Why is a wealth tax 'socialist' when an income tax isn't? Why is it ok to tax the famous 'hard-woking families' whilst those sitting on their arses enjoying their silver spoon inherited millions are allowed to avoid taxes?
Wealth is already taxed via council tax on property value and inheritance tax on all estates over a million a year and capital gains tax etc anyway
This sentence simultaneously admits defeat on the point by agreeing that non-socialist governments are already doing some taxes on wealth, and also concedes what it need not -- capital gains tax is not a tax on wealth but on gains (income), the clue being in the name...
It's complicated. Some Labour supporters claim that she is useless, not doing her job and has moved 200 miles from the constituency. There is also a trans-rights issue.
She is stating that she has received a great deal of personal harassment.
Dig a bit deeper and the complainers seem to be linked to er.... enthusiasm for Corbyn.
It's complicated. Some Labour supporters claim that she is useless, not doing her job and has moved 200 miles from the constituency. There is also a trans-rights issue.
She is stating that she has received a great deal of personal harassment.
Dig a bit deeper and the complainers seem to be linked to er.... enthusiasm for Corbyn.
Fair to say I think that, if it wasn't for her stance on Trans issues, those other complaints would not be a problem.
I presume data isn't going to be available - I haven't seen any notices on changes to metrics, to offer numbers on re-infections.
The dashboard people are trying to present the best data set they can. The problem is the fuckwits who mis-use it.
I know you track this closer than I do so quite likely I'm misinterpreting the text, but their note about adding reinfections says "specimen date metrics will be revised back to the beginning of the pandemic", which I read as meaning that any of the specimen-date-based statistics and graphs will get historically-revised and won't have artificial jumps in them (whereas the by-reporting-date ones will). Is that right?
My impression is that by-specimen-date figures are more useful than by-reporting-date anyway, so if I'm also wrong about that do let me know :-)
The reporting day stuff is what the panic merchants will be running round screaming about....
The reporting day data I have never bothered with - and that is the one where revising it historically is not possible. My understanding is that the when it is compiled, the data does not contain linkages to the specimen date data and visa versa. So for a given day, we can't say what "days of specimen day data" the reporting data number consists of...
I look at the data as a series of "layers" away from The Truth. We can't get The Truth - reality isn't perfect. Reporting day adds another layer. Specimen date/day of data is that bit colder to what has actually happened.
I've downloaded the following to Google sheets - by nation and raw data which gives both accumulated and daily counts
Death by reported Death by specimen Death by Death cert Cases by reported Cases by specimen
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
No it isn't, it is a socialist policy to take people's wealth.
As I said better for the Conservatives to go into opposition than become a socialist party introducing a new wealth tax hitting its core vote.
It would of course go into opposition anyway as many of its core vote would go RefUK and socialists would still vote Labour anyway
You have no such problem on increasing taxation on workers though.
Do you believe that income from ownership is superior to income from work ?
Aside from he practical problems, the argument usually forwarded is that taxing wealth amounts to a tax on money that has already been taxed. The public are (puzzlingly) vehemently opposed to death duties for that reason and I can only imagine that this opposition would be enhanced by taxing wealth whilst folk are still alive.
So how is that any different to paying any other tax with money from employment which has already had income tax and national insurance deducted from it ?
No - I agree. VAT for one. Opposition to IHT is puzzling.
Wealth tax is one of those things that gets socialists all excited (because they don't like anyone else having more wealth than they do), but in practice it is just an envy tax and nothing else.
Is it any more of an envy tax than graduated income tax, though? It's the same principle of making those in a better position to pay shoulder more of the burden and on-balance redistributing money to those with less -- it's just trying to tax a stock rather than a flow. As you note that brings some practical difficulties which might make it unworkable, but I don't think the whole concept is dismissable purely on principle (unless your principles are in favour of a totally flat tax or pay-for-what-you-use, but most peoples' aren't and government is never going to legislate for either of those).
I am a pragmatist when it comes to most political matters. It is well known that a lot of tax schemes that people favour (often out of envy) end up raising less money and having harmful side effects. Tax based on income is fair and pretty easy to administer. People that have wealth should be encouraged to live here because they pay more tax per capita and they generally have businesses that pay even more tax and they employ people that pay further tax. Such people should not be encouraged to move their wealth, or the businesses to Switzerland et al.
Why is a wealth tax 'socialist' when an income tax isn't? Why is it ok to tax the famous 'hard-woking families' whilst those sitting on their arses enjoying their silver spoon inherited millions are allowed to avoid taxes?
Wealth is already taxed via council tax on property value and inheritance tax on all estates over a million a year and capital gains tax etc anyway
This sentence simultaneously admits defeat on the point by agreeing that non-socialist governments are already doing some taxes on wealth, and also concedes what it need not -- capital gains tax is not a tax on wealth but on gains (income), the clue being in the name...
Capital gains tax is already paid on sale of second homes for instance on the wealth accumulated in the increase in value of the asset
So, we're getting a "Brexit Freedom Bill". The effect is to give Boris Johnson and his cronies the freedom to enact legislation without troubling parliament and to embed additional dictatorship.
Noteworthy the significant Brexit benefit claimed:
Data and AI – moving in a faster, more agile way to regulate new digital markets and AI and creating a more proportionate and less burdensome data rights regime compared to the EU’s GDPR
This is an interesting one because you a trading an ability to do new and interesting things against a weakening of data privacy rules and accountability. This will almost certainly result in the loss of EU data adequacy agreements (the government claims not). You can't do AI unless you have the data to do it on. The UK could do clever AI things with UK data subjects but it won't be a world centre of it. Also people may not be happy that important decisions are made about them entirely by black box algorithms - which is a big difference between the EU and the proposed UK regime. On the other hand more automation of data is the way the world is going and the UK may well lose access to EU data anyway. Generally countries are tightening up on data flows - the EU would be the biggest source of such data. In that case you might as well be hung for a sheep as a goat. It isn't exactly a Brexit "benefit" but it kind of makes sense.
Climate, the Environment and Agriculture – reforming our environmental regulation, 80% of which came from the EU, to deliver cleaner air, create new habitats, and reduce waste, while changing the rules on gene edited organisms, to enable more sustainable and efficient farming.
Changing the rules on gene editing (which unlike genetic modification is limited to the same species, so not quite as controversial) is still big in relation to farm animals. For example, factory farming of egg-laying hens involves shutting them in a cage with lots of others, preventing natural behaviour. This has serious health effects as well as welfare issues, and the trend is to phase it out as it's not efficient to have unhealthy birds. Gene editing could give it a new lease of life, by reducing the health impact, without doing anything for welfare. So it's more efficient, but also perpetuates suffering.
There are however areas where gene editing would be beneficial or harmless. What's needed is thorough legislative scrutiny with evidence from experts to get the balance right, and this Bill would remove that by (as I understand it) allowing the change to be made at a stroke by delegated legislation.
A more accurate name for the legislation would be the Blank Cheque Bill.
Nick is right here. The concern about this Bill is not what red tape it would in theory remove. Rather it is that the government is giving itself powers to change or remove laws which have been in force in this country for decades without requiring primary legislation and, therefore, without scrutiny.
It is yet another example of the government seeking to avoid scrutiny and accountability and seizing ever more power for itself. Not so much Taking Back Control from the EU but Taking it Back from the People and their elected representatives.
It's complicated. Some Labour supporters claim that she is useless, not doing her job and has moved 200 miles from the constituency. There is also a trans-rights issue.
She is stating that she has received a great deal of personal harassment.
Dig a bit deeper and the complainers seem to be linked to er.... enthusiasm for Corbyn.
SKS is definitely keeping his distance from this.
Given how toxic interfering in bullying/harassment issues by C-Suite level is*, he should simply request that the equivalent of HR in the Labour party conduct a proper investigation. Formal report etc.
*And yes, the Labour Party recent history on such.
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
No it isn't, it is a socialist policy to take people's wealth.
As I said better for the Conservatives to go into opposition than become a socialist party introducing a new wealth tax hitting its core vote.
It would of course go into opposition anyway as many of its core vote would go RefUK and socialists would still vote Labour anyway
You have no such problem on increasing taxation on workers though.
Do you believe that income from ownership is superior to income from work ?
Aside from he practical problems, the argument usually forwarded is that taxing wealth amounts to a tax on money that has already been taxed. The public are (puzzlingly) vehemently opposed to death duties for that reason and I can only imagine that this opposition would be enhanced by taxing wealth whilst folk are still alive.
So how is that any different to paying any other tax with money from employment which has already had income tax and national insurance deducted from it ?
Indeed. It's an entirely false premise.
All money is taxed many times over. Your employer will be taxed VAT on its income, Corporation Tax, potentially duties, NNDR etc then it will need to pay Employers NI to pay you. Then Employees NI, and Income Tax for it to reach you. Then when you spend your income whatever you purchase has VAT and the whole thing cycles all over again.
Tax is multiplied many times over. It's one reason tax rises never raise as much as expected, because if you reduce the amount in people's pockets, they can't spend as much, which reduces tax revenues going to the Exchequer via other revenue streams.
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
No it isn't, it is a socialist policy to take people's wealth.
As I said better for the Conservatives to go into opposition than become a socialist party introducing a new wealth tax hitting its core vote.
It would of course go into opposition anyway as many of its core vote would go RefUK and socialists would still vote Labour anyway
You keep going on about people defecting to Re-fuk, but the truth is that even quite right wing conservatives consider them to be loonies and fascists. It is more credible to suggest people might chose not to vote.
RefUK went up significantly in the polls after the NI rise and may go up again when it comes in. They are only lower now as restrictions have ended
how much above the standard margin of error did they go up by?
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
+1 - given that more tax revenue is (seemingly) required and there is nothing that isn't already taxed to the maximum I think a wealth tax is inevitable.
I am not sure. The Blair government did not go down this route because there is significant evidence to suggest it ends up hitting middle income people hardest (those with houses and investments) and simply drives the genuinely wealthy's money overseas and reduces investment. Those with land (landowning farmers) will not be able to cough up because (as anyone who has watched Clarkson's Farm will know), they make sod-all from their land anyway.
Wealth tax is one of those things that gets socialists all excited (because they don't like anyone else having more wealth than they do), but in practice it is just an envy tax and nothing else.
Which is the reasoning for a mansion tax - money can be moved easily but houses cannot.
And there's not many votes to lose by taxing the properties of foreign oligarchs and premiership footballers.
Possibly, but it depends where the threshold is set. It is also unlikely to raise a lot of money if it is just focussed on mega-properties, so it is still just an envy tax. For that reason alone, if Labour are sensible and want to break with Corbynism, they would do well to leave that one well alone too.
The psychology is important.
If the average worker is seeing their taxes rise then they need to see the taxes rise of everyone, especially the 'undeserving rich'.
"We're all in this together" is an important belief if governments are to be popular - its the breaking of this belief by the immaturity in Downing Street which has caused the government its current problems.
Wealth tax is one of those things that gets socialists all excited (because they don't like anyone else having more wealth than they do), but in practice it is just an envy tax and nothing else.
Is it any more of an envy tax than graduated income tax, though? It's the same principle of making those in a better position to pay shoulder more of the burden and on-balance redistributing money to those with less -- it's just trying to tax a stock rather than a flow. As you note that brings some practical difficulties which might make it unworkable, but I don't think the whole concept is dismissable purely on principle (unless your principles are in favour of a totally flat tax or pay-for-what-you-use, but most peoples' aren't and government is never going to legislate for either of those).
I am a pragmatist when it comes to most political matters. It is well known that a lot of tax schemes that people favour (often out of envy) end up raising less money and having harmful side effects. Tax based on income is fair and pretty easy to administer. People that have wealth should be encouraged to live here because they pay more tax per capita and they generally have businesses that pay even more tax and they employ people that pay further tax. Such people should not be encouraged to move their wealth, or the businesses to Switzerland et al.
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
No it isn't, it is a socialist policy to take people's wealth.
As I said better for the Conservatives to go into opposition than become a socialist party introducing a new wealth tax hitting its core vote.
It would of course go into opposition anyway as many of its core vote would go RefUK and socialists would still vote Labour anyway
You keep going on about people defecting to Re-fuk, but the truth is that even quite right wing conservatives consider them to be loonies and fascists. It is more credible to suggest people might chose not to vote.
RefUK went up significantly in the polls after the NI rise and may go up again when it comes in. They are only lower now as restrictions have ended
Re COVID - with the changes to cases numbers today -
What changes? Can you explain briefly?
To date reinfections have not been included (except in Wales) so the figures are likely to be higher. We know that Omicron causes a lot of reinfection.
So expect iSage & Leon to run round screaming in small circles at 16:01
Does anyone think that iSage will condemn the revocation of the vaccine mandate for the NHS - if it happens?
They aren’t going to benchmark a reinfection inclusive figure against a reinfection exclusive figure surely? That would be barmy (and useless). And the usual innumerate panickers will have a field day, as you say.
(In the real world the covid numbers have been looking really encouraging)
"That would be barmy (and useless)" - Ah, you have described the Pestonite journalists on the subject of anything involving Maths (hiss, boo, shudder etc) perfectly.....
They are not going to back date the data on the dashboard - the historical data is not available - there will be a step change.
So all the muppets will scream......
That’s absolutely stupid, in which case.
Why not simply separate reinfections out, if they want to include them?
They WILL be backdating the crucial data on the dashboard. From Meaghan Kall, who's one of those working on it:
"Historical back series (by specimen date) will be revised " It's one of the reasons the update is such a big one and taking so much time to carry out.
However, reporting date data will not be revised, but that's less useful in any case. It does take a few days for specimen date data to come through, but that's the reference we need to use (7-day averaged to overcome day-of-week issues) against hospitalisations (lagged) and deaths. And deaths will also be revised for reinfections.
I do get that the more innumerate journalists and commentators will go hysterical, but no-one should pay attention to those idiots.
Whose decision was it to change the methodology, the government or the NHS?
Not sure of that, but whover decided it made the right call. Previous to omicron re-infection was pretty small, but we are in a new era now.
@Foxy , is the change to testing positive but still coming in an England thing?
My gf (Doctor) spams LFTs and is mildly depressed every time they come back negative. Off for another 13 hour shift this morning!
She's pretty settled on becoming a part time Highland GP... could be very lucrative if I can get paid my Edinburgh salary while living in Kinlochbervie.
Yes, it is England only as far as I know. Quite likely that some businesses such as hospitals, won't loosen guidance.
If your GF is getting down about work then she isn't alone. Indeed all the best doctors that I know have had their doubts about it as a career. Indeed I would go so far as to say that anyone without that questioning of their choices probably lacks the insight to be a good doctor. Work can be a drag, indeed that is why we have to be paid to do it.
Medicine though has a very wide range of options for a satisfying career to suit nearly all tastes. I have a friend who runs an ICU in a trauma centre. He is quite open about not liking conscious patients! Others that find in that human contact real job satisfaction.
Personally, I would find part time working difficult. I like to be at it hammer and tongs or not at all. The worst jobs that I had in my training were the quiet ones.
I think too that there is a malaise in General Practice, that I cannot quite put my finger on. GPS seem to burn out quite young, with fewer and fewer reaching normal retirement age. When I qualified 30 years ago, it was the opposite problem, with GPs staying on long past their sell by date. Maybe it is different in Scotland. Essential though to find a practice with partners on the same wavelength as good or bad colleagues are the makings and breaking of a contented career.
Is part of this still about early retirement encouraged by a tax rate hike when the max pension pot size is reached around 50?
(Not making a point; I can see it could be an issue).
Yes, that is part of it, but even part time GPs who therefore have much smaller pensions seem to burn out quite young and quit.
The solution to the NHS staffing issue is really about retention, which is not all about pay. It needs to be about restoring some degree of autonomy and control to staff, otherwise they exercise that autonomy and control by leaving.
When I talked to a doctor recently, his description of his working conditions was straight out of Taylorism. And not in a good way.
So the NHS is mis-managing to practices that were obsolete. 100 years ago.
Sounds a lot like education.
Yes, there are efficiency gains that can come from working smarter and using technology. But in some fields, you have an irreducible core of the job which doesn't really allow for smart working- a GP talking to a patient or a teacher interacting with a pupil.
Then, the main source of efficiency gains is making the worker work harder. Which eventually stops working, so to speak.
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
+1 - given that more tax revenue is (seemingly) required and there is nothing that isn't already taxed to the maximum I think a wealth tax is inevitable.
I am not sure. The Blair government did not go down this route because there is significant evidence to suggest it ends up hitting middle income people hardest (those with houses and investments) and simply drives the genuinely wealthy's money overseas and reduces investment. Those with land (landowning farmers) will not be able to cough up because (as anyone who has watched Clarkson's Farm will know), they make sod-all from their land anyway.
Wealth tax is one of those things that gets socialists all excited (because they don't like anyone else having more wealth than they do), but in practice it is just an envy tax and nothing else.
Which is the reasoning for a mansion tax - money can be moved easily but houses cannot.
And there's not many votes to lose by taxing the properties of foreign oligarchs and premiership footballers.
Possibly, but it depends where the threshold is set. It is also unlikely to raise a lot of money if it is just focussed on mega-properties, so it is still just an envy tax. For that reason alone, if Labour are sensible and want to break with Corbynism, they would do well to leave that one well alone too.
If it were up to me I would abolish Council Tax, Stamp Duty etc and implement a fixed percentage of house price tax to be paid by the owner of the property.
For single dwelling owner occupiers that should be relatively revenue neutral. For people with a property portfolio they can pay a fair share of what they should.
And Councils would cease to need to chase low income tenants and Courts can stop dealing with Council Tax backlogs, Attachment of Earnings orders etc as the landlord would be liable instead of the tenant.
It would also have the advantage of breaking the incentive that owners have of only ever seeing house prices go up, since if you're an owner occupier and your house price doesn't go up, your taxes don't, which is great for society as it means more can get their own home.
Certainly agree on stamp duty. That is an iniquitous tax, and agree with you to some extent on Council Tax. The worst of the lot are local business rates. Most voters don't see these as they are not business owners, but the reality is that if small businesses are less profitable that will ultimately hit the employees too.
It's complicated. Some Labour supporters claim that she is useless, not doing her job and has moved 200 miles from the constituency. There is also a trans-rights issue.
She is stating that she has received a great deal of personal harassment.
Dig a bit deeper and the complainers seem to be linked to er.... enthusiasm for Corbyn.
Fair to say I think that, if it wasn't for her stance on Trans issues, those other complaints would not be a problem.
That may well be the case.
But if the allegations about her expenses, living in Wales and not bothering to do any work for her constituents are true, they need looking at too. Being bullied over trans issues should not give you a free pass on other stuff.
I have no idea of course whether the allegations against her are true.
There seem to be a significant number of people (primarily the iSAGE followers I imagine) who are totally preoccupied with case numbers to the exclusion of any other metrics.
I have one Facebook contact who has yet to have Covid and is getting themselves worked up into a frenzy on the "madness" of schools removing masks. The son now has Covid (flu like symptoms I believe) and has been locked up in his room for a week. I had previously said I was against masks in schools (and I still am) due to the work science has done on mitigating the big risks of Covid and longer term harmful side effects of masks (e.g. mental health).
I am now extremely unpopular because "look more kids have got Covid". It doesn't matter if they are all sitting at home locked in their room feeling fine and playing computer games. It doesn't matter that hospitalisations, patients on ventilators and deaths are all falling. I could get into a Facebook argument on it but it is pointless when so much is based on emotion rather than data.
Logic and rationality left the building long ago, sadly. You see it on PB at times - despite many of us being rather more numerate than the average citizen. The moronic decision to roll reinfections into all infections is just asking for trouble: if you are explaining, you are losing.
Good morning from sunny Islington. This Brexit Freedom Bill that will deliver the benefits of Brexit by ripping up "EU Red Tape". Any specifics they have in mind?
The first thing I'd do is remove the requirement for PRIVATE limited companies to have an audit.
Regrettably, I'm pretty sure that is a solely BRITISH requirement and hasn't been an EU imposed requirement ever (I don't think). That is one way to cut *some* red tape, and it'll have no downside effects at all (except on the auditors bank balance).
So in the past 24 hours, Dominic Cummings, David Frost, and Nikki da Costa - all former right-hand (wo)men to Boris Johnson - have all come out to say that Boris Johnson's government is, more or less, hopeless. This apparently has come as a great surprise to them and is none of their fault at all ever.
I'm trying hard to restrain my sarcasm at this point, but what did they think they were getting into? Had the idea that a government led by Boris Johnson might turn into a clownshow not entered their minds before?
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
+1 - given that more tax revenue is (seemingly) required and there is nothing that isn't already taxed to the maximum I think a wealth tax is inevitable.
I am not sure. The Blair government did not go down this route because there is significant evidence to suggest it ends up hitting middle income people hardest (those with houses and investments) and simply drives the genuinely wealthy's money overseas and reduces investment. Those with land (landowning farmers) will not be able to cough up because (as anyone who has watched Clarkson's Farm will know), they make sod-all from their land anyway.
Wealth tax is one of those things that gets socialists all excited (because they don't like anyone else having more wealth than they do), but in practice it is just an envy tax and nothing else.
Which is the reasoning for a mansion tax - money can be moved easily but houses cannot.
And there's not many votes to lose by taxing the properties of foreign oligarchs and premiership footballers.
Possibly, but it depends where the threshold is set. It is also unlikely to raise a lot of money if it is just focussed on mega-properties, so it is still just an envy tax. For that reason alone, if Labour are sensible and want to break with Corbynism, they would do well to leave that one well alone too.
If it were up to me I would abolish Council Tax, Stamp Duty etc and implement a fixed percentage of house price tax to be paid by the owner of the property.
For single dwelling owner occupiers that should be relatively revenue neutral. For people with a property portfolio they can pay a fair share of what they should.
And Councils would cease to need to chase low income tenants and Courts can stop dealing with Council Tax backlogs, Attachment of Earnings orders etc as the landlord would be liable instead of the tenant.
It would also have the advantage of breaking the incentive that owners have of only ever seeing house prices go up, since if you're an owner occupier and your house price doesn't go up, your taxes don't, which is great for society as it means more can get their own home.
Certainly agree on stamp duty. That is an iniquitous tax, and agree with you to some extent on Council Tax. The worst of the lot are local business rates. Most voters don't see these as they are not business owners, but the reality is that if small businesses are less profitable that will ultimately hit the employees too.
Again I 100% agree with you. NNDR also gives a competitive advantage to companies like Amazon that aren't liable to it.
When we aren't talking about a certain subject, you and I can agree on a lot it seems.
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
No it isn't, it is a socialist policy to take people's wealth.
As I said better for the Conservatives to go into opposition than become a socialist party introducing a new wealth tax hitting its core vote.
It would of course go into opposition anyway as many of its core vote would go RefUK and socialists would still vote Labour anyway
You keep going on about people defecting to Re-fuk, but the truth is that even quite right wing conservatives consider them to be loonies and fascists. It is more credible to suggest people might chose not to vote.
RefUK went up significantly in the polls after the NI rise and may go up again when it comes in. They are only lower now as restrictions have ended
how much above the standard margin of error did they go up by?
After it was announced and voted through RefUK reached 4 to 5% in some polls
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
No it isn't, it is a socialist policy to take people's wealth.
As I said better for the Conservatives to go into opposition than become a socialist party introducing a new wealth tax hitting its core vote.
It would of course go into opposition anyway as many of its core vote would go RefUK and socialists would still vote Labour anyway
You have no such problem on increasing taxation on workers though.
Do you believe that income from ownership is superior to income from work ?
Aside from he practical problems, the argument usually forwarded is that taxing wealth amounts to a tax on money that has already been taxed. The public are (puzzlingly) vehemently opposed to death duties for that reason and I can only imagine that this opposition would be enhanced by taxing wealth whilst folk are still alive.
So how is that any different to paying any other tax with money from employment which has already had income tax and national insurance deducted from it ?
No - I agree. VAT for one. Opposition to IHT is puzzling.
Particularly so as for many couples it does not apply to less than a million pounds, which is the majority living outside London and the south east
Wealth tax is one of those things that gets socialists all excited (because they don't like anyone else having more wealth than they do), but in practice it is just an envy tax and nothing else.
Is it any more of an envy tax than graduated income tax, though? It's the same principle of making those in a better position to pay shoulder more of the burden and on-balance redistributing money to those with less -- it's just trying to tax a stock rather than a flow. As you note that brings some practical difficulties which might make it unworkable, but I don't think the whole concept is dismissable purely on principle (unless your principles are in favour of a totally flat tax or pay-for-what-you-use, but most peoples' aren't and government is never going to legislate for either of those).
I am a pragmatist when it comes to most political matters. It is well known that a lot of tax schemes that people favour (often out of envy) end up raising less money and having harmful side effects. Tax based on income is fair and pretty easy to administer. People that have wealth should be encouraged to live here because they pay more tax per capita and they generally have businesses that pay even more tax and they employ people that pay further tax. Such people should not be encouraged to move their wealth, or the businesses to Switzerland et al.
Note that Switzerland has a wealth tax!
Fair point, but business taxes are very low indeed. So if you are a business owner all would be taken into account. Switzerland is complicated and the cost of living is very high, so perhaps I should have applied a different example. How do they apply their wealth tax to your knowledge?
"Nicola Sturgeon has questioned the UK’s equality watchdog after it urged the Scottish Government to carry out "more detailed consideration" of plans to reform gender recognition laws."
The issue is undoubtedly being used as a proxy for internal SNP feuds with Joanna Cherry getting a lot of grief for her stance on the issue (as has, of course, J K Rowling, a Scottish resident and Indy-sceptic).
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
+1 - given that more tax revenue is (seemingly) required and there is nothing that isn't already taxed to the maximum I think a wealth tax is inevitable.
I am not sure. The Blair government did not go down this route because there is significant evidence to suggest it ends up hitting middle income people hardest (those with houses and investments) and simply drives the genuinely wealthy's money overseas and reduces investment. Those with land (landowning farmers) will not be able to cough up because (as anyone who has watched Clarkson's Farm will know), they make sod-all from their land anyway.
Wealth tax is one of those things that gets socialists all excited (because they don't like anyone else having more wealth than they do), but in practice it is just an envy tax and nothing else.
Which is the reasoning for a mansion tax - money can be moved easily but houses cannot.
And there's not many votes to lose by taxing the properties of foreign oligarchs and premiership footballers.
Possibly, but it depends where the threshold is set. It is also unlikely to raise a lot of money if it is just focussed on mega-properties, so it is still just an envy tax. For that reason alone, if Labour are sensible and want to break with Corbynism, they would do well to leave that one well alone too.
The psychology is important.
If the average worker is seeing their taxes rise then they need to see the taxes rise of everyone, especially the 'undeserving rich'.
"We're all in this together" is an important belief if governments are to be popular - its the breaking of this belief by the immaturity in Downing Street which has caused the government its current problems.
yes, but bizarrely perhaps to some, a lot of not-rich people do not like the idea of tax on aspiration, so it has to be very nuanced.
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
No it isn't, it is a socialist policy to take people's wealth.
As I said better for the Conservatives to go into opposition than become a socialist party introducing a new wealth tax hitting its core vote.
It would of course go into opposition anyway as many of its core vote would go RefUK and socialists would still vote Labour anyway
You keep going on about people defecting to Re-fuk, but the truth is that even quite right wing conservatives consider them to be loonies and fascists. It is more credible to suggest people might chose not to vote.
RefUK went up significantly in the polls after the NI rise and may go up again when it comes in. They are only lower now as restrictions have ended
how much above the standard margin of error did they go up by?
After it was announced and voted through RefUK reached 4 to 5% in some polls
You are such a Refuk ramper and cherry picker it's ridiculous.
They reached 2 to 3% or weren't even named in more polls, which is what they were on, if named, before too. Oh and they reached.4 to 5% in some polls before too. 🤦♂️
There was no statistically significant increase in their poll share. They're an utter irrelevance and always have been.
It's complicated. Some Labour supporters claim that she is useless, not doing her job and has moved 200 miles from the constituency. There is also a trans-rights issue.
She is stating that she has received a great deal of personal harassment.
Dig a bit deeper and the complainers seem to be linked to er.... enthusiasm for Corbyn.
Fair to say I think that, if it wasn't for her stance on Trans issues, those other complaints would not be a problem.
Her stance is that a woman is a woman and a man is not a woman , hardly an earth shattering stance unless you are one of these absolute nutjob gender self ID cretins.
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
No it isn't, it is a socialist policy to take people's wealth.
As I said better for the Conservatives to go into opposition than become a socialist party introducing a new wealth tax hitting its core vote.
It would of course go into opposition anyway as many of its core vote would go RefUK and socialists would still vote Labour anyway
Haha. I look forward to the reverse-ferret when a Johnson introduces a stealth wealth tax next year.
Why is a wealth tax 'socialist' when an income tax isn't? Why is it ok to tax the famous 'hard-working families' whilst those sitting on their arses enjoying their silver spoon inherited millions are allowed to avoid taxes?
A wealth tax in the way you envisage it is a dumb idea. What we need are proper transaction taxes that tax every type of transaction fully and which, if you want, specifically target the unearned income above earned. An object - be it a house, a car or a piece of land, has no inherent monetary value until it is transferred to another owner. Taxing stuff in a way that forces people to sell or surrender the property or object just to pay the tax is inherently wrong. It is the ultimate politics of envy.
You and I can go online and see how much a house sold for the last time it was on the market. If we can do it then so can the Government. If you are concerned about the unearned income then you can tax the difference between each time a property changes hands and do so at the normal income tax rates rather than a nominal stamp duty rate. But until that point the property has not realised its monetary potential and so should not be taxed.
Transactional taxes are a far better way to proceed than taxing fixed assets.
For the record I exclude Council Tax from this as I see that as a more immediate payment for local services.
Johnson would lose a VONC definitely after that. The Canadian Tories went from a landslide win in 1988 to landslide defeat in 1993 to the Liberals and just 2 seats after introducing an unpopular new tax which saw most of their core vote go to the populist rightwing Reform Party
Wealth is already taxed via council tax on property value and inheritance tax on all estates over a million a year and capital gains tax etc anyway
The top level of council tax is a bit pathetic, though - IIRC there is no difference in what you pay if you have a band H property worth a million and one worth £50 million. Introducing a couple more bounds at the top and a discounted sub-A band would be a nice populist move for any government which would upset almost nobody - if you live in a £50 million home you probably don't really care whether you're paying £3000 or £6000 council tax/year.
And inheritance tax is widely derided as "voluntary" and openly avoided. If it actually worked as designed, the need for a wealth tax would largely disappear.
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
No it isn't, it is a socialist policy to take people's wealth.
As I said better for the Conservatives to go into opposition than become a socialist party introducing a new wealth tax hitting its core vote.
It would of course go into opposition anyway as many of its core vote would go RefUK and socialists would still vote Labour anyway
You keep going on about people defecting to Re-fuk, but the truth is that even quite right wing conservatives consider them to be loonies and fascists. It is more credible to suggest people might chose not to vote.
RefUK went up significantly in the polls after the NI rise and may go up again when it comes in. They are only lower now as restrictions have ended
how much above the standard margin of error did they go up by?
After it was announced and voted through RefUK reached 4 to 5% in some polls
So pretty insignificant and out of the sample sizes the changes are probably within margin of error.
So in the past 24 hours, Dominic Cummings, David Frost, and Nikki da Costa - all former right-hand (wo)men to Boris Johnson - have all come out to say that Boris Johnson's government is, more or less, hopeless. This apparently has come as a great surprise to them and is none of their fault at all ever.
I'm trying hard to restrain my sarcasm at this point, but what did they think they were getting into? Had the idea that a government led by Boris Johnson might turn into a clownshow not entered their minds before?
I think their hope was that they would be able to take control to avoid the clownshow while leaving the clown to front everything.
But that clearly hasn't been the case - of course we don't know if the issue is
1) that the clown was clever enough to block their plans, 2) they were not clever enough to take control or 3) the clown is such a clown nothing and no-one could remove the clown tendancies.
Either way you would have thought your typical Tory MP would be listening to this, looking at who the remaining Boris supporters are, noticing the significant lack of other Boris supporters and thinking perhaps now is a good time to change things before its too late.
Or they can just let the clownshow continue which seems to be the plan.
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
+1 - given that more tax revenue is (seemingly) required and there is nothing that isn't already taxed to the maximum I think a wealth tax is inevitable.
I am not sure. The Blair government did not go down this route because there is significant evidence to suggest it ends up hitting middle income people hardest (those with houses and investments) and simply drives the genuinely wealthy's money overseas and reduces investment. Those with land (landowning farmers) will not be able to cough up because (as anyone who has watched Clarkson's Farm will know), they make sod-all from their land anyway.
Wealth tax is one of those things that gets socialists all excited (because they don't like anyone else having more wealth than they do), but in practice it is just an envy tax and nothing else.
Which is the reasoning for a mansion tax - money can be moved easily but houses cannot.
And there's not many votes to lose by taxing the properties of foreign oligarchs and premiership footballers.
Possibly, but it depends where the threshold is set. It is also unlikely to raise a lot of money if it is just focussed on mega-properties, so it is still just an envy tax. For that reason alone, if Labour are sensible and want to break with Corbynism, they would do well to leave that one well alone too.
The psychology is important.
If the average worker is seeing their taxes rise then they need to see the taxes rise of everyone, especially the 'undeserving rich'.
"We're all in this together" is an important belief if governments are to be popular - its the breaking of this belief by the immaturity in Downing Street which has caused the government its current problems.
yes, but bizarrely perhaps to some, a lot of not-rich people do not like the idea of tax on aspiration, so it has to be very nuanced.
This government is taxing aspiration by increasing National Insurance.
This government doesn't deserve the vote of those of us who believe in aspiration.
I presume data isn't going to be available - I haven't seen any notices on changes to metrics, to offer numbers on re-infections.
The dashboard people are trying to present the best data set they can. The problem is the fuckwits who mis-use it.
I know you track this closer than I do so quite likely I'm misinterpreting the text, but their note about adding reinfections says "specimen date metrics will be revised back to the beginning of the pandemic", which I read as meaning that any of the specimen-date-based statistics and graphs will get historically-revised and won't have artificial jumps in them (whereas the by-reporting-date ones will). Is that right?
My impression is that by-specimen-date figures are more useful than by-reporting-date anyway, so if I'm also wrong about that do let me know :-)
The reporting day stuff is what the panic merchants will be running round screaming about....
The reporting day data I have never bothered with - and that is the one where revising it historically is not possible. My understanding is that the when it is compiled, the data does not contain linkages to the specimen date data and visa versa. So for a given day, we can't say what "days of specimen day data" the reporting data number consists of...
I look at the data as a series of "layers" away from The Truth. We can't get The Truth - reality isn't perfect. Reporting day adds another layer. Specimen date/day of data is that bit colder to what has actually happened.
Yup. Sadly that’s the problem: the media are absolutely obsessed with reporting date, as it’s instant and easier for them. So that is what will be used. And the you will be able to set your watch by the resulting hysteria, 1601hrs.
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
No it isn't, it is a socialist policy to take people's wealth.
As I said better for the Conservatives to go into opposition than become a socialist party introducing a new wealth tax hitting its core vote.
It would of course go into opposition anyway as many of its core vote would go RefUK and socialists would still vote Labour anyway
You keep going on about people defecting to Re-fuk, but the truth is that even quite right wing conservatives consider them to be loonies and fascists. It is more credible to suggest people might chose not to vote.
RefUK went up significantly in the polls after the NI rise and may go up again when it comes in. They are only lower now as restrictions have ended
how much above the standard margin of error did they go up by?
After it was announced and voted through RefUK reached 4 to 5% in some polls
You are such a Refuk ramper and cherry picker it's ridiculous.
They reached 2 to 3% or weren't even named in more polls, which is what they were on, if named, before too. Oh and they reached.4 to 5% in some polls before too. 🤦♂️
There was no statistically significant increase in their poll share. They're an utter irrelevance and always have been.
Their predecessor, the Brexit Party, which even you voted for, overtook the Tories in most polls by Spring 2019 after May failed to deliver Brexit.
If the Tories introduced a new wealth tax on top of the NI rise then RefUK would be on 5 to 10% shortly after. That would mainly come from ex Tories and be enough to deliver a Labour majority on its own
It's complicated. Some Labour supporters claim that she is useless, not doing her job and has moved 200 miles from the constituency. There is also a trans-rights issue.
She is stating that she has received a great deal of personal harassment.
Dig a bit deeper and the complainers seem to be linked to er.... enthusiasm for Corbyn.
Fair to say I think that, if it wasn't for her stance on Trans issues, those other complaints would not be a problem.
That may well be the case.
But if the allegations about her expenses, living in Wales and not bothering to do any work for her constituents are true, they need looking at too. Being bullied over trans issues should not give you a free pass on other stuff.
I have no idea of course whether the allegations against her are true.
If it was about expenses then they woudl need to have about 99.9% of them in the dock. Hardly any of them ever spend their own cash , it is all on expenses.
It's complicated. Some Labour supporters claim that she is useless, not doing her job and has moved 200 miles from the constituency. There is also a trans-rights issue.
She is stating that she has received a great deal of personal harassment.
Dig a bit deeper and the complainers seem to be linked to er.... enthusiasm for Corbyn.
Fair to say I think that, if it wasn't for her stance on Trans issues, those other complaints would not be a problem.
Her stance is that a woman is a woman and a man is not a woman , hardly an earth shattering stance unless you are one of these absolute nutjob gender self ID cretins.
So in the past 24 hours, Dominic Cummings, David Frost, and Nikki da Costa - all former right-hand (wo)men to Boris Johnson - have all come out to say that Boris Johnson's government is, more or less, hopeless. This apparently has come as a great surprise to them and is none of their fault at all ever.
I'm trying hard to restrain my sarcasm at this point, but what did they think they were getting into? Had the idea that a government led by Boris Johnson might turn into a clownshow not entered their minds before?
@Scott_xP nailed it earlier on. The plan was for Boris to be the front man, so busy enjoying being Prime Minister that he would welcome other people actually doing the job in the background.
It's complicated. Some Labour supporters claim that she is useless, not doing her job and has moved 200 miles from the constituency. There is also a trans-rights issue.
She is stating that she has received a great deal of personal harassment.
Dig a bit deeper and the complainers seem to be linked to er.... enthusiasm for Corbyn.
Fair to say I think that, if it wasn't for her stance on Trans issues, those other complaints would not be a problem.
Her stance is that a woman is a woman and a man is not a woman , hardly an earth shattering stance unless you are one of these absolute nutjob gender self ID cretins.
That's not sounding like a fulsome endorsement of the First Minister, malcy?
Take care or you'll end up being interviewed by McPlod.
@Foxy , is the change to testing positive but still coming in an England thing?
My gf (Doctor) spams LFTs and is mildly depressed every time they come back negative. Off for another 13 hour shift this morning!
She's pretty settled on becoming a part time Highland GP... could be very lucrative if I can get paid my Edinburgh salary while living in Kinlochbervie.
Yes, it is England only as far as I know. Quite likely that some businesses such as hospitals, won't loosen guidance.
If your GF is getting down about work then she isn't alone. Indeed all the best doctors that I know have had their doubts about it as a career. Indeed I would go so far as to say that anyone without that questioning of their choices probably lacks the insight to be a good doctor. Work can be a drag, indeed that is why we have to be paid to do it.
Medicine though has a very wide range of options for a satisfying career to suit nearly all tastes. I have a friend who runs an ICU in a trauma centre. He is quite open about not liking conscious patients! Others that find in that human contact real job satisfaction.
Personally, I would find part time working difficult. I like to be at it hammer and tongs or not at all. The worst jobs that I had in my training were the quiet ones.
I think too that there is a malaise in General Practice, that I cannot quite put my finger on. GPS seem to burn out quite young, with fewer and fewer reaching normal retirement age. When I qualified 30 years ago, it was the opposite problem, with GPs staying on long past their sell by date. Maybe it is different in Scotland. Essential though to find a practice with partners on the same wavelength as good or bad colleagues are the makings and breaking of a contented career.
Is part of this still about early retirement encouraged by a tax rate hike when the max pension pot size is reached around 50?
(Not making a point; I can see it could be an issue).
Yes, that is part of it, but even part time GPs who therefore have much smaller pensions seem to burn out quite young and quit.
The solution to the NHS staffing issue is really about retention, which is not all about pay. It needs to be about restoring some degree of autonomy and control to staff, otherwise they exercise that autonomy and control by leaving.
When I talked to a doctor recently, his description of his working conditions was straight out of Taylorism. And not in a good way.
So the NHS is mis-managing to practices that were obsolete. 100 years ago.
Sounds a lot like education.
Yes, there are efficiency gains that can come from working smarter and using technology. But in some fields, you have an irreducible core of the job which doesn't really allow for smart working- a GP talking to a patient or a teacher interacting with a pupil.
Then, the main source of efficiency gains is making the worker work harder. Which eventually stops working, so to speak.
Errr... no.
There are plenty of ways to improve productivity. Without making life hell for the workers. Mostly around the amount of time that is spent by workers on doing "the other stuff" instead of their actual job.
The classic example of what can be done were the new car factories that sprang up in the 80s, in the UK. As British Leyland staggered to it's doom - stupid managers vs unions.... other people introduced better products, made with higher productivity by happier workers.
it's almost as if humans behave differently according to the social structure they are in. If the social structure is all about generating conflict, then the humans will dutifully produce lots of conflict. The productivity on that can be awesome.
The failure to adopt modern ideas, throughout the NHS, is ridiculous.
All money is taxed many times over. Your employer will be taxed VAT on its income, Corporation Tax, potentially duties, NNDR etc then it will need to pay Employers NI to pay you. Then Employees NI, and Income Tax for it to reach you. Then when you spend your income whatever you purchase has VAT and the whole thing cycles all over again.
Tax is multiplied many times over. It's one reason tax rises never raise as much as expected, because if you reduce the amount in people's pockets, they can't spend as much, which reduces tax revenues going to the Exchequer via other revenue streams.
I've never done it, but despite still being a basic rate tax payer, I'm pretty sure more than half my monthly expenditure is tax.
PAYE and Ees NIC - If you're playing devils advocate, add Ers NIC onto that. Council tax, VAT on almost everything other than essentials (and even then), IPT on car and house insurances, fuel duty (and VAT on that!) and again playing devils advocate the 'telly tax'.
I'd guess more than half my monthly spend is tax, hidden or obvious.
It's complicated. Some Labour supporters claim that she is useless, not doing her job and has moved 200 miles from the constituency. There is also a trans-rights issue.
She is stating that she has received a great deal of personal harassment.
Dig a bit deeper and the complainers seem to be linked to er.... enthusiasm for Corbyn.
It's complicated. Some Labour supporters claim that she is useless, not doing her job and has moved 200 miles from the constituency. There is also a trans-rights issue.
She is stating that she has received a great deal of personal harassment.
Dig a bit deeper and the complainers seem to be linked to er.... enthusiasm for Corbyn.
Fair to say I think that, if it wasn't for her stance on Trans issues, those other complaints would not be a problem.
I think that there is Corbynite criticism on other fronts too, particularly on education policy and on her criticism of anti-semitism.
Certainly there is an agenda, but there is also legitimate criticism of absenteeism, refusal to correspond, lack of interest in environmental issues despite being on the Environment, Food and Rural affairs committee etc.
It is quite possible that she is both a target of trans activists, but also an underperforming MP hiding behind that as a smokescreen.
Johnson would lose a VONC definitely after that. The Canadian Tories went from a landslide win in 1988 to landslide defeat in 1993 to the Liberals and just 2 seats after introducing an unpopular new tax which saw most of their core vote go to the populist rightwing Reform Party
Wealth is already taxed via council tax on property value and inheritance tax on all estates over a million a year and capital gains tax etc anyway
The top level of council tax is a bit pathetic, though - IIRC there is no difference in what you pay if you have a band H property worth a million and one worth £50 million. Introducing a couple more bounds at the top and a discounted sub-A band would be a nice populist move for any government which would upset almost nobody - if you live in a £50 million home you probably don't really care whether you're paying £3000 or £6000 council tax/year.
And inheritance tax is widely derided as "voluntary" and openly avoided. If it actually worked as designed, the need for a wealth tax would largely disappear.
Love to know what a sub band A house would look like - I don't think they exist down South and up North they are mainly 2 bed terraces close to council estates
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
No it isn't, it is a socialist policy to take people's wealth.
As I said better for the Conservatives to go into opposition than become a socialist party introducing a new wealth tax hitting its core vote.
It would of course go into opposition anyway as many of its core vote would go RefUK and socialists would still vote Labour anyway
You keep going on about people defecting to Re-fuk, but the truth is that even quite right wing conservatives consider them to be loonies and fascists. It is more credible to suggest people might chose not to vote.
RefUK went up significantly in the polls after the NI rise and may go up again when it comes in. They are only lower now as restrictions have ended
how much above the standard margin of error did they go up by?
After it was announced and voted through RefUK reached 4 to 5% in some polls
You are such a Refuk ramper and cherry picker it's ridiculous.
They reached 2 to 3% or weren't even named in more polls, which is what they were on, if named, before too. Oh and they reached.4 to 5% in some polls before too. 🤦♂️
There was no statistically significant increase in their poll share. They're an utter irrelevance and always have been.
Their predecessor, the Brexit Party, which even you voted for, overtook the Tories in most polls by Spring 2019 after May failed to deliver Brexit.
If the Tories introduced a new wealth tax on top of the NI rise then RefUK would be on 5 to 10% shortly after. That would mainly come from ex Tories and be enough to deliver a Labour majority on its own
The Brexit Party were a joke and not serious.
The 2019 European Elections were also a joke and not serious.
So yes I voted for a joke party, in a joke election, which ousted a failed Prime Minister. Job done.
But we don't have the joke elections of the EU Parliament anymore. Westminster elections are serious business, Refuk is not.
If you wish to go and back Refuk just go and do it already. Nobody else is.
So in the past 24 hours, Dominic Cummings, David Frost, and Nikki da Costa - all former right-hand (wo)men to Boris Johnson - have all come out to say that Boris Johnson's government is, more or less, hopeless. This apparently has come as a great surprise to them and is none of their fault at all ever.
I'm trying hard to restrain my sarcasm at this point, but what did they think they were getting into? Had the idea that a government led by Boris Johnson might turn into a clownshow not entered their minds before?
If you think Cummings has only been saying Johnson's Government is useless for the past 24 hours you have obviously had your head buried in the sand for the last year or more.
Johnson would lose a VONC definitely after that. The Canadian Tories went from a landslide win in 1988 to landslide defeat in 1993 to the Liberals and just 2 seats after introducing an unpopular new tax which saw most of their core vote go to the populist rightwing Reform Party
Wealth is already taxed via council tax on property value and inheritance tax on all estates over a million a year and capital gains tax etc anyway
The top level of council tax is a bit pathetic, though - IIRC there is no difference in what you pay if you have a band H property worth a million and one worth £50 million. Introducing a couple more bounds at the top and a discounted sub-A band would be a nice populist move for any government which would upset almost nobody - if you live in a £50 million home you probably don't really care whether you're paying £3000 or £6000 council tax/year.
And inheritance tax is widely derided as "voluntary" and openly avoided. If it actually worked as designed, the need for a wealth tax would largely disappear.
The problem, for many, is back to the housing issue. For quite a few, inheriting the family house is the only way they are going to get a house themselves. For others it is a store of value - downsize at retirement to unlock a pile of cash....
So you have a large number of people who don't see the expensive house as a windfall - just as something they *need* for living.
The only way out of this is to build a fuckton of good quality *houses* - not 100 story rabbit hutches. But that will never happen.
Johnson would lose a VONC definitely after that. The Canadian Tories went from a landslide win in 1988 to landslide defeat in 1993 to the Liberals and just 2 seats after introducing an unpopular new tax which saw most of their core vote go to the populist rightwing Reform Party
Wealth is already taxed via council tax on property value and inheritance tax on all estates over a million a year and capital gains tax etc anyway
The top level of council tax is a bit pathetic, though - IIRC there is no difference in what you pay if you have a band H property worth a million and one worth £50 million. Introducing a couple more bounds at the top and a discounted sub-A band would be a nice populist move for any government which would upset almost nobody - if you live in a £50 million home you probably don't really care whether you're paying £3000 or £6000 council tax/year.
And inheritance tax is widely derided as "voluntary" and openly avoided. If it actually worked as designed, the need for a wealth tax would largely disappear.
The trouble with changing council tax bands at all is that people in band B-D homes, at least, would suspect it they'd end up being bumped up.
"Nicola Sturgeon has questioned the UK’s equality watchdog after it urged the Scottish Government to carry out "more detailed consideration" of plans to reform gender recognition laws."
The issue is undoubtedly being used as a proxy for internal SNP feuds with Joanna Cherry getting a lot of grief for her stance on the issue (as has, of course, J K Rowling, a Scottish resident and Indy-sceptic).
Personally, I find it all a bit bewildering, TBH.
Most of Sturgeon's inner circle are halfwits obsessed with self ID and all the crap that goes with it. They supposedly had public consultaions but only talked to the bunch of halfwits that they fund , the same halfwits that are pushing self ID. Now that teh chaicanery is getting publicity it will be interesting to see if the timid , spineless SNP MSP's stay the course and follow the orders. Labour are just as bad.
So in the past 24 hours, Dominic Cummings, David Frost, and Nikki da Costa - all former right-hand (wo)men to Boris Johnson - have all come out to say that Boris Johnson's government is, more or less, hopeless. This apparently has come as a great surprise to them and is none of their fault at all ever.
I'm trying hard to restrain my sarcasm at this point, but what did they think they were getting into? Had the idea that a government led by Boris Johnson might turn into a clownshow not entered their minds before?
It's worse than that in Cummings case. He joined Boris when he first became PM, boasted about being behind some of his eye-catching moves eg on prorogation, then worked hard to give Boris his large majority and was more than happy to continue staying with him for nearly a year after that. He left because he lost a power struggle not because of some principled opposition to what he was doing.
Now he likes to pretend that he's some sort of hero taking down the evil King in a 21st century version of the Tudor court. Well bollocks to that, frankly. His contemptuous attitude to the law and conventions and the voters has been as responsible for the character of this government as Boris has.
So in the past 24 hours, Dominic Cummings, David Frost, and Nikki da Costa - all former right-hand (wo)men to Boris Johnson - have all come out to say that Boris Johnson's government is, more or less, hopeless. This apparently has come as a great surprise to them and is none of their fault at all ever.
I'm trying hard to restrain my sarcasm at this point, but what did they think they were getting into? Had the idea that a government led by Boris Johnson might turn into a clownshow not entered their minds before?
@Scott_xP nailed it earlier on. The plan was for Boris to be the front man, so busy enjoying being Prime Minister that he would welcome other people actually doing the job in the background.
The fable of the tiger rider springs to mind.
To be fair, given how he acted as Mayor of London, that didn't look an implausible plan.
@Foxy , is the change to testing positive but still coming in an England thing?
My gf (Doctor) spams LFTs and is mildly depressed every time they come back negative. Off for another 13 hour shift this morning!
She's pretty settled on becoming a part time Highland GP... could be very lucrative if I can get paid my Edinburgh salary while living in Kinlochbervie.
Yes, it is England only as far as I know. Quite likely that some businesses such as hospitals, won't loosen guidance.
If your GF is getting down about work then she isn't alone. Indeed all the best doctors that I know have had their doubts about it as a career. Indeed I would go so far as to say that anyone without that questioning of their choices probably lacks the insight to be a good doctor. Work can be a drag, indeed that is why we have to be paid to do it.
Medicine though has a very wide range of options for a satisfying career to suit nearly all tastes. I have a friend who runs an ICU in a trauma centre. He is quite open about not liking conscious patients! Others that find in that human contact real job satisfaction.
Personally, I would find part time working difficult. I like to be at it hammer and tongs or not at all. The worst jobs that I had in my training were the quiet ones.
I think too that there is a malaise in General Practice, that I cannot quite put my finger on. GPS seem to burn out quite young, with fewer and fewer reaching normal retirement age. When I qualified 30 years ago, it was the opposite problem, with GPs staying on long past their sell by date. Maybe it is different in Scotland. Essential though to find a practice with partners on the same wavelength as good or bad colleagues are the makings and breaking of a contented career.
Is part of this still about early retirement encouraged by a tax rate hike when the max pension pot size is reached around 50?
(Not making a point; I can see it could be an issue).
Yes, that is part of it, but even part time GPs who therefore have much smaller pensions seem to burn out quite young and quit.
The solution to the NHS staffing issue is really about retention, which is not all about pay. It needs to be about restoring some degree of autonomy and control to staff, otherwise they exercise that autonomy and control by leaving.
@Foxy , is the change to testing positive but still coming in an England thing?
My gf (Doctor) spams LFTs and is mildly depressed every time they come back negative. Off for another 13 hour shift this morning!
She's pretty settled on becoming a part time Highland GP... could be very lucrative if I can get paid my Edinburgh salary while living in Kinlochbervie.
Yes, it is England only as far as I know. Quite likely that some businesses such as hospitals, won't loosen guidance.
If your GF is getting down about work then she isn't alone. Indeed all the best doctors that I know have had their doubts about it as a career. Indeed I would go so far as to say that anyone without that questioning of their choices probably lacks the insight to be a good doctor. Work can be a drag, indeed that is why we have to be paid to do it.
Medicine though has a very wide range of options for a satisfying career to suit nearly all tastes. I have a friend who runs an ICU in a trauma centre. He is quite open about not liking conscious patients! Others that find in that human contact real job satisfaction.
Personally, I would find part time working difficult. I like to be at it hammer and tongs or not at all. The worst jobs that I had in my training were the quiet ones.
I think too that there is a malaise in General Practice, that I cannot quite put my finger on. GPS seem to burn out quite young, with fewer and fewer reaching normal retirement age. When I qualified 30 years ago, it was the opposite problem, with GPs staying on long past their sell by date. Maybe it is different in Scotland. Essential though to find a practice with partners on the same wavelength as good or bad colleagues are the makings and breaking of a contented career.
Is part of this still about early retirement encouraged by a tax rate hike when the max pension pot size is reached around 50?
(Not making a point; I can see it could be an issue).
Yes, that is part of it, but even part time GPs who therefore have much smaller pensions seem to burn out quite young and quit.
The solution to the NHS staffing issue is really about retention, which is not all about pay. It needs to be about restoring some degree of autonomy and control to staff, otherwise they exercise that autonomy and control by leaving.
When I talked to a doctor recently, his description of his working conditions was straight out of Taylorism. And not in a good way.
So the NHS is mis-managing to practices that were obsolete. 100 years ago.
I've 'observed' GP-land all my working life, as a pharmacist, in one capacity or another. It's not easy being a GP; Dr's Finlay and Cameron are long ago dead and gone, and, especially with a more mobile population GP's, even in partnerships no longer see patients from the cradle to the grave, or as an middle-aged pharmacist of my acquaintance once remarked; 'I'm now weighing the babies of the babies I weighed when I first came here'. That was of course in the days when baby weighing scales were a feature of every 'chemists'! Secondly we've sorted out the common diseases. For example, mass vaccination has cut childhood diseases enormously, so that GP's now trend to see less treatable conditions, and, very importantly have less time in which to deal with them. Thirdly, Dr's F&C were unlikely to be visited by people commenting on their practice. Thus, some years ago I had to analyse the prescribing of one practice because of their high use of sleeping tablets. Turned out they were unduly influenced by a care home where the staff liked quiet night shifts, but that's another story. The point is that there was this chap looking at their prescribing and asking questions. Then there's the social services aspect. Given that social services are underfunded, the GP has become the key to many of them, and that's a time consuming and frequently unrewarding activity.
So in the past 24 hours, Dominic Cummings, David Frost, and Nikki da Costa - all former right-hand (wo)men to Boris Johnson - have all come out to say that Boris Johnson's government is, more or less, hopeless. This apparently has come as a great surprise to them and is none of their fault at all ever.
I'm trying hard to restrain my sarcasm at this point, but what did they think they were getting into? Had the idea that a government led by Boris Johnson might turn into a clownshow not entered their minds before?
If you think Cummings has only been saying Johnson's Government is useless for the past 24 hours you have obviously had your head buried in the sand for the last year or more.
Yeah, I know, I was stretching the point. The issue is really that all three of them have come out with broadsides in the last 24 hours when it has been blindingly obvious to anyone with a pulse for several years that it could all end like this.
I suspect Cummings is smart enough to recognise his own failings in this sorry saga, though probably more along the lines of "I gave him too much rope" rather than "I was actually wrong about something".
Frost, on the other hand, appears to have absolutely no powers of self-reflection whatsoever.
So in the past 24 hours, Dominic Cummings, David Frost, and Nikki da Costa - all former right-hand (wo)men to Boris Johnson - have all come out to say that Boris Johnson's government is, more or less, hopeless. This apparently has come as a great surprise to them and is none of their fault at all ever.
I'm trying hard to restrain my sarcasm at this point, but what did they think they were getting into? Had the idea that a government led by Boris Johnson might turn into a clownshow not entered their minds before?
I think their hope was that they would be able to take control to avoid the clownshow while leaving the clown to front everything.
But that clearly hasn't been the case - of course we don't know if the issue is
1) that the clown was clever enough to block their plans, 2) they were not clever enough to take control or 3) the clown is such a clown nothing and no-one could remove the clown tendancies.
Either way you would have thought your typical Tory MP would be listening to this, looking at who the remaining Boris supporters are, noticing the significant lack of other Boris supporters and thinking perhaps now is a good time to change things before its too late.
Or they can just let the clownshow continue which seems to be the plan.
I think it's more than the "clown" issue. Also politics.
Boris is an instinctive Keynesian with a strong desire to chuck the cash about. Hence Levelling-Up in which I think he is a true believer.
He is also surprisingly Green, no doubt influenced by family members such as his dad and wife, and supporters like Zac Goldsmith.
Suspect Lod Frost et al don't share these enthusiasms.
All money is taxed many times over. Your employer will be taxed VAT on its income, Corporation Tax, potentially duties, NNDR etc then it will need to pay Employers NI to pay you. Then Employees NI, and Income Tax for it to reach you. Then when you spend your income whatever you purchase has VAT and the whole thing cycles all over again.
Tax is multiplied many times over. It's one reason tax rises never raise as much as expected, because if you reduce the amount in people's pockets, they can't spend as much, which reduces tax revenues going to the Exchequer via other revenue streams.
I've never done it, but despite still being a basic rate tax payer, I'm pretty sure more than half my monthly expenditure is tax.
PAYE and Ees NIC - If you're playing devils advocate, add Ers NIC onto that. Council tax, VAT on almost everything other than essentials (and even then), IPT on car and house insurances, fuel duty (and VAT on that!) and again playing devils advocate the 'telly tax'.
I'd guess more than half my monthly spend is tax, hidden or obvious.
I spend an awful lot of time looking at the PAYE submissions of Umbrella companies (we are about to launch something in that marketplace).
Your typical worker pays approximately 45% in tax between PAYE, both lots of NI and Apprenticeship Levy.
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
No it isn't, it is a socialist policy to take people's wealth.
As I said better for the Conservatives to go into opposition than become a socialist party introducing a new wealth tax hitting its core vote.
It would of course go into opposition anyway as many of its core vote would go RefUK and socialists would still vote Labour anyway
You keep going on about people defecting to Re-fuk, but the truth is that even quite right wing conservatives consider them to be loonies and fascists. It is more credible to suggest people might chose not to vote.
RefUK went up significantly in the polls after the NI rise and may go up again when it comes in. They are only lower now as restrictions have ended
how much above the standard margin of error did they go up by?
After it was announced and voted through RefUK reached 4 to 5% in some polls
You are such a Refuk ramper and cherry picker it's ridiculous.
They reached 2 to 3% or weren't even named in more polls, which is what they were on, if named, before too. Oh and they reached.4 to 5% in some polls before too. 🤦♂️
There was no statistically significant increase in their poll share. They're an utter irrelevance and always have been.
Their predecessor, the Brexit Party, which even you voted for, overtook the Tories in most polls by Spring 2019 after May failed to deliver Brexit.
If the Tories introduced a new wealth tax on top of the NI rise then RefUK would be on 5 to 10% shortly after. That would mainly come from ex Tories and be enough to deliver a Labour majority on its own
The Brexit Party were a joke and not serious.
The 2019 European Elections were also a joke and not serious.
So yes I voted for a joke party, in a joke election, which ousted a failed Prime Minister. Job done.
But we don't have the joke elections of the EU Parliament anymore. Westminster elections are serious business, Refuk is not.
If you wish to go and back Refuk just go and do it already. Nobody else is.
I was talking Westminster polling.
Opinium on 31st May 2019 for example had the Brexit Party on 26% and the Tories on just 17%
Voting Brexit Party in 2019 to bring down the Prime Minister was akin to Official Monster Raving Loony Party in the Bootle by election, but on steroids.
Those cranks were loonies but so at the time were the government in Spring 2019.
Anyone who actually supports Refuk or supported the Brexit Party is concerning. But voting for a joke Loony Party in a joke election is nothing new in British politics and there's a reason a quarter of British voters voted for those loons in Spring 2019.
That doesn't mean they'd back them or anything like them in a General Election.
All money is taxed many times over. Your employer will be taxed VAT on its income, Corporation Tax, potentially duties, NNDR etc then it will need to pay Employers NI to pay you. Then Employees NI, and Income Tax for it to reach you. Then when you spend your income whatever you purchase has VAT and the whole thing cycles all over again.
Tax is multiplied many times over. It's one reason tax rises never raise as much as expected, because if you reduce the amount in people's pockets, they can't spend as much, which reduces tax revenues going to the Exchequer via other revenue streams.
I've never done it, but despite still being a basic rate tax payer, I'm pretty sure more than half my monthly expenditure is tax.
PAYE and Ees NIC - If you're playing devils advocate, add Ers NIC onto that. Council tax, VAT on almost everything other than essentials (and even then), IPT on car and house insurances, fuel duty (and VAT on that!) and again playing devils advocate the 'telly tax'.
I'd guess more than half my monthly spend is tax, hidden or obvious.
If you drink then alcohol duties etc too. And plenty of other hidden taxes no doubt.
Good morning. I see the PM is pretending to be a dock worker today.
Does he actually do any governing?
His days seem to be one long campaigning photoshoot.
Were Rhod Gilbert to give up his Work Experience series do you think we could convince Boris to take it on and avoid the day job - which he clearly doesn't enjoy*
* he loves the trappings, just not the work required to justify the trappings.
Fair point, but business taxes are very low indeed. So if you are a business owner all would be taken into account. Switzerland is complicated and the cost of living is very high, so perhaps I should have applied a different example. How do they apply their wealth tax to your knowledge?
It varies by canton but if you want to live in a town (and as a business it's quite likely) you pay something like 0.05%-0.3% per year starting at quite a low level (about £50,000 in Zurich, though you'd only pay £25/year on wealth of £100,000). It does include all property. So if your assets were £10 million, you'd pay about £30,000/year. It's not very controversial - I know Swiss conservatives who feel it's not a bad thing as a gentle nudge to actually do something with your money instead of just lazily leaving it in the bank. I never heard of anyone bothering to try to avoid it.
She said something the trans lobby took issue with.
She also apparently lives 200 miles away, doesn't come to meetings or answer correspondence.
It isn't entirely trans rights issues that are the problem, though that is clearly so for some of her critics
I think it's pretty clear that without the trans issue, the other complaints would be at worst significantly more muted.
She also was in support of Lab adopting the iHRA definition of antisemitism, and so was persona non-grata for parts of the 'nothing to see here' lobby. For example, there is an article entitled "who is pulling her strings".
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
No it isn't, it is a socialist policy to take people's wealth.
As I said better for the Conservatives to go into opposition than become a socialist party introducing a new wealth tax hitting its core vote.
It would of course go into opposition anyway as many of its core vote would go RefUK and socialists would still vote Labour anyway
You keep going on about people defecting to Re-fuk, but the truth is that even quite right wing conservatives consider them to be loonies and fascists. It is more credible to suggest people might chose not to vote.
RefUK went up significantly in the polls after the NI rise and may go up again when it comes in. They are only lower now as restrictions have ended
how much above the standard margin of error did they go up by?
After it was announced and voted through RefUK reached 4 to 5% in some polls
You are such a Refuk ramper and cherry picker it's ridiculous.
They reached 2 to 3% or weren't even named in more polls, which is what they were on, if named, before too. Oh and they reached.4 to 5% in some polls before too. 🤦♂️
There was no statistically significant increase in their poll share. They're an utter irrelevance and always have been.
Their predecessor, the Brexit Party, which even you voted for, overtook the Tories in most polls by Spring 2019 after May failed to deliver Brexit.
If the Tories introduced a new wealth tax on top of the NI rise then RefUK would be on 5 to 10% shortly after. That would mainly come from ex Tories and be enough to deliver a Labour majority on its own
The Brexit Party were a joke and not serious.
The 2019 European Elections were also a joke and not serious.
So yes I voted for a joke party, in a joke election, which ousted a failed Prime Minister. Job done.
But we don't have the joke elections of the EU Parliament anymore. Westminster elections are serious business, Refuk is not.
If you wish to go and back Refuk just go and do it already. Nobody else is.
I was talking Westminster polling.
Opinium on 31st May 2019 for example had the Brexit Party on 26% and the Tories on just 17%
It's complicated. Some Labour supporters claim that she is useless, not doing her job and has moved 200 miles from the constituency. There is also a trans-rights issue.
She is stating that she has received a great deal of personal harassment.
Dig a bit deeper and the complainers seem to be linked to er.... enthusiasm for Corbyn.
Fair to say I think that, if it wasn't for her stance on Trans issues, those other complaints would not be a problem.
I think that there is Corbynite criticism on other fronts too, particularly on education policy and on her criticism of anti-semitism.
Certainly there is an agenda, but there is also legitimate criticism of absenteeism, refusal to correspond, lack of interest in environmental issues despite being on the Environment, Food and Rural affairs committee etc.
It is quite possible that she is both a target of trans activists, but also an underperforming MP hiding behind that as a smokescreen.
Or that the underperforming relates to the harassment - a classic of the bullying culture in business is when the target is "reviewed out" of the company for under performance. Caused by the stress of being bullied....
@Foxy , is the change to testing positive but still coming in an England thing?
My gf (Doctor) spams LFTs and is mildly depressed every time they come back negative. Off for another 13 hour shift this morning!
She's pretty settled on becoming a part time Highland GP... could be very lucrative if I can get paid my Edinburgh salary while living in Kinlochbervie.
Yes, it is England only as far as I know. Quite likely that some businesses such as hospitals, won't loosen guidance.
If your GF is getting down about work then she isn't alone. Indeed all the best doctors that I know have had their doubts about it as a career. Indeed I would go so far as to say that anyone without that questioning of their choices probably lacks the insight to be a good doctor. Work can be a drag, indeed that is why we have to be paid to do it.
Medicine though has a very wide range of options for a satisfying career to suit nearly all tastes. I have a friend who runs an ICU in a trauma centre. He is quite open about not liking conscious patients! Others that find in that human contact real job satisfaction.
Personally, I would find part time working difficult. I like to be at it hammer and tongs or not at all. The worst jobs that I had in my training were the quiet ones.
I think too that there is a malaise in General Practice, that I cannot quite put my finger on. GPS seem to burn out quite young, with fewer and fewer reaching normal retirement age. When I qualified 30 years ago, it was the opposite problem, with GPs staying on long past their sell by date. Maybe it is different in Scotland. Essential though to find a practice with partners on the same wavelength as good or bad colleagues are the makings and breaking of a contented career.
Is part of this still about early retirement encouraged by a tax rate hike when the max pension pot size is reached around 50?
(Not making a point; I can see it could be an issue).
Yes, that is part of it, but even part time GPs who therefore have much smaller pensions seem to burn out quite young and quit.
The solution to the NHS staffing issue is really about retention, which is not all about pay. It needs to be about restoring some degree of autonomy and control to staff, otherwise they exercise that autonomy and control by leaving.
When I talked to a doctor recently, his description of his working conditions was straight out of Taylorism. And not in a good way.
So the NHS is mis-managing to practices that were obsolete. 100 years ago.
Sounds a lot like education.
Yes, there are efficiency gains that can come from working smarter and using technology. But in some fields, you have an irreducible core of the job which doesn't really allow for smart working- a GP talking to a patient or a teacher interacting with a pupil.
Then, the main source of efficiency gains is making the worker work harder. Which eventually stops working, so to speak.
Errr... no.
There are plenty of ways to improve productivity. Without making life hell for the workers. Mostly around the amount of time that is spent by workers on doing "the other stuff" instead of their actual job.
The classic example of what can be done were the new car factories that sprang up in the 80s, in the UK. As British Leyland staggered to it's doom - stupid managers vs unions.... other people introduced better products, made with higher productivity by happier workers.
it's almost as if humans behave differently according to the social structure they are in. If the social structure is all about generating conflict, then the humans will dutifully produce lots of conflict. The productivity on that can be awesome.
The failure to adopt modern ideas, throughout the NHS, is ridiculous.
Though the objections to new ideas mostly come from the management, not from the front line, and each new reform is to give more power to management. Lower autonomy then leads to lower retention, and a staffing crisis.
All politicians should be forced to read Helen Joyce's superb book "Trans" and if they want to persevere with self-id for gender and the rest of the Trans lobby programme they should be required to provide a detailed rebuttal of her arguments and the evidence that she presents.
Voting Brexit Party in 2019 to bring down the Prime Minister was akin to Official Monster Raving Loony Party in the Bootle by election, but on steroids.
Those cranks were loonies but so at the time were the government in Spring 2019.
Anyone who actually supports Refuk or supported the Brexit Party is concerning. But voting for a joke Loony Party in a joke election is nothing new in British politics and there's a reason a quarter of British voters voted for those loons in Spring 2019.
That doesn't mean they'd back them or anything like them in a General Election.
Loons but just a joke? Still trying hard to explain that dreadful dreadful vote of yours, I see.
Wealth tax is one of those things that gets socialists all excited (because they don't like anyone else having more wealth than they do), but in practice it is just an envy tax and nothing else.
Is it any more of an envy tax than graduated income tax, though? It's the same principle of making those in a better position to pay shoulder more of the burden and on-balance redistributing money to those with less -- it's just trying to tax a stock rather than a flow. As you note that brings some practical difficulties which might make it unworkable, but I don't think the whole concept is dismissable purely on principle (unless your principles are in favour of a totally flat tax or pay-for-what-you-use, but most peoples' aren't and government is never going to legislate for either of those).
I am a pragmatist when it comes to most political matters. It is well known that a lot of tax schemes that people favour (often out of envy) end up raising less money and having harmful side effects. Tax based on income is fair and pretty easy to administer. People that have wealth should be encouraged to live here because they pay more tax per capita and they generally have businesses that pay even more tax and they employ people that pay further tax. Such people should not be encouraged to move their wealth, or the businesses to Switzerland et al.
Note that Switzerland has a wealth tax!
More than that - Switzerland has the most sensible wealth tax, with a very wide base and a low rate.
@Foxy , is the change to testing positive but still coming in an England thing?
My gf (Doctor) spams LFTs and is mildly depressed every time they come back negative. Off for another 13 hour shift this morning!
She's pretty settled on becoming a part time Highland GP... could be very lucrative if I can get paid my Edinburgh salary while living in Kinlochbervie.
Yes, it is England only as far as I know. Quite likely that some businesses such as hospitals, won't loosen guidance.
If your GF is getting down about work then she isn't alone. Indeed all the best doctors that I know have had their doubts about it as a career. Indeed I would go so far as to say that anyone without that questioning of their choices probably lacks the insight to be a good doctor. Work can be a drag, indeed that is why we have to be paid to do it.
Medicine though has a very wide range of options for a satisfying career to suit nearly all tastes. I have a friend who runs an ICU in a trauma centre. He is quite open about not liking conscious patients! Others that find in that human contact real job satisfaction.
Personally, I would find part time working difficult. I like to be at it hammer and tongs or not at all. The worst jobs that I had in my training were the quiet ones.
I think too that there is a malaise in General Practice, that I cannot quite put my finger on. GPS seem to burn out quite young, with fewer and fewer reaching normal retirement age. When I qualified 30 years ago, it was the opposite problem, with GPs staying on long past their sell by date. Maybe it is different in Scotland. Essential though to find a practice with partners on the same wavelength as good or bad colleagues are the makings and breaking of a contented career.
Is part of this still about early retirement encouraged by a tax rate hike when the max pension pot size is reached around 50?
(Not making a point; I can see it could be an issue).
Yes, that is part of it, but even part time GPs who therefore have much smaller pensions seem to burn out quite young and quit.
The solution to the NHS staffing issue is really about retention, which is not all about pay. It needs to be about restoring some degree of autonomy and control to staff, otherwise they exercise that autonomy and control by leaving.
When I talked to a doctor recently, his description of his working conditions was straight out of Taylorism. And not in a good way.
So the NHS is mis-managing to practices that were obsolete. 100 years ago.
Sounds a lot like education.
Yes, there are efficiency gains that can come from working smarter and using technology. But in some fields, you have an irreducible core of the job which doesn't really allow for smart working- a GP talking to a patient or a teacher interacting with a pupil.
Then, the main source of efficiency gains is making the worker work harder. Which eventually stops working, so to speak.
Errr... no.
There are plenty of ways to improve productivity. Without making life hell for the workers. Mostly around the amount of time that is spent by workers on doing "the other stuff" instead of their actual job.
The classic example of what can be done were the new car factories that sprang up in the 80s, in the UK. As British Leyland staggered to it's doom - stupid managers vs unions.... other people introduced better products, made with higher productivity by happier workers.
it's almost as if humans behave differently according to the social structure they are in. If the social structure is all about generating conflict, then the humans will dutifully produce lots of conflict. The productivity on that can be awesome.
The failure to adopt modern ideas, throughout the NHS, is ridiculous.
Though the objections to new ideas mostly come from the management, not from the front line, and each new reform is to give more power to management. Lower autonomy then leads to lower retention, and a staffing crisis.
And low level autonomy is the first thing to be considered in modern management.....
Strangely, if you treat people like simple machines, they don't react in ways that seem especially human friendly....
in 2020, across all local authorities in England, there were 23.2 million households living in 24.7 million dwellings.
Of those 24.7 million dwellings, just under two-thirds (64%) were estimated to be owner-occupied in 2020. For most of this analysis, this is broken down further, giving the following four tenures:
8.8 million (36%) were owned outright
6.8 million (28%) were owned with a mortgage or a loan
4.8 million (19%) were privately rented
4.2 million (17%) were in social rent, mainly rented from housing associations and local authorities.....
the tenure that has changed the most over this period is dwellings owned outright (with an increase of 1.6 million), contrasting with a decrease in the owned with mortgage tenure (0.6 million). For the first time in this series, there were more than twice as many dwellings owned outright as there were socially rented.
All politicians should be forced to read Helen Joyce's superb book "Trans" and if they want to persevere with self-id for gender and the rest of the Trans lobby programme they should be required to provide a detailed rebuttal of her arguments and the evidence that she presents.
But that won't exactly solve the problem when most people attacking politicians have views very different from that book.
It's the MPs and others (such as JK Rowling) who don't like self-id who are the ones being most fiercely attacked
Fair point, but business taxes are very low indeed. So if you are a business owner all would be taken into account. Switzerland is complicated and the cost of living is very high, so perhaps I should have applied a different example. How do they apply their wealth tax to your knowledge?
It varies by canton but if you want to live in a town (and as a business it's quite likely) you pay something like 0.05%-0.3% per year starting at quite a low level (about £50,000 in Zurich, though you'd only pay £25/year on wealth of £100,000). It does include all property. So if your assets were £10 million, you'd pay about £30,000/year. It's not very controversial - I know Swiss conservatives who feel it's not a bad thing as a gentle nudge to actually do something with your money instead of just lazily leaving it in the bank. I never heard of anyone bothering to try to avoid it.
I can understand the need to nudge people to do something with spare cash. But my home consumes cash. It doesn't generate it. So it seems to me that having a low CGT-type tax on property when you sell it (thus avoiding valuation issues) is a better way to go.
I do agree though that there need to be higher council tax bands and I'd tax very heavily indeed those who buy property in the U.K. from abroad and leave it empty.
So in the past 24 hours, Dominic Cummings, David Frost, and Nikki da Costa - all former right-hand (wo)men to Boris Johnson - have all come out to say that Boris Johnson's government is, more or less, hopeless. This apparently has come as a great surprise to them and is none of their fault at all ever.
I'm trying hard to restrain my sarcasm at this point, but what did they think they were getting into? Had the idea that a government led by Boris Johnson might turn into a clownshow not entered their minds before?
I think their hope was that they would be able to take control to avoid the clownshow while leaving the clown to front everything.
But that clearly hasn't been the case - of course we don't know if the issue is
1) that the clown was clever enough to block their plans, 2) they were not clever enough to take control or 3) the clown is such a clown nothing and no-one could remove the clown tendancies.
2 seems the most likely to me, but was it ever realistic?
There are always going to be competing courts in any government, and especially so when an adviser seeks to be a Rasputin figure (Cummings has always struck me more as Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings, but there you go).
Even if the PM is prepared to delegate day-to-day policymaking to their Rasputin, the courtiers will always seek to appeal to the formal head of the court, the PM. That means the PM has to be able to steer a course and manage competing factions.
Johnson has proved completely incapable of doing this. There are numerous accounts (some from Cummings, I think) that he basically says yes to everything and agrees with the last person he spoke to.
But then I grew up in the age of Thatcher and Blair who were both "strong centre" types. Has there ever been a successful case of a headstrong adviser with a figurehead PM?
Vaguely on topic, I think. In over 40 years, I have never failed to vote in an election, parliamentary or local council. However, if I lived in Southend West I would break the habit of a lifetime and sit on my hands. None of the candidates is worth any sort of vote, including a protest vote. I suspect turnout will be very low, with a comfortable Tory win.
Voting Brexit Party in 2019 to bring down the Prime Minister was akin to Official Monster Raving Loony Party in the Bootle by election, but on steroids.
Those cranks were loonies but so at the time were the government in Spring 2019.
Anyone who actually supports Refuk or supported the Brexit Party is concerning. But voting for a joke Loony Party in a joke election is nothing new in British politics and there's a reason a quarter of British voters voted for those loons in Spring 2019.
That doesn't mean they'd back them or anything like them in a General Election.
Loons but just a joke? Still trying hard to explain that dreadful dreadful vote of yours, I see.
It wasn't dreadful. A quarter of the country voted the same way, for very good reason.
My vote helped bring down a Prime Minister, expelled Nigel Farage and his crew from their position as elected representatives, and all done as I voted against my own normal party.
I'm proud of that vote and it's consequences. Voting against your own party is sometimes the right thing to do.
Ashcombe, L. I have a longstanding interest in politics and would very much like to support the work of the House. With an Imperial College civil engineering degree and over thirty years’ experience in the insurance industry, I work for Marsh primarily in the Americas energy sector. This involves patient negotiation with multiple parties. I live in Hampshire and London, am married with two grown up sons, race on the Solent and garden enthusiastically.
Biddulph, L. I have always felt that in the House of Lords an honest opinion is the best one. I am always happy to be called on to serve.
Camrose, V. Aged 51 and live in London. Member of the Conservative Party and have always voted Conservative. As a management consultant, business-founder and investor, I advise my clients – from small enterprises to global corporations – on how to adapt themselves to a changing world. I hope to bring my expertise and energy to enhancing the Lords’ reputation and public recognition for its contribution. I have control of my time and would commit and participate with enthusiasm.
De La Warr, E. The media claim the Conservative party is in dire straits. I do not agree but nonetheless some changes of direction may be necessary. I am older than some other candidates and come from a long line of Politicians. I believe I can bring experience and stability along with the necessary time required. Without listing my many political interests, I feel sure I can make a positive contribution to your Lordships House.
Dormer, L. With over 35 years’ experience in business with engineering and manufacturing products, I bring an in-depth knowledge of the British and international maritime and aerospace sector to the House. Having represented SME interests on a number of trade association committees, I have championed modern engineering apprenticeships. I have a degree in Naval Architecture, a Cranfield MBA and an ILM diploma in leadership. I live in Berkshire with my wife and am a Conservative party member.
@Foxy , is the change to testing positive but still coming in an England thing?
My gf (Doctor) spams LFTs and is mildly depressed every time they come back negative. Off for another 13 hour shift this morning!
She's pretty settled on becoming a part time Highland GP... could be very lucrative if I can get paid my Edinburgh salary while living in Kinlochbervie.
Yes, it is England only as far as I know. Quite likely that some businesses such as hospitals, won't loosen guidance.
If your GF is getting down about work then she isn't alone. Indeed all the best doctors that I know have had their doubts about it as a career. Indeed I would go so far as to say that anyone without that questioning of their choices probably lacks the insight to be a good doctor. Work can be a drag, indeed that is why we have to be paid to do it.
Medicine though has a very wide range of options for a satisfying career to suit nearly all tastes. I have a friend who runs an ICU in a trauma centre. He is quite open about not liking conscious patients! Others that find in that human contact real job satisfaction.
Personally, I would find part time working difficult. I like to be at it hammer and tongs or not at all. The worst jobs that I had in my training were the quiet ones.
I think too that there is a malaise in General Practice, that I cannot quite put my finger on. GPS seem to burn out quite young, with fewer and fewer reaching normal retirement age. When I qualified 30 years ago, it was the opposite problem, with GPs staying on long past their sell by date. Maybe it is different in Scotland. Essential though to find a practice with partners on the same wavelength as good or bad colleagues are the makings and breaking of a contented career.
Is part of this still about early retirement encouraged by a tax rate hike when the max pension pot size is reached around 50?
(Not making a point; I can see it could be an issue).
Yes, that is part of it, but even part time GPs who therefore have much smaller pensions seem to burn out quite young and quit.
The solution to the NHS staffing issue is really about retention, which is not all about pay. It needs to be about restoring some degree of autonomy and control to staff, otherwise they exercise that autonomy and control by leaving.
When I talked to a doctor recently, his description of his working conditions was straight out of Taylorism. And not in a good way.
So the NHS is mis-managing to practices that were obsolete. 100 years ago.
I've 'observed' GP-land all my working life, as a pharmacist, in one capacity or another. It's not easy being a GP; Dr's Finlay and Cameron are long ago dead and gone, and, especially with a more mobile population GP's, even in partnerships no longer see patients from the cradle to the grave, or as an middle-aged pharmacist of my acquaintance once remarked; 'I'm now weighing the babies of the babies I weighed when I first came here'. That was of course in the days when baby weighing scales were a feature of every 'chemists'! Secondly we've sorted out the common diseases. For example, mass vaccination has cut childhood diseases enormously, so that GP's now trend to see less treatable conditions, and, very importantly have less time in which to deal with them. Thirdly, Dr's F&C were unlikely to be visited by people commenting on their practice. Thus, some years ago I had to analyse the prescribing of one practice because of their high use of sleeping tablets. Turned out they were unduly influenced by a care home where the staff liked quiet night shifts, but that's another story. The point is that there was this chap looking at their prescribing and asking questions. Then there's the social services aspect. Given that social services are underfunded, the GP has become the key to many of them, and that's a time consuming and frequently unrewarding activity.
I could go on, but won't.
I agree that there does need to be external scrutiny on things like prescribing for just the reasons that you say. Modern reforms have tended to reduce clinical variation, but do tend to miss that variation can be an asset as well as a liability. Innovative practitioners wind up constantly frustrated.
Limerick, E. (Foxford, L.) Age 58. London and Sussex based. Patron of Mid Sussex Conservatives. Useful and varied career experience: • FCO with postings in Paris (ENA, first British diplomat in Quai d’Orsay), Senegal and Jordan. Fluent French, Russian. Some Spanish, Arabic and Wolof. • Lawyer and banker in London, Moscow and Dubai financing SME’s and infrastructure. • Former school governor and active charity trustee. • Running diversified farm including renewables, wilding, weddings, camping. MicroBrewery. Key interests: Foreign Policy, Trade, Environment, Education, Planning Monckton of Brenchley, V. Let this be thine: to live a life upright, Do harm to none, and give to each his due. (Justinian’s advice to law students: Institutes, I:1). I concur with my noble friend Lord Ridley that dispassionate science should supplant “The Science”. The notion of large global warming arose from an elementary scientific error. The crippling abatement cost extravagantly exceeds any legitimately-quantifiable benefit. Through spinning reserves, adding renewables to electricity grids increases CO2 emissions.
Strathcarron, L. I can offer the House experience in less well-represented areas: media, communications, digital and the Creative Industries. As a multinational publisher, a producer and an author, I am familiar with the work of the Communications and Digital Committee and could be of practical value to it. As a regular ACP attendee, I understand the commitment expected and have the time and location to honour it. For more background please see my Wikipedia page.
Windlesham, L. If I were to be elected I would make a good, dedicated Conservative Peer, using my knowledge and experience to improve legislation and to help the Government deliver on its agenda. Prior to a career in investment banking I studied electronic and electrical engineering at university. This combination gives me the skill set to look at policy issues from a technical perspective. I am an active and committed member of my local Conservative Association (KCFC).
Vaguely on topic, I think. In over 40 years, I have never failed to vote in an election, parliamentary or local council. However, if I lived in Southend West I would break the habit of a lifetime and sit on my hands. None of the candidates is worth any sort of vote, including a protest vote. I suspect turnout will be very low, with a comfortable Tory win.
Yes. Not sure I could vote in that either. A vaguely sensible Independent could have done very, very well.
Fair point, but business taxes are very low indeed. So if you are a business owner all would be taken into account. Switzerland is complicated and the cost of living is very high, so perhaps I should have applied a different example. How do they apply their wealth tax to your knowledge?
It varies by canton but if you want to live in a town (and as a business it's quite likely) you pay something like 0.05%-0.3% per year starting at quite a low level (about £50,000 in Zurich, though you'd only pay £25/year on wealth of £100,000). It does include all property. So if your assets were £10 million, you'd pay about £30,000/year. It's not very controversial - I know Swiss conservatives who feel it's not a bad thing as a gentle nudge to actually do something with your money instead of just lazily leaving it in the bank. I never heard of anyone bothering to try to avoid it.
I can understand the need to nudge people to do something with spare cash. But my home consumes cash. It doesn't generate it. So it seems to me that having a low CGT-type tax on property when you sell it (thus avoiding valuation issues) is a better way to go.
I do agree though that there need to be higher council tax bands and I'd tax very heavily indeed those who buy property in the U.K. from abroad and leave it empty.
There is already a problem with illiquidity of the housing stock, especially with family houses with baby boomers having little financial incentive to downsize from under occupied home. This in turns contributes to regional income disparities, wealth gaps across generations and poorer productivity from weaker than necessary labour mobility. CGT on primary residences would make this far worse.
The answer of course is inheritance taxation. But people won’t vote for it.
And on Rosie Duffield. She has certainly upset some people with her stance on trans issues, and they should lay off her.
But my understanding is that she has moved to North Wales, yet still hopes to stand for Canterbury at the next GE. Even if my MP were perfect in my eyes, I would be seeking to deselect him/her if they decided that they wished to live over 200 miles away from the constituency.
"Nicola Sturgeon has questioned the UK’s equality watchdog after it urged the Scottish Government to carry out "more detailed consideration" of plans to reform gender recognition laws."
The issue is undoubtedly being used as a proxy for internal SNP feuds with Joanna Cherry getting a lot of grief for her stance on the issue (as has, of course, J K Rowling, a Scottish resident and Indy-sceptic).
Personally, I find it all a bit bewildering, TBH.
Most of Sturgeon's inner circle are halfwits obsessed with self ID and all the crap that goes with it. They supposedly had public consultaions but only talked to the bunch of halfwits that they fund , the same halfwits that are pushing self ID. Now that teh chaicanery is getting publicity it will be interesting to see if the timid , spineless SNP MSP's stay the course and follow the orders. Labour are just as bad.
This kind of bigoted transphobia is why the ALBA party is going nowhere and Scotland will never become independent.
BBC confirm last minute changes have been made to Sue Grays report but it is expected to be sent to no 10 this morning
If it's honestly about confidentiality of more junior members of staff then they can simply be redacted to "Individual A", "Individual B". The names of Sir Humphrey Jr's bag carriers are not of importance.
Good morning. I see the PM is pretending to be a dock worker today.
Does he actually do any governing?
His days seem to be one long campaigning photoshoot.
I think that was always the plan. He was "lucky" to have Covid obscuring Brexit and Brexit obscuring Covid.
Which means that his complete unsuitability to be PM hasn't had the scrutiny it otherwise would have had.
Perhaps he is a lucky general but it is wearing thin as we are seeing. And as ever more people, former close associates and supporters, who line up with eg. Peter Oborne in calling him out.
When I spoke with those workers, none of them were under any illusion that they were supporting a saint. Boris already had a track record as a maverick,
It is genuinely astonishing that we are the position where breaking the law, the ministerial code (repeatedly) and lying can now just be explained away so easily. We are going to come to bitterly regret allowing such actions when one day a much worse person than Johnson gets in. There used to be an idea of honour and public service in the two main parties, this now seems to be lost in the spirit of 'electability'.
For the good of us all, I really think the Tories would be served by being in opposition for a while.
BBC confirm last minute changes have been made to Sue Grays report but it is expected to be sent to no 10 this morning
If it's honestly about confidentiality of more junior members of staff then they can simply be redacted to "Individual A", "Individual B". The names of Sir Humphrey Jr's bag carriers are not of importance.
I don't want it to be "ghost" redacted.
I want the full report with masses of black highlighter.
I notice a poll at the weekend showed just 18% consider Brexit an important issue, so the vast majority have much more pressing concerns and heading that is the cost of living crisis
Boris is so discredited that his mps need to do the best for themselves and the nation and force a vonc
Rishi endorsing the 1.25% NI increase indicates that he knows more is needed for the NHS and social care, and of course next year it becomes a hypothecated NHS and social tax separate to NI on pay slips
I continue to support Rishi but I am content for any of the leading candidates to become PM asap
It is suggested the cost of living relief package is to be delayed until the march budget but that is unacceptable and dreadful politics
There does seem to a move to the left in countries holding elections and it not really surprising in view of how people throughout the pandemic have been willing to accept the imposition of restrictions on their lives
To me I believe now is the time for a wealth tax, and if the conservatives want to change the narrative they do need to change their attitude to assets and away from taxing income
I do wonder if I am changing my views as it may come as a surprise, but I actually congratulate Drakeford for his review of holiday homes and second homes in Wales with increased taxes and restrictions on planning consents
I know @HYUFD will say I should vote labour/lib dem but if he and the conservative party took notice of my comments, maybe they could win GE24 but right now the tide is ebbing on that proposition
You should vote Labour if you want a wealth tax, better for Conservatives to go into opposition than just become a government putting up more and more tax.
Sometimes in the West there is a shift eg the shift to the right in the 1980s, to the left in the 1990s, to the right in the 2010s and now maybe to the left again with a few exceptions. That is just the electoral cycle and circumstance eg too high tax and union power in the late 1970s, the need to cut deficits in the 2010s and the post pandemic impact now.
I will either abstain or vote lib dem not labour but you miss the point that a wealth tax is inevitable and the conservative party has the opportunity to take the initiative
No it isn't, it is a socialist policy to take people's wealth.
As I said better for the Conservatives to go into opposition than become a socialist party introducing a new wealth tax hitting its core vote.
It would of course go into opposition anyway as many of its core vote would go RefUK and socialists would still vote Labour anyway
Haha. I look forward to the reverse-ferret when a Johnson introduces a stealth wealth tax next year.
Why is a wealth tax 'socialist' when an income tax isn't? Why is it ok to tax the famous 'hard-working families' whilst those sitting on their arses enjoying their silver spoon inherited millions are allowed to avoid taxes?
A wealth tax in the way you envisage it is a dumb idea. What we need are proper transaction taxes that tax every type of transaction fully and which, if you want, specifically target the unearned income above earned. An object - be it a house, a car or a piece of land, has no inherent monetary value until it is transferred to another owner. Taxing stuff in a way that forces people to sell or surrender the property or object just to pay the tax is inherently wrong. It is the ultimate politics of envy.
You and I can go online and see how much a house sold for the last time it was on the market. If we can do it then so can the Government. If you are concerned about the unearned income then you can tax the difference between each time a property changes hands and do so at the normal income tax rates rather than a nominal stamp duty rate. But until that point the property has not realised its monetary potential and so should not be taxed.
Transactional taxes are a far better way to proceed than taxing fixed assets.
For the record I exclude Council Tax from this as I see that as a more immediate payment for local services.
Not really.
Transaction taxes discourage transactions, which in terms of property means discouraging moving home by imposing extra costs on it, which indirectly reduces labour market mobility and hence flexibility.
Taxing the base asset doesn't have this downside, and has the additional upside of discouraging people from holding assets that aren't being put to any worthwhile use. Had we a property tax at a reasonable level, there'd be a lot fewer people holding onto empty unoccupied properties: having to pay a relatively small council tax bill and nothing more is not sufficient disincentive, at least in a market where property has consistently appreciated in value.
It would be sensible to abolish stamp duty altogether and replace it with an annual property tax. To start with one could simply be exchanged for the other, at a broadly equivalent value, which across a lifetime would mean most people aren't worse off.
Of course, it would then make sense to rebalance the rest of the taxation system with a greater share borne by the property tax.
BBC confirm last minute changes have been made to Sue Grays report but it is expected to be sent to no 10 this morning
If it's honestly about confidentiality of more junior members of staff then they can simply be redacted to "Individual A", "Individual B". The names of Sir Humphrey Jr's bag carriers are not of importance.
I don't want it to be "ghost" redacted.
I want the full report with masses of black highlighter.
Black highlighter will also do, the important bit is the details for more senior people, including Boris himself.
Comments
says not....
It is yet another example of the government seeking to avoid scrutiny and accountability and seizing ever more power for itself. Not so much Taking Back Control from the EU but Taking it Back from the People and their elected representatives.
*And yes, the Labour Party recent history on such.
All money is taxed many times over. Your employer will be taxed VAT on its income, Corporation Tax, potentially duties, NNDR etc then it will need to pay Employers NI to pay you. Then Employees NI, and Income Tax for it to reach you. Then when you spend your income whatever you purchase has VAT and the whole thing cycles all over again.
Tax is multiplied many times over. It's one reason tax rises never raise as much as expected, because if you reduce the amount in people's pockets, they can't spend as much, which reduces tax revenues going to the Exchequer via other revenue streams.
https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1488084513829924867?s=20&t=nQZNfBgj7Fd6QKC6qfr2UA
If the average worker is seeing their taxes rise then they need to see the taxes rise of everyone, especially the 'undeserving rich'.
"We're all in this together" is an important belief if governments are to be popular - its the breaking of this belief by the immaturity in Downing Street which has caused the government its current problems.
Yes, there are efficiency gains that can come from working smarter and using technology. But in some fields, you have an irreducible core of the job which doesn't really allow for smart working- a GP talking to a patient or a teacher interacting with a pupil.
Then, the main source of efficiency gains is making the worker work harder. Which eventually stops working, so to speak.
But if the allegations about her expenses, living in Wales and not bothering to do any work for her constituents are true, they need looking at too. Being bullied over trans issues should not give you a free pass on other stuff.
I have no idea of course whether the allegations against her are true.
"The Canterbury MP admitted Labour “probably is” institutionally anti-Semitic while appearing on the Sunday Politics show."
https://web.archive.org/web/20190923143250/https://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/party-chairman-slams-reckless-mp-208686/
Regrettably, I'm pretty sure that is a solely BRITISH requirement and hasn't been an EU imposed requirement ever (I don't think).
That is one way to cut *some* red tape, and it'll have no downside effects at all (except on the auditors bank balance).
I'm trying hard to restrain my sarcasm at this point, but what did they think they were getting into? Had the idea that a government led by Boris Johnson might turn into a clownshow not entered their minds before?
When we aren't talking about a certain subject, you and I can agree on a lot it seems.
They're almost as relentless and determined to get rid of him as Cummings, day after day.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10459211/No10-lockdown-breakers-NEVER-identified-police.html
Latest here: https://www.holyrood.com/news/view,nicola-sturgeon-questions-equality-watchdog-intervention-in-trans-law-reform-debate
"Nicola Sturgeon has questioned the UK’s equality watchdog after it urged the Scottish Government to carry out "more detailed consideration" of plans to reform gender recognition laws."
The issue is undoubtedly being used as a proxy for internal SNP feuds with Joanna Cherry getting a lot of grief for her stance on the issue (as has, of course, J K Rowling, a Scottish resident and Indy-sceptic).
Personally, I find it all a bit bewildering, TBH.
They reached 2 to 3% or weren't even named in more polls, which is what they were on, if named, before too. Oh and they reached.4 to 5% in some polls before too. 🤦♂️
There was no statistically significant increase in their poll share. They're an utter irrelevance and always have been.
You and I can go online and see how much a house sold for the last time it was on the market. If we can do it then so can the Government. If you are concerned about the unearned income then you can tax the difference between each time a property changes hands and do so at the normal income tax rates rather than a nominal stamp duty rate. But until that point the property has not realised its monetary potential and so should not be taxed.
Transactional taxes are a far better way to proceed than taxing fixed assets.
For the record I exclude Council Tax from this as I see that as a more immediate payment for local services.
And inheritance tax is widely derided as "voluntary" and openly avoided. If it actually worked as designed, the need for a wealth tax would largely disappear.
But that clearly hasn't been the case - of course we don't know if the issue is
1) that the clown was clever enough to block their plans,
2) they were not clever enough to take control or
3) the clown is such a clown nothing and no-one could remove the clown tendancies.
Either way you would have thought your typical Tory MP would be listening to this, looking at who the remaining Boris supporters are, noticing the significant lack of other Boris supporters and thinking perhaps now is a good time to change things before its too late.
Or they can just let the clownshow continue which seems to be the plan.
This government doesn't deserve the vote of those of us who believe in aspiration.
If the Tories introduced a new wealth tax on top of the NI rise then RefUK would be on 5 to 10% shortly after. That would mainly come from ex Tories and be enough to deliver a Labour majority on its own
The fable of the tiger rider springs to mind.
Take care or you'll end up being interviewed by McPlod.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/police-interview-charity-chief-nicola-murray-after-tweet-ending-referrals-to-edinburgh-rape-crisis-centre-plwgxfjfv
There are plenty of ways to improve productivity. Without making life hell for the workers. Mostly around the amount of time that is spent by workers on doing "the other stuff" instead of their actual job.
The classic example of what can be done were the new car factories that sprang up in the 80s, in the UK. As British Leyland staggered to it's doom - stupid managers vs unions.... other people introduced better products, made with higher productivity by happier workers.
it's almost as if humans behave differently according to the social structure they are in. If the social structure is all about generating conflict, then the humans will dutifully produce lots of conflict. The productivity on that can be awesome.
The failure to adopt modern ideas, throughout the NHS, is ridiculous.
PAYE and Ees NIC - If you're playing devils advocate, add Ers NIC onto that.
Council tax, VAT on almost everything other than essentials (and even then), IPT on car and house insurances, fuel duty (and VAT on that!) and again playing devils advocate the 'telly tax'.
I'd guess more than half my monthly spend is tax, hidden or obvious.
Certainly there is an agenda, but there is also legitimate criticism of absenteeism, refusal to correspond, lack of interest in environmental issues despite being on the Environment, Food and Rural affairs committee etc.
It is quite possible that she is both a target of trans activists, but also an underperforming MP hiding behind that as a smokescreen.
The 2019 European Elections were also a joke and not serious.
So yes I voted for a joke party, in a joke election, which ousted a failed Prime Minister. Job done.
But we don't have the joke elections of the EU Parliament anymore. Westminster elections are serious business, Refuk is not.
If you wish to go and back Refuk just go and do it already. Nobody else is.
So you have a large number of people who don't see the expensive house as a windfall - just as something they *need* for living.
The only way out of this is to build a fuckton of good quality *houses* - not 100 story rabbit hutches. But that will never happen.
Now he likes to pretend that he's some sort of hero taking down the evil King in a 21st century version of the Tudor court. Well bollocks to that, frankly. His contemptuous attitude to the law and conventions and the voters has been as responsible for the character of this government as Boris has.
John Rentoul
@JohnRentoul
·
1h
A Brexit Freedoms Bill? This is laughable rubbish
Secondly we've sorted out the common diseases. For example, mass vaccination has cut childhood diseases enormously, so that GP's now trend to see less treatable conditions, and, very importantly have less time in which to deal with them.
Thirdly, Dr's F&C were unlikely to be visited by people commenting on their practice. Thus, some years ago I had to analyse the prescribing of one practice because of their high use of sleeping tablets. Turned out they were unduly influenced by a care home where the staff liked quiet night shifts, but that's another story. The point is that there was this chap looking at their prescribing and asking questions.
Then there's the social services aspect. Given that social services are underfunded, the GP has become the key to many of them, and that's a time consuming and frequently unrewarding activity.
I could go on, but won't.
I suspect Cummings is smart enough to recognise his own failings in this sorry saga, though probably more along the lines of "I gave him too much rope" rather than "I was actually wrong about something".
Frost, on the other hand, appears to have absolutely no powers of self-reflection whatsoever.
Boris is an instinctive Keynesian with a strong desire to chuck the cash about. Hence Levelling-Up in which I think he is a true believer.
He is also surprisingly Green, no doubt influenced by family members such as his dad and wife, and supporters like Zac Goldsmith.
Suspect Lod Frost et al don't share these enthusiasms.
His days seem to be one long campaigning photoshoot.
Your typical worker pays approximately 45% in tax between PAYE, both lots of NI and Apprenticeship Levy.
Opinium on 31st May 2019 for example had the Brexit Party on 26% and the Tories on just 17%
https://www.opinium.com/resource-center/political-polling-31st-may-2019/
Those cranks were loonies but so at the time were the government in Spring 2019.
Anyone who actually supports Refuk or supported the Brexit Party is concerning. But voting for a joke Loony Party in a joke election is nothing new in British politics and there's a reason a quarter of British voters voted for those loons in Spring 2019.
That doesn't mean they'd back them or anything like them in a General Election.
* he loves the trappings, just not the work required to justify the trappings.
https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/switzerland/individual/other-taxes
It varies by canton but if you want to live in a town (and as a business it's quite likely) you pay something like 0.05%-0.3% per year starting at quite a low level (about £50,000 in Zurich, though you'd only pay £25/year on wealth of £100,000). It does include all property. So if your assets were £10 million, you'd pay about £30,000/year. It's not very controversial - I know Swiss conservatives who feel it's not a bad thing as a gentle nudge to actually do something with your money instead of just lazily leaving it in the bank. I never heard of anyone bothering to try to avoid it.
People are prepared to say nonsense to pollsters.
There's a reason when it came to a real election that shambles only got 2% not 31%.
Which raises the most money.
Strangely, if you treat people like simple machines, they don't react in ways that seem especially human friendly....
in 2020, across all local authorities in England, there were 23.2 million households living in 24.7 million dwellings.
Of those 24.7 million dwellings, just under two-thirds (64%) were estimated to be owner-occupied in 2020. For most of this analysis, this is broken down further, giving the following four tenures:
8.8 million (36%) were owned outright
6.8 million (28%) were owned with a mortgage or a loan
4.8 million (19%) were privately rented
4.2 million (17%) were in social rent, mainly rented from housing associations and local authorities.....
the tenure that has changed the most over this period is dwellings owned outright (with an increase of 1.6 million), contrasting with a decrease in the owned with mortgage tenure (0.6 million). For the first time in this series, there were more than twice as many dwellings owned outright as there were socially rented.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/articles/researchoutputssubnationaldwellingstockbytenureestimatesengland2012to2015/2020#tenure-by-local-authority-area
It's the MPs and others (such as JK Rowling) who don't like self-id who are the ones being most fiercely attacked
I can understand the need to nudge people to do something with spare cash. But my home consumes cash. It doesn't generate it. So it seems to me that having a low CGT-type tax on property when you sell it (thus avoiding valuation issues) is a better way to go.
I do agree though that there need to be higher council tax bands and I'd tax very heavily indeed those who buy property in the U.K. from abroad and leave it empty.
Serves us all right for not checking whether the recipients of the control were to be the general public or Johnson and Gove.
There are always going to be competing courts in any government, and especially so when an adviser seeks to be a Rasputin figure (Cummings has always struck me more as Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings, but there you go).
Even if the PM is prepared to delegate day-to-day policymaking to their Rasputin, the courtiers will always seek to appeal to the formal head of the court, the PM. That means the PM has to be able to steer a course and manage competing factions.
Johnson has proved completely incapable of doing this. There are numerous accounts (some from Cummings, I think) that he basically says yes to everything and agrees with the last person he spoke to.
But then I grew up in the age of Thatcher and Blair who were both "strong centre" types. Has there ever been a successful case of a headstrong adviser with a figurehead PM?
I suspect turnout will be very low, with a comfortable Tory win.
My vote helped bring down a Prime Minister, expelled Nigel Farage and his crew from their position as elected representatives, and all done as I voted against my own normal party.
I'm proud of that vote and it's consequences. Voting against your own party is sometimes the right thing to do.
Following the retirement of Viscount Ridley, there is a by-election on 8 February for a new elected hereditary conservative peer.
We have 45 electors and ten candidates.
https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/lords-information-office/2022/notice-with-candidates-list-ridley.pdf
Candidates statement.
Ashcombe, L.
I have a longstanding interest in politics and would very much like to support the work of the House. With an Imperial College civil engineering degree and over thirty years’ experience in the insurance industry, I work for Marsh primarily in the Americas energy sector. This involves patient negotiation with multiple parties. I live in Hampshire and London, am married with two grown up sons, race on the Solent and garden enthusiastically.
Biddulph, L.
I have always felt that in the House of Lords an honest opinion is the best one. I am always happy to be called on to serve.
Camrose, V.
Aged 51 and live in London. Member of the Conservative Party and have always voted Conservative. As a management consultant, business-founder and investor, I advise my clients – from small enterprises to global corporations – on how to adapt themselves to a changing world. I hope to bring my expertise and energy to enhancing the Lords’ reputation and public recognition for its contribution. I have control of my time and would commit and participate with enthusiasm.
De La Warr, E.
The media claim the Conservative party is in dire straits. I do not agree but nonetheless some changes of direction may be necessary. I am older than some other candidates and come from a long line of Politicians. I believe I can bring experience and stability along with the necessary time required. Without listing my many political interests, I feel sure I can make a positive contribution to your Lordships House.
Dormer, L.
With over 35 years’ experience in business with engineering and manufacturing products, I bring an in-depth knowledge of the British and international maritime and aerospace sector to the House. Having represented SME interests on a number of trade association committees, I have championed modern engineering apprenticeships.
I have a degree in Naval Architecture, a Cranfield MBA and an ILM diploma in leadership. I live in Berkshire with my wife and am a Conservative party member.
Dudley, E.
Herewith presenting my credentials -
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=technodemic
Limerick, E. (Foxford, L.)
Age 58. London and Sussex based. Patron of Mid Sussex Conservatives. Useful and varied career experience:
• FCO with postings in Paris (ENA, first British diplomat in Quai d’Orsay), Senegal and Jordan. Fluent French, Russian. Some Spanish, Arabic and Wolof.
• Lawyer and banker in London, Moscow and Dubai financing SME’s and infrastructure.
• Former school governor and active charity trustee.
• Running diversified farm including renewables, wilding, weddings, camping.
MicroBrewery.
Key interests: Foreign Policy, Trade, Environment, Education, Planning
Monckton of Brenchley, V.
Let this be thine: to live a life upright,
Do harm to none, and give to each his due.
(Justinian’s advice to law students: Institutes, I:1).
I concur with my noble friend Lord Ridley that dispassionate science should supplant “The Science”.
The notion of large global warming arose from an elementary scientific error.
The crippling abatement cost extravagantly exceeds any legitimately-quantifiable benefit. Through spinning reserves, adding renewables to electricity grids increases CO2 emissions.
Strathcarron, L.
I can offer the House experience in less well-represented areas: media, communications, digital and the Creative Industries. As a multinational publisher, a producer and an author, I am familiar with the work of the Communications and Digital Committee and could be of practical value to it. As a regular ACP attendee, I understand the commitment expected and have the time and location to honour it. For more background please see my Wikipedia page.
Windlesham, L.
If I were to be elected I would make a good, dedicated Conservative Peer, using my knowledge and experience to improve legislation and to help the Government deliver on its agenda.
Prior to a career in investment banking I studied electronic and electrical engineering at university. This combination gives me the skill set to look at policy issues from a technical perspective.
I am an active and committed member of my local Conservative Association (KCFC).
A vaguely sensible Independent could have done very, very well.
The answer of course is inheritance taxation. But people won’t vote for it.
But my understanding is that she has moved to North Wales, yet still hopes to stand for Canterbury at the next GE. Even if my MP were perfect in my eyes, I would be seeking to deselect him/her if they decided that they wished to live over 200 miles away from the constituency.
In the red corner, @malcolmg ... 🍿
Which means that his complete unsuitability to be PM hasn't had the scrutiny it otherwise would have had.
Perhaps he is a lucky general but it is wearing thin as we are seeing. And as ever more people, former close associates and supporters, who line up with eg. Peter Oborne in calling him out.
When I spoke with those workers, none of them were under any illusion that they were supporting a saint. Boris already had a track record as a maverick,
It is genuinely astonishing that we are the position where breaking the law, the ministerial code (repeatedly) and lying can now just be explained away so easily. We are going to come to bitterly regret allowing such actions when one day a much worse person than Johnson gets in. There used to be an idea of honour and public service in the two main parties, this now seems to be lost in the spirit of 'electability'.
For the good of us all, I really think the Tories would be served by being in opposition for a while.
I want the full report with masses of black highlighter.
Transaction taxes discourage transactions, which in terms of property means discouraging moving home by imposing extra costs on it, which indirectly reduces labour market mobility and hence flexibility.
Taxing the base asset doesn't have this downside, and has the additional upside of discouraging people from holding assets that aren't being put to any worthwhile use. Had we a property tax at a reasonable level, there'd be a lot fewer people holding onto empty unoccupied properties: having to pay a relatively small council tax bill and nothing more is not sufficient disincentive, at least in a market where property has consistently appreciated in value.
It would be sensible to abolish stamp duty altogether and replace it with an annual property tax. To start with one could simply be exchanged for the other, at a broadly equivalent value, which across a lifetime would mean most people aren't worse off.
Of course, it would then make sense to rebalance the rest of the taxation system with a greater share borne by the property tax.