The EU debate - Part III

Personally I think the whole tax system needs a complete overhaul. As I said, the excuse that business will take their money elsewhere isn't good enough. It's been used to justify corporations not paying their fair share of taxes. There should be a system when taxes on profits are levied in each country where those profits are made.

 

You're still not comprehending are you Pete ? Try reading it again, I said that ageing, increasing and immigration effects on the NHS do not impact on it as much as the lack of investment has.

I would go further and say that an ageing population living with more and more complex long term conditions has vastly more of an impact on the NHS than immigration alone.

 

Does the idiot not realise that old people in the UK use far more of the resources of the NHS than twice their number of fit and healthy 30 year olds. If I was that stupid I would book in for some serious therapy.

 

What a failure.
Can't work out the point is a larger pensioner population as a proportion of the whole. Nothing to do with an increase in total population numbers

 

In my view, business taxes should be kept low to encourage investment.. However, the quid pro quo should be the removal of alll loopholes.

We've given you the lowest tax rates and best investment incentives around, but we expect those taxes to be paid. No ifs, ands, or buts!...

 

I think the fairest way to do it is to scrap corporation tax and introduce a tax on profits made in the respective countries. No more basing the business in the Bahamas and not paying any tax to the UK. If you make profits in the UK, then you pay the UK exchequer relative to the amount of profit you've earned.

 

It pretty much comes to the same thing. Set a low rate, but remove all loopholes.

The increasing problem for any Gvt, in a modern world, is control of global internet businesses , and the far more transitory nature of capital.

 

That's exactly why a tax on profits in the county where the sales are made makes more sense. Businesses can base themselves where they like, move their capital around as they please, but they won't be able to escape the tax in the country where they have made that money.

 

It's surprising how difficult the politicians find these things when there's so much expert advice so readily available.

 

There's a good letter from a reader in the FT regarding this topic:

It should surely be not too difficult to replace taxes on profits — which are hard to calculate and assign across borders, and easy to avoid — by some kind of transaction tax where business is transacted. Such taxes — or duties — already apply to a number of companies that sell, for example, petrol, or alcoholic beverages, or tobacco products. Broadening such duties to other categories (and ideally simplifying rates) should not prove too difficult for any government.

https://www.ft.com/content/6878463c-712a-11e6-9ac1-1055824ca907

 

That might have something to do with 'will' as oppose to 'ability'.

 

That depends to an extent on what they sell and if, in fact, they sell anything material at all.

Classic examples are Facebook, Twatter, etc all.

They make all their money from global advertisers, who taxes, and how do you tax that..?

The obvious answer is their country of registration, i.e. The USA.

 

Facebook still has a Facebook UK account though. So their UK profits could still be assessed. That said, they've tried to 'reduce' their profits by paying out £280m in bonuses ....

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/Companies/article1675408.ece

 

I'm not on Facebook so I don't know what it is they 'sell'.?

As far as I'm aware, their income is mostly derived from advertisers?

 

Yes, that's right from Advertising. Most of it is built into a self service advertising platform though, so companies and individuals can use the site to buy their own advertising space. Should still be quite easy to see where that purchase has originated from at tax it accordingly.

 

Row as charity FALSELY claims the '38-year-old child asylum seeker' is an interpreter as more migrants arrive today hiding their faces under blankets
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ais-confesses-course-majority-lie-age-UK.html
"Two top charities caused a frenzy after falsely claiming a 'child refugee' was an adult interpreter as young migrants hid under blankets as they arrived in Britain for the first time today.
The Home Office has been forced to confirm the unnamed asylum seeker from Afghanistan, aged by face recognition software as being 38, was a migrant and not an employee.
Overnight thousands including Gary Lineker and other stars tweeted about charity claims that the migrant was an adult interpreter helping border officials at Croydon immigration centre.
TACT, the UK's largest fostering and adoption charity, appear to have assumed one asylum seeker who arrived yesterday was older than 18 and tweeted: 'This is a picture of an adult interpreter working for @ukhomeoffice'.
George Gabriel of Citizens UK also said yesterday: 'We think one of the photos is actually a translator accompanying the children' and the BBC was also criticised online for reporting the false claim, debunked by the Home Office this morning.
It came as migrants and charity workers in Calais' Jungle camp admitted the 'majority' of young migrants are 'lying' about their age to get to Britain as children because it gives them a better chance to enter the UK."

 

'Of course the majority lie about their age to get into the UK': Calais migrant confesses to scams as it's revealed UK charity workers trawl the Jungle with megaphones to rounding up 'children'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rkers-megaphones-asking-children-want-UK.html

 

And global corps?..

My point is that it's becoming increasingly difficult in this increasingly globalised world to identify the origin of income.

Capital is also transferable at the click of a button. Not to mention through complex corporate structures, sometimes involving several countries.

The taxmans job is becoming more and more complicated.

 

Hilariously rotund bookkeeper rants about economic migrants despite marrying one.

http://www.petersaxton.co.uk/

 

Hypocrisy at its finest.,...