To be honest if I was fortunate to be earning enough to be in the higher tax bracket 50% would pi$$ me off too. Would I leave the country? I very much doubt it, espcially if both my parents are still around.

Tracey isn't the first artistic person to leave the country for tax reasons and she won't be the last *shrugs*

+1, and I hate the fact I probably wouldn't leave this backwater - just the thought of starting all over again...

i remember the days when it was 90% tax, ho hum …

+1

The principle surely is everyone contributes to the services we all need/use - roads, police, army, monetary system etc. There are basically two ways of doing that - you can do it proportionally - (i.e. the more you earn, the more tax you pay) or we do it evenly (we work out how much the government needs, and everyone pays an equal amount). The problems are, of course, some people aren't earning anything at all but still use services and they have to be balanced against the people who are earning more than average.

This is true in any system where you have collective government. There's just no other way to do it. The only way you can do it by varying the amount the government needs by supplying various services or not. For example, if Emin went the US she'd certainly be paying less taxes but unless she' was a complete moron (jury's out, frankly) she'd take out medical insurance, which would have a commensurate cost. She may find she ends up with roughly the same percentage of her earnings in her pocket as disposable income.

Fundamentally, living costs money. You can deal with everything yourself and pay less taxes or you can let the state do some of it for you and pay more taxes. Neitehr of these choices is more personally 'moral' than the other. The problem I have with people like Emin is their attitude is essentially selfish - the basic point is 'I earned this money, why should I give it to the government when they will spend only some of it on me and some of it on people whop haven't worked as hard or done as well as me'. The answer to that questions is 'because that's what being in a civilised society is about, the well off helping the less well off so nobody goes hungry or cold or doesn't get medical attention'.

Jon

I am clearly in favour of a progressive system. If everything were based on a flat tax then those at the bottom would pay collectively more than they earn. Flat taxes are a scam on the middle and lower paid because if you exclude those at the very bottom, it adds disproportionally to those slightly higher up the income scale.

If everything were based on a flat tax then those at the bottom would pay collectively more than they earn. Flat taxes are a scam on the middle and lower paid because if you exclude those at the very bottom, it adds disproportionally to those slightly higher up the income scale.[/quote]

I don't understand what you are saying. Can you explain it?

If the rate per person were £10000 per person pa, then there are many who will fail to earn even enough to pay that.

If you have a flat tax of around 30% to 40% which would be needed overall then the standards of living at the bottom would plummet. It would make it much harder to support house prices if millions are excluded from the property market. The government would be forced to build millions of social housing to house them at rents that they could afford. Without people constantly joining the property market it will collapse.

a flat rate based taxation system in the main is aimed at spending
having a limit to entering the flat rate system removes lower earnings/earners and small business from PAYE and any direct taxation they only pay on goods/services purchased …

Fixed amount of taxes per person wouldn't make sense. Sensible solution would be flat rate of 25% on all income above 6250 pounds. And if that doesn't cover everything that country "needs", well tough... Cuts can always be made.

Yes but I seriously doubt that any government will cut VAT or even abolish it.

Fundamentally an income tax is for the most part the fairest and easiest to administer. You have a no tax bracket at the bottom ; say in present times up to £10k then a "flat" rate of (say) 30-40% up to £100k after which its 50-60%. No further allowances or exceptions, tax evasione etc allowed. Share Options: Income, in the year they're awarded, Carried Interest when its paid and so-on. Anybody who is present in UK for more than 100 days a year pays, the FULL whack (this is only going to apply to 0.001%) no exceptions. Any payments to Offshore trusts etc made illegal or taxed at 90%

I would make the period of residency lower at 61 days or more than 5 visits per year. That would include all the tax exiles who live in tax havens but fly in to do do business here but not pay tax. Maybe the rules regarding becoming a tax exile should be that you are disqualified from returning ever again like the US does?

Sounds good to me.