Why Can't Lefties Stop Themselve Hiking Taxes?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-35886879
When we abolished the 50p rate it increased tax receipts by £8bn, so what do you think Jimmy Krankie wants to do? yup you got it! So anyone earning on that range in Scotland will move to England this lowering tax receipts even further!

[mikey4444]

TTT...what will or won't happen in Scotland is down to democracy. Millions of Scots could have opted to vote Tory last May but showed a marked reluctance to do so. If taxes are raised in Scotland, it will be by the will of the people.

[Gromit]

Osborne had been at No.11 for just a few days when he hiked VAT up to 20%.

[mikey4444]

Gromit...please don't cloud the issue with facts !

[steg]

"So anyone earning on that range in Scotland will move to England... "

So they will move back home then ;)

[ToraToraTora]

I'm talking about the 50% rate gromit.
Mikey: "what will or won't happen in Scotland is down to democracy. "
Surely the Scottish "Government" has or will have the power to alter taxation or are you saying they'll have a referendum on all decisions mikey?

[ToraToraTora]

PMSL steg!

[mushroom25]

//Osborne had been at No.11 for just a few days when he hiked VAT up to 20%.//

that was a bit disingenuous to suggest it was the then government's choice - their hands were tied by EU directive.

http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN02683/SN02683.pdf

[Noe-schitt]

I’m afraid you can’t claim the full 8 billion even the Institute for Fiscal Studies have pointed out that at least some of the £8 billion rise can be explained by the ‘deferral’ of income how much is anybody’s guess obviously something the canny Scots have an opinion on

[ToraToraTora]

Mushroom: ...please don't cloud the issue with facts !

[ToraToraTora]

doesn't matter if it's bent shilling NS the fact is abolishing the higher rate increased tax receipts, end of.

[mushroom25]

//the canny Scots //

not sure they are all that - in their pitch for independence they based their economy on "ooor oil", a commodity that has little stability, as subsequent events have proved. "ooor oil" then becomes "ooor massive budget deficit". smart move that, Alex.

[ToraToraTora]

it's not their oil anyway, they don't own the North Sea.

[Gromit]

Mushroom

// their hands were tied by EU directive. //

No it wasn't and your accompanying document does not say that.

The EU does not set VAT rates. In other parts of the EU, VAT rates are less than the UK, most notably in Germany.

Increasing VAT from 17.5% to 20% was wholely a George Osborne decision. From page 33 of your document, it says the move raised (ie, the chancellor took an extra) £14billion from us.

Where the EU does interfere, and what your linked document is mainly about, is what goods and services are at a lower rate, or exempt. But none of that ties Osbornes hands to raise VAT.

[-Talbot-]

The EU does not set VAT rates. In other parts of the EU, VAT rates are less than the UK, most notably in Germany.


UK 20%
Germany 19%

[Bobsy]

Gromit -for the ultra right like TTT .everything is the fault of Europe innit ?

[Gromit]

For 13 years, from winning the General Election in 1997 to April 2010 the higher tax rate was 40% under Labour (as it had been under John Major).

In 2009, as a response to the financial collapse Labour increased that to 50% coming into effect April 2010. Labour were kicked out in May 2010, so the the Labour Goverment had the high rate for 1 MONTH.

For the 6 years of Osbornes Chancellorship it has always been higher than 40%.

For the record:
Labour, 13 years at 40%
Conservatives, 6 years at 45-50%

[Gromit]

And the alledged increase in tax receipts of £8bn being the result of lowering the rate is bogus too. Tax receipts in all tax bands increased because the economy had improved in the 3 years from 2012.

[Quizmonster]

For pity's sake, how often do you have to be told this simple truth, TTT? Nobody ever claimed Scotland "owns the North Sea". On the other hand, IF the Scots had voted for independence at the 2014 referendum, they WOULD have acquired ownership of part of it, just as England would and just as Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and Germany already DO own parts of it! In other words, a dividing line separating the Scottish and English areas would of necessity have been internationally agreed.
The big difference, as England would have discovered, is that the (southern) English bit would be the one where oil/gas resources are dying out, whereas the (northern) Scottish part...ie the North Atlantic as well as the northern North Sea...still has ample recoverable resources. These will one day be brought into use, barring some currently unknown energy source being discovered to drive the world's transport needs!
A separate England would have had no share of these whatsoever and I have always been convinced that is why Westminster did everything it could to stymie the independence referendum.

[anneasquith]

You English ttt? Not your problem is it. ?

[THECORBYLOON]

QM, as TTT says, don't cloud the issue with facts.