Not in quite those words but that is what an actual economist is telling the faux one.
Here.
All tax is ultimately paid by individuals.
Not in quite those words but that is what an actual economist is telling the faux one.
Here.
All tax is ultimately paid by individuals.
It would be even better if he realised that low value consignment relief on goods imported from the Channel Islands (i.e. the thing the stopped VAT applying) was abolished from April 2012…
And yet I bet that Tim (and Tim) thinks that a company can make a profit.
A company makes a profit – but one which ultimately belongs to it’s shareholders, who may chose to collect the money as a dividend, or reinvest it into company development. They may even use some of the money to increase workers renumeration in order to have a happier workforce with lower turnover rates (ultimately this is an attempt at company development). Ultimately, that profit ends up in someone’s pockets – just like taxes on the company ultimately come from someones pocket.
Really it’s no different to tax – we all know that companies can be(and indeed are) taxed. We also know that said tax ultimately comes out of(or doesn’t make it into) some actual humans’ pockets. In the same way companies make profits, but those profits ultimately end up in some humans’ pockets.
…starts to wonder when Ian B will morph into DBC Reed
Dick Murphy has responded to Harford’s article in the considered, mature manner which is his trademark…
@RichardJMurphy: Stop banging the vending machine http://t.co/4BlOXxfG Tim Hartford proves he’s just another neoliberal who has no clue about tax collection
All companies are ultimately owned by real people too.
diogenes #4
Unlikely. DBC (like Tim, apparently, surprisingly) is a Ricardian. Whereas I’m anti-Ricardian.
If you don’t have an FT account, Tim Harford has now uploaded the article to his own website.
http://timharford.com/2012/12/stop-banging-the-vending-machine/