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.

Referring to reinette post

Crazy, hairbrained, nosey fucker...

This isn't the place for discussion of forward thinking ideas to help create a more equal society.

I should have learnt my lesson when my post about supporting a universal wage was temporarily deleted for being goady.

OK, OP, if it is currently so easy to guess a ball park figure of salaries from knowing someone's job...

DH is a structural engineer and I work in PR

How much do we each earn..?

Its nobody else's business how much I earn. Sod that. As long as tax folks are aware thats all that matters to me.

And I couldnt care less what anyone else earns either.

Being a nosyparker stalker doesn't equal being forward thinking, OP.

forward thinking

People know the ballpark of what people earn just from their job.

Not really. You could be out by tens of thousands if pounds.

Really bad idea imo.

No I wouldn’t be in favour of this. I don’t see how it would stop tax avoidance, and I can see how it could be abused by scammers and people targeting those over a certain earning bracket. People trying to charge you more if you earned more, tradesman avoiding the poorer and focusing on jobs for the wealthier. I can see how it would put the spotlight on unequal pay, but the abuse would outweigh the benefits.

In addition unequal pay is often more complex than just head line numbers.

@Itsgonnabeacoldone

I wish you had the ability to articulate how or why it would raise money and be modern and progressive.

I understand that the Left seem to think that being controlled in every aspect of your life by the government is somehow new and appealing but really, fuck off.

My family (DH and I) paid over 100k in tax last year. We spend 7k ensuring that this amount was a low as legally possible. It's normal, intelligent behaviour.

So, how is your idea progressive?

Come on then OP, you tell us your income, tax/NI, pension contributions.........

So criminals can easily find those earning more. Great idea.

Norway already does this - BUT - it also lists who has looked up your tax return, so you can see if eg your sons teacher, your neighboour, your new partner, the woman in the corner shop is having a poke about.

^this would be a minimum

Personally I wouldn’t want to have my details published, it’s got nothing to do with anyone else.

There's about 5m people in Norway and about 65m in the UK. 4,000 or so prisoners in Norway; 85,000 or so in the UK. The culture and social structure is v v different. You're trying to compare apples with oranges IMO.

I don’t have a problem with this. I’ve got nothing to hide and how much money people have it fairly obvious from what they own. Of course there’s a difference between wealth and income so I’m not sure how much will be given away to nosey parkers.

I think the car, house and clothes probably give more of an idea whether I’d be a good target for criminals than how much I earn. How much my house is worth is public information.

All my money goes straight out on holidays, dc activities, Christmas, birthdays and repair bills. There is very little kept in my various bank accounts.

More transparency is a good thing for various reasons including closing the gender pay gap, avoiding money laundering and making sure non-resident parents pay child support. Other countries do this.

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

It would do the opposite. If people knew their affairs would be made public, they'd take evasive action and either no declare everything or put their money into non declarable places (like under the bed).

Hmmmm do I want everyone to know how much money I earn. NO thanks

the seller rejected their offer on the basis that they knew how much they earned and had in savings, so knew they could afford to pay more!

That’s odd, I’ve never been given a buyer’s name before an offer has been accepted.

moving

Possessions are no indication of earnings.

The majority of people have nothing to hide but that doesn’t mean our financial privacy from the public
should be withdrawn.

Theft goes further than the burglar with ‘swag’ breaking in to your car or home. Cybercrime risk is massive, identity theft, cloning etc etc.

Where would they get that cash from to put under the bed karrie?

Doesn’t matter where you put it, it matters what you earn.

Possessions are no indication of earnings.

Where did I say it was Grilledaubergines?

Or have you just explained my own point back to me?

If all my earnings go on my mortgage or other expense there’s not much for a criminal to target.

Criminals want things to steal whether that’s cash or possessions. They can’t steal what isn’t there!

@cantStopTheRock Someone avoiding paying tax doesn't want their tax records public, what a suprise

You are also calling people like James Dyson and jk Rowling stupid for paying what tax is due rather than doing all the can to avoid it.

Doesn’t matter where you put it, it matters what you earn.

I think many don't understand that saying what you earn isn't declaring all of your savings accounts.

I knew someone that was annoyed that it was public information how much they paid for their house

I dlont really want all of the people from my highschool to be able to see that i earn 14k thanks ... the government should be able to see but not the bloody public.
It would also increase the number of people trying to scam elderly folk with savings etc

"I chose to remain a domiciled taxpayer for a couple of reasons. The main one was that I wanted my children to grow up where I grew up, to have proper roots in a culture as old and magnificent as Britain’s; to be citizens, with everything that implies, of a real country, not free-floating ex-pats, living in the limbo of some tax haven and associating only with the children of similarly greedy tax exiles.
A second reason, however, was that I am indebted to the British welfare state; the very one that Mr. Cameron would like to replace with charity handouts. When my life hit rock bottom, that safety net, threadbare though it had become under John Major’s Government, was there to break the fall. I cannot help feeling, therefore, that it would have been contemptible to scarper for the West Indies at the first sniff of a seven-figure royalty cheque. This, if you like, is my notion of patriotism. On the available evidence, I suspect that it is Lord Ashcroft’s idea of being a mug".

Oh dear Moving. Identity theft won’t take into consideration your mortgage and bills. But you go ahead and leave yourself wide open.

Please could you let them internet know:-

Your full name
Date of birth
NI number
Address
Employers details
Annual income

And I’ll estimate about a week before you stumble across an issue.

You’re right op. Lots of people seem to think their net worth will be published rather than income.

In other countries that do this it’s not just on a website that could be browsed for fun. It’s more tightly controlled than that.

I understand people’s desire for privacy too. I really do, but on this occasion and for me personally I don’t care.