All you appologists for the rich, what do you make of this...

[Jeff Maginty]

..

[Mich the Tester]

BBC News - Warren Buffett demands to pay more tax


So do you still think that the UK should scrap its 50 percent tax rate?

Yes. The 50% tax rate affects people with their own businesses earning a lot less than Mr Buffett and whose income varies from year to year, so they might need to save a lot one year to deal with a bad year in future. As Warren Buffet says, 'last year he paid an effective tax rate of 17.4%, less than the 33% to 41% paid by the employees in his office.' So it seems that the problem is not that tax rates are too low, but that the progressive tax system is failing to get him paying his share; if all above basic needs level were paying 33% including the highest incomes it would be more equitable and there wouldn't be headlines saying 'top rate of tax at 50%'. He's actually made a good case for a simplified system with a flat tax rate.

[BlasterBates]

Fully agree with Mich.

The billionaires is a red herring. Don't think anyone minds if they do get taxed more. The question is, does a 50% tax rate stop the economy growing. Sometimes tax rates might sound just but aren't really helpful.

[NickFitz]

Yes. The 50% tax rate affects people with their own businesses earning a lot less than Mr Buffett and whose income varies from year to year, so they might need to save a lot one year to deal with a bad year in future. As Warren Buffet says, 'last year he paid an effective tax rate of 17.4%, less than the 33% to 41% paid by the employees in his office.' So it seems that the problem is not that tax rates are too low, but that the progressive tax system is failing to get him paying his share; if all above basic needs level were paying 33% including the highest incomes it would be more equitable and there wouldn't be headlines saying 'top rate of tax at 50%'. He's actually made a good case for a simplified system with a flat tax rate.

As he says in the NY Times article, the problem is that he, in common with other extremely wealthy people, makes the majority of his income from investments, which is taxed at a much lower rate than employment income. What he wants is primarily a return to sensible taxing of investment income:

"I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation."

[NotAllThere]

We're not apologists for the rich. We are the rich.

[DodgyAgent]

BBC News - Warren Buffett demands to pay more tax


So do you still think that the UK should scrap its 50 percent tax rate?

Despite your own dubious motives I do believe that too few people hold too much power (and therefore money) and that there needs to be some way of breaking this domination up. The thing about being that rich is where do you draw the line and how do you get hold of these people to stop them moving their money abroad?

what is more important is what is done with the tax that is raised. If the state could show that the money spent on education in particular was effective then there would begin to be a moral case for raising tax

[Mich the Tester]

If the gummint need to save money, why not raise the pension age by one year as of tomorrow morning?