"Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me."

The problem are our complicated tax laws not the super rich. If we were all taxed on a flat rate that applied to all people there wouldn’t be a problem.

Of course people take advantages of loopholes, nobody wants to pay more tax than they have to and our country is one of the most highly taxed when you take into account stealth taxes like vat, council tax, inheritance tax etc etc.

The only way to stop this is a flat rate but I should not think this will happen anytime soon especially as the super rich have so much influence with governments!

katy1950

The more they have the more they want money goes to money always has done nothing will change

It will change if people are determined it will change.

As I said earlier (I think on this thread) I'm not looking to take away what they have (except by fair and progressive taxation), I just think that we should make it more difficult for them to accumulate more.

Pammie1

Millbrook

Wow. Some keen Tories on this thread. Presumably all well/comfortably off and absolutely certain that it is all down to their ‘hard work and sacrifice’......

There are also some smug participants who seem to think that asset stripping the dead is the answer to giving us all the same start in life. It’s not levelling up, it’s levelling down. Why is it that ensuring equality never involves giving, it always takes away, in the name of creating opportunity and equality. That, right there, is your Tory thinking.

In some ways you are right but (and a big but) the Tories take away. You only have to look at the cuts in education and the NHS to see that.

There's nothing wrong with giving every child a good start in life and many of them are not getting that at the moment.

“While those who have the least are fighting among themselves, they’re leaving those who have the most alone.”

I've thought this for years.

The UK is the only country that I know of that will sell land to anyone regardless, sell houses to them regardless, launder their money no matter how it was earned or acquired and ask very few questions, usually via a High street or private bank. It is only when these individuals upset someone or don't play the game then they find themselves exposed to scrutiny. This begs the question -What has the charming Chancellor done to upset Boris?

The more they have the more they want money goes to money always has done nothing will change

As a 19 year old I stayed with the second or third richest family in what was then Western Germany. I was there to help the younger daughter with her English.

I found the whole experience totally unnerving. Helicopter pads in the back garden, twelve garages in a row each one with a different coloured open topped Mercedes for the elder daughter to drive as long as it matched her outfit.

The father had been a Hitler Youth and hated the British, the 14 year old son regularly caused his mother extensive bruising and was abusive to me.

It goes on and on and I was so glad to get home !!

If you tax Inheritance Tax at 100% people just want accumulate their wealth in this country. If you tax the very rich at very high rates, they just leave the country and other countries welcome them because they are bringing in money. It seems to me that the only way of taking these sorts of measure is to make the UK a communist state and ensure the richer person can't leave the country. We've all seen how well that works.

“While those who have the least are fighting among themselves, they’re leaving those who have the most alone.”

This should be put on a billboard! Thank you.

GG13 Good posts.

I was answering a poster who seems to think that if you own your own home and are comfortable, you must be Tory. All of my family are home owners and all worked hard for what they had, including my partner and myself. Not one of us have ever, or will ever, vote Tory. I fail to see what is so wrong with making a good life for yourself through your own hard work. I fail to see why it’s so wrong to have assets to pass on to your children - OK, so they may not have worked for them, but you have. And the reason the word ‘communism’ has reared it’s head on this thread is because there are overtones of the ‘all property is theft’ doctrine. And despite all the criticism of the Tories, what’s being suggested is very close to Tory policy going on under our noses now. Disability benefits are planned to be cut by 2027 and the reasoning is that they create inequality and restrict opportunity. So it’s better to take away than to give in the name of creating a level playing field. Sound familiar ? As I’ve said before, divide and rule is alive and well. While those who have the least are fighting among themselves, they’re leaving those who have the most alone.

pen50

We have lost the connection between capitalism and charity. Previous generations knew that their dosh had to be shared; Rowntree and Guinness Trust housing, and Carnegie libraries still proclaim their founders' philanthropy. Yes, self made men were buying social status; does it matter? Indeed, shouldn't people who make lots of money and then give it away be applauded? But now the super rich seem to think that if one megayacht is good, then seven are better.

What is so wonderful about being given the crumbs from the rich man's table?

Cross Post!!

Or a Tory, I should imagine.

Nor does it make me a Tory ... or a Commie!

That doesn't make me smug!

Millbrook

Wow. Some keen Tories on this thread. Presumably all well/comfortably off and absolutely certain that it is all down to their ‘hard work and sacrifice’......

There are also some smug participants who seem to think that asset stripping the dead is the answer to giving us all the same start in life. It’s not levelling up, it’s levelling down. Why is it that ensuring equality never involves giving, it always takes away, in the name of creating opportunity and equality. That, right there, is your Tory thinking.

Wow. Some keen Tories on this thread. Presumably all well/comfortably off and absolutely certain that it is all down to their ‘hard work and sacrifice’......

God help us, no one else can

Imnofan of the chancellor however I have to correct the OP in that he DID NOT cut Universal Credit. The uplift was given be ause of Covid to help just like the furlough was. It was always inly temporary. It's goi g up today just like the pension is. Obviously not by anywhere near enough.

It still happens. Remember we only found out about George Michael’s philanthropy after he died? The best charitable giving is that done quietly.

We have lost the connection between capitalism and charity. Previous generations knew that their dosh had to be shared; Rowntree and Guinness Trust housing, and Carnegie libraries still proclaim their founders' philanthropy. Yes, self made men were buying social status; does it matter? Indeed, shouldn't people who make lots of money and then give it away be applauded? But now the super rich seem to think that if one megayacht is good, then seven are better.

MaizieD

Another question.

It is a fact that with a sovereign currency, such as the UK's, money is issued into the economy by the government.

At the moment that it is issued; before it is used in any transaction, who does it belong to?

Oh, do come on everyone, don't be shy.

Who does this money belong to?

Just reading that Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy leader, had written to the Prime Minister asking for Christopher Geidt, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests, to review all of his declarations made by Sunak since he became a minister, just hours before Sunak did himself. [Source: New Statesman Newsletter]

If very rich people live in the UK and thus benefit from all the advantages of our society they should jolly well contribute according to their income through tax like everyone else. Parliament is to blame for the non-dom mess and it needs to get a grip. Laws need to be well structured so that the rich cannot find loopholes through which to escape tax and we need international agreements to prevent wealth and incomes being moved to the cheapest tax country.