What the papers say....
To understand the real impact of the Budget, where better to look than the front page of the Financial Times:
And on the letters page another piece of self-serving, and utterly inaccurate moaning:
But before Alasdair Darling congratulates himself on hitting the public mood square and true, just consider this assessment on the back page of the FT:
Thousands of highly paid lawyers, accountants and other professionals will be hit by the new 50 per cent rate of income tax as soon as next week [...]Looks like a very successful mission accomplished for Alasdair Darling.
This is because many professional firms start their financial years at the beginning of May or June. The forthcoming year for these firms will run into the 2010-2011 tax year.
And on the letters page another piece of self-serving, and utterly inaccurate moaning:
We are seriously considering relocating our business abroad because [...] our marginal tax rate will increase to 64.5%....Actually, it will not exceed 51% at the top levels, and this compares favourably to the 67%+ for those at the bottom of the heap. Or as the front page of the FT factually points out:
Under the new tax rules, someone with an income of £200,000 will have to pay and additional £5,000 per year in tax.So a welcome and long overdue re-balancing of the redistribution of income which has provoked squeals from the greedy (the author of the letter run a firm of 'Management Consultants' which apparently employs only 8 people, consulting on energy).
But before Alasdair Darling congratulates himself on hitting the public mood square and true, just consider this assessment on the back page of the FT:
As you haul yourself out of the quagmire, beware the outstretched hand: it might be the taxman's. His job is to rescue not you but your debt-mired Government.You and I are going to be paying for the destruction of the economy by the grossly overpaid City sharks for the next decade; and that is going to be the legacy that Gordon Brown bequeaths the country, as he retires on his fat public-sector, index-linked plus, secure pension.
5 comments:
Could not agree with you more Angus.
The ones in the city are the culprits of this crime and we Joe Public should make them hurt the way they are hurting us.
Spend local when you can, keep as much money as you can safely out of the bamks and invest long term with low risk. if the money markets are static the yuppies will fall like lemmings.
As fun as it might be to tax the wealthy I don't think its going to help the economy much. I read the treasury expects to bring in 3 billion or so from this tax...while borrowing 200 billion or more.
Sure it feels good but as for getting us out of the stink, taxing the middle and cutting spending will be the order of the day. Public servant pensions might be a better place to start, along with those expensive US fighter aircraft.
What a load of tosh.
If one believes the nonsense coming from the Western press, the banks somehow made poor lending decisions, took tons of risk, but, apparently, there was no 'otber party' involved. The population is blissfully innocent of any culpability.
Let's be honest: it was the average UK (and US) citizen who took these loans, in the form of mortgages they couldn't afford, equity loans for ever more toys, and a general sense of entitlement to 'more, more, and more'.
To claim it's all 'the City's fault' is to ignore those who happily took the cash offered by banks, even though they were themselves being irresponsible.
Now, of course, it's all 'nothing to do with me, guv', and it's all the fault of 'fat cats in the City'.
Yeah, okay.
And yes, Angus, punitively taxing high-fliers does create diminishing returns as the rates go up. People can, and will, do one of two things:
1) Move elsewhere (yes, you can do this);
2) Simply call it a day and shut their business down, putting more people out of work.
This 'class warfare' and 'envy' is truly sickening: my attitude is, 'don't hate the wealthy; instead, work hard to get some wealth of your own'.
Apparently that's a dead letter in the West these days.
i see anon 11:30 earns more than 150,000 a year...or will shortly. I didn't actually realise until last night that the tax was only going to be on earnings OVER that threshhold - seems quite sensible to me!
But i must say, long time SNP voter though i am, if i lived in England i would seriously be thinking of voting for David Cameron... When i think of what we lived through with Maggie Whatcher-call-it, it makes my blood boil, and i know D.C probably won't be any better for Scotland, but he is on the right track wanting us ALL to tighten our belts!
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