To suggest windfall taxes

[Meltingpots]

I'm miffed off at the profits banks are earning from increasing interest rates. I'm equally miffed off about the money energy companies have made during an "energy price crisis". I'm mouth wide open about Supermarkets still raking it in. The contempt we are heald in is disgusting.

Should the people of this country be putting pressure on the government to do windfall taxes and use that money to sort the NHS funding they promised us Brexit would bring. I'm sure all that money can be put into providing mental health services for the population they have crushed to breaking point.

I'm just beyond miffed off.

We are not living in a civilised society anymore. We are living in some elitist society where the people in power crush the weakest whilst feathering their own nests.

I don’t think it is OK for the banks to increase their profit margins by failing to increase savings rates at the same rate and time as borrowing rates.

Thing is no one in power gives a shit what you - or I think.

Can someone explain if there are any measures in place to stop supermarkets from increasing prices over and over when wholesale prices are reducing?

In theory there's the Competition and Markets Authority. In their previous incarnation as the Competition Commission (and that is from the artists formerly known as the Monopolies and Mergers Commission) they had power of boot.

In one role in a very heavily regulated industry I had to be prepared for a dawn raid and had standing instructions to "assist the relevant authorities" under risk of criminal sanctions. So they had very real teeth. However I am always a little wary when government bodies are incessantly renamed. It usually indicates they are slowly eased out of any real power.

We're living in a capitalist society though and this is exactly the outcome you should have expected. Especially from a government that supports a free market and small government and a society that widely adopts the "you just need work harder / get a better job if you're not happy with your lot" attitude.

I'm actually finding it quite amusing that all those who used to moan about scroungers, junkies, dole bums, and entitled snowflakes are now being impacted by the beast they've created.

Apparantly it was ok for companies to exploit workers / the planet / the poor / whatever when it benefited them directly but now they're also being exploited they want someone to step in and stop it. Quod Severis Metes.

I would prefer some price controls instead. No reason why they could not be applied to water, telecoms, which are all regulated.

If you have a pension that is not a government backed one like the teaching pension then you probably have shares in a bank. Pension funds are perhaps the biggest holders of shares in the country.

I'd rather have a smaller pension though that has performed well (not exceptionally well at the expense of fuel poverty) and have the comfort of knowing in old age I wont be in fuel poverty, have access to functioning health and social care. By the time most of us are on pensions we will value a low crime, functioning public services and decent health care.

I'm so miffed off about this because my relative who has just gone into hospital with a UTI has now contracted MRSA and is now battling a completely preventable hospital bourne disease and theyve decided its best to just let nature take its course. What a society we have become in the hands of our Government. A lot of the issues we face are all from political choice. The hospital is falling apart, quite literally and the staff just seem to be in zombie mode. 🧟‍♀️

The average FTSE100 dividend yield is 3.8%, and those "rip-off" supermarkets are all currently less than 5%. Any company with a yield of 10% or more is usually a sign of trouble at the company and indicative of a very risky investment.

Lower down the thread you hinted that you meant share price growth rather than dividend. What would you do about a company that had a share price two years ago of £2.10, one year ago £1.80 and is now £2.20. Their share price has gone up by 22% since last year - does this really make them a candidate for some kind of "windfall tax".

There is already a tax on holders of shares that have increased in value significantly - it is called Capital Gains Tax.

Reality check.

FTSE yield currently 3.65%, slightly higher than historic averages.

Price caps lead to shortages.

Price controls lead to shortages.

If you’re economically illiterate and lazy in your thinking, you may be a fan of windfall taxes. Oil and gas companies now pay 75% tax in this country. So guess what, Shell and BP packed up and left the North Sea and took their taxes with them. The smaller players are also saying they will not be able to keep going in North sea. So we lose our oil industry and import ever more expensive energy. Congratulations, you lost a wedge of tax and became even more energy insecure.

Now try and do the same to banks and watch the banks walk off and see yourself get even poorer.

Perhaps engage your brain and ask why you were screeching and demanding lockdowns for 2 years, and let’s face it most of MN was. And why you didn’t consider what half a trillion pounds of money printing to pay for Covid would do to inflation. And how that idiocy has now led to very high interest rates. Were the Covid freebies worth it?

No reason? Try reading history books. They are littered with reasons.

Yes. This.

Here is the UK Gov parliamentary briefing on how much the UK spent bailing out the banks in the 2007-2009. These banks are now massively profiteering for the rise in interest rates. It doesn't seem right does it?

I don't understand why it's allowed.

I have shares in most of the big banks and I still don't know why it's allowed.

The extra profits are in the billions.

I'm sorry but this is pretty naive. Banks aren't profiting from interest rate rises as that's the cost of money on the market, and they are also in many cases having to borrow and are susceptible to interest rate changes. They don't just pocket the difference from lower interest rates to higher.

Impose windfall taxes on companies at random and they will vote with their feet. I know those on the left often either don't believe it or say let them go, but we've seen them move before when the tax burden became too high and we need these companies hiring people and contributing to corporation taxes etc. Look at how Ireland does it for example. Disincentivise company investment and things will only get worse, not better.

And your comment on the NHS - it already receives more of an increase than was "promised" by Brexit. I object to ploughing more money into a failing NHS that is not being reformed to deliver better outcomes for the huge sums it receives. We have some of the worst patient outcomes in the world and we need to stop and think about how it can be better - not simply throwing more money at it which historically has been proven not to work.

I think they should be forced to equalise mortgage rates and savings rates. These fuckers were bailed out and now back to their old ways.

when was the last time any public company paid a dividend of anything like 15%? Supermarkets, banks etc are not making amazing profits- many are struggling. Banks charge more interest because the cost of them to borrow the money to lend is higher.

it would be helpful to you to learn something about business and the economy before coming out with stuff like this.

What happened to local businesses providing local jobs and people just earning enough

• I don’t mean “just enough”

I mean enough for a nice life but not greed. Now it’s Scrooge mcduck wealth for a few and struggling for lots

Tesco dividend yield is about 1-3%. That’s typical for large companies. Shares of listed companies are mainly owned by pension funds and insurance companies to provide for pensions and life insurance payouts.

How then should they cover their costs?

This is another daft thing to say. The government bought shares in the banks to steady them in a financial crisis. These shares can and will be sold once the banks are healthy again. The current interest rate crisis is not helpful for banks as it increases their cost of funds and rates of default. If the banks are profitable the shares owned by the government will be worth more.

There are price controls in regulated industries. These can’t be below cost (and a reasonable small profit) or the companies providing these things will go out of business and not provide them anymore.

That briefing shows the net cost was £23bn. HS2 is estimated to cost £100bn as a comparison.

Tax receipts from the banking sector in 2022 were £31bn
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/paye-and-corporate-tax-receipts-from-the-banking-sector-2022/paye-and-corporate-tax-receipts-from-the-banking-sector-2022

So in 2022 the banks paid more in tax than the net cost of the bailout.

Higher interest rates may not be the profit drivers people are thinking. It will depend on the bank’s other business. Interest rates on deposits will go up, the price of derivatives, currencies and bonds will change. Defaults may go up. It’s far more complex when you start looking beyond the impact on retail consumers.

Yes I agree!

Some very defensive people have turned up on this thread to defend capatalism.

The fact of the matter is that the masses are struggling and the people at the top are raking it in and sitting on extreme wealth. Some have even pledged to give it away, which is great, but they only want to do it after they die. That to me is greed and ego above humility. We all would benefit from getting our priorities straight.

Trouble is most people "at the top" aren't British and aren't living in the UK, so UK government have no control over them!