The Labour Government

[bluethrunthru]

The people saying this is anything close to Marxism are just preposterous simpletons who have never opened a book.

most of them look at complex problems and want a 3 word fix when that is impossible

stop the boats
get Brexit done


You start to question them and they fall apart - any more than 3 words and they are confused

 

[paulchapo]

Not exactly true:

Reform to non-dom rules: Labour party announcements

This article was published before the UK Government’s Autumn Budget 2024. For our most recent article, published following the Autumn Budget 2024 and therefore reflecting latest developments, please click on the link below. Read more This article was first published on 19 April 2024. Background...

www.farrer.co.uk

Labour are getting rid of existing exemptions that the Conservatives laid out for non-doms in their proposed tax reforms. Under these proposals if somebody lives here for 4 years, having previously been non-resident, then they are getting taxed on their whole income regardless of whether the income originates in the UK or overseas. That is a big change from the very forgiving nature of the previous system and the new one the Conservatives were proposing.

I work with people in Luxembourg and they have told me they have seen a definite up-tick in British registered assets being moved there in the past few months - luxury cars that have British licence plates are becoming a more common sight in the streets (this is just anecdotal I have no further evidence it is true). Whether the amount of people moving their affairs overseas outweighs the benefit these tax reforms bring in remains to be seen - LSE suggest it should raise roughly £4Bn a year. They are saying they will throw in some exemption if people bring their untaxed foreign income to the UK to invest it into infrastructure and British business but it's not exactly clear how that policy looks in practice.

I'd say they also seem quite openly critical of the current situation with capital gains tax and I'm fairly sure we'll see some kind of reform on that in the budget to the effect of it being taxed more in line with regular income. That will definitely disproportionately impact people with wealth.

You can argue whether these initiatives go far enough, but I think Labour are allergic to doing anything that is seen to be too radical. Especially while the economy is doing surprisingly well and growth forecasts are improving. I think we will only know if this "softly, softly, catchee monkey" approach to resuscitating our ailing national fortunes is actually working in 3-5 years time. There's almost no point in thinking too hard about it right now.

The people saying this is anything close to Marxism are just preposterous simpletons who have never opened a book.

My rather basic point was, whatever proposals are made, if any, is that it will have negligible impact on the very rich as opposed to the impact such as stopping the winter fuel.payment will have on pensioners just above the qualifying criteria. The wealthy just move assets around to offset any possible hits. Sure if they lose a few pounds off their profits they will have a gripe but they're hardly likely to be frightened to put the heating on in winter.

 

[Blue and true]

Or people struggling to get by after the taxes they already pay. But thar is obvious to anyone but dumb pricks I guess.

The people who are struggling to get by won't be struggling to get by because they are burdened with high taxes. In fact, those on the lowest rung won't be paying much tax at all

My point was those who are pissing and whining seem to be those higher earners who begrudge paying a little more for the betterment of public service, even when a slightly higher rate won't be prohibitive to them in the slightest.

 

[metalblue]

Just to repeat that "northern cross rail" (Northern Powerhouse Rail") as envisaged by Burnham is not going to get past the number crunchers. Saving 20 minutes between Manchester and Leeds is not going to transform the North. Best use of money on not building HS2 from Birmingham at least as far as Crewe is... building HS2 to Crewe.

They may seem like small numbers but that 20 minutes probably equates to about £3.500 per passenger per year in increased productivity. I’m not saying it’s the best use of public money for growth but rather it still creates growth.

 

[metalblue]

That might be your problem but I wouldn’t apply it across the board.

It’s not my problem. I think he’s more of a Tory than me.

 

[metalblue]

No point judging him now mate.

Certainly not mate. I really hope they succeed as it’s in all our interests.

 

[SkyBlueFlux]

My rather basic point was, whatever proposals are made, if any, is that it will have negligible impact on the very rich as opposed to the impact such as stopping the winter fuel.payment will have on pensioners just above the qualifying criteria. The wealthy just move assets around to offset any possible hits. Sure if they lose a few pounds off their profits they will have a gripe but they're hardly likely to be frightened to put the heating on in winter.

Of course, and I agree with that. I'm just adding the nuance that people commenting to the effect of Labour are not taxing anything from the wealthy, it isn't strictly accurate. You can argue they're not taxing enough but the majority of their planned fiscal additions to national revenue are quite demonstrably coming from people who are asset rich. Unfortunately, they are also maintaining the freeze in the tax bands which means that they are not totally levying income from the rich. The truth is therefore somewhere in between.

And I do agree that the criteria being cited for WFP is not well thought-out (maybe they will change tack on that). But I also have little sympathy for the argument that all pensioners should get it. My grandparents were sitting on a house worth half a million while using their WFP on the lottery. Nobody my age has ever got something for nothing like that out of the government, so I don't see why we should make an exception here. It might have made sense 20 years ago when the country was in a very different financial situation.

 

[Vic]

They may seem like small numbers but that 20 minutes probably equates to about £3.500 per passenger per year in increased productivity. I’m not saying it’s the best use of public money for growth but rather it still creates growth.

I have no idea what formula provides that equation but, assuming that "per passenger" means a daily commuter, it must value the "productivity" of time (not) spent on a train at about £25 an hour.

And if someone happens to work near Victoria rather than Piccadilly where NPR would go, then total journey time is no quicker than the present service Leeds to Victoria. And of course NPR from Liverpool to Manchester would be no quicker than a non-stop train now from Lime Street to Victoria.

Without HS2 into Piccadilly bearing the construction costs and providing most of the services, none of it makes commercial sense.

 

[Kompany Car]

Just to repeat that "northern cross rail" (Northern Powerhouse Rail") as envisaged by Burnham is not going to get past the number crunchers. Saving 20 minutes between Manchester and Leeds is not going to transform the North. Best use of money on not building HS2 from Birmingham at least as far as Crewe is... building HS2 to Crewe.

Its not just about Manchester or Leeds but the whole area and achieving net zero whilst enhancing mobility across the North.

If you want to read about the economic benefits of the project I would suggest reading this which give the holistic view...
https://www.transportforthenorth.co...2023-Summary-Report-For-Final-Publication.pdf

 

[bluethrunthru]

what most people seem to be reacting to is the (Right Wing ) Press floating arguments to stay relevant. Things to remember are

1/ since July 5th most of the influential commentators have no "in" to the Govt. No Leaky Sue no Jnr Minister authorised to leak so all they can do is make shit up based upon own fears and the fact that they need to produce a Leader or an Op Ed to suit their paymasters as they have an expensive mortgage and school fees to pay.

2/ Parliament is in recess - No laws have been changed / passed

3/ Labour can float ideas in this time as govt's do - see what sticks - see what creates a reaction - would not be surprised by the time of the budget the fuel allowance is tapered and the fringes of wealth tax are explored

4/ Wait until Parliament comes back and the budget is announced ............ also when they come back the Tory leadership race heats up - the press will be focused on that as they won't have to make stuff up plus they will have the problem of persuading Sunak to turn up for PMQ's to be humiliated week in week out having had a summer in the sun where he wants to be. He will be pushing for a quick selection not a long drawn out process and as we have seen that usually means a piss poor candidate wins out