How would you solve the whole UK tax problem thing?

[cycle tramp]

It's a genuine question. The population is getting older, service costs are currently not decreasing and the general population seem to demand ever more from them...

Democracy has failed and a system like the national lottery has made you Prime Minister for the next 4 years....

...what's your solution to the whole thing?

[Nearholmer]

Does the rule-set involve trying to do something that will gain wide-enough consensus to ensure that it doesn’t all get undone in four years + one day, because if it does, that limits the freedom for movement quite tightly.

[cycle tramp]

Um.... Good point, well made.

..the rule set allows for a time span longer than 4 years and a date....

[Nearholmer]

And, are we allowed to implement other changes in parallel with changing the taxation system?

[simonineaston]

The issue isn't tax, it’s the abandonment of our services & infrastructure to Hyek-inspired neoliberal finance-driven private corporations. Thus our taxes disappear without trace into private wallets, often overseas, never to be seen again.
Until that problem is fixed, we will remain cash cows, feeding the insatiable open maw of “private enterprise”. You can raise taxes all you like, they will never ever keep up with demand and we will get forever poorer and more badly treated until then say we die.

[cycle tramp]

And, are we allowed to implement other changes in parallel with changing the taxation system?

Having read Simon's post, I think there is no other option

[Nearholmer]

^^^

Aha, Mr Easton is into some of the changes I was thinking of making in parallel …… a wholesale “in-housing” of service provision, facilitated by the rapid development of a public-service-ethic cadre of competent delivery managers.

But, that’s only some of the parallel changes. I’d like to explore options for accessing “static wealth” for the public good, rather than being confined to drawing revenue for the public good only from “money on the move”, which is pretty much what is done now.

And, I’d like to have a look at what creates the costs that fall to the public purse too, to see whether they really ought to be falling that way.

And, I’d like to audit our national “productive capacity”, because trying to operate any regime where there isn’t reasonable balance between what we produce (which may be more than physical objects), and what we wish to have in the way of lifestyle (of which public services are a part) is bound to end in tears quite quickly ……. In fact, I think it already has, big time!

I’d want to look at the power balance between globalised private enterprise and our tiny little state, which I’m not at all sure can look after the interests of the population when it is buffeted by huge forces outside of its control, and at how states might act together to equalise the balance of power, then tip it in their favour.

After all of which, we might get to an integrated tax, wages, and benefits system that gets to a fair and reasonable distribution of the “national product”, while ensuring that there is enough incentive to cause some people to want to put in the extra effort to do the more challenging jobs that need to be done.

In short, I think the tax problem is a symptom of a whole load of other stuff.

[Carlton green]

In short, I think the tax problem is a symptom of a whole load of other stuff.

Yes, and that’s all a bit of a puzzle to solve. As Arnold Schwarzenegger reportedly said: “Everyone wants services and nobody wants to pay taxes”. The UK tax base is probably 80% plus right but that top slice being doubtful throws the whole system out. We’ve heard of tax evasion and aggressive avoidance and surely they need to be resolved. On the other hand the public often get ripped off when tax payer money is spent, and then we have servicing the national debt … how did we ever get into such a mess.

[mattheus]

And, are we allowed to implement other changes in parallel with changing the taxation system?

You mean like euthanasia?

Yup, that could do it ...

[Nearholmer]

Well, it might actually help the fiscal balance, and tip things in favour of youthful optimism rather than reactionary nostalgia, which plagues the national psyche …….. you know what? You’re making a powerful argument here.

[mattheus]

Well, it might actually help the fiscal balance, and tip things in favour of youthful optimism rather than reactionary nostalgia, which plagues the national psyche …….. you know what? You’re making a powerful argument here.

I don't just throw these ideas out without any thought you know!

[Biospace]

Increasing council tax on large and relatively expensive houses would seem to make sense, of course that alone will not pay for the vast sums squandered in recent years. Productivity needs to rise and the numbers of long term ill are shockingly high - a little research into what is causing this may be wise.

Encouraging SMEs is a very good way of stimulating an economy so that funds continue to be available to pay for what people expect.

[Carlton green]

That the tax take isn’t high enough already is questioned. What I really wonder at is the competence and integrity of the politicians we’ve elected over the years, well that and the sums wasted by poor management of large capital projects.

The failure of the health service in this country is certainly a factor in the numbers of long term ill but what percentage of conditions are actually curable is another matter. Friends and acquaintances off on long term sick include those with severe strokes and autoimmune disorders (induced by stress and or environmental pollution?). Then there are those involved in road accidents, a few days ago a distant relative fell off of his bike and broke his hip (three months and more to recover) and a friend of a friend was massively damaged and three months in a coma due to a car accident (to the amazement of all, after much time and hard work, he eventually made an 80% recover but will never be ‘right’ again).

And then you have the question of tax evasion and aggressive avoidance by those folk and corporations who otherwise would be large tax payers.

[PDQ Mobile]

Small beer by way of comparison to the overall problem, but hey, little steps can take one a very long way.
And not the only case of such incompetence in N Wales.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmzvglw33lo

..........

Additionally while not the UK exactly, from my limited perspective the whole stocks and shares business is ripe for more benefit going into smaller pockets.
These sums are simply staggering.

((And the UK GOVT land-tax Welsh family farms!!))

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... est-top-10

[djnotts]

^"Small beer by way of comparison to the overall problem, but hey, little steps can take one a very long way.
And not the only case of such incompetence in N Wales."

This one is simple. Private landlords acting against the interests of the people. Seize the property, cease any payments, jail the guilty for 10 years. And ditto the legal "teams".