Pretty much. We are saving the rich and their children from themselves.
Rich, cosetted people invariably become entitled and lazy and waste whatever talents or intellect they possess. They become more insular, more inbred and less curious about the world outside their bubble.
Hey, this isn't the Boris Johnson thread.Pretty much. We are saving the rich and their children from themselves.
Rich, cosetted people invariably become entitled and lazy and waste whatever talents or intellect they possess. They become more insular, more inbred and less curious about the world outside their bubble.
That concentration of wealth comes from the simple fact that wealth has been created in the first place and that means far more than you think. It doesn't mean that some pirate has nicked £1bn and is sat in his mansion. The existence of that wealth stands for jobs and tax that has already been due and paid.It circulates money back into the system. Untaxed inherited wealth stagnates the system. If one person inherits a billion quid then it largely justs sits there doing nothing. If you taxed that at 50% and gave everyone a £100 Christmas tax rebate then that portion of the half billion would get circulated into the economy.
Furthermore, you are not ‘stealing’ it from the person who made the billion. You are taxing the people who get to inherit the billion for basically doing fuck all. And they still get half a billion.
In short, too much wealth concentrated in too few hands is bad economic practice. It is also the premise of every dystopian work of fiction.
These guys are asset rich and it's extremely difficult to tax assets such as company stock. What they do pass on will be whatever's left after years of running a company and maybe if they sell stock but then they'll have to pay whatever tax is due.There are quite a few celebrities and wealthy people who don’t intend to pass on the bulk of their wealth. Bill Gates, Elton John, Warren Buffet, Sting and so on. Not that their kids will be on the breadline exactly, but they view passing on too much would be detrimental.
It's morally wrong that the state can just take even more in death just because you've created something that is deemed of enough value
That concentration of wealth comes from the simple fact that wealth has been created in the first place and that means far more than you think. It doesn't mean that some pirate has nicked £1bn and is sat in his mansion. The existence of that wealth stands for jobs and tax that has already been due and paid.
It's morally wrong that the state can just take even more in death just because you've created something that is deemed of enough value. Why don't you make it fair and take a portion of everybodys assets when they die because that's the fair and socialist way isn't it? I thought the pillar of socialism was equity and fairness?
As I've said a few times on this thread already, we currently pay £120bn per year just towards debt interest repayments. The amount of tax that you could ever raise is never ever going to be enough. It will never cover up for the reality that is years of continued waste and mismanagement by governments and politicians.
Either way, if rich people are going to be taxed this heavily then they'll move their assets and cash elsewhere, and then you have zero tax, zero jobs and we're all worse off.
These guys are asset rich and it's extremely difficult to tax assets such as company stock. What they do pass on will be whatever's left after years of running a company and maybe if they sell stock but then they'll have to pay whatever tax is due.
Elon Musk paid the single biggest individual tax payment in US history let's not forget and is the US any better off for it? Do they suddenly have free healthcare? No, it was probably used to buy a few bombs for Ukraine.
Where I agree with you here is on sharing wealth, that's fundamentally how the Scandinavian countries work. Surprise though inheritance tax does not exist at all in the likes of Norway or Sweden. Income and corporate taxes in those countries are generally the same as here.Not sure how we got onto pirates, but back to the matter in hand. Bottom line, you can tax rich people and can definitely tax really rich people. Jobs won’t disappear overnight and we won’t all be living in cardboard boxes - especially the producers of cardboard boxes because they would be quids in.
There is nothing wrong with wealth, but a lot of wealth is produced on the back of other peoples efforts and they too should be allowed to share in that wealth (decent pay, benefits etc) and they should see that everyone fairly contributes to the society that we all live in. You may bemoan the State and its inefficiencies yet the billionaire profits from the State in terms of security, infrastructure, educated and healthy labour force etc and without the State the billionaire may not have his or her billions so it is not unreasonable to expect to pay something back and maybe a little more on top in recognition of the benefits the State provides.
Well there is the old money brigade who's ancestors were more unscrupulous than most pirates eg The Duke of Westminster and Viscount Portman.It doesn't mean that some pirate has nicked £1bn and is sat in his mansion