'Emergency' Tax on the Rich Roils Britain

So our ATS British Sisters and Brother, what do you all think about this TAX?
Do you believe it's Fair, is it Necessary will this Tax Help?
Do the Rich Owe More?
The story I read and I'm asking about.

'Emergency' Tax on the Rich Roils Britain

I know it'd Piss Me Off to Pay More!

As part of the global push to tax the rich, Britain is now debating an “emergency” wealth tax. But the idea has hit fierce opposition from conservatives, who say the “politics of envy” hasn’t made the country rich.

As part of the global push to tax the rich, Britain is now debating an “emergency” wealth tax. But the idea has hit fierce opposition from conservatives, who say the “politics of envy” hasn’t made the country rich. Deputy Prime Minster Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal-Democrat Party, has proposed a one-time tax on the wealth (rather than the incomes) of high-net-worth Britons. The details aren’t clear, but Clegg says the country is facing an economic war caused by a prolonged recession, and needs to tax the rich in order to avoid social unrest.

Really it's because someone else is Rich,,,, That's the reason for Social Unrest?
I got something you don't, I've worked all my life, I own 3 cars and a truck, camper, boat and two homes, this upset you?

He told the Guardian that unless the country “hardwired fairness” into the budget, “I don't think the process will be either socially or politically sustainable or acceptable."

Whats this Hardwired Fairness,,,, is it unfair that I' and others have saved?
I'm not even British and this upsets me. Because I can see Obama watching this unfold and thinking,,,,,,,,,Could Work.
www.cnbc.com...

Perhaps governments should learn to make do with the income we have, not gobble up more simply to piss it all away.

I mean after all its what the rest of us do, learn how to make do.

Originally posted by benrl
Perhaps governments should learn to make do with the income we have, not gobble up more simply to piss it all away.

I mean after all its what the rest of us do, learn how to make do.

RIGHT
Learn to live with a Flat Tax,,,,

Its like the deputy PM said, the wealthy tax is to appease the common man. On another note I'm not envious of your cars campers or anything you have worked for, but I really don't think those things you listed would put you in line for the wealth tax even if you did live in England

Social unrest is not because someone is rich, it is because of the system that makes people rich at the expense of others.

People don't really "make" money, it is simply redistributed upwards. This is why the rich-poor divide is always getting wider.

People can only become wealthy at the expense of someone else. When you work you are not paid the full amount for your labour. The worker has to produce more than they are paid for in order for the capitalist (company owner) to make profit. This is called 'surplus value', what the private owner takes as profit.

So imo yes they should pay more back into society, as they take the most from it. Workers are already paying the capitalists income, from their labour and their purchases, why should we pay also for the state that is set up for capitalist interests?

Really it's because someone else is Rich,,,, That's the reason for Social Unrest? I got something you don't, I've worked all my life, I own 3 cars and a truck, camper, boat and two homes, this upset you?

That doesnt make you 'rich'. Who considers you to be 'rich'? The reason for social unrest is that an economy can get top heavy and collapse, especially if there is no public money to provide basic services to those in need. Have you seen what happened in America during the Great Depression? There was social unrest bigtime because America was one of the last countries to offer its people basic welfare services. The reason America has so much crime right now is because when people are in need your welfare system is so very terrible that you end up with hundreds of thousands of homeless people. America has no safety valve.

Can you understand how horrible America looks from the outside? It looks like hell.

People get upset when they live in a western nation that claims to be advanced yet treats its needy citizens as if they were a burden.

America is not advanced, it is backward.

Britan is almost as bad.

France have the right idea. It is patriotic for the wealthy French to have the opportunity to help their nation and their countrymen by paying more tax and giving back. The wealthy French are patriots. Wealthy Americans are not patriots. Wealthy Americans are cold selfish greedy traitors.

reply to post by guohua


All they really (or any country for that matter) have to do is tighten up and enforce the EXISTING LAWS and disallow the loopholes. That way you can't use a foundation, blind trust or IBC as a tax haven. Interest and dividends on money/investments should be taxed, it really is INCOME, no one did anything to make it except invest or deposit money. The payment for labour however is NOT income, it is a trade of alleged value (money) for alleged work which literally comes down to a legal trade. To tax money made from labour should actually be illegal as it is an arbitrary trading of value for value.

Cheers - Dave

Yes. By the way don't think there should be any sales tax or any tax on anyone until they are middle middle class for family size and then only small amount. Do believe all banking with much smaller interest and wonderful inventive plans to have all people with their own homes and land and renting to own on sliding scale of income, and small business loans could be done in government programs, if WE THE PEOPLE via our Governments ran banking, not that they were the bankers. No the top executives should be councils of citizens, and jury duty kind of thing, fast turn overs or a very rigid system of tranparency and watchdogs with teeth. And they can run some other businesses, low priced utlities and wind farms and insurance and make money out of logical things we want to cost very little and have regulated well, by US, our Government is supposed to be US, and we should always be doing thigns FOR US and our well being, not for their rich friends.

UK total national debt = 1.4 trillion

If you want to continue under the current financial system then quit complaining.

If you can accept the fact that the debt is un-payable and collapse is inevitable then rise up and fight the financial system before you and your families are living in poverty.

reply to post by guohua


If it was up to me it wouldn't be temporary but a permanent thing.

The vast majority of this country's problems are as a direct result of the obsession of the wealthy and elite to obtain as much wealth as possible usually at the expense of those less fortunate.
Only the smallest percentage of this wealth is re-invested back into our society.
At a time when the majority of people are starting to feel the effects of the austerity cuts the gap between the wealthy and the not so wealthy is widening at an alarming rate.

Of course hard work, ability and enterprise should be rewarded.
But there seems to be a point where that reward reaches obscene proportions.

Surely in this day and age it's not unreasonable to expect those more affluent to pay more towards the society that has provided them with such a luxurious living.

Taxing the rich more is like taking bullets out of a gun that is owned by a gun-store owner. That said, it is better than doing nothing. But you know what would be even better? How about actually changing the economic and political landscape that allow these big wig capitalists to exist in the first place?

The title of this thread is very wrong, it doesnt 'Roil' Britain at all, it only annoys the toffs and those in power, whilst the average working man/class and poor think its a great idea being as most of the angry folk get off paying taxes anyway finding 'grey' areas and off shore tax havens to register and run their business's from. Unfortunately nothing will ever come of this and its just posturing to try and make out the Lib dems still have a back bone, if you can call it that. Imo most folk here think of them as the Conservatives little lap dog, nodding along and wagging their tails behind them. Nick Clegg and Co. have really blown it imo and no ammount of sensational headlines will ever save them now, and its a great shame because up until this they worked so hard on a local level and were gaining popularity, if they had carried on and stuck to their principles then maybe we would have had a 3 horse race sometime by 2030.

reply to post by bobs_uruncle


bobs_uruncle, I liked your reply, You're correct, that is the problem, to many loop holes, close them, no matter who you upset.
I personally like the idea of a Flat Tax.

Thank You every One for replying and giving me and American your point of view on the large gap between rich and poor in your country.

reply to post by benrl


What are these wealthy leeches going to do -
Send their butlers out to protest so they don't get sweaty?

I agree with this 100%
At what point though does the government consider someone 'rich'.
To me it would be at the point where you have more money than you could possibly spend.
Maybe you should be classified as 'rich' when you owe nothing on your home and have sufficient money in the bank that generates a certain income from the interest generated.
I'm guessing here but i would say that a reasonable interest rate for savings here in the UK would be sitting at around 3%, so £10,000,000 in the bank would generate around £300,000 per year before tax.
If you look at it this way then why shouldn't the rich pay more tax?
Or how about this, everyone with over £10,000,000 in the bank sacrafice all or a large portion of the interest payment direct to the government for one year? It would be tax free to the Gov and only a one off, imagine! We could probably wipe out the national debt in 1 year!!
And before anybody says how unfair this may be, think, these guys are rich at your expense, yeah there are some genuine hard workers but i would guess that the most are bankers etc and one year aint gonna kill them is it?

Indulging in the politics of envy, is how a Tory MP, put it. How about the rich indulging in the politics of greed? what's worse greed or envy. Tax the rich. It's the only way they can be civilised. "But they will all go somewhere" I hear you cry. Where? where they going to go? They like living in London and buying up all the properties there forcing the ordinary londoner and worker out of the city.

reply to post by guohua
He was on about *temporarily* taxing the extremely wealthy. Don't think '3 cars' think several houses, very low contributions in taxes and private jets.

I also don't see it as the politics of envy but the frustrations of fair play.

Throughout this recession, the guys at the very top have increasing incomes and greater proportions of overall wealth. The guys beneath them are increasingly squeezed by rising prices and costs of living. It won't solve the debt crisis or end the recession, but if it helps to slow down the creeping costs of living for those on the edges already then it's worth considering.

By the end of this recession, these guys will still be extremely wealthy and they're welcome to it. I do worry that the normal guys and poorer ones will be forced into worse debts just trying stay afloat. We're the guys they've used to generate their wealth and it won't be a bad thing for them to pay a bit more into the system...temporarily.

It's already nuked because the people who get to decide are the ones who'd be paying extra.