Ron Hickman dies

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It's usually some overpaid sportsman or entertainer anyway. Who wants to live here for the social life. And seem to think they have actually earned their money. ;-)

[Ronald Raygun]

And if you thought Jersey was bad, you should see Midsomer!

[tim....]

Next year the highest marginal tax rate will be in excess of 200,000%.

I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to work out how.

Personally, I think that this is a criminal tax charge (and I'm not even affected by it)

tim

[Skipweasel]

And if and old lady called Marple moves into the village - move out fast.

[Skipweasel]

IRTA overplaid and thought of golfers in tartan.

[Ronald Raygun]

Since 200 kilopercent is a silly rate, I presume you have identified some income threshold the crossing of which involves a sudden increase in taxation of over £2000, and since tax is assessed on whole pounds only, that increase in taxation would be attributed to an income increase of just one pound. Technically that is indeed a huge marginal rate, but of course it applies to an income band only one pound wide.

I'm pretty sure none of the ordinary tax rules incorporate such a jump, so I'm guessing it involves a loss of entitlement to £2000 worth of tax credit somewhere. Am I right? The TC system edifice is just such a quagmire that I've never even attempted to understand how it works.

[Another Dave]

I know, but by all accounts he was an utter bastard.

Another Dave

[Martin Bonner]

If your income went from 199,999.99 to 200,000.00 you would pay tax (at 50%) on a whole extra pound, despite having only earned another

1p. 50p tax on 1p earnings is 5,000%. I think there are some thresholds which cause you to lose all of an allowance which makes the marginal rate insane.

[Dave Liquorice]

Same here, I just give them some figures, they give me some money. B-)

How they come to the sum of money they give me I haven't a clue, nor do they give any explanation as to how they arrive at them other than in terms of very loose descriptive words.

[tim....]

Yes, but it is the removal of a benefit, not an actual tax payment that is triggered. But to the man in the street that is the same thing.

[Tim Streater]

What counts is dosh in yer pocket, not how it gets taken away.

[John Rumm]

or worse - that bird from murder she wrote!

[Skipweasel]

Grand-daughter of a leader of the Labour Party. There - a bit of trivia for you.

[Ronald Raygun]

But don't forget that before the 1p pay rise you didn't pay tax on the whole 199,999.99, but only on 199,999.00. The extra 99p were tax free.

There is no point in drawing attention to 1p-wide tax bands in which the marginal rate is 5k% without also conceding that these bands are surrounded by 99p-wide bands in which the marginal rate is zero.

[Tim Watts]

Ronald Raygun ( [e-mail]) wibbled on Thursday 24 February 2011 12:02:

Had a fit last night. Thought I'd done last years tax return (well, it has been a manic year plus we moved so I don't think I got the initial request)

- but yesterday I got 2 letters saying I hadn't = fines.

Turns out the fines are cancelled if you don't owe any tax - so did the returns and discovered repayments due to us totally 98 quid.

So to the Tax Office: *Bllrrrp!* for all the swearing you made me do.

I was advised to ring another department to aks them to stop sending tax returns as we're all PAYE here (this stems back to when I was self employed in 2006) but as they seem to keep owing me money, albeit is small amounts, perhaps I won't... Makes you wonder about the tax system and PAYE though...

[The Natural Philosopher]

Lucky you. The accountants bill for recovering £174 of tax deducted that shouldn't be, was nearly £400.

[Tim Watts]

The Natural Philosopher ( [e-mail]) wibbled on Thursday 24 February 2011 13:12:

My personal experience is that accountants are generally useless overpaid

******s

Luckily our tax return consists of "read P60" and "look at online bank statements and tot up savings related interest, taxed at source".

Curiously, RBS have now made bank statements available online back to around

2003 which is quite a step forward for them...

[Doctor Drivel]

Easily solved by the ONE TAX

LAND VALUE TAX (LVT) - GEOMONICS - The ONE TAX. (only one personal tax)

"[Henry] George's blend of radicalism and conservatism can puzzle one, until it is seen as a reconciliation of the two. The system is internally consistent, but defies conventional stereotypes."- Professor Mason Gaffney (US economist)

The 1929 financial crash and 2008 Credit Crunch crash, were land fuelled as land and house prices spiralled out of control. When the economy expands demand for land increases, LVT, the core of Geonomics, prevents this occurring. LVT is a silver bullet to prevent booms and busts. Henry George, an American, devised LVT in the modern sense. The core of it is an "unrigged" free-market. The precursor of the board game Monopoly, was the Landlord's Game, named 'Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit' in the UK. The board game was designed to teach people the theories of Henry George.

LVT is one tax, a tax on the value of land, no personal income tax, no Council Tax. LVT taxes only the "value" of the land based on the current market value, not the building on the land or any improvements. If a new conservatory or extension is built on a house the owner pays no extra tax as they would do currently. Someone in northern Scotland on one acre will pay very little as the land is not worth so much. Someone in central London with one acre pays substantially more. A larger house will not be penalised, unlike the current Council Tax system.

Henry George initially proposed government ownership of all land, as the population, the state, owned it anyhow. Getting it across and accepted would have been virtually impossible. Redistribution of land, many view as Communism, and would accuse the state of seizing land. Henry George realised that the population will not accept that you cannot own land. It is in the psyche of the western world, especially the Anglo Saxon world. That is where LVT excels. Own land by all means, but if you own half of Scotland just to shoot birds on, tax will be due on that land, which currently is not the case. LVT will force large landowners to sell and not hoard land, discouraging speculators. It will also encourage productive use of the land; if they cannot then they sell it to someone who can make productive use of it.It prevents land hoarding and encourages development in urban areas.

LVT does not tax an individuals labour, and hence their productivity and personal growth, which the current system does, holding back advancement. Currently the population's labour and lifestyle is taxed. The more you work, the more tax you pay - a disincentive to work hard. If I build a nice extension to my house so my family can enjoy and improve their quality of life, the Council Tax is raised. This is bordering on ludicrous as it is a disincentive to improve the house curtailing the construction industry. With two one-acre plots side by side, I may want to build an eight-roomed house for my family to enjoy and the man next door a two-bedroom bungalow, so he can enjoy the land for gardening. Under the current system, I pay more than next door in Council Tax. Under LVT we pay the same as the bricks on the land is not regarded as taxable, only the land is. A large house creates jobs in building the structure and ongoing maintenance, yet the current system suppresses job creation and curtails the quality of life by penalising those who build larger houses and make improvements to homes and land. The word large is all relevant. A large house in the UKwould be an average house in the USA.

Denmark, Sweden, highly successful Hong Kong and some Australian states, amongst others, use LVT, although none yet as a single tax. LVT is one of the reasons why Hong Kong and Singapore were able to have very low income tax rates and places of opportunity for those who worked hard and make money - the foundations of their success.

One of the few mass transit systems to operate without a penny of subsidy is Hong Kong's, using only LVT to raiuse the funds. Once the best example of Geonomics, Hong Kong, leases plots to building owners collecting an immense amount of rent, enough to keep taxes on merchandise and incomes quite low. Before reverting to mainland communist control, Fortune Magazine routinely named Hong Kong "the world's best city for business". Although a highly populous city, Hong Kong raises most of its own food in its suburbs.

Some US cities are now using a dual rate tax, with property taxes being based solely on the land values. Harrisburgh in Virginia is using LVT to finance transport infrastructure. Land Value Tax can easily fund infrastructure, which actually raises values of land, which is not taxed.

Using LVT in lieu of taxing people's productivity, which is income taxes, the urban economy automatically generates higher quality design, affordable housing, stable and safe neighbourhoods, higher urban density, mass-transit transport systems, lower costs for builders and planning made easier. To realise these benefits many authorities are turning to LVT. The most recent were Mexicali and Estonia.

LVT spreads the proceeds of a society's productivity more evenly than at present. It does not penalise a person's effort to advance. "Land should be taxed as much as possible, and improvements as little as possible."

- Milton Friedman (economist)

"In my opinion the least bad tax is the property tax on the unimproved value of land, the Henry George argument of many, many years ago."

- Milton Friedman (economist)

"I have made speeches by the yard on the subject of land-value taxation, and you know what a supporter I am of that policy."

- Winston Churchill

In 1909 the Liberal government under Lloyd George and Winston Churchill attempted to introduce LVT to put the land to its best economic use. The House of Lords, or more accurately House of Landlords, opposed forcing in legislate to reform the House of Lords. The King, a large landowner, said to Lloyd George, that LVT was "a menace to property and a Socialistic spirit". The Lords fought and delayed with the key aspect to the finance bill not being implemented, which was the critical land valuation tax, LVT. The only war Winston Churchill ever lost was against the British landlords.

- Fred Harrison (economist)

The effect of Tony Blair ejecting hereditary Lords from Parliament cannot be underestimated in forcing through future land reforms or Land Value Taxation. A major barrier has been eliminated.

Land Value Tax:

• Spreads the proceeds of a society's productivity more evenly

• Prevents financial crashes

• Prevents land housing booms and busts

• Keeps land and housing highly affordable

• Rewards personal effort

Below: UK price index graph from 1983 to 2007, immediately prior to the Credit Crunch financial crash.

graph above from March 1983 to March 2007, shows the rise in land prices and house prices, which are way above supressed earnings and building costs.

As the economy rises land values (house prices) follow the economy. What people put into the economy is taxed - People's productiveness is taxed - their income and profits from their savings. What people put into the economy, their effort.

What people take out of the economy is not taxed - the value of the land is not taxed. This value came about because of the communities activities, not the land owner.

Excessive debt is incurred to buy land. Over the business cycle the biggest capital gains are in land. Debt is accrued to exploit the demand for land. Debt rises exponentially. Land? values then leads overtaking the rest of the economy. The scales are tipped and an economic crash results. Currently we have an 18 year boom and bust cycle in land (house) prices. The 1929 and

2008 financial crashes were a result of land (house) prices spiralling out of control. We have an Anglo/American culture of accepting making money from nothing - owning land. This culture has to change to a productive culture.

Introducing Land Value Tax will solve many problems. Land (reflected through house prices to most people) will not spiral out of control, people's efforts, working, will not be taken from them in tax.

The graph displays there was a land price boom in 1989 and the subsequent crash in 1992. Land prices rose sharply from 1997 to just before the Credit Crunch crash. The crash was inevitable. As the land of this country is provided free of charge by nature, rising house (land) prices do not raise national wealth one single penny. They serve no useful economic purpose and are an obvious target for taxation, eliminating taxation on people's production.

Land Value Tax would put a stop on the root cause of boom and busts.

Video: Betrayal of the Lords - by Fred Harrison

[Ronald Raygun]

I'll bet you said that last year.

[Bob Eager]

Oh dear, Drivel is off again.