A rather late comment on this one, given that the issue seems to have dipped out of the news once again (though I’m certain it’ll resurface. The 50-pence tax band, and the Tories less than discreet desire to be rid of it.
Just to clarify – the 50-pence band applies on all annual income over £150,000. That is, to a tiny tiny number of exceptionally lucky individuals. The average graduate-level salary (sure to fall) is around 22k. The overall UK average somewhat lower. How on earth is a tax paid by so few who can evidently afford it, a serious political issue?
£150,000 p.a. is a quite unimaginable income for myself and for most people on this planet. Assuming you had attained such a luxurious level of material wealth – what possible need could you have for a penny extra? When excess personal wealth could be used for the benefit of all your fellow citizens, what moral argument could any decent human being give for trying to claw it back? Only through such a fair system of redistributive taxation can we hope to narrow the ever-increasing inequality in this country.
Of course, there is the ever so tedious rhetoric of the anti-socialists, about “rewarding risk-takers” and the like. To me it is little more than greed. We all live in this society. We all benefit from the services and infrastructures that our collective wealth can afford. When some of us benefit more than others they must repay their debt to society using a fraction of their fortunate windfall.
Former White House financial reform advisor Elizabeth Warren (video) recently articulated this point as well as I ever could:
No. There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own — nobody.
You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police-forces and fire-forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory — and hire someone to protect against this — because of the work the rest of us did.
Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea. God bless — keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is, you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.
Hearing this, especially from a US politician, is heartening. It is just as applicable to us. For the sake of the social contract between all peoples in this country, and for the sake of the unity of our communities, the 50-pence band must be kept.
-NASH-
ukipboy (pete s)
/ September 25, 2011currently with before the 50p tax rate the top 1% of earners, thouse who now pay the 50p, contributed nearly 25% of all income tax collected. They are also the people who pay more in VAT as they are the people who tend to buy more expensive things which has great amounts of VAT attacted to it. So at the moment the richest people pay far beyond their share. Also the UK is one of the most tax western economies so while the USA does need tax rises we proberly need the reverse.
On the other hand, or sat lesat this can be used prehaps as support for higher rich taxs, if you look at the tax system and how benifits and other taxs feed into it the 150,000 earners actually pay less tax then the people earning between 100,000-150,000 who end up being taxed around 65%
Chris Nash
/ September 25, 2011Do top earners really pay more in VAT as a proportion of their income? I’d very much favour a cut in VAT as its the most regressive tax there is. I’d argue that those on much lower incomes, who need to spend all of their income on consumption to survive, pay proportionately more. Absolutes are irrelevant if you can afford to pay them. F’instance, £10 is worth a lot to me (“salary” £53 per week), whereas £10,000 would be a piss in the sea to Vice Chancellor David Eastwood (salary £300,000 per year).
I’m afraid I really have very little pity for those on high incomes (above £50k) grumbling about paying their taxes. If you don’t want to be taxed at 50p, don’t earn so much – go work for minimum wage.
When I got my first payslip with an income tax deduction I felt an immense sense of civic pride. To me its paying back the society that has given me healthcare, education, safe communities, paved roads, clean air, unemployment support, and all the other benefits of living in a civilised society. Nobody’s wealth or income exists in a vacuum – it is conditional on the operation and perpetuation of this civilised society.
ukipboy (pete s)
/ September 25, 2011I would say that poorer people can avoid paying much in VAT. If you look at the 3 big weekly expendidutres rent/morgage repayments dont have VAT, electricity and gas may do and cant really be avoid but in terms of food, v little food is actually charged VAT, the complaint comes mainly that poorer people often by ready meals which do charge VAT, if they were prepared to cook using fresh ingredients they would avoid VAT