Off Topic Politics Thread

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saintlyhero said:
Rightly or wrongly some countries benefit from offering lower tax levels
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And the UK is benefiting from tax inversion deals whereby a small UK company takes over a huge US company so they become domiciled in the UK as our corporate tax rates are lower than the US ones.

Vin
 
There is a difference that should be clarified though. That is a lot of companies, including pensions, invest in offshore accounts which is not illegal. As long as they pay the tax on the profits they make in the country they are registered in. Which as far as I know has happened. (Unless others know different)
 
Now listen up, Dave.

You say you don't have to apologise for the accident of your birth. You are absolutely right.

You do need to reflect on the fact that you have wriggled and squirmed.

You've blown it pal. Give thanks that Labour have Corbyn!
 
David Cameron is going to publish all of his tax returns from the past six years dating back to May 2010, when he became Prime Minister.
 
saintrichie123 said:
Hhhhmmmmnnnn the investigation will be fed back to the Home Secretary and the chancellor, who are members of a political party who's donors are implicated........come on David the investigation should be fully independent and made public.

http://news.sky.com/story/1675596/cameron-received-200000-gift-from-his-mother
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I don't actually get all of this stuff about Cameron and tax havens. What he did isn't illegal and you can bet your bottom dollar that there are other MPs of all sides who have done the same. I bet Tony Blair is using "tax-efficient" methods to manage his millions, Tony Benn would have done the same ......
I've been banging on for years about closing tax loopholes and tax havens - I don't think anyone should be allowed to do so, but that doesn't make it illegal. When I bought my house a few years ago, I was offered the opportunity to avoid stamp duty by putting it into the name of an overseas company owned by myself and my wife. It would have saved a fair wodge of dosh, but, in the end, I was uncomfortable about it and decided to stump up for what I feel is a grossly unfair tax.
I still think that if all loopholes were closed and tax was done at a standard and more reasonable rate, life would be easier - trouble is, man being what he generally is (a selfish money-grubbing bastard - or so my soon-to-be ex says) we'd never get the global economy to agree and the more well off would just move their money to a place with cheaper tax ....... I'd make them go and live there. Live here and pay the whole of your tax, I say ......
 
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When Osborne suggested a flat-rate tax before the election of 2010 he was derided as a fool, yet a tax system with no loopholes is exactly what's needed.

Many (30?) years ago I read an article in the Economist where someone had calculated that a flat rate tax in the UK would be somewhere around 15%. The problem is that people hate the implications. Earn the first pound you ever make, pay 15p. Earn the pound that takes your income from £3 million to £3,000,001 and pay 15p. People were immediately on Osborne's case saying it was "regressive". However, it's becoming more and more apparent that the guy increasing his salary from £3m is probably paying nothing on the increase (thanks to a million loopholes), so in fact it'd probably make richer people pay more.

It would also obviate the need for an army of accountants to fill in tax returns and run the various avoidance schemes. It would allow them to go and do something productive. And all the lobbyists looking for tax breaks for their industry could go and retrain as nursery teachers.

Vin
 
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Totally agree that loopholes should be closed, but don't believe they ever will be. If, as Vin says above, Osborne had brought in a blanket 15p in the pound tax rate, I would have supported it, simply because 15% of £1m paid into the taxman's purse is better than 0% of £5m.
 
The flat rate might work for pay as you earn, but would it also work for companies/corporations where profits can be manipulated?
 
tiggermaster said:
The flat rate might work for pay as you earn, but would it also work for companies/corporations where profits can be manipulated?
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I'm no expert but the idea is "no allowances", pay tax on straight profit, i.e. income - costs. As ever, though the devil is in the international aspect, so it would need writing with careful attention to what counts as income made in the UK and expenditure paid in the UK. One of the arguments for it is that because there are fewer loopholes, the headline rate can be much lower.

Vin
 
I heard someone (may have been an ex-chancellor) recently suggest the best way to sort out the problems with international companies would be to scrap the current tax on profits and replace it with a tax on sales.
 
Puck said:
I heard someone (may have been an ex-chancellor) recently suggest the best way to sort out the problems with international companies would be to scrap the current tax on profits and replace it with a tax on sales.
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Indeed. VAT is extremely tough to evade and rather simple to administer.

Vin
 
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