Jeremy Corbyn wants to impose lifetime gift limits on children of £125,000

[ForTheLoveOfDoughnuts]

So we pay tax on what we earn. What we buy. And now this.. what's the point of working hard to help out our kids, for this to even be considered. Or AIBU?

I don't so think we pay a great deal of tax in comparison to OECD countries. We have some of the lowest rates of top level tax, I think only out of the major countries only the US is lower.

Some really simple things that any government could do to bring in more money from those that can afford it:

1. ban cash in hand payments.
2. make those with second homes pay either council tax or business rates not dodge both of them
3. make landlords of student lets responsible for the council tax on the property, no more dodging.
4. Extend VAT to all businesses - no small business vat threshold

I could literally come up with a huge list of "holes" in the tax system which if they were properly plugged would generate money.

The suggested land tax would deal with 2 and 3.

You do pay full rate council tax on second homes in most cities @mummymeister 🙄

I know this because I'm currently paying double while my first property is sat on the market.

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer

The proposals are just that - proposals, not a lot of detail on what counts as “gifts”. £3k annually would be exempt from each donor, so parents could give £3k each.

mummymeister

I think the rules on trusts have changed over the last few years to make them less tax advantageous, so not sure how your scenario would work.

Should we tax them to the hilt when they pass the land over to a child to carry on farming?

My understanding is that there will be measures in place to prevent this scenario, as long as the farms are genuinely kept as operating businesses.

At the moment farms are exempt from inheritance tax if passed on as going concerns - the issue is that this has been done and then the farm sold off for cash or farms have been used as tax shelters by the wealthy (James Dyson for example).

Banning cash in hand payments is completely unenforceable, how do you police it?

@MilkGoatee NI increase is long overdue. Also relevant is the bracket being affected by it the most because they are the most likely to use the public services that benefit from it. I'm happy to pay more NI, but only with better NHS reform. The NHS squanders money and it is piss-poorly middle managed, mostly by people who's experience wouldn't even qualify them for a filing job or data entry in any other industry.

Mummymeister

1. Ban cash in hand payments

It’s up to the recipients to declare cash payments as income for tax purposes. HMRC used to be quite hot on this, but staff reductions and closure of local tax offices have made this a lot harder to track.

2. make those with second homes pay either council tax or business rates not dodge both of them
3. make landlords of student lets responsible for the council tax on the property, no more dodging.

Both addressed by Monbiot’s proposals.

4. Extend VAT to all businesses - no small business vat threshold

Think the Torygraph was recently up in arms about EU proposals to harmonise VAT thresholds recently. Seem to recall that the UK has one of the highest thresholds, I think in Portugal the threshold is less than €20k?

Zipee it is simply untrue to say accessing support under Labour was easier. I know, I tried it. It’s pretty clear you know little about SN provision so live up to your name in this one and keep it zipped would be my advice.
Sockwomble if you need legal advice on the wills and trusts piece PM me. I worked with someone very good. Found her via mencaps list.

*We should be taxed when we are paid a salary and when we purchase something. That's it.

Inheritance tax, tax on pensions and tax on savings seems very excessive.*

This is wrong. You get tax relief when you make pension contributions so it is right and proper that pensions are taxed as that money has never been taxed.

You also don't get taxed on savings ffs. You get taxed on interest earned on savings. Again, this money has never been taxed so why you would object to this is beyond me.

What about capital gains? How does this fit into your grand plans? You buy an investment property, it triples in value thorough no effort on your part and you get to sell it tax free? Nah, that doesn't seem right.

Can't stand people who whinge about paying tax. Even more so when they clearly don't understand how it works in the first place.

All unearned income should be taxed in the same way as earned income.

I'm no Corbyn fan (but this isn't Labour policy anyway) but I would be very much in favour of unearned income - capital gains, gifts, inheritances - being taxed just like any other income.

*Extend VAT to all businesses - no small business vat threshold

Think the Torygraph was recently up in arms about EU proposals to harmonise VAT thresholds recently. Seem to recall that the UK has one of the highest thresholds, I think in Portugal the threshold is less than €20k?*

OTOH very much against this - VAT threshold in the U.K. may well be too high (don't have an opinion 9n this tbh) but making micro businesses do VAT reporting would put most out of business, or push them into the black economy. And a low threshold just makes people artificially depress their earnings or do more work on the black.

*All unearned income should be taxed in the same way as earned income.

I'm no Corbyn fan (but this isn't Labour policy anyway) but I would be very much in favour of unearned income - capital gains, gifts, inheritances - being taxed just like any other income*

Totally agree

Extend VAT to all businesses - no small business vat threshold

Why not close tax loopholes for the likes of Google and Amazon, rather than making life even more difficult for sole traders and small businesses? I’d love to know why you think small business owners are “people who can afford it” as well

but I would be very much in favour of unearned income - capital gains, gifts, inheritances - being taxed just like any other income.

So you effectively want to tax someone’s earnings twice - once when they earn it (income tax) and again when they decide they want to gift their hard-earned money to their kids?

I had an SN child under Labour and latterly the tories I saw the changes in how provision was funded, access to it got harder too, I've seen how specialist services have been decimated and discussed with many provision experts how much of the progress made has been lost.

So no I won't shut up.

Oh and I now am in the system for fighting for the needs of an SN adult to be taken care of properly, jumping through hoops that didn't exist to get lower levels of funding.

Thanks

As I said up thread that's what I don't understand how people don't see that inheritance is income. When my dad dies I will inherit a large sum, in that year I will have 'earned',enoug to pay 40% tax why on earth shouldn't I pay?

Misti I think the VAT harmonisation would have dropped the UK threshold down from £85k to about £70k from memory.

Three unusable water cannons bought by Boris Johnson when he was mayor were sold for scrap, at a net loss of £300,000. Money flushed straight down the toilet.

They were not unusable at all - they are used frequently in Belgium, especially when there are protests in Brussels. They could have been sold.

The NHS squanders money and it is piss-poorly middle managed, mostly by people who's experience wouldn't even qualify them for a filing job or data entry in any other industry.

Also not true despite what the Daily Hate would have you believe. It's actually one of the most efficient and cost effective health care systems in the world

I think my issue with paying more tax is that I wouldn’t trust the government (Tory or Labour) not to simply waste the extra money. If we could guarantee that we’d have a noticeably better quality of life through paying more tax (like countries like Denmark do, from what I understand) then fine. But I don’t believe or trust that our politicians would deliver this.

If that’s really the case (odd it wasn’t mentioned before?) then I’m amazed you can’t grasp what might be wrong with these proposals, Zipee. Very peculiar all round.

When my dad dies I will inherit a large sum, in that year I will have 'earned',enoug to pay 40% tax why on earth shouldn't I pay?

Because your dad has already paid all his taxes. So why should you hand over another massive chunk to the government?

It's actually one of the most efficient and cost effective health care systems in the world

Do you have any evidence to support this assertion?

Like so much of what Corbyn says (if you believe opportunity should be equal) it makes a lot of sense.... Until you start thinking about how it could actually work.

The trouble with socialism is that human nature is basically selfish, so whilst we all like to think we're kind and generous and believe in equality, the fact is we don't, if it will disadvantage us or, especially, our children.