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45% Tax Rate on Rich to Fund Recession Package in UK

guardian.co.uk — 45% top rate breaks 15-year taboo raising income tax on the wealthy. The government hopes by targeting the rich, people on low, middle incomes will be reassured they are not to be victims of an aggressive spend now, tax later strategy. "There is a change in the public's mood, who have seen what has been happening to bankers and their huge salaries"

Who dugg this? Made popular Nov 24, 2008

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  • imasuperDOTcom, on 11/24/2008, -10/+81A wise man once said:
    I have no problem helping my neighbor build their porch. I just have a problem building my neighbors porch while they sit on their ass watching TV.
  • imasuperDOTcom, on 11/24/2008, -14/+72You know, I'm what the US would consider a mid income. I make between 45-and 70k a year. I think that makes me Lower middle class, maybe even a solid middle class. But I'll tell you what, if someone wants me to 'share the wealth' as it's been put recently, I'd like everyone who gets some of my money to look me in the eye and say they deserve it more than I do.

    Full disclosure:
    I didn't think it was appropriate to disclose my exact wage, but my range is fair enough. And You know, I make a good amount of money. I'm definitely not rich. I don't live a lavish lifestyle, I have only basic cable, one TV that isn't an LCD or Plasma, I own two cars, both paid for, and neither of them were new. But I also realize that the amoutn of money I make is still a lot of money to the people on the bottom rung, and I admit it. But I've been on the bottom rung too - and I've worked hard to get where I am. I didn't expect anyone to 'pick me up' when I was making $16,880 a year (except for my family, who helped immensely) and I don't expect anyone to help me now.

    I'm happy to help the truly needy - but many of the comments that say "Yay tax the rich!" seems to one-sided and arbitrary and that's pretty disgusting.
  • strafefire, on 11/24/2008, -11/+66I foresee a lot of British companies, trust, and LLC relocating their main offices to Dubai...
  • InspectorGadget, on 11/24/2008, -14/+53Protip: "***** the rich" is not a viable economic strategy.
  • crapuccino, on 11/24/2008, -5/+4245% will only start at earnings of £150,000.
  • lilamae, on 11/24/2008, -14/+51People who make a lot of money can afford to pay other people (i.e. produce jobs) to do stuff. What's greedy about that? Have you ever been hired by a poor man?
  • Shiftgood, on 11/24/2008, -25/+59Its amazing people think that taxes are going to stop people from trying to make money. Its called greed, there is no other force more powerful on earth.
  • N3M3515, on 11/24/2008, -9/+42Heres a novel idea - Cut spending, and cut taxes. This methodology puts the money back into the peoples hands to spend it freely. The whole problem with the US is that our government no longer works for its people, its people work for the government.
  • naturalpapa, on 11/24/2008, -0/+29From the article:

    Robert Chote, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the UK's leading tax thinktank, said the change would affect only 400,000 high earners. "You are not going to raise an enormous amount of revenue from this," he said.
  • Pedestrian101, on 11/24/2008, -19/+47Comrades! Let us unite and overthrow the Capitalists!

    Yeah this is f***ing ridiculous.
  • slubby, on 11/24/2008, -21/+47Like you said, greed. Why would someone want to give 45% of their wealth to the government to waste?
  • ZenMojo, on 11/24/2008, -1/+25The Beatles never moved to the United States. What are you talking about?
  • theberlindoctor, on 11/24/2008, -1/+24Except sex..
  • dagnome1984, on 11/25/2008, -1/+24That is why no bailouts should take place. The only thing that makes greed a constructive force is fear. The fear of losing it all. Now greed unchecked by fear is a destructive force. The bailouts only take away the fear. The idea of helping the market by killing the only thing that puts it in check is dumbfounding. Rewarding those that used unsound business practices is counter productive.

  • GammaStream, on 11/24/2008, -3/+26Lets remember this is also coupled with reductions to value added tax (VAT). The idea being that this shifts the tax burden off low income tax payers.
  • imasuperDOTcom, on 11/24/2008, -1/+22@tehchicken:
    No really - I empathize. I really, truly do. If it weren't for the amazing level of support I receive from my family, who knows where I'd be today.

    The only thing I'm saying is that all of this "all rich people are evil!" crap is just that, crap. Not all rich people are evil.

    I'm not saying we don't have social obligations to help. I want to help. I just hate that we've become a society of "You owe it to us! Pay up now!!" I think that's the wrong attitude, and it's not going to help people on the receiving end in the long run, anyway.

    Again: I'm ready to help, and do where I can already. But all of this stuff about "Yeah! Tax the Rich! It's about time they pay up!" stuff is just too much for me.
  • logandurand, on 11/25/2008, -9/+29Isn't if odd that we call wanting to keep the money you earned "selfish" while saying that stealing that money and giving it to others "fairness"?
  • dofe, on 11/24/2008, -14/+33 £150,000 = US $225,000.

    Even after a 45% tax, these high income Brits will still be left with an after-tax income that is higher than 95% of Americans (less than 5% of Americans make over $150,000). I'm not shedding any tears at all.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:United_States_I ...





  • slubby, on 11/24/2008, -12/+31I don't think it's that it stops people from wanting to make money as much as it drives people who make money away.
  • roodammy44, on 11/24/2008, -6/+24@doctechnical

    I hope you were joking. Britain is the most capitalist country in the world behind america.
    I don't think you get it.... *Capitalism is failing - not Socialism*
    That's why we're starting to tax the rich more, not give them tax breaks.
  • Shiftgood, on 11/24/2008, -3/+19Im a freelance designer..
  • SpykerSpeed, on 11/24/2008, -2/+18Examples: Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Monaco
  • TruthExposed, on 11/24/2008, -2/+18They invest their money offshore.

    "Please provide actual examples of wealthy people that were 'driven away' from their $500,000 jobs in wealthy, developed countries by high income taxes"

    Often the jobs leave the employees behind.
  • inactive, on 11/24/2008, -2/+17Tax the ***** out of Madonna. what ever happened to that Africa kid that she adopted? Did she just dump it in the garbage after she didn't get the press she wanted from this PR stunt?
  • inactive, on 11/24/2008, -10/+24Look at it like this:
    Pretend you are rich. Not billionaire rich, but millionaire rich. Say you own a nice house, 4 nice cars, and own a company that employs 200 people and provides them with full benefits. The company you own provides a good service for a low price. Now, say the government raises your taxes to 45%. What do you do? Do you sell your nice house and a few of your nice cars? Not likely. If you are like 99% of rich people, you will start to raise the prices on the service your company provides. Then you'll begin to cut some if not all the benefits you company provided its employees. Finally, you'll start to lay off your employees. Rich people are not going to change their lifestyles. They are just going to pass their tax increases to those that rely on them.
  • crapuccino, on 11/25/2008, -1/+15The UK tax system is more complex than that.
    about £5000 you get tax free,
    The next £30,000 you get at about 22%
    With the current system, anything above £35,000 is taxed at 40%.
    The new prosal adds an additional bracket above £150,000. It's only an additional 5% on top of what those people were already paying.
    It's more complicated if you're a company director and take drawings as dividends rather than salary.
  • Uaedaien, on 11/25/2008, -0/+14It works in tax bands. You do not pay 45% tax just for hitting £150k you pay 45% on everything you earn more than £150k.
  • therealist, on 11/25/2008, -14/+28The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.

    Thomas Jefferson
  • inactive, on 11/24/2008, -3/+17It's hard to prove someone is "dumb" when you misuse "your"
  • dixhuit, on 11/24/2008, -0/+14You can only reunite with Great Britain if you:
    a) learn how to spell
    and
    b) explain who 'we' is.
  • sockpuppets, on 11/24/2008, -0/+13One way or the other you're going to get *****.
  • URnotheonly1, on 11/24/2008, -12/+25That's very stupid
  • mavere, on 11/24/2008, -2/+15Dubai.

    Wealthy expats are a dime a dozen there.
  • domness, on 11/24/2008, -8/+21Here's the truth:

    In the UK too many people are claiming benifits and not working because they cannot be arsed or couldn't be arsed at a time when they were in education. These people sit on their arses all day and bring up their children to be the same as them. Free education is there for a reason. The government feel they have a right to just give them all money from the rich. The rich are also big spenders into the economy!
  • inactive, on 11/25/2008, -0/+12The only thing good about this is that the English government has the balls to directly tax instead of inflating the pound.
  • ChrisWalkr, on 11/25/2008, -4/+15@doctechnical You wouldnt know Socialism if it slapped you in the face.
  • Topwolf, on 11/24/2008, -3/+14You know all this does is reduce investment in the region ( the investment that creates jobs) it's counter-intuitive to shift the burden to the wealthy 45%. This does nothing for the long-term financial security of the UK. It is a short term fix to balance the books yet a debt position is the best to take during an economic downturn by spending on infrastructure for long term viability.
  • AlaskaLoneWolf, on 11/24/2008, -4/+15Like the rich people won't defend their riches...
  • FairDinkumMate, on 11/24/2008, -13/+24Please provide actual examples of wealthy people that were 'driven away' from their $500,000 jobs in wealthy, developed countries by high income taxes. Your comment is straight right-wing propoganda.

    There's not much point giving up a $500,000 job in a wealthy country that taxes income over $225,000 at 45% to live in a country that taxes at only 25% but where you only earn $100,000.
  • freediverx, on 11/25/2008, -2/+13"It's still the government taking almost half of what someone earns."

    No, it's the government taking an additional 5% of whatever you make over £150,000 ($227,437 USD). Big difference.

    If you think you can be wealthy without a society of workers and consumers that need some level of support from tax dollars then you're free to run off to some island somewhere and try to make the same kind of money there...
  • waddling, on 11/24/2008, -3/+13It finally sucks to be Richard Branson!
  • jgzman, on 11/25/2008, -2/+12For the record, I don't think that Great Britain has too many military bases around the world. Remember kids: there are countries and even whole continents outside the US borders.

    Second, it is arguable that the best action in a recession is to raise spending, but spend it in the country, not outside. That way the economy keep rolling.

    My own plan is to have the federal government start rebuilding the roads. All the roads. And the bridges. That will a) fix the bloody roads, b) get money out into the economy, c) create lots of jobs, which will assist in b, above.

  • imasuperDOTcom, on 11/24/2008, -1/+11I get paid in dollars and live in the US.
  • samard2002, on 11/25/2008, -1/+11A simple +1 digg is not enough to say how much I agree with this statement. We are actually rewarding the grotesquely incompetent rich by disguising it as a protection for jobs. The average middle class earner will find a new job. The $45 million per year incompetent exec with a golden parachute will not. Removing fear from the equation just bolsters the horrible executive AND employee practices.

    Let. Them. Fail.
  • crapuccino, on 11/25/2008, -1/+10You do realise the picture is of Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer here in the UK?
    This is about the UK.
  • roodammy44, on 11/25/2008, -0/+9A 20 year old guy from Canada...
    With 2 pedobear links in favourites....
    Having lots of assets in the UK?
  • saenmbateman, on 11/25/2008, -2/+11Labour is a socialist party though they don't implement many socialist views anymore sadly :(
  • dsmx, on 11/24/2008, -9/+18Yes because giving tax breaks to the rich worked so well for the US...
  • disappointed, on 11/25/2008, -7/+15Except this is _income_ tax. Tax on personal income. And if you raise your prices or cut salaries just to maintain your own lifestyle, you're a moron whose company is going to go down the tubes. Someone tell this hypothetical millionaire we're in a recession.
  • pak314, on 11/25/2008, -0/+8Switzerland has the highest per capita external debt according to Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ ... but UK has a higher total compared to Switzerland following or course the United States.
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