"Dear .....
Early Day Motion 1407
I would be interested to hear why you have not yet signed this EDM, which calls for the personal allowance (for income tax and Employee’s National Insurance purposes) to be increased to £10,000, which would massively lift the tax burden on lower earners or those with modest pensions.
The static cost of this move would be in the order of £35 billion per annum, in accordance with HM Revenue & Customs Table 1.6 (against total government revenues of over £500 billion). The cost of the move could easily met by, for example, scrapping Working Tax Credits for those earning over £10,000 (who even under the current system pay more in PAYE than they receive in WTC); by reducing the threshold for higher rate income tax or by restricting tax relief for pension contributions to the basic rate.
Even without these changes, there will automatically be reductions in the cost of means-tested benefits, such as the Pensions Credit, which are based on post-tax income.
I look forward to hearing from you in due course.
Yours sincerely
..."
Sounds as if he's been reassured
5 hours ago
5 comments:
If they can't find £35bn out of a Govt budget of £600bn they aren't looking.
Isn't there one of those laws about always being to find a 10% saving?
Its a good initiative though and I will give it a go.
I'm do not agree on taking people out of taxation. The more people who experience the pain of the governmanet taking your money and pissing it away, the better. Being a taxpayer makes you intersted in what the govt is doing.
I prefer a basic income for all and a tax system that ensures everyone is a tax payer. Preferably in cash.
People on benefits living in council houses think its all free and demand more and more. If they paid tax, even though it is ginging back money they were given, they might understand the generosity of the net taxpayers in funding their lifestyle.
Marksany, I fully agree on the basic income/flat tax idea. I have posted on this many times.
But for administrative convenience, those who pay more in tax than they get in CBI should be able to, if they want, choose a higher tax-free personal allowance instead and forego the CBI.
Sorry Mark, I don't buy the administrative convineniece argument. By taking them out of the tax system you are disenfranching them. I'd like to see basic income or benefits handed out in cash and taxes paid in cash too - we might finally all see what is going on. If you go to a post office and pick up your £500 benefits and later have to go to a tax office to hand over £400 of it, you might start to ask where the money is going.
Marksany, That's the clever bit! Let's assume CBI £60 pw/£3,000 pa and a flat tax of 30%.
If you earn <£10k (UKIP's chosen figure), you get your £60 pw and pay 30% tax on all your income (which is what you propose).
If you earn >£10k, you can waive the CBI and choose a £10k personal allowance instead, and pay 30% tax on all income above that.
So in practice, everybody pays tax!
Except for low-earners who are stupid/proud enough to waive CBI and go for £10k personal allowance instead.
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