I enjoyed making this related video on high tax Denmark. Why Denmark is rich despite High tax. ua-cam.com/video/h3AT6kqu4kM/v-deo.html&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.economicshelp.org%2F
Denmark is in EU. They have access to massive market, also have Maersk, Lego, etc. UK on the other hand decided to leave EU and turn itself into a poor country. I'll never understand why
Yep. I'm amazed how more people aren't up in arms about it. Punishing work is so counter productive. I'm not rich, but am putting more in AVCs as I resent the higher rate.
It is one of the reasons why are productivity is so low because their is little incentive to work harder if a large chunk is lost in tax.lf tax is needed to allow investment in infrastructure it should come from taxes on unearned income at the highest levels.
@@maximt1401 I haven't yet found a YT that describes in detail how to tax the super rich. However I would recommend "The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire | Documentary Film" if you haven't seen it already. It was a real eye opener for me. At least it shows you the scale of the problem. I'm generally interested in finance and how the rich operate in case I can learn something of benefit for myself and my family. Personally I think capitalism is a good system but there aren't enough controls (taxes) to control wealth inequality between the top 1% and the bottom 99%. The top 1% are usually cunning people that hold their wealth in secrecy and are usually 1 step ahead of the government by using clever lawyers, wealth managers / accountants. The rich often fund the government in the UK and particularly the US so it isn't in the interest of governments to upset their paymasters too much. The majority of the population are completely clueless about how the top 1% operate.
I'm a nurse and pay about 58% of my salary in taxes and other essential things I'm forced to pay for like insurance. Meanwhile Sunak pays less than 0.16% tax on his income and was not in favour of payrises for nurses. Scum
@_Unlukey salary of £70,000 gives you a take home pay of only £47,500 after deductions (including pension). Then council tax per annum: £3180 Tax on the diesel I use: £4800 VAT on vehicle payment: £1320 Car insurance (I'm forced to pay it so counting it as a tax- I know it's not): £1000 Gas and electric and water VAT: £400 Car services and tyres VAT: £400ish Food bill VAT: £1000 ish Motorbike payment VAT: £650 Motorbike insurance: £600 Management company maintenance fee I'm forced to pay for the upkeep of roads (despite paying highest rate council tax): £300 Phone and WiFi VAT: £240 Approx 10 pints a week at £6 a pint: £2500 tax Plus, professional registration fees I'm forced to pay for: £500 Total: Hidden taxes of £17,000. Deduct that from the take home pay of £47,500 =£30,500 or 44% of £70,000. Apart from the Motorbike and beer, all of the others are essential costs that I need for normal living and actually being able to work. There are many other more costs and leisure costs that when the VAT is included, adds up the rest. I did a very detailed one before and it worked out approximately 48%. Just realised my original comment said 58%. I think this was a typo, it was meant to be 48%. Heaven forbid I never have children as the tax on average childcare costs would be £6240 for 2 children.
@Jake-gq7ci Yeah my answer seems to have been deleted too. How annoying! Essentially, it adds up quickly by factoring in income tax, national insurance tax, VAT on essential purchases, council tax and other fees that we are forced to pay for by law but aren't called taxes (such as insurances, TV tax, registration fees etc).
@_Unlukey Sorry I listed a detailed breakdown, but UA-cam is deleting it. Like Jake mentions, it's all of the hidden taxes and essential costs that make up the rest. I highly recommend a book called Taxtopia. - it's about a British accountant explaining how ludicrous our tax system is and how it cripples workers whilst the rich avoid it perfectly legally.
You see a lot of people would immediately jump into a left vs right political argument. But if you let the numbers speak for themselves, the logical thing to do becomes clear... right?
@@alexmellor9455 I'm not a billionaire, no. But if they do all leave the country then I'll be the one paying 90% income tax I feel. I can't imagine an international minimum tax rate would work because it's too lucrative to be a tax haven. As long as tax havens are a thing then billionaires will leave to them if push comes to shove. I guess the only thing the country can do is tax profits regardless of where the company is based, and hope the UK is a big enough market that some company will go along with it.
Technically the distribution of tax by earnings isn't too relevant to the average Joe and shouldn't be. Tax as a percentage of earnings for each group should be the guiding measure for fairness. Government should be concerned about tax take from each group but that's more of a sustainability, forecasting perspective.
Billionaires make their money off the backs of societal and global systems (infrastructure, health, education, security etc.) not to say off the works of thousands of others. They are increasingly determined to pay little into the system or fairly compensate their workforce (or increasingly replace them with technology where possible). Taxing wealth again like we used to 1945-1980 is a must. All we’re seeing now is an increasing concentration of wealth and power, and those who have it leveraging both to further said wealth and power even more.
They sure take advantage of your decrepit infrastructure. It's not like most government funds end up, unlike in the past, being redistributed to politically connected companies or pure clientelism to secure the next election. To clarify, clientelism has happened in the past too, it's just that the scale it has reached today is completely unsustainable.
yes! it's so funny (sad) how people gaslit into thinking the neoliberal narrative is true really think that billionaires work 50.000x harder than the average person. the day has 24h for everyone.
@@greg1943-u3iwell that makes no logical sense. The lowest earner will get a little bit extra in their pay check whereas highest earners will be better off by many many times more. So their spending power goes through the roof causing inflation and the lowest earner can afford even less.
@@greg1943-u3ieverybodies rich ,but unable to get the use of essential services.a bit like having a pile of gold in the middle of a dessert isle with no way out.
Legislation needs to be introduced at an international level to limit tax avoidance schemes and wealth hoarding. We cannot continue in the way we're going.
The issue I see is, when other countries can get by with only 10% tax even excluding rich people moving their, why force them to increase to a global standard? Why is it, specifically in the UK and some other places, that we pay so much tax and get so little? its so expensive to do bacis stuff and we have constant reports of local councils wasting millions on stupid shit like paying contractors to trim hedges.. We have such a bloated an inefficient system, by hay I guess its easier to to raise tax then to actually fix the real issue...
What do you propose to improve public service efficiency? In my opinion, it's very difficult because they have no competition so no reason to be efficient. I accept it's a problem, but so is wealth inequality.
Taxing overall wealth is a nonsense, the super rich horde assets and let the appreciation accumulate by not taking any gains, how can you say that government should have the power to force the sell to apply their CGT is a good idea...
@@markturner5534 taxing people who have money more than the people who dont I think makes perfect sense? Isnt that what a truly "progressive" tax system should be?
@@billykotsos4642 but you can't tax what isn't being sold, if I investment in an accumulation fund of a stock/s or precious metal/s, the dividends are being constantly reinvested because I'm not closing the investment, you could only apply CGT if I was to buy an income fund where I received those dividends, the wealthy don't sell they invest long term and live off loans secured against those assets, because they pay far less in any loan repayment than what they'd pay in taxes, including an income, they don't pay tax on income because they don't have an income.
Capital Gains are NOT income. There was massive tax avoidance during the post WW2 period of high tax rates - remember the "expense account" loophole? Sir Keir Starmer enjoys a special law enacted to give him a pension privilege denied to all others. In opposition, Starmer said that he would abolish his privilege. In office he swiftly abolished pensioners winter fuel payment but dropped his pledge to abolish his special privilege.
Freezing the tax thresholds is a massive tax hike designed to keep us in our places. It's smashing me as I am essentially in a single earner household, (wife earns pocket money part time around the kids). Its always us mugs in the middle who get blasted. Labour dont like making work pay.
Neither do the Tories. At least labour have started giving people payrises! Labour have just agreed to give my first payrise since 2008. The Tories gave us 16 years of consecutive paycuts. Vote reform
@ilikelampshades6 I did. I cannot fathom why anyone would vote Red/Blue/Yellow still. Have you figured out how much of your pay rise will be clawed back through tax yet?
@mrmeldrew693 I'm already paying like 48% income tax and national insurance, so the 5.5% only turns out to be a 2.64% pay in my pocket, which isn't a huge amount. Pointless working in this country unless you're a Ltd company or self-employed and fiddling taxes. PAYE is just to make us wage slaves
@mrmeldrew693: The Marriage Allowance lets you transfer £1,260 of your (low earning) wife's personal allowance to you. Why not look at what's available rather than just complaining?
lower tax rates encourage investment as you judge a potential investment by comparing the after tax return compared to the size of the investment & risk => tax rises => lower growth
Any company (like amazon) who have benefitted from strong consumtion and quality infrastructure in UK and have driven local business off the market must be taxed properly. Otherwise, its just sucking out wealth offshore, leading overall economy to be frail and less productive
Regulation of banks, not taxing the filthy rich is necessary. Also, political, economic & peace education for the mainstream masses will go a long way towards helping everyone understand why we're up sh*t creek without a paddle & how best too remedy this crappy situation. "Apathy in Public affairs leads to the rule of evil men." - Plato.
When has there ever in history been a tax that was 'one off'? It's disingenuous to suggest any government would just voluntarily turn off that spigot once it's opened
If you're not already in touch then I suggest you connect with Gary Stephenson of Gary's Economics. It is very clear that the fairest way to improve the UK is to reduce the wealth inequality gap via taxing the wealthiest to pay for more services. If they choose to leave, let them leave. However, in a feudal kleptocracy and in a country that a large minority get very rich through laundering, fraud and tax evasion dressed up as tax avoidance, this may mean short term pain for medium to long term gain. Keep up the great work, and thank you. ✌🏻
Well they do leave. They go to tax havens so they are not paying into UK tax system. This then leaves the poorer people and middle classes picking up the tab
@@stormkiki6436 Most won't leave, and for those that do leave, wave goodbye to them. The majority of those types pay little or no tax anyway dues to tax avoidance schemes almost all fully utilise.
So Gov doesn't waste tax money, perhaps it should be hypothecated. Allocating specific tax revenues to fund particular government expenditures. This would increase transparency and accountability while increasing public trust and ensuring funding for essential public services
Tax earnings when and where they're made, simple, if you want to operate somewhere you pay tax there, or you get lost. The government needs to regularly close loopholes too, like companies paying a subsidiary absurd amounts for "licensing" to keep profits artificially low.
If i was a billionare it would be a pleasure to give it away... libraries, parks, youth clubs...how much do you need? if you're doing great, pay it back.
Much of the increase in public funding is going towards paying pension liabilities which is why we pay so much and get so little in return. Street crime in London is out of control because the population has changed beyond all recognition, you get what you vote for.
Pointing approvingly to the Danish system as a possible model for the UK seems to assume that we could get all the upside without losing anything that makes the UK a globally competitive location for many industries. And let’s not forget that Denmark has a population less than 1/10th that of the UK, with as many people working in the UK public sector as there are in the entire Danish population (5.9M). Then there’s high-trust society (DK)vs low-trust society (UK). The success of any nation’s tax system, especially ‘high tax’ systems, is typically based on a multitude of domestic and international factors, not simply having the guts to try it.
The UK do not have the time to develop a UK model - so find something that works - Denmark having 10% of the population should not be a problem - Estonian, Poland and Latvia can also be used as an inspiration.
@@lrrw-v4l you are right that some parties competed in making terrible laws excluding many good resources for some years. On the other hand some migrants showed a very ability to adapt and became very visible for all the wrong reasons. The present government have made some changes in regards to integration of Arab woman and gangs.
My LTD is due to make £836 this year, with a total corporate tax (25%) & dividend tax (39.35%) bill of £447k. That seems insanely high tax paid in the UK compared to somewhere else. It would mean the tax bill is ~53.5% of business earnings.
The first thing to remember is the EU created most of the Laws that allow this to happen, which is why Ireland has boomed over the last 25 years. I read 16,000 high worth individuals have left the UK in the last 3 years, so something is not working in the UKs favour
Rubbish. Until very recently EU did not regulate tax matters. In fact it's only in 2022 when the minimum tax directive was introduced which makes it harder for corporations not to pay tax. Some maintain this was the real reason for brexit
Last time I looked Ireland where in the eu probably a big reason why they are leaving.call me naive but if we have had a goverment in charge over the last 14 years who had wanted to stop tax evasion instead of doing everything in its power to make it easier maybe with that additional revenue we may not be in a position to have to raise more taxes. Y
Financial wealth is hard to tax in general, but roughly half of household wealth tends to be in real estate. Compared to stocks, real estate is relatively easy to identify, value and tax, and it is pretty immobile. In addition, residential real estate has consistently been one of the strongest areas of growth and inward investment for the last few decades in the UK and similar countries in the anglosphere. For example, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), UK household wealth (of which 60% is land) increased £1 trillion in 2021, which was the highest on record (an increase of over 9%). The UK, as a unitary state, could levy an extra 1% charge on residential real estate. This would raise in the range of £70 billion per year, which is in well in excess of the £52 billion per year proposed by the 1% millionaire wealth tax proposed by the LSE. This would be a 5.8% boost to the 2023 UK budget spending of £1.2T. It would be much easier to collect, harder to avoid, less likely to drive away those 300,000 people paying taxes, and it's on assets appreciating at close to 10% annually anyway ... so it's really just down to political will.
I’d like to see your perspective on residential property taxes, particularly in the £10 million + category of property value. They can’t be whisked off to the Caymans or Panama. So why not hit them hard?
Indeed. For example the USA has lower income taxes but the property taxes are very high I have been told. In the UK a mansion can pay no more council tax than a large family home. Tax property more as it can't be moved.
It is too far down heap number 5 for me to dig it out of my library, but two or three years ago I read a book _The Richer, The Poorer_ by Stewart Lansley that (if ageing memory serves) was about this kind of thing. (I can tantalisingly see the book, but reckon it would take me 10 minutes to extract it to check!)
I am not afraid of paying taxes, Scandinavian as I am, but the main problem is we are just using and levering the same assets. Not making new things/assets. It si a lot easier to tax local wages than soemtiems global money. Real esate though I am amazed why that is not taxed harder as it is... very hard to move around.
I agree with much of this. Not sure it was air travel in the 70s that started the use of tax havens though. They've been there for hundreds of years and used as tax haven't during that time. There was a general move away from tax is a social good to tax is bad. It's hard to know where this started but I imagine the rich don't like paying much tax and once this starts it spreads...
@@bushmonster1702yes there is a lot of waste at the top on management consultants, private involvement etc. The problem is when the cuts happen they happen to those actually providing the services and not to the management consultants etc. We need to cut out the management consultants, PFI etc and go back to doing as much as possible through direct hiring and not for profits.
Intrest payments on national debt. All government spending theres so much. It's like one bank account will a million bills. But there's so much miss spending from gov
I don't think the public services themselves are necessarily the problem as their budgets have been slashed repeatedly and for example the NHS is said to be a relatively efficient health service when compared to other countries. The biggest culprit is the enormous wealth that has been transferred to the wealthy during covid, which nobody is talking about recovering. Also, the Tory covid VIP lane corruption, which could be to the value of nearly £100 billion according to Carole Vorderman who has researched this extensively.
Big government spending on sweetners and unicorns = higher taxes = higher inflation = government subsides to quell inflation, The rising interest rate can surely control inflation, but won't prevent erosion of the eroding purchasing power of the US dollar. I have learnt my lesson this time. The banks can't be making money off my money, while inflation eats into it. I have set aside 650k to invest in the stock market now, since that keeps up with inflation, but I don't know how to get started.
I have the answer that would make everybody happy. Lower earners pay 5%, middle 10% upper 15% top 20%. Do this with a truly efficient government the UK would be one of the best country's in the World.
Wouldn't it make sense to have a flat tax on all sources of income above a certain threshold, without the ability to mitigate this unless you were contributing to the betterment or economy of the country you resided in.
@@MrAlb3rtazzo The 70% is taken from the plebs that can ill afford it whilst the 30% is taken from those that won't even miss it. Anyone with a brain will go for a discount where ever and then some will say hold on quality of life is worth more than saving a few Quid. None of these people will flee abroad, they will just fence everything through tax havens as they do already unless they are stupid. Have ever met a stupid rich person unless it was passed down wealth that they never worked for?
If they are non-working millionaires then who cares if they leave as they're not paying NI or income tax and they will be paying low taxes as outlined in this video. If they ARE working millionaires, then we should TAX THE SUPER RICH, so we can reduce taxes for WORKING PEOPLE, like these working millionaires.
The rates quoted are highly misleading as they are comparing apples not to oranges but to eggs. A major reason is the tax regime ignores inflation so your capital gain may be taxable but actually be a loss after inflation, if you are going to raise rates you'll need to bring back indexation. Similarly Income tax failing to account for inflation acts as a back door wealth tax on cash / bond income. Also dividend income has already been taxed within the company structure so to tax it at the same rate is double taxation When tax rates were cut from their high rates tax revenues rose
1% Capital Tax on top 1% (Net Assets > £3.6 million), 2% (Net Assets > £10 million). Doomsday Book version 2 of UK needed to identify ownership of UK assets with particular focus on offshore trusts. The title deeds for all land in the UK should be made public (some properties would not be on the public register if it has vulnerable occupants).
@@MrAlb3rtazzo I've heard this excuse many times before. The UK land, residential, commercial and industrial assets would not be moved outside the UK because they are PHYSICALLY inside the UK. The rich could sell these income producing assets and I'm sure the other 99% would be more than happy to buy them.
@MarkCW it is not excuse but simple arithmetic. Of rich people, who pay most of the taxes leave the uk ! Where do you think the money to pay services will come from ?if foreign investment stop where do you get the money to grow the economy ? Do you really think that chasing the rich it is a good stategy or is just far left populism ? Please answer
@MarkCW private invsteors are leaving already,this is a fact, institutional ones won't pay more taxes as far as we know, but they will sell simply because asset prices are going down . It is a simple downward spiral. A tax rise always come with a cost in growth unless the level of taxation is very very low. Plus labour are doing cuts, thier policy is not just tax the rich but also pure austerity.
Income inequality is the problem in most western economies. It has been caused by the inability of our economic systems to fairly distribute the gains from productivity growth over the last 40 years. It has been further exacerbated by flaws in the tax systems that allow the most profitable corporations and highest income individuals to avoid paying their fair share of the taxes needed to support the economic system from which they generate their high incomes and profits. In market economies, consumer spending (consumption) represents some 60-70% of GDP. If the consumer has no growth in disposable income, they cannot increase consumption, hence GDP/capita growth stagnates and decreases. Governments have to recognize the problem and causes before they can even begin to look for an appropriate solution. But political elites live in segments of the economy that derive all the benefits of income inequality; therefore they fail to recognize the problem and its long term consequence.
If I use savings after I have paid UK tax income (taxed at 45-45%), and I invest that money abroad, and that money produces a capital gain, why I should be liable to pay UK tax on that capital gain?. We are already taxed to the max…capital gains is nonsense tax and it should be eliminated instead.
Because you live here and are liable for your worldwide income and gains. Seems reasonable to me, but the benefits of living here seem to be diminishing almost daily, sadly.
@@nothereandthereanywhere , you are missing the point, being proud British does not mean you should be taxed to zero .. I pay income tax 40-45% of my annual income, and then whatever is left is mostly spent on the UK. If you include indirect taxes such VAT, property taxes, etc. I estimate that close to 70% of my annual income is going back to the government. If you earn 100k annually, but 70k goes back to the government through taxes…you are not skipping the ship…right??
We have seen a successive rise in taxes of all kinds since the 70's and we have seen a successive fall in living standards in proportion. More taxes = worse public services. Public money is taken from the poorest and distributed to the friends and relatives of government MP's who have become progressively richer.
If rich people move to other countries, then it'll only start getting more attractive for those countries to tax them as well, since more and more of them are foreign anyway, or recent import, so no hard done to the local population.
When someone born in the UK reaches millionaire status and relinquishes their citizenship nationalise all their UK assets at 10% below market value and exile means exile. They can never step foot on UK territory ever again and all their titles are stripped. No business they go to own can ever have access to UK markets. Their success was based on our education system, rule of law, economy and security. You don't get to do well out a system them bail when it's time to pay back
It’s honestly insane to me the uk doesn’t have a land tax. The us does a lot wrong but property tax is generally tied to home value unlike the incredibly complicated and outdated council tax rate. I don’t think bands have been updated for over 30 years. It’s criminal that people can take low interest loans against the equity of their land and live off that income. These loans historically have rates under 5%, and if you’re living off a £5 million loan at 5% you’re paying less tax than someone who earns £150k with a marginal rate of 45%. I’ll never understand people in this countries fear of making the wealthy (not high income, wealthy) people pay their fair share. Even if they throw their toys out the pram and leave, the assets they own don’t suddenly become worthless. Millions of pounds of acres don’t lose their value because the person who owns them sells and moves to the canaries. These physical assets will always have worth, and no matter how many “wealthy” people leave they’ll still generate revenue if we tax them. My biggest fear is we don’t do this and instead continue to bleed working class people with some of the heaviest tax burdens in the world. If those people leave we will lose out on billions of pounds
Interesting. Arr you planning on doing an anaylsis of the economics of immigration in the UK. Id like to know what financial benefits to having open borders and uncontrolled immigration
Could they at least tie a wealth tax to paying off some national debt specifically? I think that would go down better because if you've benefitted then the debt now to be payed off, well someone should pay some of it better. Or would the fact it's specifically paying off debt not really work, because that would affect the currency itself or impetus for trade or something. Opportunity cost too: if not so much tax, you encourage them heavily to invest in things that grow for other people properly that's also an idea.
Simple feedback loop: tax the rich -> rich people can leave any time and take their business to somewhere else -> tax the middle class's income -> middle class is poorer and spend less and have no children. The real issue is how government can waste money so efficiently? 47% income tax rate at 125k is not enough? Why Singapore can work with 24% top rate?
The rich often figure out ways to circumvent taxes and funnel money into their pockets. This in turn undermines the income equality of the UK and makes low-income groups more disgruntled with the system.
Sadly your piece does not include how the UK misspent/misallocated North Sea oil revenue principally to achieve a 40% tax rate and then pay those laid off from ‘old’ industries, social security. Your example of Amazon is illuminating as there is nothing to stop the UK government demanding Amazon close its UK subsidiary until such time as decent tax amounts are paid. Given the direct/indirect detrimental effect Amazon has had on the UK high street, it would seem a reasonable argument. What we are doing is looking to tax a shrinking base. The UK increases the threshold when tax starts to become payable and at the other end Sir Jim rides off to Monaco. Essentially the middle class shoulders more and more of the tax burden. In fact your piece adequately shows how 300k pays 30% of tax revenues. Under George/Gideon Osborne the race to the bottom on corporation tax occurred when he slashed it to 19%. It shows the desperation of the Tories and the massive hole in revenue that Sunak chose to increase the rate from 19% to 25%, in one bound, as Chancellor. These in/out tax moves do not foster stability in the UK. Just as astonishing as Amazon is Apple who routinely keep their non-US profits out of the United States choosing instead to issue debt to pay dividends. Again the US government could choose to slap Chinese-style tariffs on Apple products sold in the US only reducing such when the company repatriates their overseas profits. Allowing Apple to not pay tax is at odds with US (passport holders)/citizens who must pay US taxes no matter where they are in the world, as we saw with Boris Johnson. The state of public services is a symptom of poor stewardship by the UK government. In recent years we have allowed many of our companies to be bought up by US private equity and as a country we have to run fast just to stand still.
Your video is informative and I appreciate your style of presentation. I have a catch phrase at present, whether it would truly fix anything, one can only guess. Abolish the House Lords. Expiry date: 22 Jan 1901. Then there would be enough money for the NHS, what was promised by Brexiteers. Thank you.
I can't see this changing until you have entire countries unable to function properly because there is so little money moving around in society and between businesses because it's all being hoarded by a few individuals and companies who just can't let it go. And the money will be of no use to them because all the people and things around them that help generate that wealth will just stop being able to function. The greed of the 1% is shocking.
Why I wonder are the tory client media not informing the general public about these great transfer of wealth to the mega rich.cant be that the mega rich own this media and therefore the story is that the only fraud existing is that of benefits fraud.
@@fyank1 looking at my taxes I don’t see any money going to billionaires I do however see 300 billion going to the unemployed and people on In work benefits and 50 million going to 4 Bulgarians. To me the only people who should get benefits are the short term unemployed and the disabled.
What a great point you make in this video, it’s so obvious but many super rich cannot see it… Having all those zeros in your bank account but you spend your time in you own country seeing squalor and crime.. It’s like living in a dilapidated Mansion that’s falling apart and dangerous not willing to spend the money you have to fix it up and enjoy it.
Luckily for governments people don’t realise how much money the government takes in direct and indirect taxes combined. In many cases money is double taxed. Working hard if you are in the PAYE tax system is pointless. You end up losing 50% of your earnings !
Seems like the real solution is international cooperation. Also it is crucial to differentiate proposals to tax the working wealthy and non-working wealthy. Most people agree it is the non-working super rich that should pay more, so that the workers can pay less. Finally, Gary Stevenson would say we should tax UK assets like property, because rich people can't just take them away.
A wealth tax sounds ideal but does not work in the few countries that have a wealth tax. It's difficult to determine who owns what, and the true value of something is not known until it is sold. How do you value trusts or private companies that are used by the wealthy to manage family money? The super wealthy own almost nothing in their own name, including the homes they live in.
@@kevinsyd2012 Trusts, offshore accounts and the like should all be reviewed with the aim of recovering taxes. A government with the right ambition and expert skills is needed to accomplish it, and international alignment is also needed. We have to try or the country is doomed. Either that or the poor will not get health services, care or pensions. There are online organisations comprised of tax experts that formulated proposals for tax recovery from the super rich, far more sophisticated than simple "wealth tax". I don't remember the name offhand but a quick google search will find one in the UK.
Lets face it , if any of us had that much money wouldnt we go off shore ? Now back to the real world and the labour government removing the winter fuel allowance from 10,000,000 pensioners, the money saved will no doubt be spent in areas many would disagree with. We are in for a bumpy ride.
Property tax increase is a good start. You can flee to a tax haven but you can't bring your properties/ fys assets right? Also international money transfers can be taxed higher? I know the US taxes transfers, dunno about Europe 🙂
There is no such thing as tax avoidance. You either pay the tax you are legally required to do so (which is tax compliance) or you choose to not pay the tax you are legally required to do so (which is tax evasion and is illegal). Tax avoidance (or not paying your 'fair share') is a myth.
If people like Blair have offshore accounts to avoid tax what hope is there . He used this to avoid £312,000 stamp duty on a London property. If he and others are influencing tax policy what hope is their ? Panama papers were ignored !
Perhaps if these rich people had a stronger incentive to stay, they would. How can we make it unthinkable that the rich would wish to leave? Would we need a nice cohesive society for that? That had its own values and traditions? One that wasn't just the same as everywhere else on earth?
That's a measure which should be implemented in the UK. If you become a tax exile, you relinquish your citizenship. Why should you retain your citizenship if you have chosen to no longer contribute, via the democratically agreed mechanism, to the society with which you are a member?
@@VTh-f5x The individual wouldn't be made stateless. In choosing to move their tax jurisdiction to another country they would have needed to become a citizen of that country to do so. The same situation applies to those who have dual citizenship, if one of those citizenships is revoked, the individual reverts to their remaining citizenship. Revoking someone's citizenship because they have forfeited it by moving their tax jurisdiction doesn't involve preventing them from leaving, indeed by moving their tax jurisdiction they have left of their own accord.
@@Polite_Indifference that's incorrect. I moved to Dubai in 2016 due to brexit and taxes. But Dubai will never give me citizenship. So UK has no legal right to remove my citizenship or prevent me from living in Dubai. If they tried, a court would overturn it in 30 minutes.
@@VTh-f5x How are you able to pay taxes in Dubai without citizenship? Presumably through a perpetual work visa? It would work the same way as it does in the US, you would simply be taxed on your worldwide income while you choose to retain your citizenship. The US operates a similar policy. Rights, such as those granted through citizenship, come with responsibilities, as they do in almost every other aspect of life.
@@Polite_Indifference yes I live as an immigrant. But tax rate in Dubai is 0% so I don't have to pay anything. You are correct USA has global taxation. The USA can do so because every country try sjares tax data with them as they are a superpower. UK will not get such data if it asked from other countries.
4:08 What do you mean Amazon *pays* VAT? The nature of VAT is that it's the end consumer that pays it. A retailer collects it from the consumer on behalf of the government. Assuming you have a functioning retail business, you definitely collect more VAT from your customers than what you pay out to your suppliers, ergo Amazon does not *pay* a penny in VAT. Am I missing something?
Is broad based economic growth still possible in the UK or has 40 years of Neoliberalism made this impossible anymore by simply empowering the super-rich ? Genuine question.
Most people in the uk(the mean average)pay £5000 a year in income tax,for this they expect disability care ,free education,free health care (we don't get a multi tier health care based on insurance contributions unlike most of the western world), Thank God for the top 5% they pay a huge amount if the total tax revenue.im surprised they still want to live here. They are not blocks of wood. You change taxes they change their behaviour.and simply fly away...and it's the lowest 10% through fuel duty and cigarette taxes that will pay the price as they have the least disposableuncome...most government legislation has the opposite effect of its well meaning intention.
First the company collect vat, then it pays income tax, then it pays the social taxes for the workers, then the worker pays pension and health, the they pay income tac, then they spent money and pay more vat. If worker tries to put money into deposit or stocks, they also pay tax. And finally, there's inflation, to kill the remaining cash. It's sure good to be a government. And they guarantee their position with police and army, whom they recruit from the same population they pluck. Magnificent civilazation
You could put money into a stocks and shares ISA. You pay 0.5% stamp duty on every share purchase but not capital gains or income tax. Companies can usually claim back VAT so you are not really correct.
Ireland Dublin Eire better off than Britain Keith Woods Age 29 and George from Ireland Eton college told you truth Thomas about England London Britain stressful society. Awesome. Brilliant content. Keith Woods Age 29 earns £30000 per Month. Went down £200000 per year his salary he super rich Thomas.
It was a hell of a lot more than that. He inherited 9 billion pounds so would have had to pay over 40% on that approx 3.4 billion. Shocking that they can do this.
Taxation needs to be a much more intelligent and progressive process no governments have addressed this instead have tinkered with allowances and tax rates for CG unsurprising that Tory Government's have ensured that the well advised wealthy top 10% become more wealthy, taxation on where profits originate ie if a company makes 100m and a profit of 10m of which 10m is on sales in country A then it should be taxed on 1M of that profit Amazon are taking us for mugs . Fairer taxation not higher taxation. If Radcliffe has profits originating here he should pay it here.
All so they can spend it in huge pay rises for the public sector and gold plated pensions they retire on whilst driving the entrepreneurs out of the UK. A masterclass in a drive to the bottom.
The streets are unsafe because the youth culture and people are horrible haha. I don’t think that will change until the culture changes. I think investments in businesses should be separate than capital gains from real estate, investment is a risk, real estate is a home.
Income tax discussion is a red herring - its too get the rubes to argue amongst themselves about who is paying what on earning 20k or 200k. The rich don't rely on income - they rely on capital gains which lowers the tax rate - but that's just level 1 smart. The truly mega rich don't even realize the capital gains and simply borrow lifestyle costs against capital appreciation creating no taxable event - and pay no tax. And no you cant escape a wealth tax of say 0.5% above 100m - that's all smoke and mirrors saying they'll leave so we don't discuss it properly; the assets producing the capital appreciation and dividend are still stuck in the UK where they can be wealth taxed.
I enjoyed making this related video on high tax Denmark. Why Denmark is rich despite High tax. ua-cam.com/video/h3AT6kqu4kM/v-deo.html&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.economicshelp.org%2F
Perhaps I am being a bit dense but did you address the issue of taxing assets as George Stevenson proposes?
Please research Puerto Rico's tax status.
Denmark is in EU. They have access to massive market, also have Maersk, Lego, etc. UK on the other hand decided to leave EU and turn itself into a poor country. I'll never understand why
Freezing tax allowances has put the squeeze on us at the bottom. My monthly income tax has shot up since the tax allowances have been frozen.
Yep.
I'm amazed how more people aren't up in arms about it.
Punishing work is so counter productive.
I'm not rich, but am putting more in AVCs as I resent the higher rate.
Raising the tax threshold in line with inflation should be automatic.
It is one of the reasons why are productivity is so low because their is little incentive to work harder if a large chunk is lost in tax.lf tax is needed to allow investment in infrastructure it should come from taxes on unearned income at the highest levels.
Does anyone know when the 50k limit went in? It hasn't changed in at least 5 years and we all know what's happened in that time
@@mrmeldrew693 AVC’s are a very prudent move. So are stocks and shares ISA’s.
Would love to hear your perspective on Gary's Economics thoughts on taxing the assets of the super rich.
I like Gary's Economics but Gary Stevenson doesn't go into any detail on how to tax the super rich.
@@MarkCW are there any YTs that do ? If you know of any interesting people worth listening to please share 🙏🏼
@@maximt1401 I haven't yet found a YT that describes in detail how to tax the super rich. However I would recommend "The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire | Documentary Film" if you haven't seen it already. It was a real eye opener for me. At least it shows you the scale of the problem. I'm generally interested in finance and how the rich operate in case I can learn something of benefit for myself and my family. Personally I think capitalism is a good system but there aren't enough controls (taxes) to control wealth inequality between the top 1% and the bottom 99%. The top 1% are usually cunning people that hold their wealth in secrecy and are usually 1 step ahead of the government by using clever lawyers, wealth managers / accountants. The rich often fund the government in the UK and particularly the US so it isn't in the interest of governments to upset their paymasters too much. The majority of the population are completely clueless about how the top 1% operate.
@@maximt1401 UA-cam wiped my last long reply for some reason. The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire | Documentary Film is very good.
@@maximt1401 The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire
I'm a nurse and pay about 58% of my salary in taxes and other essential things I'm forced to pay for like insurance.
Meanwhile Sunak pays less than 0.16% tax on his income and was not in favour of payrises for nurses. Scum
I'm genuinely curious about how this figure is so high. Could you please provide a breakdown?
@_Unlukey salary of £70,000 gives you a take home pay of only £47,500 after deductions (including pension).
Then council tax per annum: £3180
Tax on the diesel I use: £4800
VAT on vehicle payment: £1320
Car insurance (I'm forced to pay it so counting it as a tax- I know it's not): £1000
Gas and electric and water VAT: £400
Car services and tyres VAT: £400ish
Food bill VAT: £1000 ish
Motorbike payment VAT: £650
Motorbike insurance: £600
Management company maintenance fee I'm forced to pay for the upkeep of roads (despite paying highest rate council tax): £300
Phone and WiFi VAT: £240
Approx 10 pints a week at £6 a pint: £2500 tax
Plus, professional registration fees I'm forced to pay for: £500
Total: Hidden taxes of £17,000. Deduct that from the take home pay of £47,500 =£30,500 or 44% of £70,000.
Apart from the Motorbike and beer, all of the others are essential costs that I need for normal living and actually being able to work. There are many other more costs and leisure costs that when the VAT is included, adds up the rest. I did a very detailed one before and it worked out approximately 48%. Just realised my original comment said 58%. I think this was a typo, it was meant to be 48%.
Heaven forbid I never have children as the tax on average childcare costs would be £6240 for 2 children.
The NHS is a disgrace....a big money hole....and none caring employees......go on strike
@Jake-gq7ci Yeah my answer seems to have been deleted too. How annoying! Essentially, it adds up quickly by factoring in income tax, national insurance tax, VAT on essential purchases, council tax and other fees that we are forced to pay for by law but aren't called taxes (such as insurances, TV tax, registration fees etc).
@_Unlukey Sorry I listed a detailed breakdown, but UA-cam is deleting it. Like Jake mentions, it's all of the hidden taxes and essential costs that make up the rest.
I highly recommend a book called Taxtopia. - it's about a British accountant explaining how ludicrous our tax system is and how it cripples workers whilst the rich avoid it perfectly legally.
You see a lot of people would immediately jump into a left vs right political argument. But if you let the numbers speak for themselves, the logical thing to do becomes clear... right?
Yep. Temporary emigration.
It's certainly not clear to me, the only thing I can do is fall back on the selfish option and ask to be taxed less.
@fl-ri- well assuming the "Tax Rick" ideas get adopted and then legislated into law you wouldn't be (I'm guessing you're not a billionaire 😬)
@@alexmellor9455 I'm not a billionaire, no. But if they do all leave the country then I'll be the one paying 90% income tax I feel.
I can't imagine an international minimum tax rate would work because it's too lucrative to be a tax haven. As long as tax havens are a thing then billionaires will leave to them if push comes to shove.
I guess the only thing the country can do is tax profits regardless of where the company is based, and hope the UK is a big enough market that some company will go along with it.
Technically the distribution of tax by earnings isn't too relevant to the average Joe and shouldn't be. Tax as a percentage of earnings for each group should be the guiding measure for fairness. Government should be concerned about tax take from each group but that's more of a sustainability, forecasting perspective.
Billionaires make their money off the backs of societal and global systems (infrastructure, health, education, security etc.) not to say off the works of thousands of others. They are increasingly determined to pay little into the system or fairly compensate their workforce (or increasingly replace them with technology where possible). Taxing wealth again like we used to 1945-1980 is a must.
All we’re seeing now is an increasing concentration of wealth and power, and those who have it leveraging both to further said wealth and power even more.
They sure take advantage of your decrepit infrastructure. It's not like most government funds end up, unlike in the past, being redistributed to politically connected companies or pure clientelism to secure the next election. To clarify, clientelism has happened in the past too, it's just that the scale it has reached today is completely unsustainable.
yes! it's so funny (sad) how people gaslit into thinking the neoliberal narrative is true really think that billionaires work 50.000x harder than the average person. the day has 24h for everyone.
Tax rates need to be equalised, to prevent tax fiddling by the very rich.
Tax rates need to be scrapped so everyone's rich.
@@greg1943-u3iwell that makes no logical sense. The lowest earner will get a little bit extra in their pay check whereas highest earners will be better off by many many times more. So their spending power goes through the roof causing inflation and the lowest earner can afford even less.
@@greg1943-u3i Rubbish.
@@greg1943-u3ieverybodies rich ,but unable to get the use of essential services.a bit like having a pile of gold in the middle of a dessert isle with no way out.
Poor need to pay their fair share. They are slacking. 😂
Legislation needs to be introduced at an international level to limit tax avoidance schemes and wealth hoarding. We cannot continue in the way we're going.
That's what EU has done and as some allege that was the real reason for brexit
They can't agree on climate change you think they will agree on taxes. 😂😂😂
The issue I see is, when other countries can get by with only 10% tax even excluding rich people moving their, why force them to increase to a global standard?
Why is it, specifically in the UK and some other places, that we pay so much tax and get so little? its so expensive to do bacis stuff and we have constant reports of local councils wasting millions on stupid shit like paying contractors to trim hedges..
We have such a bloated an inefficient system, by hay I guess its easier to to raise tax then to actually fix the real issue...
What do you propose to improve public service efficiency? In my opinion, it's very difficult because they have no competition so no reason to be efficient. I accept it's a problem, but so is wealth inequality.
Don't ask sensible questions just shout like sheep. 😂😂
Its because the Tax System in this country is stuck to only taxing income... not overall wealth..!
That's wrong, what does CGT tax?
Taxing overall wealth is a nonsense, the super rich horde assets and let the appreciation accumulate by not taking any gains, how can you say that government should have the power to force the sell to apply their CGT is a good idea...
@@markturner5534 taxing people who have money more than the people who dont I think makes perfect sense?
Isnt that what a truly "progressive" tax system should be?
@@billykotsos4642 but you can't tax what isn't being sold, if I investment in an accumulation fund of a stock/s or precious metal/s, the dividends are being constantly reinvested because I'm not closing the investment, you could only apply CGT if I was to buy an income fund where I received those dividends, the wealthy don't sell they invest long term and live off loans secured against those assets, because they pay far less in any loan repayment than what they'd pay in taxes, including an income, they don't pay tax on income because they don't have an income.
@@markturner5534 "taxing the wealthy is nonsense"
Ok we will just have to wait for the next large scale war to get their assets it seems...
Best start with all those off-shore tax havens which are mostly British owned
£10 to £100 trillion held in offshore trusts, that's a lot of money!
@@MarkCW mind your own business and make yourself rich .
@@CreepyTrendMan Working on it.
Tax wealth of the super rich. They would not be so rich if it were not for society.
@@slothsarecool , very true. The exodus has already started.
Why do you think they are skeptical of taxing the energy companies.. Good bye UK investment
@@slothsarecool Let them leave they can't take the physical assets with them
@@sebp7220sure if you don’t want jobs, investment in businesses, local spending, etc. I’m not sure it would work out well if no one is investing here
They will leave to Singapore and Dubai which means you won't even get what they are giving you right now.😂
Capital Gains are NOT income.
There was massive tax avoidance during the post WW2 period of high tax rates - remember the "expense account" loophole?
Sir Keir Starmer enjoys a special law enacted to give him a pension privilege denied to all others. In opposition, Starmer said that he would abolish his privilege. In office he swiftly abolished pensioners winter fuel payment but dropped his pledge to abolish his special privilege.
Freezing the tax thresholds is a massive tax hike designed to keep us in our places.
It's smashing me as I am essentially in a single earner household, (wife earns pocket money part time around the kids). Its always us mugs in the middle who get blasted. Labour dont like making work pay.
Neither do the Tories. At least labour have started giving people payrises! Labour have just agreed to give my first payrise since 2008. The Tories gave us 16 years of consecutive paycuts.
Vote reform
@ilikelampshades6 I did. I cannot fathom why anyone would vote Red/Blue/Yellow still. Have you figured out how much of your pay rise will be clawed back through tax yet?
@mrmeldrew693 I'm already paying like 48% income tax and national insurance, so the 5.5% only turns out to be a 2.64% pay in my pocket, which isn't a huge amount. Pointless working in this country unless you're a Ltd company or self-employed and fiddling taxes. PAYE is just to make us wage slaves
@@ilikelampshades6 I ran the numbers for myself earlier with the same increase.
Was underwhelming.
@mrmeldrew693: The Marriage Allowance lets you transfer £1,260 of your (low earning) wife's personal allowance to you. Why not look at what's available rather than just complaining?
Great and important video. It certainly made me think. It was so good that I had to watch it twice.
Amazon doesn’t pay VAT. Its customer do.
Awesome. Brilliant content. Well said. Spot on.
lower tax rates encourage investment as you judge a potential investment by comparing the after tax return compared to the size of the investment & risk => tax rises => lower growth
Yes the top 1% of income tax payers may pay 30% of income tax. This should not to be confused with the top 1% wealthiest, however.
Any company (like amazon) who have benefitted from strong consumtion and quality infrastructure in UK and have driven local business off the market must be taxed properly. Otherwise, its just sucking out wealth offshore, leading overall economy to be frail and less productive
A minimum international tax rate? Price fixing is just as bad when governments do it as when business do. Tax competition is a good thing.
Regulation of banks, not taxing the filthy rich is necessary. Also, political, economic & peace education for the mainstream masses will go a long way towards helping everyone understand why we're up sh*t creek without a paddle & how best too remedy this crappy situation.
"Apathy in Public affairs leads to the rule of evil men." - Plato.
When has there ever in history been a tax that was 'one off'? It's disingenuous to suggest any government would just voluntarily turn off that spigot once it's opened
If you're not already in touch then I suggest you connect with Gary Stephenson of Gary's Economics.
It is very clear that the fairest way to improve the UK is to reduce the wealth inequality gap via taxing the wealthiest to pay for more services.
If they choose to leave, let them leave.
However, in a feudal kleptocracy and in a country that a large minority get very rich through laundering, fraud and tax evasion dressed up as tax avoidance, this may mean short term pain for medium to long term gain.
Keep up the great work, and thank you.
✌🏻
He is awful
Well they do leave. They go to tax havens so they are not paying into UK tax system. This then leaves the poorer people and middle classes picking up the tab
@@jontalbot1
Awfully experienced and well qualified... Yes, he is.
@@stormkiki6436
Most won't leave, and for those that do leave, wave goodbye to them. The majority of those types pay little or no tax anyway dues to tax avoidance schemes almost all fully utilise.
@@AJD-Home I am guessing you have not studied economics…
So Gov doesn't waste tax money, perhaps it should be hypothecated. Allocating specific tax revenues to fund particular government expenditures. This would increase transparency and accountability while increasing public trust and ensuring funding for essential public services
Tax earnings when and where they're made, simple, if you want to operate somewhere you pay tax there, or you get lost.
The government needs to regularly close loopholes too, like companies paying a subsidiary absurd amounts for "licensing" to keep profits artificially low.
Does Amazon pay VAT or do the customers pay VAT?
If i was a billionare it would be a pleasure to give it away... libraries, parks, youth clubs...how much do you need? if you're doing great, pay it back.
This is exactly why you're not one. 😂
It's more the type of immigrants they are allowing to come which needs increased policing.
"struggling football club" - that hurt.
Much of the increase in public funding is going towards paying pension liabilities which is why we pay so much and get so little in return. Street crime in London is out of control because the population has changed beyond all recognition, you get what you vote for.
Pointing approvingly to the Danish system as a possible model for the UK seems to assume that we could get all the upside without losing anything that makes the UK a globally competitive location for many industries.
And let’s not forget that Denmark has a population less than 1/10th that of the UK, with as many people working in the UK public sector as there are in the entire Danish population (5.9M).
Then there’s high-trust society (DK)vs low-trust society (UK).
The success of any nation’s tax system, especially ‘high tax’ systems, is typically based on a multitude of domestic and international factors, not simply having the guts to try it.
The UK do not have the time to develop a UK model - so find something that works - Denmark having 10% of the population should not be a problem - Estonian, Poland and Latvia can also be used as an inspiration.
Denmark are also notoriously strict on immigration. Something the UK is unwilling to do.
@@lrrw-v4l you are right that some parties competed in making terrible laws excluding many good resources for some years. On the other hand some migrants showed a very ability to adapt and became very visible for all the wrong reasons. The present government have made some changes in regards to integration of Arab woman and gangs.
Thank you.
I am a 79 years old Pensioner and my weekly income is £125 .I have paid my TV licence and have no money for food until next week's pension
Stop watching nonsense TV.
My LTD is due to make £836 this year, with a total corporate tax (25%) & dividend tax (39.35%) bill of £447k. That seems insanely high tax paid in the UK compared to somewhere else. It would mean the tax bill is ~53.5% of business earnings.
The first thing to remember is the EU created most of the Laws that allow this to happen, which is why Ireland has boomed over the last 25 years. I read 16,000 high worth individuals have left the UK in the last 3 years, so something is not working in the UKs favour
Doesn't the very low Irish Corporate Tax rate have some bearing? The exact opposite of the policy in this video.
Rubbish. Until very recently EU did not regulate tax matters. In fact it's only in 2022 when the minimum tax directive was introduced which makes it harder for corporations not to pay tax. Some maintain this was the real reason for brexit
Last time I looked Ireland where in the eu probably a big reason why they are leaving.call me naive but if we have had a goverment in charge over the last 14 years who had wanted to stop tax evasion instead of doing everything in its power to make it easier maybe with that additional revenue we may not be in a position to have to raise more taxes.
Y
Financial wealth is hard to tax in general, but roughly half of household wealth tends to be in real estate. Compared to stocks, real estate is relatively easy to identify, value and tax, and it is pretty immobile. In addition, residential real estate has consistently been one of the strongest areas of growth and inward investment for the last few decades in the UK and similar countries in the anglosphere. For example, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), UK household wealth (of which 60% is land) increased £1 trillion in 2021, which was the highest on record (an increase of over 9%).
The UK, as a unitary state, could levy an extra 1% charge on residential real estate. This would raise in the range of £70 billion per year, which is in well in excess of the £52 billion per year proposed by the 1% millionaire wealth tax proposed by the LSE. This would be a 5.8% boost to the 2023 UK budget spending of £1.2T. It would be much easier to collect, harder to avoid, less likely to drive away those 300,000 people paying taxes, and it's on assets appreciating at close to 10% annually anyway ... so it's really just down to political will.
Any govt who tried this will be voted out of power because 64% voters are homeowners.
Honestly if the people at #10 wanted to stop this they could, Remember Roman Abramovich… assets frozen… LIKE THAT.
Not just Roman but I see where you’re going
Lol. Commies
I’d like to see your perspective on residential property taxes, particularly in the £10 million + category of property value. They can’t be whisked off to the Caymans or Panama. So why not hit them hard?
Indeed. For example the USA has lower income taxes but the property taxes are very high I have been told. In the UK a mansion can pay no more council tax than a large family home. Tax property more as it can't be moved.
It is too far down heap number 5 for me to dig it out of my library, but two or three years ago I read a book _The Richer, The Poorer_ by Stewart Lansley that (if ageing memory serves) was about this kind of thing. (I can tantalisingly see the book, but reckon it would take me 10 minutes to extract it to check!)
I am not afraid of paying taxes, Scandinavian as I am, but the main problem is we are just using and levering the same assets. Not making new things/assets.
It si a lot easier to tax local wages than soemtiems global money. Real esate though I am amazed why that is not taxed harder as it is... very hard to move around.
I agree with much of this. Not sure it was air travel in the 70s that started the use of tax havens though. They've been there for hundreds of years and used as tax haven't during that time. There was a general move away from tax is a social good to tax is bad. It's hard to know where this started but I imagine the rich don't like paying much tax and once this starts it spreads...
It's not just about rich. The middle class hate taxes too. Only those who don't make enough to be tax like taxes.
Increasing taxes will do nothing if the government is just spending taxes in the wrong things.
Not to mention the wasted money.
I've always asked where the hell does all the money go? Corruption is likely far worse than people realise.
@@bushmonster1702yes there is a lot of waste at the top on management consultants, private involvement etc. The problem is when the cuts happen they happen to those actually providing the services and not to the management consultants etc. We need to cut out the management consultants, PFI etc and go back to doing as much as possible through direct hiring and not for profits.
Intrest payments on national debt. All government spending theres so much. It's like one bank account will a million bills. But there's so much miss spending from gov
I don't think the public services themselves are necessarily the problem as their budgets have been slashed repeatedly and for example the NHS is said to be a relatively efficient health service when compared to other countries. The biggest culprit is the enormous wealth that has been transferred to the wealthy during covid, which nobody is talking about recovering. Also, the Tory covid VIP lane corruption, which could be to the value of nearly £100 billion according to Carole Vorderman who has researched this extensively.
Big government spending on sweetners and unicorns = higher taxes = higher inflation = government subsides to quell inflation, The rising interest rate can surely control inflation, but won't prevent erosion of the eroding purchasing power of the US dollar. I have learnt my lesson this time. The banks can't be making money off my money, while inflation eats into it. I have set aside 650k to invest in the stock market now, since that keeps up with inflation, but I don't know how to get started.
Would love a deeper dive on a wealth tax, 1 minute of a video feels not enough for this.
I have the answer that would make everybody happy. Lower earners pay 5%, middle 10% upper 15% top 20%. Do this with a truly efficient government the UK would be one of the best country's in the World.
Millionaire isnt filthy big money 2024
Wouldn't it make sense to have a flat tax on all sources of income above a certain threshold, without the ability to mitigate this unless you were contributing to the betterment or economy of the country you resided in.
9500 Millionaires are expected to leave the UK this year.
Good if they don't pay tax then what's the point in having them anyway
@@therealjag they do pay most of the income tax and when they go you will be making up the shortfall
They pay taxes. They just leave when you want to robe them in the uk 0.1 % pay 30 % of income taxes, if juat a few people levae, uk can go bankrupt
@@MrAlb3rtazzo The 70% is taken from the plebs that can ill afford it whilst the 30% is taken from those that won't even miss it.
Anyone with a brain will go for a discount where ever and then some will say hold on quality of life is worth more than saving a few Quid.
None of these people will flee abroad, they will just fence everything through tax havens as they do already unless they are stupid.
Have ever met a stupid rich person unless it was passed down wealth that they never worked for?
If they are non-working millionaires then who cares if they leave as they're not paying NI or income tax and they will be paying low taxes as outlined in this video.
If they ARE working millionaires, then we should TAX THE SUPER RICH, so we can reduce taxes for WORKING PEOPLE, like these working millionaires.
The rates quoted are highly misleading as they are comparing apples not to oranges but to eggs. A major reason is the tax regime ignores inflation so your capital gain may be taxable but actually be a loss after inflation, if you are going to raise rates you'll need to bring back indexation. Similarly Income tax failing to account for inflation acts as a back door wealth tax on cash / bond income.
Also dividend income has already been taxed within the company structure so to tax it at the same rate is double taxation
When tax rates were cut from their high rates tax revenues rose
1% Capital Tax on top 1% (Net Assets > £3.6 million), 2% (Net Assets > £10 million). Doomsday Book version 2 of UK needed to identify ownership of UK assets with particular focus on offshore trusts. The title deeds for all land in the UK should be made public (some properties would not be on the public register if it has vulnerable occupants).
@@MarkCW they will all leave on the same day and you ll have nothing left to tax. Assets are liquid and properties can be sold.
@@MrAlb3rtazzo I've heard this excuse many times before. The UK land, residential, commercial and industrial assets would not be moved outside the UK because they are PHYSICALLY inside the UK. The rich could sell these income producing assets and I'm sure the other 99% would be more than happy to buy them.
@MarkCW it is not excuse but simple arithmetic. Of rich people, who pay most of the taxes leave the uk ! Where do you think the money to pay services will come from ?if foreign investment stop where do you get the money to grow the economy ? Do you really think that chasing the rich it is a good stategy or is just far left populism ? Please answer
@MarkCW private invsteors are leaving already,this is a fact, institutional ones won't pay more taxes as far as we know, but they will sell simply because asset prices are going down . It is a simple downward spiral. A tax rise always come with a cost in growth unless the level of taxation is very very low. Plus labour are doing cuts, thier policy is not just tax the rich but also pure austerity.
@@MrAlb3rtazzo haha, tell that to Roman Abramovich, he didn’t do that well moving Chelsea football club to Russia did he?
Income inequality is the problem in most western economies. It has been caused by the inability of our economic systems to fairly distribute the gains from productivity growth over the last 40 years. It has been further exacerbated by flaws in the tax systems that allow the most profitable corporations and highest income individuals to avoid paying their fair share of the taxes needed to support the economic system from which they generate their high incomes and profits.
In market economies, consumer spending (consumption) represents some 60-70% of GDP. If the consumer has no growth in disposable income, they cannot increase consumption, hence GDP/capita growth stagnates and decreases.
Governments have to recognize the problem and causes before they can even begin to look for an appropriate solution. But political elites live in segments of the economy that derive all the benefits of income inequality; therefore they fail to recognize the problem and its long term consequence.
Taxing the rich , ie those with more than £10 Million plus in assets is self defense against rampant wealth inequality .
Save them from themselves.
@@JohnPark-xf2gq There's more than a blade of truth in that . If there is no money to rent the assets they bought up everything will collapse .
If I use savings after I have paid UK tax income (taxed at 45-45%), and I invest that money abroad, and that money produces a capital gain, why I should be liable to pay UK tax on that capital gain?. We are already taxed to the max…capital gains is nonsense tax and it should be eliminated instead.
Because you live here and are liable for your worldwide income and gains. Seems reasonable to me, but the benefits of living here seem to be diminishing almost daily, sadly.
This country made you rich. If you are rich and are happy to skip the ship just because of money, you aren't really a proud British, right?
@@nothereandthereanywhere , you are missing the point, being proud British does not mean you should be taxed to zero .. I pay income tax 40-45% of my annual income, and then whatever is left is mostly spent on the UK. If you include indirect taxes such VAT, property taxes, etc. I estimate that close to 70% of my annual income is going back to the government. If you earn 100k annually, but 70k goes back to the government through taxes…you are not skipping the ship…right??
We have seen a successive rise in taxes of all kinds since the 70's and we have seen a successive fall in living standards in proportion. More taxes = worse public services. Public money is taken from the poorest and distributed to the friends and relatives of government MP's who have become progressively richer.
If rich people move to other countries, then it'll only start getting more attractive for those countries to tax them as well, since more and more of them are foreign anyway, or recent import, so no hard done to the local population.
When someone born in the UK reaches millionaire status and relinquishes their citizenship nationalise all their UK assets at 10% below market value and exile means exile. They can never step foot on UK territory ever again and all their titles are stripped. No business they go to own can ever have access to UK markets.
Their success was based on our education system, rule of law, economy and security. You don't get to do well out a system them bail when it's time to pay back
It’s honestly insane to me the uk doesn’t have a land tax. The us does a lot wrong but property tax is generally tied to home value unlike the incredibly complicated and outdated council tax rate. I don’t think bands have been updated for over 30 years.
It’s criminal that people can take low interest loans against the equity of their land and live off that income. These loans historically have rates under 5%, and if you’re living off a £5 million loan at 5% you’re paying less tax than someone who earns £150k with a marginal rate of 45%.
I’ll never understand people in this countries fear of making the wealthy (not high income, wealthy) people pay their fair share. Even if they throw their toys out the pram and leave, the assets they own don’t suddenly become worthless. Millions of pounds of acres don’t lose their value because the person who owns them sells and moves to the canaries.
These physical assets will always have worth, and no matter how many “wealthy” people leave they’ll still generate revenue if we tax them. My biggest fear is we don’t do this and instead continue to bleed working class people with some of the heaviest tax burdens in the world. If those people leave we will lose out on billions of pounds
64% voters are homeowners. If any govt tried this they will be voter out of power for a generation.
Corporation taxes are paid by higher prices or lower wages or lower dividends. You can only Tax people, corporations can't pay tax or NI.
Interesting. Arr you planning on doing an anaylsis of the economics of immigration in the UK.
Id like to know what financial benefits to having open borders and uncontrolled immigration
Could they at least tie a wealth tax to paying off some national debt specifically? I think that would go down better because if you've benefitted then the debt now to be payed off, well someone should pay some of it better. Or would the fact it's specifically paying off debt not really work, because that would affect the currency itself or impetus for trade or something. Opportunity cost too: if not so much tax, you encourage them heavily to invest in things that grow for other people properly that's also an idea.
Simple feedback loop: tax the rich -> rich people can leave any time and take their business to somewhere else -> tax the middle class's income -> middle class is poorer and spend less and have no children. The real issue is how government can waste money so efficiently? 47% income tax rate at 125k is not enough? Why Singapore can work with 24% top rate?
The rich often figure out ways to circumvent taxes and funnel money into their pockets. This in turn undermines the income equality of the UK and makes low-income groups more disgruntled with the system.
Sadly your piece does not include how the UK misspent/misallocated North Sea oil revenue principally to achieve a 40% tax rate and then pay those laid off from ‘old’ industries, social security.
Your example of Amazon is illuminating as there is nothing to stop the UK government demanding Amazon close its UK subsidiary until such time as decent tax amounts are paid.
Given the direct/indirect detrimental effect Amazon has had on the UK high street, it would seem a reasonable argument.
What we are doing is looking to tax a shrinking base.
The UK increases the threshold when tax starts to become payable and at the other end Sir Jim rides off to Monaco.
Essentially the middle class shoulders more and more of the tax burden.
In fact your piece adequately shows how 300k pays 30% of tax revenues.
Under George/Gideon Osborne the race to the bottom on corporation tax occurred when he slashed it to 19%.
It shows the desperation of the Tories and the massive hole in revenue that Sunak chose to increase the rate from 19% to 25%, in one bound, as Chancellor.
These in/out tax moves do not foster stability in the UK.
Just as astonishing as Amazon is Apple who routinely keep their non-US profits out of the United States choosing instead to issue debt to pay dividends.
Again the US government could choose to slap Chinese-style tariffs on Apple products sold in the US only reducing such when the company repatriates their overseas profits.
Allowing Apple to not pay tax is at odds with US (passport holders)/citizens who must pay US taxes no matter where they are in the world, as we saw with Boris Johnson.
The state of public services is a symptom of poor stewardship by the UK government.
In recent years we have allowed many of our companies to be bought up by US private equity and as a country we have to run fast just to stand still.
Spot on!
Your video is informative and I appreciate your style of presentation.
I have a catch phrase at present, whether it would truly fix anything, one can only guess.
Abolish the House Lords. Expiry date: 22 Jan 1901.
Then there would be enough money for the NHS, what was promised by Brexiteers.
Thank you.
This is the best assessment of the situation I have ever heard, but it will certainly annoy the neoliberals
I can't see this changing until you have entire countries unable to function properly because there is so little money moving around in society and between businesses because it's all being hoarded by a few individuals and companies who just can't let it go. And the money will be of no use to them because all the people and things around them that help generate that wealth will just stop being able to function. The greed of the 1% is shocking.
Passports and citizenship exist to hold an individual captive to the rulers of that state's taxes
180 billionaires in the UK. Someone isn’t paying their way!
Why I wonder are the tory client media not informing the general public about these great transfer of wealth to the mega rich.cant be that the mega rich own this media and therefore the story is that the only fraud existing is that of benefits fraud.
Yep all the people on benefits no better than the billionaires take out and pay nothing in why us paye pay for everything.
@@terryj50business contract fraud involving public money under the Tories was 20 times that of benefit fraud!
@@fyank1 do you have a source for this has this fraud stopped now Labour is in.
@@fyank1 looking at my taxes I don’t see any money going to billionaires I do however see 300 billion going to the unemployed and people on In work benefits and 50 million going to 4 Bulgarians. To me the only people who should get benefits are the short term unemployed and the disabled.
What a great point you make in this video, it’s so obvious but many super rich cannot see it… Having all those zeros in your bank account but you spend your time in you own country seeing squalor and crime.. It’s like living in a dilapidated Mansion that’s falling apart and dangerous not willing to spend the money you have to fix it up and enjoy it.
Luckily for governments people don’t realise how much money the government takes in direct and indirect taxes combined. In many cases money is double taxed. Working hard if you are in the PAYE tax system is pointless. You end up losing 50% of your earnings !
All your money is double taxed, I can't of one things these days that isn't.
Ban all bank transactions with tax havens.
Seems like the real solution is international cooperation.
Also it is crucial to differentiate proposals to tax the working wealthy and non-working wealthy. Most people agree it is the non-working super rich that should pay more, so that the workers can pay less.
Finally, Gary Stevenson would say we should tax UK assets like property, because rich people can't just take them away.
And the bottom of the market will fall out because the money that gives assets value in the first place will simply walk out of the door.
And the bottom of the market will fall out because the money that gives assets value in the first place will simply walk out of the door.
A wealth tax sounds ideal but does not work in the few countries that have a wealth tax. It's difficult to determine who owns what, and the true value of something is not known until it is sold. How do you value trusts or private companies that are used by the wealthy to manage family money? The super wealthy own almost nothing in their own name, including the homes they live in.
@@kevinsyd2012 Trusts, offshore accounts and the like should all be reviewed with the aim of recovering taxes. A government with the right ambition and expert skills is needed to accomplish it, and international alignment is also needed. We have to try or the country is doomed. Either that or the poor will not get health services, care or pensions.
There are online organisations comprised of tax experts that formulated proposals for tax recovery from the super rich, far more sophisticated than simple "wealth tax". I don't remember the name offhand but a quick google search will find one in the UK.
Norway tried that. They "all" moved to Switzerland.
Gap between rich and poor are more wide now then ever since 80 years.
Lets face it , if any of us had that much money wouldnt we go off shore ? Now back to the real world and the labour government removing the winter fuel allowance from 10,000,000 pensioners, the money saved will no doubt be spent in areas many would disagree with. We are in for a bumpy ride.
Property tax increase is a good start. You can flee to a tax haven but you can't bring your properties/ fys assets right? Also international money transfers can be taxed higher? I know the US taxes transfers, dunno about Europe 🙂
There is no such thing as tax avoidance. You either pay the tax you are legally required to do so (which is tax compliance) or you choose to not pay the tax you are legally required to do so (which is tax evasion and is illegal). Tax avoidance (or not paying your 'fair share') is a myth.
The Tories have been at the heart of all this 'not taxing the rich' as they've had the lions share of leadership over the last 50 years 😢
If people like Blair have offshore accounts to avoid tax what hope is there . He used this to avoid £312,000 stamp duty on a London property. If he and others are influencing tax policy what hope is their ? Panama papers were ignored !
Perhaps if these rich people had a stronger incentive to stay, they would. How can we make it unthinkable that the rich would wish to leave? Would we need a nice cohesive society for that? That had its own values and traditions? One that wasn't just the same as everywhere else on earth?
That's a measure which should be implemented in the UK. If you become a tax exile, you relinquish your citizenship. Why should you retain your citizenship if you have chosen to no longer contribute, via the democratically agreed mechanism, to the society with which you are a member?
It's against UN charter. No state can make citizens stateless. Neither can a state prevent citizens from leaving.
@@VTh-f5x The individual wouldn't be made stateless. In choosing to move their tax jurisdiction to another country they would have needed to become a citizen of that country to do so. The same situation applies to those who have dual citizenship, if one of those citizenships is revoked, the individual reverts to their remaining citizenship. Revoking someone's citizenship because they have forfeited it by moving their tax jurisdiction doesn't involve preventing them from leaving, indeed by moving their tax jurisdiction they have left of their own accord.
@@Polite_Indifference that's incorrect. I moved to Dubai in 2016 due to brexit and taxes. But Dubai will never give me citizenship. So UK has no legal right to remove my citizenship or prevent me from living in Dubai. If they tried, a court would overturn it in 30 minutes.
@@VTh-f5x How are you able to pay taxes in Dubai without citizenship? Presumably through a perpetual work visa? It would work the same way as it does in the US, you would simply be taxed on your worldwide income while you choose to retain your citizenship. The US operates a similar policy. Rights, such as those granted through citizenship, come with responsibilities, as they do in almost every other aspect of life.
@@Polite_Indifference yes I live as an immigrant. But tax rate in Dubai is 0% so I don't have to pay anything.
You are correct USA has global taxation. The USA can do so because every country try sjares tax data with them as they are a superpower. UK will not get such data if it asked from other countries.
4:08 What do you mean Amazon *pays* VAT? The nature of VAT is that it's the end consumer that pays it. A retailer collects it from the consumer on behalf of the government. Assuming you have a functioning retail business, you definitely collect more VAT from your customers than what you pay out to your suppliers, ergo Amazon does not *pay* a penny in VAT. Am I missing something?
Never let the underlying truth devalue a good story!
Is broad based economic growth still possible in the UK or has 40 years of Neoliberalism made this impossible anymore by simply empowering the super-rich ? Genuine question.
It's possible if the size of state is shrunk and taxation is lowered.
Most people in the uk(the mean average)pay £5000 a year in income tax,for this they expect disability care ,free education,free health care (we don't get a multi tier health care based on insurance contributions unlike most of the western world),
Thank God for the top 5% they pay a huge amount if the total tax revenue.im surprised they still want to live here. They are not blocks of wood. You change taxes they change their behaviour.and simply fly away...and it's the lowest 10% through fuel duty and cigarette taxes that will pay the price as they have the least disposableuncome...most government legislation has the opposite effect of its well meaning intention.
I still do not know how dod they avoid paying tax.
First the company collect vat, then it pays income tax, then it pays the social taxes for the workers, then the worker pays pension and health, the they pay income tac, then they spent money and pay more vat. If worker tries to put money into deposit or stocks, they also pay tax. And finally, there's inflation, to kill the remaining cash. It's sure good to be a government. And they guarantee their position with police and army, whom they recruit from the same population they pluck. Magnificent civilazation
You could put money into a stocks and shares ISA. You pay 0.5% stamp duty on every share purchase but not capital gains or income tax. Companies can usually claim back VAT so you are not really correct.
or...... pay yourself and spouse a minimum wage and receive your payment in dividends
Ireland Dublin Eire better off than Britain Keith Woods Age 29 and George from Ireland Eton college told you truth Thomas about England London Britain stressful society. Awesome. Brilliant content. Keith Woods Age 29 earns £30000 per Month. Went down £200000 per year his salary he super rich Thomas.
Duke of Westminister tax dodged 5 million pounds. That could pay 27000 state pensions for 10 years.
It was a hell of a lot more than that. He inherited 9 billion pounds so would have had to pay over 40% on that approx 3.4 billion. Shocking that they can do this.
@@davideyres955 Yeah I meant to put billion not million.
Taxation needs to be a much more intelligent and progressive process no governments have addressed this instead have tinkered with allowances and tax rates for CG unsurprising that Tory Government's have ensured that the well advised wealthy top 10% become more wealthy, taxation on where profits originate ie if a company makes 100m and a profit of 10m of which 10m is on sales in country A then it should be taxed on 1M of that profit Amazon are taking us for mugs .
Fairer taxation not higher taxation.
If Radcliffe has profits originating here he should pay it here.
All so they can spend it in huge pay rises for the public sector and gold plated pensions they retire on whilst driving the entrepreneurs out of the UK. A masterclass in a drive to the bottom.
The streets are unsafe because the youth culture and people are horrible haha. I don’t think that will change until the culture changes.
I think investments in businesses should be separate than capital gains from real estate, investment is a risk, real estate is a home.
When we hear politician's say 'we will tax the rich'. All they basically saying is that we mesn we will tax everyone else.
Income tax discussion is a red herring - its too get the rubes to argue amongst themselves about who is paying what on earning 20k or 200k. The rich don't rely on income - they rely on capital gains which lowers the tax rate - but that's just level 1 smart. The truly mega rich don't even realize the capital gains and simply borrow lifestyle costs against capital appreciation creating no taxable event - and pay no tax. And no you cant escape a wealth tax of say 0.5% above 100m - that's all smoke and mirrors saying they'll leave so we don't discuss it properly; the assets producing the capital appreciation and dividend are still stuck in the UK where they can be wealth taxed.
The envy is strong with this one.
International capitalism won.
THATCHER SHOULD HAVE BEEN JAILED FOR LIFE.
Dividends shoul be taxed at source, the paying companies
If the workshy worked, that’s a whole new level of taxes coming in. We can look at both ends of the spectrum for a contribution.