I won't be playing the world's smallest violin for those affected by the proposed 50p tax rate, and neither should you.
Predictably we’re hearing the same old line of argument from those who oppose Labour’s proposed 50p tax rate: the rich will only work if you give them money and the poor will only work if you take it away.
These God-like wealth creators are apparently so worried at the prospect of paying an extra 5 pence in the pound that they are planning to up sticks and move their families and their companies abroad (even though there is no evidence this happened when the tax was in existence in the last parliament), leaving the rest of us wallowing in some kind of socialist dystopia.
Really, though, cutting through the nonsense, Labour’s announcement yesterday that it will raise the top tax rate from 45p to 50p is about fairness.
In 2012, directors of FTSE 100 companies increased their pay by 14 per cent. This is 20 times the rate of increase experienced by the average worker – contrary to what the government claimed on Friday, average wages are still increasing at half the rate of inflation.
As Luke Hildyard of the High Pay Centre recently put it, most FTSE 100 directors aren’t risk-taking entrepreneurs, but bureaucrats who’ve taken over long-established organisations.
It’s ironic that right-wing commentators are talking about how little the 50p rate would supposedly raise – while at the same time defending regressive policies which raise far smaller sums.
George Osborne abolished the top rate of tax after claiming it ‘only’ raised £1bn. And yet, this is a chancellor who is happy to put some of society’s most vulnerable people under the cosh through measures such as the Bedroom Tax (supposed to raise £465m) and cuts to legal aid (supposed to raise £350m).
The 50p rate would raise significantly more than both these measures by any estimation. It is also worth noting that Ed Balls has said he will reduce loopholes that allow tax avoidance as well, so it’s likely the 50p rate will raise significantly more than it did the last time.
And finally, to argue against the increase because it will supposedly encourage tax avoidance is rather rich when at the first hint of public sector workers going on strike the same people are rarely shy of accusing the trade unions of “holding the country to ransom”.
I won’t be playing the world’s smallest violin for those affected by the proposed 50p tax rate, and neither should you.
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
16 Responses to “50p tax rate: play the world’s smallest violin for the rich”
Josh Ferguson
Why don’t you make an argument instead of just spouting emotive drivel? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25880373, there are various stats in there that can be used in relation to the whole argument but one of my favourites ‘EEA immigrants pay 34% more in taxes than they receive in benefits and services’. You’re saying that immigrants increase the supply of workers and so push wages down, true.. but you’re only telling half the story, immigrants still go to the supermarket, they still have leisure activities and this creates jobs which increase demand thus bringing wages back up.
Besides, there are plenty of jobs which British people just won’t do. We don’t want to pick vegetables, we don’t want to wait tables etc. Everyone is very happy to go down to McDonald’s and get a burger for 99p but they don’t like the fact that the guy making it is from Romania.
neilcraig
Perhaps you could make up your mind if ” You’re saying that immigrants increase the supply of workers and so push wages down” is either “drivel” or “true” since you claim both, which is clearly ludicrous. Then you could apologise for whichever one you want to withdraw and we could have a serious discussion.
Such a discussion could focus on some of the other studies which show that unskilled poor immigrants contribute rather less to the exchequer and get more in benefits than the average. Of course such studies do not get reported by the state owned (& “balanced” by law) BBC which either proves they are all valueless or that the state broadcaster is wholly corrupt totalitarian propagandist simply masquerading as a “news” producer.
Incidentally does your claim of “drivel” also apply to my statement that the poor in Britain are not precisely the same people as the 6bn potential immigrants outside Britain?
Josh Ferguson
Well that’s a load of crap. If you are going to just pick half of what I say and misrepresent it there is clearly no point in discussing it, what I said is there to see. But just to clarify, I said it is half the truth, I told you the other half of the truth, but you have chosen to ignore it, the drivel is self-evident.
Oh and feel free to link to these studies done by institutions as prestigious as UCL.
neilcraig
Only one here ignoring half of what I said and misrepresenting the rest is yourself, as the fact that you have wandered so far from discussing the 50p tax rate which the thread is supposed to be about.
Now you have decided that even with misrepresentation (ie claiming there was no difference between poor British citizens and 6bn non-citizens), even on ground of your own choosing, you can make no serious case.
I’ll agree with that, but that is the common intellectual bankruptcy of the pseudo-left.
Josh Ferguson
Very well. The half you are ignoring is that immigrants increase demand for other services and this in turn creates demand for more jobs pulling wages up (all this I said earlier). What you said is half true, but only an idiot doesn’t take in the whole picture, perhaps you fit this bill?
I have no wish to talk about the differences between British citizens and non-citizens. You want me to confirm to you that they are in fact not the same? Yes, they are different, in that we have named ourselves one thing and them another. Well done, but I didn’t claim they were the same??
I really hope you’re a troll because your arguments are just pathetic, I mean childlike. Good work on posting all those studies proving immigration is economically damaging btw.