay income tax.
Also I like to think I’m a pramatist and propose ideas that are sellable, so is worth throwing a bone or two to build a broad range of support.
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The heart of the matter is government spending.
The tax code is the longest in the world – about 6 times longer than the French for example. Talk of getting rid of tax loopholes is just a euphemism for putting up taxes. The best approach I think is to cut taxes across the board, not try to make them ‘fairer’ or ‘re-balance’ them, and certainly not introduce any more taxes.
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Very much agree. Besides, libertarians quickly split into left and right whenever sharing the tax burden is discussed. Best avoided.
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For once I do not agree with you Mises.
I like flushing out left “libertarians”. I prefer all the enemy in front of the guns – not in our own ranks. I like to avoid being stabbed in the back (at a key moment) if at all possible.
If someone says (lineing up with Cameron and Osbourne) that the problem is that “the rich” are “dodgeing taxes” or “not paying their fair share”, then they are not libertarians (or even on the same side as libertarians – and it is better they exposed now (rather than left to fester).
Another good way of finding such people is to ask “what is your opinion of Charles and David Koch?”
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Sounds like leftnic cleansing. 🙂
Well if that’s the first time you’ve disagreed with me then I can’t be doing too badly.
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Screw the Kochs, I’m down with the Mises people.
(I don’t think that makes me a leftist, does it?)
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“Screw the Kochs” is just abuse.
What I want to know is whether or not you think they should pay higher taxes.
My apologies for not being clear.
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Of course by “you” I actually mean “anyone”.
It is a good test – if someone believes that “the rich” (specifically Charles and David K. – who the left hate with a passion) are “not paying enough tax” or do not “justly” own their land (and so on) then libertarians they are not.
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Quite right, government spending is totally out of control. The government says they are dealing with it – but they are not. It is like a junkie – they always say they are “cutting down”, but is all a lie.
Of course the Welfare State takes most spending – but there is lots of other government spending and it is often really weird. For example, the United Kingdom government is spending tax money on leftist politcal propaganda in Texas – I am not sure that lobbying members of the Texas State legislature and campaigning against the Governor of Texas (the “uneducated” Rick Perry) is a legal thing for an overseas government to do.
Perhaps the Texas Rangers should be asked to look into the matter.
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