What do you think of this idea of a wealth tax?

[LuluJakey1]

This is from The Guardian this afternoon. It is the third article I have seen in the Press two days promoting this idea.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/06/arts-wealth-tax-rishi-sunak-nhs-public-services?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Personally, I think it is bonkers. She seems to be suggesting that ALL wealth in this country - houses, savings, pensions, shares/paintings etc should be subjected to a one off tax of 10% to get us out of the financial mess.

DH and I would have to find about £80,000 cash! We'd have to sell the house?

Yes- Yes it is a good idea and you are BU to criticise it.
No- It is an awful idea and you are right to criticise it.

" I just want a bit of a smaller state and lower taxes all round."

The biggest slices of money go welfare and health, then education and state pensions.

Which of them do you want to cut?

I just paid a heap of July 2020 income tax so am sitting here with open wounds bleeding emotionally so be nice.... the same week I just paid £20k law school fees for the twins

Perhaps you need some help with your emotional attachment to your money, it’s not healthy to care so much about it that you bleed from emotional open wounds when you pay your tax.

you can be sure that most people in employment will also be paying July tax around now.

Is there some way in which you think you are "special?"

“The very rich do not need this money. However the exchequer does, in order to maintain services at their current level.

But in my view, it should go further than this - it should facilitate wealth redistribution through a tax credit scheme, so that people from ordinary families are as likely to succeed as people from very rich ones. This would mean that our society would be run by the best talent, not just those who went to the right schools.”

I will NEVER handover the wealth I have worked so hard to get. I will happily destroy it all before giving it to people like you who would take it by force.

Wow. 🥺

Damn. I'll have to give DM credit for saying never trust governments or banks. She's always had everything in cash under the bed!

Perhaps you need some help with your emotional attachment to your money, it’s not healthy to care so much about it that you bleed from emotional open wounds when you pay your tax.

For the love of money is the root of all evil Timothy 6:10

Totally crazy. Leave those who work hard to build their lives up alone.

We just lost the social com,pact we used to have eg in 1982 my father and I were able to have my local council from a discretionary payment pay my post grad fees (we were not poor) as in those days you paid in and took out. Now the state bleeds dry a few people, gives them little back and has an awful lot of people not paying any income tax at all. A very different system.

@Baaaahhhhh

Damn. I'll have to give DM credit for saying never trust governments or banks. She's always had everything in cash under the bed!

Which is all very well until they change the notes, and start asking whre large amounts came from ...

@Alsohuman so I guess you think it’s fair that the fruits of years of blood sweat and tears are appropriated by the state and shared out to everyone else. Because honestly I wonder then what the point of all the risk and stress and sacrifice was.

Now the state bleeds dry a few people, gives them little back and has an awful lot of people not paying any income tax at all

In order not to pay any income tax at all, your income has to be less than £12,500, why on earth should people earning a pittance pay income tax? Even so those people pay tax at the same rate as the highest earners on everything they buy.

Errr because they’re also consuming the same services as everyone else.

Thankfully the UK operates a system where public services such as schooling, health, police, libraries, ambulance etc are provided regardless of your ability to pay. Those in work pay tax on a sliding scale based on your level of income - sounds fair to me.

@Parker231

Thankfully the UK operates a system where public services such as schooling, health, police, libraries, ambulance etc are provided regardless of your ability to pay. Those in work pay tax on a sliding scale based on your level of income - sounds fair to me.

That'll be a useful list for working out where the axe will fall next.

So everyone receives the same level of service but I have to pay much more than other people because I’ve worked immensely hard and invested wisely. Yep that seems fair .

Is there anything more heartrending than a rich person having to pay tax according to their means, like everybody else?

Ah the politics of envy

@RedtreesRedtrees

Ah the politics of envy

No, the politics of fairness.

Loving people on this thread claiming to know more about economics than global economics superstar Thomas Piketty.

Alsohuman let’s not pretend it’s fair!

Of course it’s fair.

So my reward for hard work is to pay much more than others for the same services?!

Just because you’re unable or unwilling to earn the money yourself you seem to think you have a right to take mine!

@RedtreesRedtrees

Just because you’re unable or unwilling to earn the money yourself you seem to think you have a right to take mine!

I’ve earned my money my entire life. I was a higher rate taxpayer for most of my career and still pay income tax in retirement. I’m not taking your money. But I’m happily paying my tax without complaint because it’s the right thing to do.