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.

@lemmons presumably because it is fair. This kind of thing will turn into a witch hunt off-the-peg wealthy but it is less likely to happen if people can see that the wealthy are less of a burden. Obviously people will still complain about wealthy people being wealthy but the hypocrisy in demanding that they pay even more tax will also be clear.

Cutekinn - most of them are still PAYE at that level.

Still waiting for the OP's payslip, minus her name and address (although she seems happy for anyone to have that info when it relates to other people)...

ilovetolurk
Why does Finnish law have to do with UK law?
Um, because GDPR is an EU directive and Finland is bound by it as well
and Finland is one of the countries that has public tax records

oldwitch
What many are interested in is taxation reform (simplified flat tax).
Simplified flat tax = cloud cuckoo land ; will never work
Taxation reform = absolutely but the unelected bureaucrats who write UK tax law like it as it is for revolving door reasons

People are actually only taking advantage of tax regulations which are in place.
Where I live you don’t have to file if your earnings are below a certain threshold most often students, sahm, people not from this country but who live here wouldn’t either. Easy to see how the number of people who don’t even file is high.

Ta1kinPeace - being a subscriber, I searched the Economist archive - can't find any article or table there which discloses the tax gap by nation either. Strange?

But our legal system is completely different
Each country will enshrine GDPR into its own legal structure
The question is how would the UK justify it
You have no reason to have my data under uk law now and GDPR makes it even less feasible

grins
Re the tax gap, I'd be fascinated to see the evidence you have to support your statement.
I'm not at my computer which has my Economist login.
The article was early in the summer - linked to one of the earlier data leaks - looking at projected incomes of the top 0.1% and showing that countries with transparent tax regimes have higher collection rates.

The 57% might think differently when they know who they are....
Really ?
Who do you think the 43% are ?
Pensioners, Students, SAHPs, part time workers ......

grins
Not the original link BUT
Here is the Academic paper
<a class="break-all" href="https://via.hypothes.is/gabriel-zucman.eu/files/AJZ2017.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">via.hypothes.is/gabriel-zucman.eu/files/AJZ2017.pdf
that this story came from
www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/01/super-rich-evade-on-average-nearly-third-of-their-due-tax

OP, you keep saying it works well in other countries. In what way does it work well and what benefits exactly would it bring to each of us?

The more protests I read against the idea, the more I support published returns. Thread has been very good for solidifying my stance.

Ta1kin Peace - I'm sure you'll find it later and share it. I look forward to seeing it. Would look pretty awful to just make something up on this topic?

Mine already is! I'm a main scale teacher in Scotland with 19 years experience. I know what everyone I work with earns. You just need to work out how many years they have been teaching.

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2013/09/2075/4

Would look pretty awful to just make something up on this topic?
Gosh yes
it would be even worse to just cast aspersions without even trying to provide evidence to inform the discussion

OP, you keep saying it works well in other countries. In what way does it work well and what benefits exactly would it bring to each of us?

Not the OP, but I live in a Scandi country. The obvious advantage is that bosses are way less likely to take advantage of those who are less good at negotiating. Wages are more equal. This is great for me as I’ve never been a pushy person and in the UK often ended up on a lower wage than male colleagues, even when I was better qualified,

I guess for people who love negotiating and are naturally assertive or aggressive, then it removes their advantage.

It encourages wage equality and I like it. Where there is greater wage equality, it has been shown that there is less crime and more happiness.

But then I don’t care who knows what I earn. I can’t really see how it matters. Maybe if I earned lots I would be more worried.

Lostsight
in the UK often ended up on a lower wage than male colleagues, even when I was better qualified,
It encourages wage equality and I like it. Where there is greater wage equality, it has been shown that there is less crime and more happiness.

Thank you.
My point exactly.
Daylight is a great disinfectant.

Does seem like the loudest protests votes are from people who are afraid they'd be embarrassed at the high salary, or that they'd lose their perceived wage advantage.

I don’t care about people’s wages as like many have said mine is public knowledge.
Tax reform I’m interested in. I think once one country attempts a flat tax, others will follow suit. It will decimate the need for accountants, lawyers, and support staff.

Yanbu.

Nothing wrong with everyone knowing each other's wages/salary, especially to see the disparity between CEO and factory floor.

Or the disparity between factory floor and factory floor; negotiating a salary is far too vague and subjective to even approach fairness. And negotiating a rise is even worse - a loyal employee's market worth drops every year they stay with an employer

If this was the case above a certain level, say the top tax threshold, and was for the future only, then I would support it. Tax returns for all MPs and other elected people. Not for everyone though.

I'm better paid the most of my colleagues but I have earned my salary through years of experience and in a target driven environment, my skill set is very apparent in comparison to some of my junior colleagues. Results speak.

Though I'd never dream to tell them what I earn as they are all under the impression that they are better than me as I'm a decade older, have kids, dress fairly blandly and don't layer my face with a whole mac counters worth full of slop on my face before I get to the office each morning. I dread to think of the arguments in the office if they found out how big the gap is!

Though give it ten years and they probably will be better and earn more than me as they're a very driven and motivated group. What comes around goes around. I vote for privacy.

I just don’t see how listing that; ABC, income $76,000 taxes paid $22,000 tells or means anything. This could be part time work or work with overtime and bonus.
XYZ, income $14,000 taxes paid $2,000 could still have his wage being paid to an off shore account.

It’s funny how those who are more highly paid have always earned it based on their performance

So the paper you cite only covers Scandinavia and makes no conclusion about UK tax evasion among the super rich or otherwise. So on the basis of the information you provided you have no basis for saying that “the tax gap is an order of magnitude smaller than in UK”

Why not try to win the argument on its merits rather than making things up?

And I will continue to cast aspersions over those who pretend to know stuff they don’t to make their point.

It’s funny how those who are more highly paid have always earned it based on their performance

Well I know mine has been based on performance as I have been coding for over two decades, it's knowledge based and I've had years of fire fighting and fixing junior levels code, it's not an age thing either as I've used so many different languages in my time and had to constantly refresh my skillet on the job.

You seriously can't think that everyone who are highly paid just fell into it by luck did you?

Ive also hunted through the economist as I'm a subscriber and can't find any relevant report, was it just a link to an outside report or just an info graphic?

I'm particularly interested for a big data project we are currently working on, funnily enough as part of the latest leaks.

As for the OP, I think it's not a bad idea, although your assertion that it would reduce tax evasion etc is misguided, there will be more information that needs to included to actually asses if someone is not paying the correct amount, also if we are publishing everyone's income the slippery slope argument is that those receiving benefits also have theirs published IMO