to be glad that Hollande has finally introduced his 75% income tax rate?

[longfingernails]

Now even more of the best and brightest French people will be driven away, and London is a natural destination for them. Also we are able to see what a disaster Red Ed style socialism is, without having to experience it ourselves.

An arithmetical note for our French friends: 75% of 0 is 0.

75% tax means you are 75% enslaved.

Do you actually know what slavery means?

Yes it means you do the work and somebody else enjoys all the benefit of your labor, or in this case 75%.

And Wallison when the UK had similar rates, how many businesses were closed, scaled back or never begun because there was no point in trying under those punitive and exploitative circumstances?

How many slaves do you know that earn over £830k?

I don't know. Do you? Because you're the one that's arguing that that is what is going to happen, so I'm assuming you have some proof. Where is it?

And that is not what slavery means. Slavery means that you are not free. Your life is controlled by your owner, when you are a slave. You work, but you do not get paid. You have no say in the performance of your work, what duties you do, and the conditions under which you do them. To compare people earning £830k to slaves shows a gross lack of familiarity with any kind of sense.

wallison
Good point on slavery
On the benefits to the UK:
If we get 1,000 French bankers move to the London branch of thier bank, each earning £2m a year. They will pay UK tax at c.40% which is £800m a year in tax - good for the UK
They then spend, say £500k a year in the UK, so VAT at 20% is £100m
Not far off £1bn in tax for just 1,000 people
To say nothing of the extra made by the companies selling them the goods or the extra profits made by the UK branches of the banks and the tax on those profits.

"Yes it means you do the work and somebody else enjoys all the benefit of your labor, or in this case 75%."

Slavery is fairly widespread in France!

Funny how left wing MN generally appears until posters actually think about the reality of wealth redistribution.

Just an observation.

But if someone has started a company, taken risks, been clever, and is now well rewarded for it - what difference does it make to you what they earn?

This is why I think there should be some sort of link between the tax paid by the employees of a company and it's founder/ CEO / top honcho.

IMHO someone who employs 100 people should pay less tax than someone who employs no one and has just inherited a fortune.

Do tax revenues = more wealth for other people though? Only a lot of tax money seems to go to private contractor mates of the govt on half-arsed projects that cost £millions, and the money is never seen again.

"How does that work then? I'm talking specifics here"

Switzerland
Luxembourg
Lichtenstein

So how does trickle-down work in those three countries then? Given that even Thatcher admitted that it didn't in the UK.

It works here because there is true democracy, and a high level of personal responsibility that comes with freedom of choice.

I'm still not getting any specifics on the mechanics of it all.

When I last wrote about the Swiss economic miracle it was a 50 page discussion paper for an economics dissertation. I'm not really going into the detail again.

Try googling Swiss trickle down, Swiss miracle economics.

Suffice to say I earn 3 times more than I did in the UK, (even though I fit into the average earners median) and pay 12% income tax, my son attends a school with 18 children maximum to a class, his teacher is paid the equivalent of £80,000 a year and the facilities are excellent. Oh and you are never more that 1,5km to a primary school. Nurses are rewarded equally generously. Standard of living is one of the highest in the world.

Mainly by inviting in global head offices, banking corporations and offering them negotiable tax rates - in return they see investment and employment. So much employment that 30% of their country is "Auslanders'."

Luxembourg are heading the same way, and the Netherlands also gave salary capping - but I find that a little unfair tbh.

As I said though a true democracy with responsible citizens. I didn't say it worked in the UK. The Swiss have true democracy but it comes at a price - they are voting on issues on a weekly basis and live with their own decisions directly. they take responsibility for their country and actions.

I'd never realised until moving out how much of a Nanny state the UK was. Far easier to sit back and moan that you didn't vote for a party and therefore you absolve all responsibility. Far easier to forget that the party you did vote for spent more than it could afford and caused an economic nightmare that needs to be cleaned up.

I'm not a Cameron supporter and I grew up with Thatcher the milk snatcher whilst living in a Welsh mining town, but surely everyone can see the pattern - socialists spend, conservatives cut and so the merry go round begins.

The effect of trickle down may be seen to work for London very well though as a microcosm.

So all we need for trickle-down to work is to become a haven for tax-dodgers from other countries? Well, that's that one solved then.

Oh yes and rolling over and playing nice to Hitler. A country with as proud a history as it has a present.

I used to live in Luxembourg. DH and I both paid 40% tax, the healthcare was brilliant but not 100% free like in the UK, you pay 30% of the cost (unless you are seriously poor).
The facilities are amazing. The primary schools are brilliant (I think they are trying to improve on secondaries), we had 2 QUALIFIED teachers (note, not teaching assistants) for 18 infants, these teachers worked in the class room at the same time (not job share). My son learned luxembourgish in no more than 3 months. The child benefits are also good.
My son with special needs was able to access help straight away (rather than wait months and months like here)
I really miss it! Very happily paid my 40% because the returns where great. Cannot go back, because I need to be here now for my son's education (the one with special needs)

Oh yes wondered when I'd have to start playing Nazi bingo.

The Swiss have no organised army, part of their Confederational constitution is neutrality. this is due to the history of their tribal formation.

Read a little on their full history before making puerile comments.

Even a simple search will provide a balanced view of the good,bad & ugly sides of the country in a World war scenario.

history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/switzerland-second-world-war-ii.html

Hardly rolled over to the Nazis when they were prepared to flatten their entire infrastructure to avoid invasion.

And perhaps an understanding of what it's like to live in a bordered country - something I failed to grasp as a UK citizen. And believe me, there were far more people in the UK ready to accept the Nazis into the UK than there were in Switzerland, and quite a few more Black shirts too.

Until then it was an interesting debate with the other mumsnetters, and i enjoyed reading both sides of the debate, but I'm afraid I have fascist treasure in the cellar that i need to polish.

I hardly think that bandying terms like 'nanny state' around and saying that London - which is right now facing something like the biggest housing crisis in its history - is an example of trickle down working are hallmarks of 'interesting debate'.

How is london facing its biggest housing crisis in history??? And a state which spends roughly half our money how it thinks is on our best interest is a good example of a nanny state - how would you define it.
Some evidence of Thatcher admitting it didn't work would be useful - an actual quote or piece of writing rather than a comment overheard in a pub would be useful.

I don't go to the pub with Tebbit or Major or whoever it was. I have nice friends that I drink with. And where is your evidence that trickle down does work? Because the gap between rich and poor started getting wider under Thatcher and has continued to get wider since. How is that trickle down working, exactly?

London and the rest of the country is in crisis because there is a huge dearth of affordable housing. We are currently paying out over £20bn a year in housing benefit, most of which goes to people who are in work but cannot afford to put a roof over their heads without state support. If that isn't a crisis, I don't know what is.