Capital gains
First, Rishi Sunak could raise capital gains tax rates to match income tax rates, and reintroduce an inflation allowance, as his predecessor Nigel Lawson did in 1988. It was the top recommendation by Sunak’s own advisers, the Office of Tax Simplification, in 2020. This could raise up to £16bn. While some people will doubtless delay cashing in gains to avoid the tax, the chancellor should comfortably reach £10bn even accounting for this. A reformed capital gains tax would also be fairer, reducing the opportunity for some to game the system to pay lower effective tax rates.
With inflation at 9% entirely uncertain that CGT with an inflation allowance would raise anything at all…..
Tax rises should be last on the agenda (here at least I agree with one subsection of the TRUK agenda) A number of options present themselves for savings (am sure people could come up with more)
– abolition of Foreign Aid
– closure at least 50 universities (including any that have employed Richard Murphy- who is directly responsible for the cost of living crisis) before
– Redundancy for any public sector worker who has not come back to the office
– abolition of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
– Removal all posts related to ‘diversity’ throughout the entire public sector unless specifically calling for Whites, men or heterosexuals
There are billions of pounds of ‘low hanging fruit’ to be plucked!
The point of the OTS changes wasn’t to raise revenue, particularly, it was to make things simpler by getting rid of the cliff edge divide between capital and income, and sweeping away most of the complex anti-avoidance rules it entails.
Fuck you, cut spending.
um – but for major components of cost of living – food and clothing- is anyone going to mention unilateral free trade?
I don’t care too much about what rate capital gains are taxed as long as they did introduce an inflation relief so was a tax on the “real” gain and not on the capital itself.
Hmmm.
House prices up nearly 20% in 2 years.
The main dwelling CGT relief loophole costs somewhere north of £30bn a year.
Low hanging fruit.
If they’re really concerned, surely the simplest and quickest solution would be to abolish all sanctions on Russia and Iran. Immediate access to cheap and plentiful fuel.
Meanwhile, of course, fracking is authorised and all subsidies to windmills and solar panels are diverted to boosting fracking and nukes. The ridiculous regs that hamper new nukes are also given the flick.
VP’s suggested reforms could also be introduced. One could go on from there.
As the panjandrum paranoiac Prof has been referenced in this post by Van Patten, I thought you’d be interested in one of his recent comments:
“There is no police force I now trust in the UK
There is far too much evidence of bias, misogyny and more to let me do so
One day I suspect they will knock at my door for opposing the state, a crime they will happily enforce”
He’s still suffering from empathetic memories of that visit to Dachau. If I lived near Ely, I’d be tempted to swing by and stick a big star to his front door to push him over the edge.
Wasn’t it just yesterday that he was arguing that people were going to starve unless taxes on fuel, etc. wasn’t lowered? Now he wants to increase taxes on capital gains?
A legend of these comments pages, BraveFart has beaten me to the punch with his profile of a man living in an Orwellian dystopia over in Ely (wasn’t aware that was under Met jurisdiction but there you go)
In other ‘TRUK’ news:
– Everyone other than the ‘Mile End boys’ is wrong about inflation, and he has a chart to tell us why
– Despite employing someone else (possibly his twin) to gain his accountancy qualification, he has a pop at the ICAEW over ‘Audit failures’
– And he’s also apparently predicted the recession ‘almost uniquely’. (Any chance Noel Scoper could get his archive of quotes to see how many recessions Spud has predicted in the last ten years?)
One day I suspect they will knock at my door for opposing the state, a crime they will happily enforce
With the memory of yesterday’s coffee covered monitor still fresh in my memory, I read this after the caffeine swallow. Not needing a cleanup crew this morning.
If Britain ever passes a law jailing assholes, he’ll be in real trouble. Sans that development, I pretty sure he’ll fly under law enforcement’s radar. Good to see he still has his wholly unjustified sense of self-importance.
Dennis
I honestly do think he is suffering the early symptoms of dementia – genuinely. He seems completely unhinged from reality (while be convinced he is perfectly sane)
I also missed two other ‘highlights’
– Apparently Banks don’t need deposits to lend – Northern Rock could have continued unabated in 2008 and just created people’s money out of thin air
– the SNP have made the point about ‘fascism’ – one of the most moronic MPs in Parliament (and that is saying something) used the ‘F’ Word. Apparently unaware that his program to tackle the cost of living crisis is more or less explicitly an echo of fascist policies, the Potato blunders blindly on
Truly a busy day for him today!
I honestly do think he is suffering the early symptoms of dementia – genuinely.
As someone who has dealt with a family member who developed dementia, which then progressed to Alzheimer’s, I’d have to say dementia isn’t his issue.
That isn’t to say he’s the peak of mental health though… I suspect he suffers from one or more personality disorders (narcissism or histrionic personality disorder, most probably).
Then again, I wouldn’t be surprised that after a battery of comprehensive tests by credentialled mental health professionals the verdict came back that he was simply a garden variety asshole.
‘ While some people will doubtless delay cashing in gains to avoid the tax, the chancellor should comfortably reach £10bn even accounting for this. ’
The ‘People are blocks of wood’ theory. The notion that people will behave just how you imagine or require for your policy to work, and won’t behave in ways entirely different to what you thought or want, so your pet theory sinks without trace.
Dennis
No offence meant obviously – hope you made it through that travail relatively unscathed. A former neighbour of mine (Leftist don who had taught at the University of Birmingham actually) now sadly passed away was primary carer for someone suffering from Alzheimers and said he wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy…
Couldn’t (And wouldn’t) and wouldn’t demur from your assessment of him in the last sentence either..
House prices up nearly 20% in 2 years.
The main dwelling CGT relief loophole costs somewhere north of £30bn a year.
Low hanging fruit.
Low swinging knuckles.
VP –
No offense taken.
V_P when was Murphy ever hinged to reality?
– abolition of Foreign Aid YES. And abolition of HS2.
– closure at least 50 universities (including any that have employed Richard Murphy- who is directly responsible for the cost of living crisis) AND Imperial College, home of the Astrologer Royal.
– Redundancy for any public sector worker who has not come back to the office AND 40% of schoolteachers and railwaymen. AND 20% cuts in pay for GPs.
– abolition of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. YUSS.
– Removal all posts related to ‘diversity’ throughout the entire public sector … BRAVO!
pratting about with the rates is no more than political fiddling, but the take from capital gains tax is already significantly up, year on year. But of course the problem with capital gains tax is the negative effects on investment, which means there have to be complex rules and thus the scope for arbitrage. Removing this tax would be one way of significantly simplifying our horribly complex tax system, and I would imagine you could make a good case for this actually increasing the overall tax take.
People talk about the exemption for your main residence, but forget the surrogate capital gains tax, or stamp duty!