Second, Reeves ignores the fact that tax is an instrument of social policy. It is the primary tool available for tackling inequality at the top end of the income and wealth spectrums, and what the statement she has made implies is that Labour must be happy with the current levels of inequality that exist in the UK even though they are very clearly destructive for society as a whole. That is a quite staggering position for a party on the supposed left of politics.
Spud wants to tax the rich just because they are rich. That’s it and only it.
And when you can’t afford anything any more, punish you for your racist negligence.
I suppose putting up income tax on high incomes will drive high earners abroad and so you will indeed have reduced inequality.
Unless of course a consequence of this flight is to make the poor poorer, in which case all you’ll have done is shift the distribution to the left.
This is nothing new. Some people have been yelling for years now that the argument for taxation isn’t just to fund government activities and services, which allows a debate about what those activities and services should be, to one that another purpose of taxation is so as to limit what one might have, which I suppose also opens a debate about what such limits should be. Even some advocates of wealth taxes acknowledge that it might not raise all that much tax, but if it helped to depress asset values and reduce wealth that would be a success. The left wants a poorer society.
“Spud wants to tax the rich just because they are rich”
Not quite – he wants to tax them because *they are richer than he is*.
There are two types of envy: mine is “I want to be as good/fast as him/her”; the other is “I want to reduce him/her to my level or below”
[My last race I was lapped *four times* by an impressively good Dutch lady (yes, she was about half my age, but that does not explain that big an outperformance, she was obviously *a lot* better) but my reaction is a mixture of envy and admiration not wanting to reduce her to my level]
Correction – I’ve just looked her up on Google – just under one-third of my age, but I wasn’t anywhere near that fast even then
@john 77 [My last race I was lapped *four times* by an impressively good Dutch lady…]
When running a half marathon around the Goodwood race circuit last year, I was lapped twice by a trio of obviously very fit young lads. They were running as team, taking it in turns to push a pram.
I comforted myself with the realisation that even if I were as young as them I could not keep up. But that even now I could probably out scrummage them.
I agree that in the UK we seem to suffer from a malaise so the reaction to someone having a nice car is not “I want one of those” but “I want to take his away from him”
I imagine Murphy was not breastfed, and all his incandescent rage stems from this
I am willing to bet a shiny pound that, like almost everyone, Murphy’s personal definition of “rich” is basically “a reasonable amount richer than me”
Another sad rant from a 65 year old man who has enjoyed a good professional income for 40 years but whose only assets are a mediocre end terrace and a pension fund of 1% bonds. If he had any integrity, he’d admit he messed up and encourage others to do things differently. But it’s easier to demand confiscation of assets from people who have made better decisions than him.
As we have the highest tax take since WW2 and UKGov are still having to borrow £40+Billion a month to cover it’s outgoings, can someone please explain how we have anything approaching ‘austerity’.
It’s not moar tax we need it’s less government…..
John77 @ 2.00.
Andrew C @ 2.09
Similar experience twenty years ago. Only ran to keep the beer gut at bay and never entered any runs or anything but could do 6 miles in 46 minutes at 45 yo. Also had gym membership and one afternoon was on a treadmill with this girl half my age on the next one, absolutely smashing it – I couldn’t get anywhere near her pace. “I’m getting too old for this” I thought. Next was the exercise bike – again she was on another planet to me. “That’s it, I’m giving up” I thought. As she was leaving she put on her tracksuit top, emblazoned with ‘British Triathalon Team’. I felt a little better after seeing that…….
Also, just remembered this:
“We had committed ourselves to a wealth tax; but in five years I found it impossible to draft one which would yield enough revenue to be worth the administrative cost and political hassle.”
Denis Healey writing in his autobiography.
However, if you weren’t interested in a wealth tax simply to yield revenue…..
When I’m swim fit I can swim 50 metres in under 50 seconds, not bad for 65 I think. I went as a spectator to the World Triathlon series and the swimmers were bettering my sprint pace for the whole swim course and by a considerable margin too.
@ Adolff and Stonyground
After I ran my first London Marathon one of my friends said she was impressed by my “achievement” to which I spontaneously replied that *I* was impressed by Charlie Spedding running each of the 26 miles faster than I could run a single one…
@ Andrew C
The first time I ran the Robin Hood Marathon (in my late 30s), I was overtaken by some squaddies running in full kit, including boots and backpacks. Was there a baby in the pram? It would be incredibly difficult to push a pram at speed without making it horribly bumpy.
“It [tax] is the primary tool available for tackling inequality at the top end of the income and wealth spectrums,”
No, it is the primary took for taking money from the rich; that is all it is.
“When I’m swim fit I can swim 50 metres in under 50 seconds, not bad for 65 I think.”
Yeah… not bad.
Then again, I might just be bitter because 5 years ago I could swim 400m in 6 minutes, 40 secs; each 50m in 50. Now though….
“Spud wants to tax the rich just because they are rich”
As bank robber Willie Sutton supposedly said when asked why he robbed banks, “because that’s where the money is”.
Spud wants to tax the rich just because they are rich. That’s it and only it.
No, Tim
It’s because they are rich AND HE ISN’T