Rafa I am a chartered accountant roughly the same as being a doctor in terms of effort. It took me 7 years.

Yes tax is unfair. I would abolish basic rate and higher rate and have one rate of tax for all. I would put the personal allowances to about 15,000 / 20,000 so poor people are not disadvantaged. I would merge NIC and income tax and make Tolley’s tax guide from 11,500 pages to about 2,000. At a stroke that would wipe out 90% of tax avoidance. I would be very tough on tax evasion.

This would encourage people to work harder say you are a factory worker good at your job and your firm offers you promotion. The uplift in your salary is 5,000 above the marginal rate of basic tax and pushes you into the higher band. People can and do refuse such work and the sound basis that you will only get half the money and twice the hassle. Likewise the top executive who is offered more money from 130k to 170k. Not worth bothering so he / she will conclude better to stay as they are.

But the county both loses tax and enterprise. By my method the more you earn the more you keep and the country will take more in tax because people earn more.

Given the extra revenue we could afford to keep taxes broadly where they are now. Of course there will also be a marginal rate that will hurt some people. But its better in my view to keep that at the bottom of the scale at the entry point then you don’t get the dysfunctional behaviour as above.

I think not! I watched a documentary once about a chap called Doogie Howser and he became an MD whilst still at school. 10 years training my arse!

Heres a nice little explanation of how our tax system works.

Suppose that once a week, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to £100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this..
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay £1.
The sixth would pay £3.
The seventh would pay £7.
The eighth would pay £12.
The ninth would pay £18.
And the tenth man (the richest) would pay £59.
So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every week and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until, one day, the owner caused them a little problem. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your weekly beer by £20.” Drinks for the ten men would now cost just £80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free but what about the other six men? The paying customers? How could they divide the £20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share? They realized that £20 divided by six is £3.33 but if they subtracted that from everybody's share then not only would the first four men still be drinking for free but the fifth and sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fairer to reduce each man's bill by a higher percentage. They decided to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.

And so, the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (a 100% saving).
The sixth man now paid £2 instead of £3 (a 33% saving).
The seventh man now paid £5 instead of £7 (a 28% saving).
The eighth man now paid £9 instead of £12 (a 25% saving).
The ninth man now paid £14 instead of £18 (a 22% saving).
And the tenth man now paid £49 instead of £59 (a 16% saving).
Each of the last six was better off than before with the first four continuing to drink for free.

But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got £1 out of the £20 saving," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, "but he got £10"

"Yes, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved £1 too. It's unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me"

"That's true" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get £10 back, when I only got £2? The wealthy get all the breaks"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "we didn't get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor" The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next week the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important - they didn't have enough money between all of them to pay for even half of the bill.

And that, boys and girls, journalists and government ministers, is how our tax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy and they just might not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

I feel sorry for the pub owner your technically only paying him £79 instead of £80. Its a good Analogy though.

+1 stan. It's exactly the same in the states. If I hear "tax cuts for the rich" one more time, I think I may explode. Everyone from my generation has been blinded by the left's empty rhetoric and has no clue about what is actually going on in the world.

But 'where' though? Every country has pros & cons. That said, Sweden apparently is one of the best places to live, all things considered.

thats not how the tax system works at all.


the tax system works by allowing corporations do what they want and pay nothing and by taxing the little people as much as possible and making their lives as hard as possible

And the little people not declaring their income and working cash in hand. Its not only the rich who evade tax my friend. Corporations are subject to tax law and company law. Cash in hand merchants have no rules whatsoever in fact they are outside the law. And if you did your reseach (if you are capable) you would know the majority of tax is actually paid for by the rich.

corporations pay 7% of the tax, and they employ people to make sure they pay as little as possible. company law , now that is a joke.

you give out about doctors pensions on one hand(they save lives)yet are scared off taxing corporations(who are scum of the earth and kill people)cause they might go elsewhere.ur like a politician(more scumbags) and worse a tory one,(down with the poor and pensions - free ride for corporations and murdoch types)

fair play to cash in hand merchants I say..politicians,banks and corporations are destroying society but tory policy is to blame the little people.You need to open your eyes mate

Corporation tax rates start at 21% and go to 26%. Company law a joke? And how have you ascertained that? Have you studied it? I think you need to stick to making silly comments about Martinez and Kenny Dalglish don’t you?