How Would You Generate Revenue For the UK And Make Life Easier For UK SMEs?

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Following on from the budget, there is obviously a lot of resistance from (small) businesses. However, I think we all agree that things need changing and the country needs more funds.

I do not agree with some of the budget changes, however, does anyone else have ideas on how we could get out of the mess left by the last lot?

My first suggestions would be to:

• Ensure larger companies pay the tax due on UK transactions
• Reduce the tax code by 50% and make it as unambiguous as possible.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Gill Courage]

Simplify, simplify, simplify! When a person cannot understand how much tax they have to pay on something - it is too complex! Then errors arise and clever people find loopholes. Rich people's tax lawyers are far brighter than our politicians.
Do away with all the little "exemptions" - no dividend exemption, no interest exemption, no GCT exemption. Tax smaller, tax consistently and it will be fairer. Have a single income tax rate. When some people pay zero tax on their earnings they have no interest in how stuff works. When some people pay more than half they lose interst in working hard.
Make personal tax allowances totally transferable. Give children a tax allowance instead of free childcare or family allowance (or whatever they call it these days). Then one working parent can have all the allowances and decide how best to spend for their family.
Sack half the civil service. They add nothing to the economy.
Speed up and simplify planning permission. At the moment the overhead is so bad that individuals cannot build their own homes without a huge learning curve and a vast waste of money. Take home-building out of the hands of the big corporations and watch the quality of homes improve........and the availablility. That will affect the cost of living and the cost of rent - both will fall.
Make a proper plan for energy sufficiency at a decent price. We cannot manufacture here because premises, power and labour are far too expensive. Understand that a home manufacturing economy is great to UK Plc. Money spent on british goods and services goes back into the economy several times; wages, tax, all go around and lower the true cost. But don't be short-termist. The current rush for great lines of pylons, because underground cabling is "too expensive" is totally short term. Spoiling the ship for a ha-porth of tar. Uglify the country to save two-and-six (in real terms) when a tiny bit of extra money and time would make it all much better for everyone. people would be happier to have underground cables near their homes because they would not affect their lives!
Most of all, teach kids about finance. Understand that sending everyone out to work and paying for help because you have no time only benefits spendthrift government. Taxing a mother's/father's wages, then taxing the person they pay for childcare and the person they pay for cleaning and the people they pay for meals - because they "has no time" - is false economy. That same pound is taxed several times and the benefit is actually dissolved. A government cannot tax your time - that is why they want you to go out to work.
One of the biggest cons is the net zero "plan". We do not have distribution networks in the right place, so need to build more...........how about distributing the generation to the places it is actually used? No new networks needed. But people who install solar or wind generation at home (or work) pay no taxes on that power............they would rather you have to go cap in hand to a big generator, who can be taxed, and then the consumer can be taxed on what they use as well. It would also mitigate against failures - a much safer system for all.
The sinister creep of control and taxation is gaining pace and this government will not be happy until everyone with a mind of their own is trodden down and forced to have only what they are "allowed".
Rant over. And breathe.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I'd create some meaningless consumer legislation, set a load of ambulance-chasers on it to get people compo, which they can spend in restaurants and shops.

Just to pluck a wild idea, say commission disclosure

 

[Newchodge]

Can I( take this backi to basics. The OP said that things need changing and the country needs mre funds. While I agree, I think we should dig a little deeper about that.

If we establish what the government is for it may be easier to see why we need more funds and what changes should happen.

For me the whole point of government is to ensure the safety and well-being of all its people. How that is ensured will differ between different political views, but unless that is the paramount purpose, what is government for?

To start at the beginning we need to ensure that everyone has access to proper healthcare, without considering what the individual can pay for, but based solely on the individual's need. So babies are born safely and go home to a house that is warm, safe and secure. With social services to ensure that the family has any support it needs, leading to choldcare and education etc. etc.

All spending deciaions should include an assessment of how they meet the point of government and how money can be raised in a way that doesn't detract from the point of government.

No government should ever be able to sy we cannot afford to ensure the safety and well-being of all its people - they cannot afford not to.

 

[DontAsk]

I'd create some meaningless consumer legislation, set a load of ambulance-chasers on it to get people compo, which they can spend in restaurants and shops.

Just to pluck a wild idea, say commission disclosure

Compo for those who were intelligent enough not to be suckered in and have missed out on all the previous compo

 

[NickGrogan]

I'd create some meaningless consumer legislation, set a load of ambulance-chasers on it to get people compo, which they can spend in restaurants and shops.

Just to pluck a wild idea, say commission disclosure

I know you're joking, but I did think for a long time that the whole PPI loan "scandal" was actually just a way for the government to give people money via the banks.

I was more convinced when I applied for it, being 99.9% sure that I'd never had it. I got a letter from my bank that seemed to say, "We don't think you had PPI, but we're not sure, so here is some money anyway."

 

[NickGrogan]

Can I( take this backi to basics. The OP said that things need changing and the country needs mre funds. While I agree, I think we should dig a little deeper about that.

If we establish what the government is for it may be easier to see why we need more funds and what changes should happen.

For me the whole point of government is to ensure the safety and well-being of all its people. How that is ensured will differ between different political views, but unless that is the paramount purpose, what is government for?

To start at the beginning we need to ensure that everyone has access to proper healthcare, without considering what the individual can pay for, but based solely on the individual's need. So babies are born safely and go home to a house that is warm, safe and secure. With social services to ensure that the family has any support it needs, leading to choldcare and education etc. etc.

All spending deciaions should include an assessment of how they meet the point of government and how money can be raised in a way that doesn't detract from the point of government.

No government should ever be able to sy we cannot afford to ensure the safety and well-being of all its people - they cannot afford not to.

Interesting, what do you mean by "its people"

 

[DontAsk]

If we establish what the government is for

HL Mencken “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

 

[Newchodge]

Interesting, what do you mean by "its people"

Those people physically wihin the boundaries of the state.

 

[HFE Signs]

If you incentivise business growth, the whole system sorts itself out organically

 

[Mark T Jones]

I know you're joking, but I did think for a long time that the whole PPI loan "scandal" was actually just a way for the government to give people money via the banks.

I was more convinced when I applied for it, being 99.9% sure that I'd never had it. I got a letter from my bank that seemed to say, "We don't think you had PPI, but we're not sure, so here is some money anyway."

Half joking

It's a double win for Government- flag-waving for consumer protection, whilst stimulating consumer spending at the expense of banks/insurers or anyone with deep pockets.

 

[NickGrogan]

Scrap VAT on school fees before its implemented.
Remove VAT on ALL educational products/services.
Make all spending on all forms of education / training fully tax deductible
Make school tuition fees / expenses fully tax deductible for either partner
Make the allowance 200% where neither parent has been to university
Free tuition and grants for degrees that benefit the nation - decided independently every 5 years

Increase teachers (Primary to Uni) salary by 10% per year, plus inflation.
Sack the worst performing 10% of teachers each year

MPs to meet minimum education and work experience levels before being allowed to stand as an MP
Double their salary, scrap expenses, employing family members, scrap second homes, ban gifts, etc.
Jail for corruption, minimum 5 years.
Sack 50% of them

 

[NickGrogan]

Half joking

It's a double win for Government- flag-waving for consumer protection, whilst stimulating consumer spending at the expense of banks/insurers or anyone with deep pockets.

They seem to be aiming at garages at the moment, which don't have particularly deep pockets.

 

[Mark T Jones]

They seem to be aiming at garages at the moment, which don't have particularly deep pockets.

No, they are aiming squarely at lenders (mostly banks) - effectively have implicated them as accessories

 

[Newchodge]

If you incentivise business growth, the whole system sorts itself out organically

In theory, yes, but what about the threat to the environment? You cannot have infinite growth, the planet cannot survive. And that would not be good for the government's primary purpose.

 

[NickGrogan]

No, they are aiming squarely at lenders (mostly banks) - effectively have implicated them as accessories

OK, so it looks like garages, but its actually the banks, again. Makes more sense.

I look forward to my next payment.

 

[NickGrogan]

In theory, yes, but what about the threat to the environment? You cannot have infinite growth, the planet cannot survive. And that would not be good for the government's primary purpose.

The primary purpose is "ensure the safety and well-being of all its people.", not those "outside its borders", so no contradiction.

Quite a right wing position really.

 

[Newchodge]

Jail for corruption, minimum 5 years.
Sack 50% of them

The first proposal would make the second impossible to implement!

 

[BubbaWY]

Our biggest problem is debt and the continually rising public spending, without fixing the problem.

Many local government officers and civil servants have never worked in the private sector, are too risk averse and not commercially aware. They know how to spend money (inefficiently), but dont know how to create it. As for the experience of MP's...dont get me started on that one.

So Id like to see more 'experienced' experts used to deliver major infrastructure schemes and reform. And sod the fact that they may need to be paid more than what the Prime Minister does. Id happily see a group of experts come in, reform the NHS, save billions of pounds and be paid a nice little sum for doing so. Because its never going to happen through the Secretary of State for Health and their department.

 

[NickGrogan]

The first proposal would make the second impossible to implement!

I should change it to do not replace them

 

[Newchodge]

The primary purpose is "ensure the safety and well-being of all its people.", not those "outside its borders", so no contradiction.

Quite a right wing position really.

Do you think that the planet failing to survive would not affect those within the state's boundaries? And if my propoal applied to all governments everyone would be covered. Just by different jurisdictions.

 

[Newchodge]

Our biggest problem is debt and the continually rising public spending, without fixing the problem.

Many local government officers and civil servants have never worked in the private sector, are too risk averse and not commercially aware. They know how to spend money (inefficiently), but dont know how to create it. As for the experience of MP's...dont get me started on that one.

So Id like to see more 'experienced' experts used to deliver major infrastructure schemes and reform. And sod the fact that they may need to be paid more than what the Prime Minister does. Id happily see a group of experts come in, reform the NHS, save billions of pounds and be paid a nice little sum for doing so. Because its never going to happen through the Secretary of State for Health and their department.

Why is (presumably public) debt a problem now when it has not been over the last 500 years?

No one except the government can create money. Businesses don't create money, they move it around.

Absolutely agree with the need to use experts to run projects. Big companies are not necessarily experts, Carillion and the big 4 accountancy firms being examples.

 

[NickGrogan]

Do you think that the planet failing to survive would not affect those within the state's boundaries? And if my propoal applied to all governments everyone would be covered. Just by different jurisdictions.

So you're aiming for a global government? Not just the UK?

 

[Newchodge]

So you're aiming for a global government? Not just the UK?

That would be nice, but I would settle for individual governments with a universal purpose.

 

[NickGrogan]

No one except the government can create money.

This is wrong, most money is not created by the government at all.

Also if you're looking at one country, bringing money/assets in from another country creates more money for the home country. This applies from SME upwards.

The British East India Company was quite good at it, if you want a historical perspective.

 

[fisicx]

Stop trying to ‘grow’ the UK. We don’t need growth, we just need to sustain what we already have.

It’s often a desire for wealth (and influence) that drives the need for growth. There is already sufficient money in the UK to sustain a decent life for everyone. It’s just that most of it is in the hands of a minority.

Which means tax those with huge houses, expensive cars and so on. Make it so they are better off with less.

 

[NickGrogan]

That would be nice, but I would settle for individual governments with a universal purpose.

What if the best way for a government to achieve the universal purpose is to send its citizens to another country that doesn't want them, as it will stop them from achieving their own universal purpose?

 

[NickGrogan]

Stop trying to ‘grow’ the UK. We don’t need growth, we just need to sustain what we already have.

It’s often a desire for wealth (and influence) that drives the need for growth. There is already sufficient money in the UK to sustain a decent life for everyone. It’s just that most of it is in the hands of a minority.

Which means tax those with huge houses, expensive cars and so on. Make it so they are better off with less.

That works for a few years, then what?

 

[Newchodge]

This is wrong, most money is not created by the government at all.

Also if you're looking at one country, bringing money/assets in from another country creates more money for the home country. This applies from SME upwards.

The British East India Company was quite good at it, if you want a historical perspective.

The British East India Company did not create money, they created wealth and poverty, taking from one side to create poverty and giving to the other side to create wealth. SME's don't create money, not if they use double entry book-keeping.

 

[Newchodge]

What if the best way for a government to achieve the universal purpose is to send its citizens to another country that doesn't want them, as it will stop them from achieving their own universal purpose?

That is why a defence budget is needed.

 

[Duke Fame]

Following on from the budget, there is obviously a lot of resistance from (small) businesses. However, I think we all agree that things need changing and the country needs more funds.

I do not agree with some of the budget changes, however, does anyone else have ideas on how we could get out of the mess left by the last lot?

My first suggestions would be to:

• Ensure larger companies pay the tax due on UK transactions
• Reduce the tax code by 50% and make it as unambiguous as possible.

What are your thoughts?

The worst thing to do is over-regulate the employment market, and apply costs:

The ‘New Deal for Working People’ will be the undoing of our economy . The UK has benefited for many years from having relatively liberal labour market rules, especially compared to continental European countries. It has meant the UK has much lower unemployment than other countries, as the costs of hiring (and perhaps more importantly, firing when things go wrong) is not excessively high. If you make firing people too difficult, businesses will not hire in the first place. Add on increases to min wage and employers' NI, I'm pretty sure we will see an unemployment increase. An interesting observation is Labour have managed to increase unemployment EVERY time they have been in office.


What I'd do? I'd go for growth.
Reduce duties & tarrifs.
Reduce Employment taxes and aim to merge income tax with NI.
Reduce Corporation tax
Improve accelerated allowances for investment
Extend entrepreneurs relief.
Extend freeports.

How to increase the labour supply:

I'd be much stronger with asylum cases, really slow them up and encourage asylum cases to apply for work permits. Work permits will be granted for 1 year & renewable as long as applicants can prove identification and paperwork. Work permits are then renewed as long as the applicant has been working and earns more than £25k. No housing benefit or other benefits are given and health insurance is required.

Asylum applicants will be encouraged to work by building accommodation for asylum seekers, this will be based in Glasgow.


How to pay for it?

In the medium term, the additional growth will generate more tax revenue but in the short term:

Privatise the BBC
Privatise CH4
Put Net Zero back to 2050
Transfer the NHS to a bidding / insurance system
Remove public sector pension schemes
Extend the retirement age to 70
Tax relief on building homes sold in the next 4 years

 

[NickGrogan]

The British East India Company did not create money, they created wealth and poverty, taking from one side to create poverty and giving to the other side to create wealth. SME's don't create money, not if they use double entry book-keeping.

When I sell my services to an American company, they pay me £1Bn. The money comes into my UK bank account, where I pay my taxes and spend the rest.

What has happened to the total amount of money circulating in the UK?

 

[NickGrogan]

Privatise the BBC

Close the BBC and Channel 4 tomorrow.

 

[Duke Fame]

The British East India Company did not create money, they created wealth and poverty, taking from one side to create poverty and giving to the other side to create wealth. SME's don't create money, not if they use double entry book-keeping.

SME's do create wealth, they do so via the multiplier effect and if this govt knew how to grow an economy, they'd support the SME sector as if their political lives depended on it.

 

[fisicx]

That works for a few years, then what?

Why would it only work for a few years?

Aim for sustainable growth. Don’t live beyond the needs of the country. Incentivise living with less shiny things.

As an example, reward those who keep their cars for longer. Reward even more those without a car.

How would this help businesses? It means people would have more disposable income.

It might put importers of cheap tat out of business but if it means the county as a whole ends up with a better standard of living surely that’s a good thing?

 

[Duke Fame]

Our biggest problem is debt and the continually rising public spending, without fixing the problem.

Many local government officers and civil servants have never worked in the private sector, are too risk averse and not commercially aware. They know how to spend money (inefficiently), but dont know how to create it. As for the experience of MP's...dont get me started on that one.

So Id like to see more 'experienced' experts used to deliver major infrastructure schemes and reform. And sod the fact that they may need to be paid more than what the Prime Minister does. Id happily see a group of experts come in, reform the NHS, save billions of pounds and be paid a nice little sum for doing so. Because its never going to happen through the Secretary of State for Health and their department.

We do need to reform the NHS. The internal market for the NHS needs to be externalised.

 

[NickGrogan]

Why would it only work for a few years?

Aim for sustainable growth. Don’t live beyond the needs of the country. Incentivise living with less shiny things.

As an example, reward those who keep their cars for longer. Reward even more those without a car.

How would this help businesses? It means people would have more disposable income.

It might put importers of cheap tat out of business but if it means the county as a whole ends up with a better standard of living surely that’s a good thing?

You changed from no growth to sustainable growth. Taxing the rich is fine until there are no more rich, once the money is gone you can't tax them anymore.

 

[Newchodge]

When I sell my services to an American company, they pay me £1Bn. The money comes into my UK bank account, where I pay my taxes and spend the rest.

What has happened to the total amount of money circulating in the UK?

If they pay you in dollars you have to obtain sterling, if they pay you in sterling, they have to obtain sterling. The amount of sterling remains the same.

 

[NickGrogan]

We do need to reform the NHS. The internal market for the NHS needs to be externalised.

We need to decide what the NHS is for first. If it is intended to help unhealthy people make bad choices and live for as long as possible, its doomed to fail.

 

[Duke Fame]

• 12 minutes ago

• 
  

The worst thing to do is over-regulate the employment market, and apply costs:

The ‘New Deal for Working People’ will be the undoing of our economy . The UK has benefited for many years from having relatively liberal labour market rules, especially compared to continental European countries. It has meant the UK has much lower unemployment than other countries, as the costs of hiring (and perhaps more importantly, firing when things go wrong) is not excessively high. If you make firing people too difficult, businesses will not hire in the first place. Add on increases to min wage and employers' NI, I'm pretty sure we will see an unemployment increase. An interesting observation is Labour have managed to increase unemployment EVERY time they have been in office.


What I'd do? I'd go for growth.
Reduce duties & tarrifs.
Reduce Employment taxes and aim to merge income tax with NI.
Reduce Corporation tax
Improve accelerated allowances for investment
Extend entrepreneurs relief.
Extend freeports.

How to increase the labour supply:

I'd be much stronger with asylum cases, really slow them up and encourage asylum cases to apply for work permits. Work permits will be granted for 1 year & renewable as long as applicants can prove identification and paperwork. Work permits are then renewed as long as the applicant has been working and earns more than £25k. No housing benefit or other benefits are given and health insurance is required.

Asylum applicants will be encouraged to work by building accommodation for asylum seekers, this will be based in Glasgow.


How to pay for it?

In the medium term, the additional growth will generate more tax revenue but in the short term:

Privatise the BBC
Privatise CH4
Put Net Zero back to 2050
Transfer the NHS to a bidding / insurance system
Remove public sector pension schemes
Extend the retirement age to 70
Tax relief on building homes sold in the next 4 years

Also I'd licence most recreational drugs, this removes the need for so many prison places adn police PLUS it adds a huge revenue income.

I'd do the same for sex work, Prostitution is legal but decriminalise the soliciting aspect and make the industry safer.