To be honest Hucks, if they aren't paying it they may as well fuck off to Switzerland or Monaco, 'cause we still won't get it anyway would we? They need to pay their fair share on profits or be closed down. After all, whats the best deal for them anyway...pay a few tens of millions in tax, or lose hundreds of millions in sales? Starbucks have made a "donation" after fear of not getting any customers through the door.
If people squeal because they're paying a higher tax bill, perhaps they need to swap places with those who don't earn enough to pay tax? I'm sure a few months struggling with increasing energy, food, fuel, utility prices - and a potential reduction in tax credits ..... fuck me, they'd be thankful they are able to pay 50%
I have no problem at all if people earn hundreds of thousands, even millions, doing whatever they can turn their hand to. I don't care if you're a banker who's ill with stress earning half a mill, or a banker who plays the system and sits on your arse all day and still earns half a mill .... you live to your means like the rest of us, and you should pay what you're supposed to.
Just a note on who got us into this mess, putting aside the bank's wheeling and dealing - other than us using the facilities, who profited from all that spending? Who got the contracts to build the schools and hospitals? Which firm's tills did the public sector wages end up in? Labour may have been writing the cheques, but entrepreneurs and big business flourished cashing them.
I get your point mate and maybe you're right when it comes to Starbucks, etc. because they are "stores" and need to physically be here to operate. If push came to shove and we said we'll close your stores down if you don't sort it, then they would I guess, but then they would just factor it into their business decisions and probably close some branches (in fact, im not 100% but they would probably still be able to have stores here but just not have a UK head office or something like that to wangle it...). This would have knock on effects on VAT and general consumer spending. For other companies/corporations though, that don't physically need to be here to operate, this wouldn't work. Investment banks, etc. They will just jump ship and go somewhere that will offer them preferential rates! We'd lose out.
On your point about income tax and paying a higher tax bill. I feel like you're (and other people do) assume that people who pay a higher tax bill just fall into some job and sit on their arse and earn money. I'm in my early 20s and I have loads of mates who do jobs that, whilst they may be physically exerting and they do work hard, it's nowhere near the mental drain and stress that my job gives me, and I earn a fair whack more than most of them. That doesn't mean I should automatically be penalised whenever shit hits the fan with the economy does it? Yes, I earn more, but I worked my arse off at uni and then got further debt to go get a masters degree, and am now paying that off and reaping some rewards for my hard work (on the weekends at least!!). My mates moan about money and stuff...but if they really wanted it then they could go and put the work in and make the sacrifices to get a job that pays more? Obviously there are exceptions to this on both ends of the scale, but it pisses me off when people say higher earners or the "rich" should get the brunt of it. (By the way, I'm not in the group that I refer to as "rich", far from it!).
On your final point about who profited from it all. Yes, of course the entrepreneurs and big businesses reaped their rewards from it. But how do you think we live in such a developed major economy and have such a great healthcare system, great infrastructure, generous pension and welfare system (relatively, btw before i get jumped on)? When the banks boomed and the big businesses boomed, our government got more money and had more to spend on making this the country it is. I just feel like a lot of people only see one side of things and it frustrates me.
Nice to see that we have a thick working class tory amongst us.
Wow. Why so personal? Why am I "thick"? So what if I'm working class? Are you incapable of having a proper debate without getting all catty?
'They, the rich, work their arses off with stressful jobs. Don't make me laugh...compared to our serving soldiers, our hard pressed bobbies, our under pressure nurses and our hard working teachers they don't. As you point out it is the bankers who got us into the mess not just because of relaxed legislation but also because of selfish unbridled greed and a lack of morality. Are you seriously suggesting that they should shoulder no responsibility for wrecking the stability of many first world countries? Should they still be taking sky high bonuses whilst other people lose their jobs, have their pay cut or their benefits slashed? I wish I was so richly rewarded for failure and 'criminal' activity...clearly I'm in the wrong job. And the politicians that let them and continue to let them get away with their actions are equally to blame. Im sorry but the rich are not overtaxed...they are not taxed to the extent they have been for the last 100yrs apart from a few years at the end of the 1980s to 1994
That would be a slight misquote my friend. Not what I said.
Yes, unfortunately it's that natural selfish unbridled greed and lack of morality that our govt encouraged and we as a country turned a blind eye to while times were good. It was this that allowed such massive profits which paid huge amounts of tax into our pot and which helped our economy boom. No im not suggesting the should shoulder no responsbility, where did I say that?
Should they still be taking sky high bonuses while other people lose their jobs? Yes...if their bonuses are based on them earning a certain amount of profit in a fund and that's exactly what they do. They will be getting paid their marginal revenue product...they will be getting paid a factor of what profit the make their bank (which in turn means more tax and a higher GDP for us blah blah blah...we've done this).
