| Govt deficit: what would you do? 15:08 - Jul 8 with 5206 views | giant_stow |
I keep reading that the Uk's finances are looking unsustainable. I realise that that may in itself be a controversial opinion, but for the sake of argument, what would you do to get things back on track? |  |
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| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:11 - Jul 8 with 2199 views | Tonytown |
Make tax dodgers pay tax |  | | |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:18 - Jul 8 with 2152 views | giant_stow |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:11 - Jul 8 by Tonytown |
Make tax dodgers pay tax |
How do you do that though? Aren't taxes so complicated that there's always an out somewhere? | |
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| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:18 - Jul 8 with 2149 views | bluelagos |
Put the cycling on and not worry about it. (Adverts on at the minute) |  |
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| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:28 - Jul 8 with 2094 views | giant_stow |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:18 - Jul 8 by bluelagos |
Put the cycling on and not worry about it. (Adverts on at the minute) |
do you know what? I cant be arsed either! its just too big. | |
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| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:33 - Jul 8 with 2062 views | DarkBrandon |
I don’t think there is an alternative other than broad based tax rises. |  | | |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:37 - Jul 8 with 2041 views | Daninthecampo |
The world debt figure is around 324 trillion usd, with only about 450 T in total assets, the world is screwed!
Each country can make small improvements but it's never going to be enough! | | | |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:43 - Jul 8 with 2018 views | Herbivore |
Raise income tax but also raise the threshold at which people start paying it so that the lowest paid aren't disproportionately impacted.
Also, much larger windfall taxes on fossil fuel companies, increase taxes on stock trading (currently only 0.5%), tax big tech properly, some form of wealth tax and other measures that tax unearned income similarly to or at a higher rate than taxes on income. |  |
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| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:47 - Jul 8 with 2001 views | Swansea_Blue |
- Look at addressing the £46BN per year tax gap
- Bring tax rates on investments in line with (or at least closer to) income rate rates
- Lower interest rates
- Possibly consider a small wealth tax that doesn’t scare off the super rich (not easy in this climate)
- Be more honest about the national debt rather than use it as an excuse to cut govt investment
- Rejoin the EU single market (i.e. rejoin the EU)
- Ask someone less clueless than me
Many, many £10s of billions a year just tied up in that lot for starters. Pissing around introducing means testing (unnecessary bureaucracy/expense) to a relatively tiny universal benefit for pensioners shouldn’t be anywhere near a priority (and no, I’m not a pensioner). |  |
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| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:47 - Jul 8 with 2000 views | StokieBlue |
Just been announced that the triple lock will cost x3 the expected amount by 2030.
Could be bold and get rid of it.
*hides*
In reality, what is required is higher taxes with some honesty about the spending and why it's needed.
SB [Post edited 8 Jul 15:53]
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| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:49 - Jul 8 with 1989 views | baxterbasics |
Slash the welfare bill by reducing eligibility.
Sell the NHS to the highest bidder.
Flog more arms to Israel.
Exploit every drop of coal, oil and natural gas. |  |
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| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:55 - Jul 8 with 1945 views | Churchman |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:18 - Jul 8 by giant_stow |
How do you do that though? Aren't taxes so complicated that there's always an out somewhere? |
In the 2000s the government took an axe to HMRC/IR staff as part of austerity. These are the people that go after those that don’t pay their share. They don’t all do the same thing. They tended to specialise and built up a wealth of knowledge. They were paid a fraction of what they brought in and when they were shovelled out, those potential revenues owed were lost. To cover the lunacy of this, Tax Inspectors were told by govt all tax payers were to be considered honest.
I asked some acquaintances in the Treasury about this, as it made no sense to me. I was told no 1 govt priority along with priorities 2, 3, 4 is headcount cuts. They were not interested where the bodies came from. Get em out, so they were all paid off, full pension in their 50s etc. What about the loss of tax revenues? I was told not to be naive. The government can always print money.
My friends job was to lift £millions off criminals using tax (Untouchables) and he did it successfully. Rolls Royce’s, mansions, boats, watches, even ice cream vans. They went for everyone criminal and uber Rich from the proceeds. His team was all but disbanded. He was told serious crime is not a govt priority. He retired early and with him went a heap of intellectual property.
Yes, taxes are complicated and the investigators need a high level of qualification to do the work. So employ more of them, invest in them and digitalising tax to its potential (I had a little involvement with the MTD project years ago so know what it is and the potential) and close the anomalies and loopholes.
But the government won’t do that because when it comes to not paying their dues the millionaires in the HoC will be the first employing somebody to help avoid paying more than they have to. I don’t blame them. I regrettably pay my full whack but if I could reduce that to 10% which is about what the rich pay on average, I’d do it.
The tax gap estimate was £46.8bn in absolute terms in 23/24. A tidy little sum. |  | | |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:56 - Jul 8 with 1945 views | EddyJ |
Legalising cannabis would seem to be an obvious money-maker.
Can't leave the house without smelling weed everywhere you go, so its clearly widely-used. Government may as well get a cut of that. | | | |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:01 - Jul 8 with 1920 views | Leaky |
Spend the money more effieciantly, ie cut out the waste |  | | |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:02 - Jul 8 with 1912 views | Swansea_Blue |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:55 - Jul 8 by Churchman |
In the 2000s the government took an axe to HMRC/IR staff as part of austerity. These are the people that go after those that don’t pay their share. They don’t all do the same thing. They tended to specialise and built up a wealth of knowledge. They were paid a fraction of what they brought in and when they were shovelled out, those potential revenues owed were lost. To cover the lunacy of this, Tax Inspectors were told by govt all tax payers were to be considered honest.
I asked some acquaintances in the Treasury about this, as it made no sense to me. I was told no 1 govt priority along with priorities 2, 3, 4 is headcount cuts. They were not interested where the bodies came from. Get em out, so they were all paid off, full pension in their 50s etc. What about the loss of tax revenues? I was told not to be naive. The government can always print money.
My friends job was to lift £millions off criminals using tax (Untouchables) and he did it successfully. Rolls Royce’s, mansions, boats, watches, even ice cream vans. They went for everyone criminal and uber Rich from the proceeds. His team was all but disbanded. He was told serious crime is not a govt priority. He retired early and with him went a heap of intellectual property.
Yes, taxes are complicated and the investigators need a high level of qualification to do the work. So employ more of them, invest in them and digitalising tax to its potential (I had a little involvement with the MTD project years ago so know what it is and the potential) and close the anomalies and loopholes.
But the government won’t do that because when it comes to not paying their dues the millionaires in the HoC will be the first employing somebody to help avoid paying more than they have to. I don’t blame them. I regrettably pay my full whack but if I could reduce that to 10% which is about what the rich pay on average, I’d do it.
The tax gap estimate was £46.8bn in absolute terms in 23/24. A tidy little sum. |
I’d love to be a billionaire so I could buy a…-[checks notes]…. ice cream van. What? lol
Good post. Austerity at any cost. And often it is a cost in knock on impacts. Be it people on the long term sick because the NHS doesn’t work, taxes not recovered, etc. | |
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| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:12 - Jul 8 with 1872 views | Churchman |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:02 - Jul 8 by Swansea_Blue |
I’d love to be a billionaire so I could buy a…-[checks notes]…. ice cream van. What? lol
Good post. Austerity at any cost. And often it is a cost in knock on impacts. Be it people on the long term sick because the NHS doesn’t work, taxes not recovered, etc. |
It’s actually true. He lifted a load of ice cream vans of a mush onto a couple of transporters. They were sold for a lot of money. They were going to take some canal barges but the kit needed to get them out of the water and move them didn’t make it worthwhile. Fairground rides (from the travellers) you name it. Hotels, restaurants, business blocks even a golf course.
But it was mostly the criminals favourite of high end, flash cars, houses, mansions, jewellery and possessions. | | | |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:17 - Jul 8 with 1840 views | StokieBlue |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:01 - Jul 8 by Leaky |
Spend the money more effieciantly, ie cut out the waste |
Do you have specific examples?
SB | | | |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:25 - Jul 8 with 1808 views | OldFart71 |
Of course it's unsustainable. Whether there was a black hole of 22 billion or not Labour have increased that black hole. But the tax burden is already at it's highest since the 1950's and seeing as Rachel Reeves declared she wouldn't increase taxes she has either to go back on that promise or cut spending. If she taxes people they have less in their pockets to spend therefore whether it be supermarkets, clothing, furniture, carpet, DIY or whatever stores see less revenue through their doors. Less revenue means fewer hours for workers, redundancies, closures and more benefits claimants and less revenue to the exchequer.
The sad thing about governments is that they spend their time worrying about being voted in when their term is up. Conservatives spend money in and around London and Labour concentrate on the North because in each case that's where their votes lay.
A government is elected for the whole country, not for the bits they deem will give them the vote.
They need to concentrate on getting the country producing more, creating jobs and getting people who are fit to work working and make companies paying a fraction of the tax they should be paying pay more. | | | |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:25 - Jul 8 with 1806 views | itfcjoe |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:17 - Jul 8 by StokieBlue |
Do you have specific examples?
SB |
Spoke to a mate in Norfolk police at the weekend, they are now targetted for extra staff and have minimum police numbers needed.....if they fall below this number they get their funding cut.
They don't currently need the extra staff, so replacing staff roles with police officers - so rather than paying someone £25k to do case work, they are now paying a copper a bit more to do it now, and in 2-3 years will be paying them £45k a year to do it.....at a time when AI is making part of the job redundant as it is.
Just one example there, and sure that alone doesn't change much but we are in a position where Govt is done by announcements rather than need [Most police numbers since austerity] when it doesn't actually achieve what people want [community policing, presence on the streets, etc] and just cost more for the same |  |
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| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:29 - Jul 8 with 1793 views | chicoazul |
TWTDs solution is always the same; more taxes. As if the political elite in this country haven’t proven their incompetence so many times over already.
Here is my solution; new people in charge who don’t subscribe to modern thinking. |  |
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| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:31 - Jul 8 with 1777 views | surreyblue |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 15:47 - Jul 8 by Swansea_Blue |
- Look at addressing the £46BN per year tax gap
- Bring tax rates on investments in line with (or at least closer to) income rate rates
- Lower interest rates
- Possibly consider a small wealth tax that doesn’t scare off the super rich (not easy in this climate)
- Be more honest about the national debt rather than use it as an excuse to cut govt investment
- Rejoin the EU single market (i.e. rejoin the EU)
- Ask someone less clueless than me
Many, many £10s of billions a year just tied up in that lot for starters. Pissing around introducing means testing (unnecessary bureaucracy/expense) to a relatively tiny universal benefit for pensioners shouldn’t be anywhere near a priority (and no, I’m not a pensioner). |
Many of these are good places to start, although the issue with cutting interest rates is that it is not the government who can control this, it risks increasing inflation, and it is unlikely to materially impact longer term borrowing costs which are more market driven.
The triple lock is a key one that needs to go. Increases in line with inflation only, and the ability for the government of the day to increase it above this level if wage growth has been consistently higher than inflation for a period of years.
Without being an expert, the health and social care sector also need fixing. I don't know how many patients there are in hospital that don't need to be there, but surely there is a better solution than just leaving them there for extended periods of time where they are more likely to have a fall or catch some infection?
Some of the disincentives for higher earners also need to be looked at - particularly around the 100k tax trap. I don't even think the cost needs to be that material, I reckon there would be economic benefits from just a realignment of tax and childcare benefits around the 100k level to avoid the 60%+ marginal tax rates. Similar changes also need to be considered around the Universal Credit limits.
I'd also like to see extraordinary corporation tax rates for organisations who under employ or under pay workers who need their wages topped up by government benefits. | | | |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:32 - Jul 8 with 1775 views | Herbivore |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:29 - Jul 8 by chicoazul |
TWTDs solution is always the same; more taxes. As if the political elite in this country haven’t proven their incompetence so many times over already.
Here is my solution; new people in charge who don’t subscribe to modern thinking. |
Nobody else wants Peter Hitchens to run the country, mate. | |
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| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:36 - Jul 8 with 1754 views | surreyblue |
"maybe we should just default on our debt".
Yea, that would help. | | | |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:38 - Jul 8 with 1740 views | chicoazul |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:32 - Jul 8 by Herbivore |
Nobody else wants Peter Hitchens to run the country, mate. |
Given how popular Reform are I’d say you’re even more out of touch with the country than usual. | |
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| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:39 - Jul 8 with 1741 views | OldFart71 |
| Govt deficit: what would you do? on 16:02 - Jul 8 by Swansea_Blue |
I’d love to be a billionaire so I could buy a…-[checks notes]…. ice cream van. What? lol
Good post. Austerity at any cost. And often it is a cost in knock on impacts. Be it people on the long term sick because the NHS doesn’t work, taxes not recovered, etc. |
Apparently they found a guy dead in his ice cream van. He was covered in crushed nuts, strawberry and chocolate sauce and 100's and 1000's. Police believe he topped himself. | | | |
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