In Good News, the Race to the Bottom Got Harder
Remember the argument that we shouldn’t tax people because they’ll just move elsewhere?
The British government appears not to believe it.
Will the Geithner/Summers axis continue lying that “we can’t do that”? Since it really is a Windfall Profit, taxing it seems a reasonable idea. And now we won’t even be able to pretend that workers will just “move to the U.K.”
So over the years corporations moved their entire operations and headquarters overseas because they weren’t being taxed enough?
If we need to adjust taxes to set us on a path of recovery or growth fine, but let’s use some commonsense and QUIT SPENDING!
Many of those who will have to pay Darling’s tax are the very bankers who brought on the economic mess we are in. If they leave the UK, I think the UK will be much the better for it. Perish the thought that they would come here. They could be loaded on a slow boat to China and see what develops. LOL
We need to start monetizing the benefits that accrue from holding public office. 50% tax on speaker fees. And while we are at it we should tax government payrolls an extra 10%. Particularly since this is the “value added” we get from Congress…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091209/ap_on_sp_ot/us_bcs_congress
Note that the second part of this is to raise the tax rate for high earners to 50%. Its much easier to beat this if British because you just move abroad. If the US did this the US citizen would still have to pay the tax as citizens are taxed on income world wide (although they can get a credit/deduction for foreign taxes paid). The only way to beat the US tax is to renounce citizenship, which also results in the tax man saying pay all your accured capital gains tax now. I don’t know but believe it should also include a permant bar to entry to the US. (In the spirit of a man without a country).
So now we have established that the UK is not a place people will run from if we tax bankers, whats left Dubai, no longer, Hong Kong possibly, Tokoyo possibly but the cost of living will kill there if you want to live a western lifestyle, the list of alternatives is not very long.
Jay,
Your proposal is off topic because what you’re talking about is not a “windfall tax” in the ordinary sense of the term. A windfall tax does not affect economic output because the tax is as unexpected as the gain. Both are surprises. That’s not the case with your proposal.
Lyle,
You really want to create a totalitarian hell. If you make things so bad that people give up their citizenship that should send you a message. Sounds a lot like the iron curtain. Now you want to ban them from ever coming back and visiting their relatives.
Well, your not a real communist yet. Then you wouldn’t allow anyone to leave (i think you would propose this but know it is unenforceable)
Oh please. If they don’t like it, let them leave. They won’t be missed. Isn’t “if you don’t like it, leave” a standard meme of rightwingers who don’t like people who complain about the status quo? In this case, the idea has a lot of merit. PS A number of superrich gave up their US citizenship to move where taxes were lower. Belize in point. They didn’t seem to think being a tax paying US citizen was better than being an untaxed billionaire. The number of silly people who think people making 5 million pounds or more a year are pathetic victims over whom we should wring our hands is quite disgusting.
taxpayer:
“love it or leave it” Wasn’t that the battle cry of the right not that long ago? So we tax you butt a little here and little there. You were probably getting to lackisdasical anyway and too round about the waist. You couldn’t fight a war anyway and we would have to support your lame butt with medicare and SS. If that is a threat, go to Nicaragua, maybe the Sandinistas will steal your money?
Breaking news on Taxation:
“Tax Officials Detect Widespread Tax Fraud in U.S. Middle Class”
http://outsidethe-cardboard-box.tumblr.com/post/276822343/tax-officials-detect-widespread-tax-fraud-in-u-s
They are free to go IMHO but have to pay up at the exit gate, including a permant bar to coming back. The tax measures I discussed are current law. If you like your US passport you get to pay for it. I would only exempt accidental us citizens from the taxes but not the bar to entry. (An accidental citizen is born abroad with american parents but never lived in the US or used any US services (A passport is a service from the government))
In any case as I pointed out what financial center could they run to? It used to be Dubai was the candidate but that has gone away.
The same applies to a fiancial transaction tax: trades will not move elsewhere. Or people really think that they can all go trading to UK Channel Islands or Bermudas?
http://mgiannini.blogspot.com/2009/11/taxing-financial-transactions-why-not.html
Why the hell would we want to quit spending?
We have; 1) idle workers 2) Lots of unsold inventory 3)Personal debts out the wazoo 4) crumbling infrastructure everywhere
Forced austerity is a BAD plan. There are plenty of things that need buying so lets buy them.
We do need to stop spending on 1)Wars out the wazoo 2) Oil out the wazoo 3) junk food and junk toys out the wazoo
The longer you went the more ignorant you looked
First this:
You not gonna ever solve the Housing/ Commercial Real Estate mess until you let the pricing come back to the trend line, and that isn’t gonna happend till you get some competitive demand.
Just WTF does that mean? You are essentially saying that housing prices need to come down and wont until we have some demand. Thats totally backward. If you in fact are trying to say we need real estate prices to rise, then you are insane. They are completely out of line with average incomes even still.
The infrastructure issue should be a state government issue. But since most of the state governments are controlled by Social Engineering Collectivists, those states have infrastructure issues.
Ummmmm the infrastructure rot occured because the conservatives in every state took a starve the beast approach and ignore the issuues for decades. Most states have had republican governers genius boy…………….so to blame the “collectivists” is quite rich.
The solution to these problems is out of my pay grade
That much is OBVIOUS, having a coherent economic thought is out of your pay grade as well.
Let’s just keep spending till the Chinese are broke and the presses run out of ink…
Oh boy, one of THOSE. You actually think the Chinese are lending us MONEY??? Just exactly how can Chinese lend us dollars to spend? Do they have a US dollar printing press?
Let me explain something to you. The US has to borrow dollars from NO ONE. Its a ridiculously wrong conception of how we spend money. And BTW the Chinese CANNOT go broke either. They are a sovereign currency issuer. Get a clue about how financial operations work in the real world (not on the Faux Business channel) and maybe you’ll have something intelligent to say.
Just to reiterate a point I’ve made here repeatedly in regard to personal income taxation in the US. In the words of the immortal Phil Gramm, “Stop whining about it.” Paying personal income tax at a high rate is the most direct way to express your patriotism. Taxes support your government and it is that government that has made it possible for those of you who have a great deal of wealth to produce that wealth and to preserve and protect that wealth. So stop whining about supporting the gorvernment that has had your best interests at heart at the expense of 95% of the rest of the wage earning population.
The simplest way to assure that the private sector pays its employees in a fair and balanced manner is to tax excessive compensation. There need not be a “pay czar.” There need not be any dragonian schemes to control personal income. Simply raise the highest marginal rates and aply it to all forms of personal income. The economic growth of this country was remarkable during a period of time when marginal ratesw were well above a paltry 50%.