50% UK Tax Rate

[Morbyd]

as for all the laissez-faire arguments, it's a joke to think that this type of policy somehow stagnates that. it affects less than a couple of percent of the population, many of those affected will earn more in the daily interest on their savings than this affects their income tax each year.

OK... so, let's use an example that many of us can relate to. If all the foreign footballers in the Premier League start renegotiating their contracts to take into account the higher tax burden (as the press seams to think will be the case), then the clubs will have to recoup that money somehow. If ticket prices go up 1, 2, even 5 pounds a head, then that's going to affect the working class.

That scenario is certainly not a given. But my point is that higher taxes on the rich filter down to the poor... just in less visible ways.

 

[Olly]

those clubs that treat fans like cattle will eventually die or sink down the divisions..... because even loyalty has a limit. Time will tell if Newcastle's fans are quite so 'loyal' next season...

AFC Wimbledon emerged from the shadows of MK Dons and is on course for promotion to the league. MK Dons had to build an entirely new fanbase from scratch in Milton Keynes - it's true, they've turned things around too but such is the love for AFC Wimbledon in South London, I predict they will overtake MK Dons in the next 5 years.

the intelligent clubs will respond to that situation by downsizing, rebuilding and not investing in players they can't afford and who don't care.

I appreciate your point about costs getting passed down though - but that doesn't negate the wider and more important need for massive taxation to pay for what the private sector can't or won't finance.....

 

[grego]

those clubs that treat fans like cattle will eventually die or sink down the divisions..... because even loyalty has a limit. Time will tell if Newcastle's fans are quite so 'loyal' next season...

AFC Wimbledon emerged from the shadows of MK Dons and is on course for promotion to the league. MK Dons had to build an entirely new fanbase from scratch in Milton Keynes - it's true, they've turned things around too but such is the love for AFC Wimbledon in South London, I predict they will overtake MK Dons in the next 5 years.

the intelligent clubs will respond to that situation by downsizing, rebuilding and not investing in players they can't afford and who don't care.

I appreciate your point about costs getting passed down though - but that doesn't negate the wider and more important need for massive taxation to pay for what the private sector can't or won't finance.....

totally off topic but for any real football fan, MK dons should be in the top 3 most hated clubs list. they represent the antithesis of everything sport and achievement and hard work stand for, in fact they represent the rich kid who couldn't be arsed going to uni or getting a job so got daddy to make him an exec of some business. total scum, exactly the same mentality as someone who claims to be disabled to get incapacity benefit. only difference is that they're called tarquin or rupert and not barry. long live AFC wimbledon

and morbyd in answer to you, i agree with olly on his last point.

 

[Morbyd]

I appreciate your point about costs getting passed down though - but that doesn't negate the wider and more important need for massive taxation to pay for what the private sector can't or won't finance.....

I think this, then, is where we differ most... because where I come from, 36% on the highest tax bracket was already considered massive taxation! And we got about the same level of services, minus the healthcare part of course, but plus lots of overseas military adventures

 

[agentundercover]

.

 

[agentundercover]

totally off topic but for any real football fan, MK dons should be in the top 3 most hated clubs list. they represent the antithesis of everything sport and achievement and hard work stand for, in fact they represent the rich kid who couldn't be arsed going to uni or getting a job so got daddy to make him an exec of some business. total scum, exactly the same mentality as someone who claims to be disabled to get incapacity benefit. only difference is that they're called tarquin or rupert and not barry. long live AFC wimbledon

and morbyd in answer to you, i agree with olly on his last point.

it's only a footy team....total scum?

surely if it was £ viable as a club they would still be there?

 

[grego]

it's only a footy team....total scum?

surely if it was £ viable as a club they would still be there?

just because it's football doesn't make people's morals or values less significant. MK dons cheated their way into the system, simple as that. the people behind knew they were cheating the sport they supposedly love and they showed all the same characteristics as any scumbag doing something that is morally wrong, for personal gain.

question 2, i don't dispute that, i'm not saying wimbledon shouldn't have gone bust or whatever, but MK dons can't just say, ok we'll buy the club move it somewhere else and then call it something different. it makes a mockery of every football club in the league system who is trying to go up the ladder. Milton Keynes City FC who tried to do it the proper way are defunct because the city couldn't be arsed waiting for them in the southern league and so cheated their way with wimbledon.

they broke the cardinal rule of sport, that you have earn victory on the field of play (regardless of off field investment, it still has to be won on the pitch). MK dons broke this shamelessly......so yeah, total scum and your apathy on the matter i find surprising.

 

[agentundercover]

Surely it's the football league that behaved immorally tho by allowing it? They had the opportunity & power to prevent the situation from arising, the people behind MK Dons used the rules as they could.

If your business is not viable in X, then move to Y. I'd never want to give the impression of apathy on such a matter, the subject deserved a less flippant post, granted.

This said, as well as being a red i'm a part time Stockport County fan (missus, old man, half's on season ticket, year of wedding..you get the picture) & they are in admin as you prob know & likely to go bust by all accounts. I've just done a straw poll & she reckons she would rather see them move than go bust.....but she's a girl.

 

[Morbyd]

MK dons can't just say, ok we'll buy the club move it somewhere else and then call it something different

I honestly understand why people in England feel this way, but coming from a city that is on its 3rd baseball team (which moved from Montreal.. the first two are in Minneapolis and Dallas), and whose basketball team was originally in Baltimore and its American football team originally in Boston, it's hard to sympathize

 

[grego]

I honestly understand why people in England feel this way, but coming from a city that is on its 3rd baseball team (which moved from Montreal.. the first two are in Minneapolis and Dallas), and whose basketball team was originally in Baltimore and its American football team originally in Boston, it's hard to sympathize

and therein lies the difference in our sporting culture....

 

[Morbyd]

and therein lies the difference in our sporting culture....

No, more like a difference in the evolution of our league systems.

Trust me... the fans in the States hate how "franchises" can move (unless they're in a city without a team that suddenly gets one... a bit like Milton Keynes, I guess!)

 

[MARKB]

The downside of increasing the tax burden on the wealthy is that many of the entrepeneurs (who create wealth and jobs) fall into this category and if they are sqeezed too tightly they may choose another country to base their enterprises.

The 50% tax rate is not a huge burden to some one earning £200k for example and i don't think many will complain that it's not fair.

But the problem is that some people will avoid tax whether it is 40,50,60, 70 or 99%.

Increasing the threshold to 50% still won't catch these people. But may serve to disincentivise the entrepeneurs who create employment and wealth from doing business in this country. Big business contribute billions through corporation tax (20% of profits generated) and employers NI. In comparison the amount contributed by the 50% tax rate is miniscule.

It seems generally that wanting to make lots of money is seen as being immoral in the current climate (people can't seem to differentiate between banking bosses on the take and other business people) , but it's enterprise which will help get the UK (and the rest of the world) out of the economic mess it's in.

 

[Morbyd]

The 50% tax rate is not a huge burden to some one earning £200k for example and i don't think many will complain that it's not fair.

I agree with everything Mark said... except this!

I'm sorry... I know most of you Europeans are used to being in a high tax environment.

But I can not imagine working hard, working my way up the corporate ladder and making 200k, only to take home less than half of it (once other taxes and fees and VAT are factored in). It only hit me how insane that is when Mark put that concrete number out there. 100k pounds... gone!

I think this whole concept of social engineering and leveling the playing field is a load of crap... but mainly because that's not what's really going on. It's inefficient government delivering ineffective services and wasting your money!

I can't help but laugh at people in the US who balked at Obama's plan to reinstate the 36% tax bracket... they don't know how good they've got it! (of course, not as good as us over here )

 

[MARKB]

I agree with everything Mark said... except this!

I'm sorry... I know most of you Europeans are used to being in a high tax environment.

But I can not imagine working hard, working my way up the corporate ladder and making 200k, only to take home less than half of it (once other taxes and fees and VAT are factored in). It only hit me how insane that is when Mark put that concrete number out there. 100k pounds... gone!

I think this whole concept of social engineering and leveling the playing field is a load of crap... but mainly because that's not what's really going on. It's inefficient government delivering ineffective services and wasting your money!

I can't help but laugh at people in the US who balked at Obama's plan to reinstate the 36% tax bracket... they don't know how good they've got it! (of course, not as good as us over here )

You'd "only" pay the 50% rate on earnings over £150k. But i agree, it is high compared to the US (But we do have the NHS )

 

[Morbyd]

You'd "only" pay the 50% rate on earnings over £150k. But i agree, it is high compared to the US (But we do have the NHS )

ya, I know... it's all headlines, ain't it?

Having been to the UK many times now, I've been trying to figure out what other additional services you get, aside from the NHS (and the Queen ), for your tax dollar compared to Americans. Nothing comes to mind. Anything you can think of?

 

[Padster]

Somebody only slightly more famous than me once said:
"You don't measure a society by how wealthy it is, but by how happy it's people are."

I would rather be skint and happy than be in the situation I am now where I owe thousands and constantly feel as though I'm playing catch-up. I am in a decently paid job but can't get on the property ladder as I refuse to get a mortgage that will still need paying long after I'm gone, and in this area there is no such thing as affordable housing unless you already have a stake in the property market. Our financial situation needs a complete overhaul from the top down to re-distribute the wealth so that those of us who work hard can aspire to leave a legacy that doesn't include our inheritors paying off what we owe today.

 

[MARKB]

ya, I know... it's all headlines, ain't it?

Having been to the UK many times now, I've been trying to figure out what other additional services you get, aside from the NHS (and the Queen ), for your tax dollar compared to Americans. Nothing comes to mind. Anything you can think of?

Er, let's think...

Well, I have to write a new risk assessment everytime I buy a box of paperclips, so the millions we spend on health and safety legislation and enforcement has been a fantastic use of tax payers money. No one has died in any of my offices this year from a paperclip related injury.

Oh and the state spend tens of millions on adverts telling me not to drink too much and to point out that smoking is not good for you and that fireworks will explode. Despite selling all three of these items to anyone at anytime, usually all at once.

Also i was fined £60 for doing 42mph in a 40 zone on an industrial estate, so portable speed cameras are a pretty good investment by the government. Except for the residential road outside of my house where five youngsters where killed in as many years by cars doing 70mph, (no speed camera there).

Lots of police around though, although i was told to investigate the break in next door myself as the police wouldn't come out unless i could see the signs of forced entry (behind a 15 foot wall).

Oh wait they did come out, but 24 hours later at 3am(!!!) to investigate the (holidaying) neighbours alarm going off. When I pointed out that i'd called them 24hrs earlier they told me they said they must have been busy.

 

[Morbyd]

Our financial situation needs a complete overhaul from the top down to re-distribute the wealth so that those of us who work hard can aspire to leave a legacy that doesn't include our inheritors paying off what we owe today.

Why not encourage the construction of more affordable housing instead of trying to "redistribute" the wealth from other people who also work hard? That doesn't make much sense!

 

[MARKB]

Why not encourage the construction of more affordable housing instead of trying to "redistribute" the wealth from other people who also work hard? That doesn't make much sense!

To be fair the social housing initiatives in this country are good.

 

[Helen989]

If the money was put back into improving the country's infrastructure, health service and education then great

Unfortunately it seems to be used to fund a nation of sponging whingers who live on a diet of takeaways and jeremy kyle.

Hear hear! If people work hard to earn higher wages and better themselves and their families then what a great example they are setting, why should they be penalised for it, if we need some more money in our bank account then benefits should be cut down to a bare minimum so we can stop those sitting on their a*ss all day who are perfectly healthy to work having foreign holidays, sky tv and the latest sports wear yuk!