COVID-19: Those earning above £19.5k should pay more tax after pandemic to help fix UK finances, says think-tank

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Your thoughts on this?

news.sky.com/story/covid-19-those-earning-above-19-5k-should-pay-more-tax-to-help-fix-finances-12130088

How should the debt be clawed back? What would you do if you were government to raise the money?

@CousinKrispy

How about we tax the fuck out of Amazon

Yes.

I'd start with a windfall levy on those who have profited out of the pandemic (Serco, others), support the general increase in Corporation tax (and end exemptions), and reinstate the annual increase in fuel duty which has not happened for years. Of the measures suggested for the budget (or leaked) the increase in corporation tax and the freezing of personal allowances have my support.

I'd also end any idea of a road building programme, and the only reason for continuing with HS2 is because of how far the construction has gone.

@CousinKrispy

How about we tax the fuck out of Amazon

Unfortunately because Amazon route all their sales through low tax Luxembourg they "technically" make no profit or n the UK thereby avoiding corporation tax.

You could introduce an online sales tax which might well be introduced in the budget but this would hit small online UK sellers as well.or you could tax turnover instead of profit but this would hit legitimate companies that have high turnovers with small margins. But I think an online sales tax plus getting rid of business rates is a good start to level the playing field with high street stores.

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

Oh and I have been back at work since August so I am also now "paying for people's time off" who have been on furlough much longer than me. I do not care

Not really unless you are a net tax payer and given what you’ve listed that’s not the case.

Agreed. It's amazing the amount of people that don't understand that if they get more back in benefits than they pay in tax then they aren't contributing financially.

You have to be earning around the 30k mark to be a net contributor, on average.

Those earning above £19.5k should pay more tax after pandemic to help fix UK finances, says think-tank

Well thanks to this pandemic none of us are earning more than £19,500 per annum.
And Dh is someone who went to a public school. So not every public educated person is minted.

"Unfortunately because Amazon route all their sales through low tax Luxembourg they "technically" make no profit or n the UK thereby avoiding corporation tax."

Maybe this is exactly the type of loophole that needs closing then?

Just my personal view that someone on 60k is less likely to feel as much pain as someone on the lower end wage. Generally a higher salary will allow people to borrow more etc and have a better life style...

Agree that the really bottom should be excused from this, perhaps make the claw back incremental...

probably not shopping with Amazon is the easiest way to get them to change their ways.

The government are the ones that pursued herd immunity. locked down too late and eased too early again and again. They messed this up and as a result made the economy worse.

Tax those who made it worse not those of us who tried our best to stop this and eradicate it.

Tax the companies that made a profit as a result of the pandemic for starters. Like a pandemic windfall tax

@Ifailed

Scrap NI, scrap CTG and treat all gain as "income". Introduce 2 tier VAT, with a higher rate on genuine luxury items such as jewellery, leisure vehicles (including boats), etc. Introduce on-line sales tax. Drop HS2, Trident replacement, referb of Parliament (there will be plenty of empty office space)

And drop the House of Lords allowance of around £305 per day, PLUS travel allowance, PLUS subsidised meals....

@Cheesecats

Tax the companies that made a profit as a result of the pandemic for starters. Like a pandemic windfall tax

On an emotional level I agree with your sentiment but the problem is practically how do you do this.

Bicycle, home baking and laptop sales were up in 2020 do they pay a wind fall tax? What about a small company that managed to grow during 2020 despite Covid and made more money than say in 2019 - do they pay a wind fall tax?

I think the easiest solution is an online sales tax above a certain threshold though ironically this will also hit online grocery shopping for example Tesco online that actually helped people who were at risk and self isolating.

@Pugdoglife

"Unfortunately because Amazon route all their sales through low tax Luxembourg they "technically" make no profit or n the UK thereby avoiding corporation tax."

Maybe this is exactly the type of loophole that needs closing then?

Also on an emotional level I fully agree with your sentiment but on a practical level how do you do this. Many many legitimate multinational companies make their profits globally but pay their corporation tax in their headquartered home countries e.g IKEA in Sweden, L'Oreal is n France, BMW in Germany even BP in the UK.

How do you practically and audit demonstrate that x% of total profits came from abc country? What was the share of central R&D, share of central marketing etc etc.

I still think an online sales tax is the only way to achieve this even though it also has serious flaws.

It doesn't matter what they do, someone won't be happy and they will be torn to shreds.

I'm self employed, got nothing from the government and it looks like I'm expected to bail it out too.

Really tough but everyone should hurt a bit, not just some of us hurting a lot.

1dayatatime I'm pretty sure Amazon is a highly sophisticated machine and they know exactly how much money they bring in from every country that they trade in.
The governments of the world could force the issue to make sure that companies pay the correct amount of tax for their country, unfortunately there is no drive to go after the super wealthy and instead they keep fiddling around squeezing the poorest.
There can be no justification for allowing JB to increase his wealth by almost double and then increase the tax on people earning 19.5k or going after people who were furloughed.

1000's of small businesses trade through Amazon and Amazon aren't all bad....
amazon.co.uk/amazon-in-the-community]]

And those small businesses pay their taxes. It's the money that Amazon make that's not getting taxed fairly.

Yes.
And as a higher rate tax payer I expect to pay a higher %. I’d like those on a lot more to pay more still. Personally I’d rather pay more tax and have higher spending on education (but that’s a separate issue I know). Taxing those that were on furlough would disproportionately hit women. Again. I do not want that.

I don’t agree with all the covid spending but it’s happened and I expect to pay a proportion of it back.

Closing tax loopholes would be good, but that’s a separate issue in my mind. That should happen anyway. Yes things like subsidised lunches for the House of Lords should go but it’s frankly a drop in the ocean.

They could start by closing tax loopholes that big corporations have exploited for years.

For those saying only furloughed workers should take the hit, please remember that furloughed workers are often on a lower wage to start with and are disproportionately women.

I'm no longer furloughed but have debt from when I was and certainly couldn't pay my bills if I was furloughed and paying extra tax at the same time.

@peak2021

I'd start with a windfall levy on those who have profited out of the pandemic (Serco, others), support the general increase in Corporation tax (and end exemptions), and reinstate the annual increase in fuel duty which has not happened for years. Of the measures suggested for the budget (or leaked) the increase in corporation tax and the freezing of personal allowances have my support.

I'd also end any idea of a road building programme, and the only reason for continuing with HS2 is because of how far the construction has gone.

I really wish people would stop thinking ending Hs2 and other infrastructure building would be a good idea. The way to a better economy is an increase in government spending on these types of projects as they create thousands and thousands of jobs with a knock on effect for many industries. If you end Hs2 and road building do you realise how many people will be made redundant and therefore become reliant on the state? And not just this year, for the next 5 or so years. We need more of these projects now, not less.

Perhaps that figure is to ensure they include the lowest level CS grades. I earn pennies over 20k due to 10 years of 1% pay "rises". Make it average wage, which incidentally, neither me, DH (also CS, higher grade than me) and 2DS earn ANYWHERE near.

@Cheesecats

The government are the ones that pursued herd immunity. locked down too late and eased too early again and again. They messed this up and as a result made the economy worse.

Tax those who made it worse not those of us who tried our best to stop this and eradicate it.

There was never a "herd immunity" strategy; Patrick Vallance's comments about how it can end were misunderstood, despite him and many others clarifying over and over and over again from that day. But you know that of course, you just think it sounds clever.

No surprise that the "independent" Think Tank", headed by a Labour fan + pal of millionaire Blair should call for higher taxes tbh. It's an awful idea, these ppl have no.idea how tight finances are for millions of working peope.

[quote Myalternate]1000's of small businesses trade through Amazon and Amazon aren't all bad....
amazon.co.uk/amazon-in-the-community]][/quote]
So Amazon doubled their profit from £2.6 billion in 2019 to £5.2 billion in 2020. Yet they "kindly" donated £3 million to relief organisations dealing with Covid.

Whilst £3million is better than nothing let's be honest it's just window dressing PR money to try and make people think Amazon are not entirely all that bad when IMO they actually are that bad.

Agree with raising VAT on actual luxury items, such as ridiculously overpriced cars, yachts, couture fashion, etc, stuff that no sane person NEEDS. Also a long overdue tax on second homes. Taxing those earning £19 k is bonkers, as they would surely also get more tax credits etc so no point. I'd say maybe 60-70k as a starting point.