Westminster Politics

And in 2021, Musk paid $11 billion.
That was a large one off federal tax bill after he bought shares which were due to expire the following year, he received something like $24billion in taxable income. Outside of that he pays a pittance in federal taxes considering his wealth.
 
Depends how much tax you pay and how rich you are really. For the duke of Westminster it's wrong. For Amazon it's wrong. For you, maybe.
Yep fair enough, just been thinking how it would be to move back to London, where wages are lower and tax more than double and the thought is depressing.
Legally doesn't make it right. Specially when the legality is lobbied to favour the rich. And tax avoidance, as much as is legal, it goes against the spirit of the law that is written for tax planning like the examples that you mentioned

Rich and corporations abuse the system and loopholes and often times they create these loopholes. Is legal but is damn wrong. Why I have to pay 15-20% a year while Musk paid In 2015, $68,000 in federal income tax. In 2017, it was $65,000, and in 2018 he paid no federal income tax.

Is beyond ridiculous
Tax avoidance is exploiting rules not intended for those purposes to pay less tax and is investigated by HMRC. It is nothing like ISA’s or pensions. The abuse of non dom status is tax avoidance.
Agree with all of that tbh. Though a portion of the Caf has very different views to be on what level of salary punitive taxation should be introduced though, at the risk of the bearded guy from Question Time making another appearance in this thread.
 
Though a portion of the Caf has very different views to be on what level of salary punitive taxation should be introduced though, at the risk of the bearded guy from Question Time making another appearance in this thread.
:lol:
 
Yep fair enough, just been thinking how it would be to move back to London, where wages are lower and tax more than double and the thought is depressing.


Agree with all of that tbh. Though a portion of the Caf has very different views to be on what level of salary punitive taxation should be introduced though, at the risk of the bearded guy from Question Time making another appearance in this thread.

I've been a contractor through a limited company outside IR35 and paid tax as a company. I think my effective tax rate was maybe 30% max on generally 60-75k revenue with feck all in the way of assets and tbh it felt about right to me. Which shows how scandalous the tax laws are because there are employees earning a lot less than that paying a lot more tax! When you've big companies and the ultra wealthy sometimes paying single digit tax rates it's no wonder we have to subsidise the feckers. The whole system is broken and just singling out reasonably well paid salaried employees doesn't really cut it for me. There should be some mechanism for factoring in existing wealth or something, not just a debate about income.
 



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There’s a fundamental difference between being the Opposition Party and the Governing Party.

The likelihood is that at the end of the year we’ll have Starmer in No10 and Trump in the White House. Rules of international diplomacy dictate you have to be civil and constructive with your biggest ‘allies’.
 
There’s a fundamental difference between being the Opposition Party and the Governing Party.

The likelihood is that at the end of the year we’ll have Starmer in No10 and Trump in the White House. Rules of international diplomacy dictate you have to be civil and constructive with your biggest ‘allies’.
The fact you have to explain this shows how far people will go to criticise Labour.
 
I've been a contractor through a limited company outside IR35 and paid tax as a company. I think my effective tax rate was maybe 30% max on generally 60-75k revenue with feck all in the way of assets and tbh it felt about right to me. Which shows how scandalous the tax laws are because there are employees earning a lot less than that paying a lot more tax! When you've big companies and the ultra wealthy sometimes paying single digit tax rates it's no wonder we have to subsidise the feckers. The whole system is broken and just singling out reasonably well paid salaried employees doesn't really cut it for me. There should be some mechanism for factoring in existing wealth or something, not just a debate about income.
Absolutely. The IR35 changes fecked me when I went freelance in 2020. It was really annoying, particularly when the likes of the DM and BBC had employed some staffers as freelance five days a week for 10 years to avoid paying NI and giving them full employment rights.

The taxing of corporations is never going to happen with a concertated international effort though and can't see that happen. Easier to go for the small man.
 
Absolutely. The IR35 changes fecked me when I went freelance in 2020. It was really annoying, particularly when the likes of the DM and BBC had employed some staffers as freelance five days a week for 10 years to avoid paying NI and giving them full employment rights.

The taxing of corporations is never going to happen with a concertated international effort though and can't see that happen. Easier to go for the small man.
I was a contractor working for Central government at the time. HMRC didn't have enough established tax experts so they used Deloitte, KPMG, PWC and Accenture to provide support. Those companies helped draft the IR35 legislation which left HMRC short of people with key skills as the contractors there were forced out. Who filled those spots? People from Deloitte, KPMG, PWC and Accenture on much more expensive day rates.

Same across government in other departments. I genuinely don't believe IR35 changes made any difference at all to available funds. The tax take may have gone up, but the cost of delivering government services also went up.
 
Same across government in other departments. I genuinely don't believe IR35 changes made any difference at all to available funds. The tax take may have gone up, but the cost of delivering government services also went up

Spot on, there was a widespread belief in government circles (encouraged by 'interested parties') that too many people were becoming self-employed consultants and thereby dodging NI.
Ruined the working life for many hardworking, (have car and brain, will travel) people who were just about earning a living.
 
I was a contractor working for Central government at the time. HMRC didn't have enough established tax experts so they used Deloitte, KPMG, PWC and Accenture to provide support. Those companies helped draft the IR35 legislation which left HMRC short of people with key skills as the contractors there were forced out. Who filled those spots? People from Deloitte, KPMG, PWC and Accenture on much more expensive day rates.

Same across government in other departments. I genuinely don't believe IR35 changes made any difference at all to available funds. The tax take may have gone up, but the cost of delivering government services also went up.

The cost of delivering all services went up. Temporary, skilled staff are critical in engineering in particular. In the design and development phase of producing a car for example, you need more people and different skills than what you need once you're in production. Contractors used to provide that but a lot of companies are shit scared of hiring any now, and hiring and firing employees in the same way as you could contractors is a lot more expensive and time consuming.

I think it could well be contributing to the poor state of the economy, but in the faecal hailstorm of economic idiocy that has been the last 14 years it's really quite hard to pick it out!

Anyway, it's by the by, rich people don't pay enough tax which means ordinary employees have to pay too much, and it became pretty clear to me after having been a contractor.
 
Over 200k at today's London pro Palestine march. Lots of respect and solidarity given to the US university students (and teachers apparently) holding freedom up for the rest of us.

Along with the regular protest attendees like Corbyn you had Clare Daly, Irish MEP, giving both barrels to Biden and Sunak again. She's no shrinking violet. :lol: And Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neil.
 
Surely the largest protest since just before the Iraq invasion? A million or so at the No Iraq War protest.
 
Surely the largest protest since just before the Iraq invasion? A million or so at the No Iraq War protest.

Other London protests have been similar sized or slightly larger. But its still huge numbers considering there is zero coverage and you're not even allowed to talk to work colleague about it at the coffee area in case Big Brother is listening.
 
Yeah, not to mention the 11th November Palestinian solidarity march (800k~).

Just indicative of how absolutely terrible modern day reporting is (the Brexit stuff is just down to my own memory).
 
Oh look. Positive news about Labour. Time for Sweet Square to do his usual thing.
 
Oh look. Positive news about Labour. Time for Sweet Square to do his usual thing.
This is only positive news for the people on here who agree with Tory policy but dislike the Tory party.
 
Can I ask people here what is your opinion about NHS doctors striking?
It’s for the greater good. They’re not striking out of “personal greed”, they’re striking because working conditions and pay have become so poor there is already a major shortage in staff and that effects the NHS 365 days of the year. So to strike a handful of days might get the headlines and give Tory MPs the ammo they need to throw them over the bus, the reality is that the NHS is grossly understaffed all year round and that has a much worse overall impact compared to the occasional strikes.
 
It’s for the greater good. They’re not striking out of “personal greed”, they’re striking because working conditions and pay have become so poor there is already a major shortage in staff and that effects the NHS 365 days of the year. So to strike a handful of days might get the headlines and give Tory MPs the ammo they need to throw them over the bus, the reality is that the NHS is grossly understaffed all year round and that has a much worse overall impact compared to the occasional strikes.

I have about 10 friends who work for the NHS (physicians and dentists) none of them like working for the NHS. Their main complain when I hear them discuss the NHS is almost always financial. But they also talk about the working conditions. I was wondering if the public acknowledge their complain.
 
I have about 10 friends who work for the NHS (physicians and dentists) none of them like working for the NHS. Their main complain when I hear them discuss the NHS is almost always financial. But they also talk about the working conditions. I was wondering if the public acknowledge their complain.
Personally… absolutely, and support their right and motivation to strike.