tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post1534996761340078818..comments2024-03-05T10:52:24.691+00:00Comments on Mark Wadsworth: Crappy Labour conference proposalsMark Wadsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-29852840789377949672021-09-30T13:28:23.388+01:002021-09-30T13:28:23.388+01:00Phasing out Business Rates will achieve absolutely...<i>Phasing out Business Rates will achieve absolutely nothing in that regard, it's a straight bung to land owners.</i><br /><br />As will be the £28bn a year "to make the UK more green". Rich owners of agricultural land will get lots of money to plant trees on the less useful bits, which trees will mostly then die or get outcompeted by the trees that would have grown there anyway and there will be bore subsidies to landowners to erect windmills (the big, expensive kind, not the kind that the average Joe can afford, naturally).Bayardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15211150959757982948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-74602539863340931302021-09-30T08:42:27.411+01:002021-09-30T08:42:27.411+01:00I wish that the regulators were not asleep at the ...I wish that the regulators were not asleep at the wheel when Facebook and Google are buying competitors. I don't see why Facebook was allowed to buy WattsApp, or why Google Maps was allowed to buy Waze. ontheotherhandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08912527435489023299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-33122352090775809442021-09-29T14:37:53.873+01:002021-09-29T14:37:53.873+01:00GC: "surely it's a good idea to tax Big T...GC: <i>"surely it's a good idea to tax Big Tech monopolies like Facebook and Google?"</i><br /><br />In principle yes, they collect rent ("winner takes all", as you say) and take the piss with tax compliance. <br />But <br />a) how are you going to enforce it*? (there might well be an answer, but nobody has worked it out yet)<br />b) how much do you think it will raise (clue: not huge amounts)?<br />c) would you give Google credit for providing great stuff like Google Maps, that's a public service? If the UK government had set this up they would spend £ billions on it and it would be shit. FB provides nothing of value AFAICS.<br /><br />* FB and Google get their income from advertising. If it were up to me, I would just disallow the expense for UK business customers. So it will be the customers paying the tax (indirectly) and this will push amounts banked by FB and Google down a bit (the rentier always bears the tax).Mark Wadsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-90598995808918366402021-09-29T08:47:00.900+01:002021-09-29T08:47:00.900+01:00Agreed that the wind energy spending and business ...Agreed that the wind energy spending and business rate phase-out are stupid, but surely it's a good idea to tax Big Tech monopolies like Facebook and Google?<br /><br />Those sectors of activity are inherently "winner-takes-all": if some genius developed a superior alternative to Facebook, it would simply replace Facebook (much as Facebook itself replaced MySpace) rather than restoring a competitive marketplace.<br /><br />This means that breaking up such monopolies may not work as a solution.George Cartyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12170378024031141482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-76304428964374884872021-09-28T09:46:45.128+01:002021-09-28T09:46:45.128+01:00PW, it is depressing how few people understand bas...PW, it is depressing how few people understand basic numbers. You can't propose new taxes without looking at the tax base. But keep up the good work.<br /><br />Scr, sure she's greedy and dishonest, so are nearly all MPs.Mark Wadsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-39837782945532150092021-09-28T06:45:36.863+01:002021-09-28T06:45:36.863+01:00Please excuse the 'cut and paste', but thi...Please excuse the 'cut and paste', but this Wiki para puts her in some sort or perspective...<br /><br />"Reeves's parliamentary credit card was stopped at the start of 2015, owing to a debt of £4,033.63, which she subsequently repaid.[30] In 2018, she claimed £188,686 in expenses, of which £149,514 was in staffing costs and £22,089 in office costs, £30,422 more than the average parliamentary claim of £158,264.[31]"<br /><br />Certainly a shoo in for when Labour 'get in'...Scrobs.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12942449871600526680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-29504249079735477032021-09-27T18:45:51.113+01:002021-09-27T18:45:51.113+01:00Every activist I spoke to wants to tax Facebook, a...Every activist I spoke to wants to tax Facebook, and my comment about how much (or really how little) money there is in it per capita or per user falls on deaf ears, I hear from them that corporate lobbysts washed my brain (but they have billions!). Sure, Facebook is unbelievably valuable company and Zuckerberg is unbelievably rich, and it is an aberration that such a large wealth was accumulated, but there are only few unicorns like this globally, and apart from satisfying someobody's holy outrage, taxing these can change very little.Piotr Wasikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05460291916106181718noreply@blogger.com