Politics Today

[Alistair20000]

So a blah blah blah Government committee agreed with the idea of imposing a 5% wealth tax on assets above 500k to help overcome the huge deficit.
Apparently this would raise around 260 billion quid for the Treasury. So If you have 20 million in the bank you "donate" one million. If you have 500 million in assets you "donate" 25 million. This seems fair to me and not Draconian.
So the question is if Rishi will be brave enough to implement this, or will the poor have to pay yet again through another long period of austerity. I would imagine any Tory Govt would choose austerity. Will the Tories learn the lessons of the last decade or continue to favour big business? Will it be tough luck again for the nurses, other essential workers, the unemployed or homeless, the zero hour workers etc etc etc?
Do the right thing, Rishi.

Would the 500K include main residences ? Business assets ?


Tax accountants and lawyers rub hands in anticipation of a fee fest.

 

[IndoMike]

Would the 500K include main residences ? Business assets ?


Tax accountants and lawyers rub hands in anticipation of a fee fest.

Oh you'll have to check that, Alistair. I believe you know much more about these matters than I.
But, are you in favour of or against a wealth tax. Can I put you on the spot? I'm in favour. To help the country..

 

[RedPaul]

Have you thought about the possible outcry if Sturgeon hadn't taken the Salmond case further, despite the legal advice? Some might have said it had been a cover-up, or the MeToo
movement might have shouted aloud about it. For me this is a clear making a mole into a mountain case stirred up by various sources who want to sabotage Scottish independence.
But Sturgeon still has a 66% approval rating in Scotland, a figure which Johnson can only dream of.

"Take it further". She (or the SG) was advised early on there were issues. The advice from the lawyers became increasingly despairing but still Sturgeon ploughed on, and they finally conceded the night beofre it came to court. The most killing evidence has come from members, or former members, of SNP staff - not from opposition parties. Let's see what today brings.

 

[tavyred]

And back to events in Edinburgh

SG release, under extreme reluctance, the legal advice they were given by their own lawyers. Told they were "defending the indefensible" but still the SNP ploughed on for another 3 months before conceding the night before it came to court, racking up costs.

Also other evidence submitted to both inquiries today has not painted a pretty picture.

Vote of No Confidence in President Sturgeon to be proposed. IF the Scottish Greens support it, she is kippers on toast. She is also due to give her evidence tomorrow to the inquiry, conveniently timed to clash with the Budget in Westminster.

I suspect her favourite phrase of “I make no apologies for......” will be doing a lot of heavy lifting in Sturgeon’s appearance today. In this case it’ll probably be “I make no apologies for going the extra mile for the women blah blah blah......”. There’s no doubt if the Greens choose to support Sturgeon in a VONC she can brazen it out, that won’t mean however that she won’t pay an electoral price for her actions going forward.

 

[elginCity]

Lord Hill's review of the LSE proposes some radical tweaks and gimmicks to attract new business. He acknowledges that these recommendations are not about opening a gap between us and other global centres, but closing a gap which has opened up since January.

Considering how vital financial services is to the economy, let's hope these bold ideas pay off.

 

[Mr Jinx]

I suspect her favourite phrase of “I make no apologies for......” will be doing a lot of heavy lifting in Sturgeon’s appearance today. In this case it’ll probably be “I make no apologies for going the extra mile for the women blah blah blah......”. There’s no doubt if the Greens choose to support Sturgeon in a VONC she can brazen it out, that won’t mean however that she won’t pay an electoral price for her actions going forward.

An interesting position for the Greens to be in. If they back Sturgeon and reject the VONC, doesn't that sully their reputation in Westminster? Not that Lucas exerts much anyway.

 

[Mr Jinx]

They'll have a field day with StruwwelPeter if it's still in existence!

I was scared of that as a child in the 80s, as it was so old school.

That's for the clarification Mr J and SRE

And so I've found out this morning that one of the Dr Seuss books we have in our collection is now hitting the £70 mark on ebay given that the publisher is stopping its publication.

The title is "Scrambled Eggs Super" and the whole collection of 30 Cat in the Hat books we bought for the kids on ebay only came to £25.

I've been through the book this morning and found the two offending lines:

"And those trout...well they're sweet cause they only eat Wogs
And Wogs, after all, are the world's sweetest frogs"

He's only used that word because it rhymed with frogs. I can't see from the illustration of said frog that it was inferring a racial line.

Anyway, the woke brigade claim another scalp in their history re-write and get more books to put on the fire (or ebay for a song).

#EveryCloud

 

[Alistair20000]

Sturgeon to resign as FM and leader of SNP without any admission of guilt. Em, all this stuff distracting from the good of the party and eem Scotland, blah blah, deflect, deflect. Some lightweight stooge to replace her. Sturgeon to campaign hard in the election in May and resumes as leader of SNP and FM after the inevitable SNP victory

You read it on here first.

 

[Alistair20000]

Oh you'll have to check that, Alistair. I believe you know much more about these matters than I.
But, are you in favour of or against a wealth tax. Can I put you on the spot? I'm in favour. To help the country..

Two main principles should apply to taxes:

1. Make them simple

2. Make them very difficult to avoid

Once you look for fairness it is hard to comply with these principles

A wealth tax would be hideously complex and a field day for tax accountants and lawyers.

This is what Denis Healey wrote:

Denis Healey, the Labour chancellor between 1974 and 1979, wrote in his memoirs: “We had committed ourselves to a Wealth Tax; but in five years I found it impossible to draft one which would yield enough revenue to be worth the administrative cost and political hassle”.

Imagine if Mr Man in his not particularly grand old pile that he has lived in for 40 years worth £1 million and living off a pension and modest savings gets hit with a Wealth Tax bill of £1,000,000 - say £500,000 tax free limit = £500.000 @ 5% =£ 25,000 . No cash to pay it so private residences will have to be exempted. Taxing the home of the English is as much political suicide as French governments messing with the pension rights of the French. One just does not go there.

The super rich will just bugger off abroad or set up a network of complicated trusts and companies.

So its a nay from me.

Healey was a member of the most disastrous post WWII government we have had to endure (to date) but was an astute guy. As i posted earlier in the week , I don't think he believed for one moment in the crap that government served up.

 

[angelic upstart]

On the woke stuff, the thing I find strange about it is seemingly no one asked to stop Dr Seuss or Mr Potato head, the companies decided to do it. But it's blamed on "the left" I don't understand this.