Originally Posted by
MadAmster
It is, indeed, a fact, AF. It IS the way of the world.
That I, and others, think there's something morally wrong with that way isn't fact, it's opinion. Opinion that, just maybe, ought to become fact and there be something done about it. By "something done", I mean changing the current Tax Laws and making them fairer. By fairer, I mean making tax payable on earnings (through work, ownership of a company etc) all payable at the same rate.
Currently, in the UK, individuals earning less than £12570 pay zero income tax. £12751 to £50270 they pay 20%, £50,271 to £150,000 it's 40% and above £150K it's 45%.
The rich among us pay accountants £300+ an hour to find all the loopholes and thereby reduce their tax liability. The likes of those of us on here don't bother as there's no way in hell an accountant would find sufficient ways round paying to make it financially viable.
Ergo, the rich can benefit where the less rich can't. Hardly fair, IMO.
Companies pay Corporation Tax on their profits at a rate of 19%. At least those that actually pay any tax do. Large companies make "arrangements" with HMRC to limit their Tax liability. Multinationals and very large companies have yet more "arrangements" get away with paying between little and nowt.
I'd like to see a similar sliding scale applied to companies trading in the UK as applies to individuals. I don't know about Dividend payments in the UK but in NL they are taxed at a lower rate than income through work. Hardly fair IMO.
Another anomaly in NL is income generated through renting out living accommodation. Someone owning, for instance, 8 houses, living in 1 and renting the other 7 out. The Dutch Tax Laws are currently set so that it is impossible for that income to be taxed. Different forms of taxation, depending on how income is derived, cover 3 different categories of income. Renting a house/flat to someone doesn't fall in any of the tax categories. Let's say each house brings in a grand a month. That's 84 grand a year that the landlord can't pay Tax on. Maybe I'm in the wrong business. Conversely, if the landlord is stupid enough to make his venture a Ltd Company, he will pay the NL variant of Corporation Tax which is, I believe, 20%, about 17K Tax. Someone in work earning 84K would pay 37% on the first 69K and 49.5% on the last 15K which is 30K in Tax. Hardly fair, IMO.
Taxation systems aren't fair, IMO. The more you have, it seems, the more you can get away with. Taxing the rich and the multis at rates akin to those paid by individuals and making it impossible for accountants to seek and find loopholes and by refusing to make special agreements with a few individual companies and rich individuals would see more tax income for the Treasury. They could then reduce the tax burdens on individuals. The "working man" would go out and spend his extra money on goods and services. Thereby creating more demand and, as a knock on effect, more jobs. All of which increases HMRC's revenue....... Trickle up rather than down. The only "downside" of this would be that Tax Havens would see far less money pushed their way. Not a bad thing IMO.
Taxation looks a bit like a handicap horse race in reverse. Instead of the faster "horses" being given heavier weights to carry, they get lighter ones.
Simplistic? Maybe. However, the current complicated system that favours the rich and the multinationals is probably too complicated and doesn't work in favour of the vast majority. Vive la (tax) revolution, I say.
The Dutch government has very recently come to the conclusion that the current system needs an overhaul in order to a) make it fairer and b) increase taxation income dur to the unforeseen outgoings caused by Covid, the Russian invasion of Ukraine etc. It's a huge shock to the VVD (NL version of the Tories) who have managed to stop calls for tax reform for 2 decades now and even they realise that it's time to build a system similar to the one I have portrayed. As long as the Tories are in power, I don't see the UK getting a fairer tax system and I'm not so sure the "Red Tories" would do any more than maybe a spot of tinkering with a, IMO, broken system.
Of course the 1% and the multinationals will do all in their power to stop a fairer tax system being brought in.
I'm not daft enough to think that all on here would agree with my view on the current tax unfairness or with my possible solutions but that would be, again IMO, borne out of self preservation rather than the good of the population as a whole and the good of the economy which would only improve if the vast majority of people had more to spend.