I don't disagree with tax rises.(although I do disagree with them for lower and middle earners - which, for transparency, isn't me)
I was disagreeing with reducing tax efficiencies to stop people paying into pensions.
Changes need to be made system wide not just tinkering on the edges - which is what she's doing. I've said on a previous thread what I would do although I have been refining my thinking since then - tax needs to be simplified and loopholes closed. The biggest issue for the country is the wealth that is flowing outward rather than circulating within the UK.
Obviously this is all very high level and would all have to be modelled properly to find optimal rates and bands etc, but broadly speaking I would:
Increase the lower threshold to something like £20,000.
Create a new band between £50,000 and £80,000 of something like 34%
£80,000 - £175,000 - 42%
£175,000 + - 55% - 60%
I would apply those tax rates to ALL personal income e.g. salary, dividends and interest to take away the incentive for people to incorporate solely to avoid tax. There could be exceptions for dividends where the company employs people, but which eliminates the tax perks for shell and single director Ltd companies where it is being used solely to reduce tax.
I would keep the cash and standard s&s ISA limits at £20k but create a British Investment S&S ISA that focusses investment on British business with a higher investment limit (£30k or £40k)
Introduce the US system where all citizens who live abroad have to produce a tax return on their world wide income and pay any difference in tax between what they have paid in the country in they live and what they would pay in the UK.
Like the US people can choose to give up their citizenship if they don't want to do the tax return but this would come with other consequences such as not being able to keep (or receive in future) any titles.and reduced / more expensive access to UK business opportunities.
I would introduce rules for government contracts and property investment which priortise British businesses including more favourable tax incentives. This would keep more.public money circulating within the UK itself.
Something needs to be done around property investments which stop all the foreign investors buying up property in London which then sits empty. Maybe something like higher stamp duty and capital gains for people / companies that don't pay UK income or corporation tax.
Something also needs to be done for the housing market in terms of private landlords etc - not sure what yet though.
I would bring back PPI for public sector services but crucially I would have very very strict performance requirements and penalties for not meeting them and would increase borrowing to invest in public services (Keynsian model), utilise private companies for efficiency but keep public sector control of the purse strings.
I would look to renationalise utility companies but in a way that works in the modern economy - by making the government major shareholders (like EDF in France), increasing fines and penalties where performance is not up to scratch, and reduce or limit the amount that could be taken as dividends by limiting the profit margins that are allowed (with anything above that limit having to be re-invested)
Ultimately, the aim would need to be for utility companies to operate on a not for profit / low profit basis with the government as major share holders.