Quote Originally Posted by BCram View Post
There are plenty of examples of wealth tax systems. If I was a politician I would want a proven example to be given to me to study. Seems like even the French are trying to get rid of their system.

The current trouble is allowing income to be "saved" before tax is deducted from it. A couple with a minimum wage of ?25k each could save ?10k each and have individual incomes for tax purposes of ?15k. Take off the personal allowance if you work of say ?12k and each person pays 20% of ?3000 =?600, total ?12000.
If they didn't have the ?10000 saved, in a tax free ISA they would have each paid an extra ?2000. A total tax payment of ?5200.
Must be why the rich get richer and help to push the price of everything up for everyone.
There is a easier way for the Government to raise tax.
Return to the previous system of paying interest net of tax.
The Government gets their taxation up front and the number of people employed by HMRC could be greatly reduced as a result of people no longer having to complete a tax return listing the amount of interest they receive annually.
The Government should also bring back Granny Bonds which are now known as index linked savings certificates based on the CPI index.