To want everyone's earnings and tax records to be public information

[Itsgonnabeacoldone]

I think it would be very modern and progressive if the UK government changed the law to make people's income and tax public information. Would probably raise a few billions more and make people less likely to do those dodgy tax avoidance schemes.

For the people coming up with "this won't work because" - have you looked up how it works in other countries?

www.reuters.com/article/us-panama-tax-nordics/privacy-what-privacy-many-nordic-tax-records-are-a-phone-call-away-idUSKCN0X91QE

Sounds like the way they dealt with it was to prevent anonymous searching. Sure, you can look up someone's records, but they will see that you peeked.

@Rebeccaslicker
How secure do you think HMRC is?

GREAT IDEA. I'm with OP. yanbu

Slightly - I think it's as vulnerable as any other electronic record.

That is why I don't see the point in making it even easier!

No one is getting access to my savings or earnings.

But knowing someone has a high wage I can't see makes them any more or less a target than they are now. People know the ballpark of what people earn just from their job.

I think people are poo pooing this without really thinking about it or knowing how it works well for other countries.

But knowing someone has a high wage I can't see makes them any more or less a target than they are now. People know the ballpark of what people earn just from their job.

I think people are poo pooing this without really thinking about it or knowing how it works well for other countries.

You havent explained why you need to know my salary

From the OP Would probably raise a few billions more and make people less likely to do those dodgy tax avoidance schemes.

How? Are you implying that HMRC is understaffed? Or Inefficient? or are you actually saying scrap HMRC and make all its staff redundant and Joe Public with its Armchair Degree in Accounting can audit Mary From the Post Office tax returned instead?

But an overseas scammer wouldn't necessarily know your job. They'd simply hack the list and grab the details of the higher earners, surely!

One of the reasons people in Scandinavian countries tend to be more relaxed about talking about money is that what you earn carries less weight there. But in a more unequal society, like Britain, where quality of life is closely tied to income, conversations about pay are much more freighted.

John Maynard Keynes once dreamt of a world in which economics is less important. Once our economic problems are solved, he thought, we would be free to focus on other things. Economists would be “thought of as humble, competent people on a level with dentists”. Maybe one day talking about how much you earn might be no more fraught than talking about the weather. Even in Britain.

I like this article on it www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/2a9274be-72aa-11e7-93ff-99f383b09ff9

Well, we arent Scandinavia are we.

It would result in great amounts of dissatisfaction, argy bargy, and pay inflation as everyone would look up their co-workers salary and then constantly try to renegotiate. Some of that could be legitimate, some of it could prompt a "you're not as good as so and so" discussion which would ultimately not be terribly productive or harmonious.

A vastly better plan would be for those who do not earn their income via PAYE (ie people whose tax is not taken at source) and have over say £2m in income to obtain a declaration from an accountant that they have paid at least (say) 22% (which matches CGT rates) of their income by way of tax. The only way I can see of simplifying the tax system is to have an output requirement rather than trying to regulate every different tax structuring arrangement. Since the latter (which is what we have now) just results in clever structuring and getting round the letter of the law. The important thing is that no-one should be able to take advantage of so many different types of tax relief that they end up paying less than [x] percent of their income as tax.

They do this over here in Finland, it doesn't prevent some of the dodgy tax avoidance schemes (things were shown up in the Panama papers and the Paradise papers) but for the most part it works well. Plus we all enjoy the yearly gossip about the country's biggest earners

What exactly is the issue with renegotiating wages? That should happen yearly imo and many people don't so only the proactive people get good increases.

Companies in the UK where it's public knowledge don't have these issues.

*Not public knowledge but company emplployee knowledge.

You haven't said if you think benefits should figure into your hairbrained scheme.

Absolutely not. You are bonkers! An individual's income is between them and the relevant authorities. It is not every Tom, Dick and fucking Henry's business.

This sort of idea is a nosey parker's wet dream. The only people entitled to know how little much I earn live in my house; it is no business whatsoever of anyone else's.

The people at whom this idea is presumably aimed will, as they always do, find inventive ways of getting round it, because they can afford the fees charged by clever accountants.

Some sort of withholding tax on monies being transferred out of the jurisdiction would be far more effective, but it's unlikely ever to happen.

I don't think it's anyone's business tbh.

But knowing someone has a high wage I can't see makes them any more or less a target than they are now. People know the ballpark of what people earn just from their job.

My neighbourhood thieves at the moment have no idea what my job is. What if I'm a hedge fund manager living well beneath my means? Do I deserve to have my cover blown just because you suspect I'm a tax dodger?

Third time of asking

How will the OP knowing my wage be of benefit to her?

she might answer at some point

I previously had a job with a salary of £20,000pa. My colleague had worked for that company doing exactly the same job as me for 40 years. Her salary was £6,500pa (pre national minimum wage) and she hadn't received a payrise in 20 years. I only found this out when she retired and I requested a cheque for 12 months salary (a gift on retirement from the company). I sent it back twice because I thought they'd made a mistake

Had her salary and mine been accessible freely I'm certain that pressure from the clients and industry would have ensured she was paid a proper salary for her job.

Also public sector workers usually have pay scales so DH salary is there for all to see if they know how long he has worked in the public sector.

OP you are very nosy and want to know how much everybody else is earning. But would you be happy with everybody else knowing how much you earn yourself? It's a two way thing, you know...

That's exactly the kind of situation public tax records helps avoid, that and good unions setting minimum pay for their respective jobs.