Is this the end of National Insurance?

[mudskipper]

And you think this lot does not want to tax?

They are all in it together.

He will never scrap Employer NICs - they bring in too much, and he will never merge them with Employee NICs because that would show real level of taxation that no party would be prepared to cut.

Increase corp tax and scrap employer NICs?

[WordIsBond]

He will never merge it with employee NICs because combined NICs+income tax would show how heavy taxation really is on everybody.

True. Even some ltd company contractors don't seem to get that point. Otherwise they wouldn't be talking about the dividend tax means we pay more than PAYE employees at some levels of income. Absurd.

You are right, this will be an excuse to increase dividend tax. They have to have time to change their systems, and they have to give their pay masters in the big corporations time to change theirs. I'd say this is at least 3 years away, if it does happen. Make money while you can.

National "Insurance" stopped being an insurance and started being a tax long ago (probably always was), so in concept it is probably best to just call it one, which will simplify things for a lot of people. But they'll either have to bump thresholds way up (8060 & 11000 are NOT the same thing), costing them a lot of money, or stop pretending that people on the "living wage" don't pay taxes. That may be the thing that keeps them from doing it at all. But perhaps they will go ahead and just increase employer NI to make up for it.

I have another simplification plan. Merge VAT with income tax, too. VAT administration costs the government AND businesses a lot of money. Get rid of VAT, and raise the funds through income tax. Since VAT is ultimately paid by the end users (everyone), it should be a flat rate on all income (including benefits). That way, everyone knows how much they are paying, and we can quit pretending that people on welfare don't pay any tax, and people on welfare can be cured of the delusion that it has no impact on them if the government is fiscally irresponsible.

I'm willing to leave fuel duty and car tax alone. For now. Maybe in the next parliament I'll legislate that the pumps will show the tax separately to wake up the sheep. And that prices in the shops will show a breakdown between actual costs and the tax that is being passed through to the consumer -- VAT, CT, employer NI, and increased wages to enable employees to pay employee NI and income tax.

Not sure why the oil companies haven't done this already. Why should they take the heat for petrol prices? The pump could display a message -- "The tax on the petrol you've just bought is enough to buy groceries for a family of four for three days." "The tax on the petrol you've just bought is enough to pay the interest on the average mortgage for 5 days." "If you buy this much petrol every week, the tax on it for the year is enough for a family of four to take a one week holiday in Majorca." "The tax on the petrol you've just bought is NOT enough to even pay the interest for two seconds on the national debt the politicians have run up."

[vetran]

Increase corp tax and scrap employer NICs?

Corp tax is slowly being made irrelevant by international tax planning.

Employer NICs is probably the only tax we will see from most multinationals.

[Halo Jones]

If they get rid of NI then it’s easier to make the NHS “pay per use” as the logic of I pay insurance for that is no longer valid.

Or am I being paranoid?

[darmstadt]

Not sure why the oil companies haven't done this already. Why should they take the heat for petrol prices? The pump could display a message -- "The tax on the petrol you've just bought is enough to buy groceries for a family of four for three days." "The tax on the petrol you've just bought is enough to pay the interest on the average mortgage for 5 days." "If you buy this much petrol every week, the tax on it for the year is enough for a family of four to take a one week holiday in Majorca." "The tax on the petrol you've just bought is NOT enough to even pay the interest for two seconds on the national debt the politicians have run up."

A lot of petrol pumps in Germany have a sticker on stating how much of the price is going towards tax.

[minestrone]

He will never merge it with employee NICs because combined NICs+income tax would show how heavy taxation really is on everybody.

I actually think that is exactly why he is doing it.

[TheFaQQer]

Increase corp tax and scrap employer NICs?

He's introduced the dividend rates because you can't cut corporation tax where there is a high probability of tax-motivated incorporation (Osborne's words / thinking, not necessarily mine).

So to U-turn now and then increase corporation tax won't be a palatable option - and hits small businesses even harder because they tend to have a lower / no NI bill.

[d000hg]

He will never merge it with employee NICs because combined NICs+income tax would show how heavy taxation really is on everybody.

Your permie payslip shows a big number at the top - your monthly salary - then a list of deductions and your take home at the bottom. The difference between those two is 'tax' and even your typical middle-class earner knows that even if they don't really know what NI really is.

[yasockie]

Corp tax is slowly being made irrelevant by international tax planning.

Employer NICs is probably the only tax we will see from most multinationals.

Care to provide some numbers? I believe OECD did some studies. Not everyone can afford an HQ in Belize (I'm sticking to Cayman Islands for now)

[MicrosoftBob]

Corp tax is slowly being made irrelevant by international tax planning.

Employer NICs is probably the only tax we will see from most multinationals.

Unless they move to a tax on turnover