To ask if you were Prime Minister for a year, how would you combat the cost of living?

But he’s rich. So let the socialists hate him. Who needs his taxes, when the socialists can glow in the warm glow of poverty and decline.

Reduce taxes, on individuals and corporations. And scrap net 0.

Admittedly, it would take longer than a year to feed through but it has to be done.

Incentivize domestic and international investment into large infrastructure projects through 0 tax until initial payback has been achieved, lowest taxes in the western world thereafter. No immigrant labour for these projects which isn’t above the threshold of net contribution. Training for lower paid roles funded by the tax breaks.

Cut regulations and quangos. Cut down the civil service in line with that. No one needs a civil service that’s bigger than before Brexit and delivers far less.

Reverse the Employer’s NI and reduce it further and incentivize employers with providing childcare for people on benefits coming into work. Work should be mandatory for working age adults, except for those with real severe disabilities.

Re assess criteria for disability benefits. The surge in disability benefits being handed for ‘life’ related stresses mis identified as mental health issues needs to be reversed.

Scrap net 0.

Re apply two child benefit cap.

Founder of Revolut moved from
UK to UAE costing us £3bn in CGT on a stake of £14bn. That’s not 2%, and it’s a hell of a lot of schools and hospitals.

If the very wealthy want to live in a low tax country then they already won’t be living in the UK, or the USA, France or Germany. Yet in fact 40% of all of the billionaires in the world live in one of these countries right now. (see the Hurun Global Rich List as reported in Forbes)
They can afford to live wherever they want to live and to pay the taxes as it just doesn’t make much difference to their lives to pay a bit more tax. Would the life of Bezos change much if he paid 2% more tax?
We are not talking about the middle classes paying a wealth tax, they are already being squeezed, it’s for the wealthy.

You can’t tax the rich more because beyond a magic figure of around 40-45% the treasury doesn’t actually receive more, the rich just find ways around it.

As a country we need to boost industry, business and jobs. Protect British manufacturing, R&D, entrepreneurship.

Get rid of the massive albatross and privatise the NHS. Put it out of its misery.

Cut welfare. Reinstate the 2 child cap. Make feckless and absent fathers pay fully for their offspring rather than the taxpayer and take them to court for child neglect if they don’t (immaterial if they are in the child’s life or not). Means test the state pension at some fixed point in the future. Parity of housing benefit across the UK so taxpayers aren’t paying for housing in expensive areas like in London.

Deport all foreign criminals and refuse their return to the country.

Stop the cultural and social decline and give people hope by strengthening national values and pride. Crack down hard on low level anti social and scummy criminal behaviour. Massive life changing fines for fly tipping, shoplifting etc. If we had a few more national festivals and feel-good events throughout the year it would boost morale and the economy.

@Princessfluffy Perhaps, but why would they choose to stay if they can move elsewhere and pay less tax? This is what's happening where I live in the US - the property taxes and state taxes are much higher than in other areas, so people are leaving. Even middle-class DH and I have discussed moving, and we probably will at some point.

Of course, it's more complicated if you need visas to relocate, but the wealthy can usually work that out.

Wealth tax on assets, particularly property.

Change inheritance tax- everyone can leave their primary residence to their children (or a nominal amount for non home owners) tax free, but any other properties and assets should be highly taxed.

Children allowed to be taken out of school without a fine for 1 week per year- to allow families time together at home or abroad without having to pay extortionate school hol prices. This would boost the economy and improve family mental health for many.

Universal free school meals.

£10 charge for second missed appointments in the NHS. One DNA is sometimes unavoidable, but a second needs to be actioned.

Cap on how much care homes can charge per week to save councils money.

Fuck me. Not sure what is more depressing, some of the suggestions on this thread or the fact the posters can vote.

Less wealth inequality will drive up living standards for the very wealthy as well as for everyone else. The experience of the very wealthy is dragged down by their wider environment being poor. They suffer with potholes too, and crime, and the rest of it

I reiterate, reduce Foreign Aid to zero for five years. Fix things at home first. If a homeowner's house is in disrepair, you don't give your money away to somebody else to fix theirs first, do you?

The wealthy won’t leave as they can easily afford to stay. They aren’t forced to live in a cheap place.

The problem is that you could do this once. Then you start to drive away the wealthy and the very high earners, which is your tax base.

Wealth Tax to combat wealth inequality.
would be paid by the actual wealthy not the average higher earner. Tax wealth not work.

I am not sure how you would structure a wealth tax on higher earners.

For a start, high earnings does not automatically transfer to being high net worth. You might earn £250,000 p.a. but with two kids in private education, a mortgage, a car and our delightful tax system wont necessarily leave enough change to build significant wealth. In any case, income above £125,000 is taxed at 45% and the personal allowance is fully tapered. I feel that 45% of anyone's income is enough to take from them.

I take it you mean UHNW individuals rather than higher paid people?

CGT is paid on disposals, dividends are taxed, interest is taxed and so on. Furthermore, illiquid assets such as property, land, shares in companies that aren't tradeable would need to be sold off to meet wealth taxes which will be incredibly slow and disproportionately affect the individual. Is the 'mansion tax' council tax hammering not enough for you?

Tax on second homes worth more than £5m
Solar panels on every home!
Raise personal allowance
Nationalise railway and water
Wealth tax on very high earners

Reduced vat on fuel/gas/electricity. Gove banged on about this pre Brexit. The Exchequer is currently receiving increased revenue due to the increase in oil prices.

Specifically, what do you define as ultra wealthy? And what taxes specifically do you want to raise or establish?

I'm not having a go, I just want you to expand on this, because often it is a bit of a get out of jail free card for lefties to just scream tax the rich without really explaining how they'd do it. The tax regime is incredibly penal to higher earners as it is so I guess you're talking Earl of Westminster level stuff?

Massively reduce foreign aid, we can’t afford it. Reintroduce the two child benefit cap. Look at benefits again, the cap for benefits should be no more than someone on a NMW job. Speaking of that, benefits should be viewed as a lifeline, not a lifestyle. Claiming long term (with benefits your only money, I’m not talking about top-ups), needs to be looked at.

For anyone able bodied on benefits for more than 6 months, there would be a community service requirement eg picking up litter/scrubbing graffiti for 3 days a week with time off for job interviews. I bet people will realise fairly quickly that they’re ok to get any job once they realise the alternative is 3 days a week of community service for £70 (ish) a week in JSA.

As for the workers, I’d unfreeze the tax thresholds and put them to where they should have been 4 years ago or whenever the freeze was implemented. Reduce tax by 1% and basically try and put money in people’s pockets to help stimulate the economy to allow them to go out and spend.

Edited to say:

Scrap the triple lock. My mum goes on and on about how great it is but won’t hear it when i say that the workers are paying for it and our wages aren’t keeping up.

Also, the cold weather payment. It should be per household, not per person. A couple don’t have twice the amount of radiators as a single person. The cold weather payment should be sent to the person on the bill and that’s that. My mother in law and her husband got one each, bonkers. It should also be means tested. My late grandma used to put hers in savings!!! There’s people on here all through winter saying how cold they are but they don’t get a payment.

Tax the ultra wealthy

Lower immigration

Free degrees for teachers, nurses, HCP's, daycare workers etc. Need to commit to 3 years of working in the UK post graduation.

I forgot to add mine. I’d tax the ultra wealthy more,

That's what the Beatle's 1966 song "Taxman" was about, it was a protest again the more than 90% tax rate for the highest earners!

In theory it sounds like a good idea @MzGG but the problem is that the ultra-wealthy can use tax planning strategies to avoid the high rates and/or easily move abroad. If tax rates skyrocket, there'll be a mass exodus.

I think doing away with every billionaire would be a good start.

Stop paying for childcare for those parents with a total joint income above £150k (including dividends) and stoo paying it for anybody who is not working the number of hours tgey want free childcare for.

Raise taxes thresholds

I think this is the ultimate problem. A year isn't long enough and some of the things that are required won't be popular enough to get you re elected.

I'd reinstate Sure Start, build new social housing. I'd build a healthcare system that deals with causes not symptoms. But that costs and someone's going to have to pay more tax.

I'd take a lot of the current measures that are supposed to help away. Universal free school meals, child benefit for families earning £100k, funded nursery hours. Too many benefits for those who should be able to support themselves.

Mostly I think a huge public education campaign on taking responsibility for your own health, living, children is required. Create an environment where people want to take care of themselves and their families, because the alternative is not socially acceptable. I absolutely don't mean remove the rug from under them, but gradual nudging, and education, to change attitudes.

That's not to bash people who currently have poor health or rely on benefits, but to help them create a better life for themselves because, whilst the state can make things slightly more bearable, they're not going to have "good" lives until they make changes themselves, and that's going to need a complete change of attitude and lots of support. That will cost too.

Capitalism rather than socialism is the way to raise living standards. Slash taxes, cheap energy, slash welfare, incentivise work and get out of the way.