Mark Harding

@ZiaYusufUK @BathJoanna This seems like a complicated tax policy that will undoubtedly have unintended consequences…

🚨Important policy announcement: Britain was built on the hard graft of people who go the extra mile. A Reform government will ABOLISH income tax on hours worked beyond 40 hours a week, for incomes below £75,000 a year. It’s time to REWARD hard work, not punish it! 🇬🇧

@ajbonner @LoftusSteve Currently CGT is wiped at death. So while there may be arguments for housing levy, I suspect many people with higher value properties (and thus subject to this new CGT) would stick it out and die in the house. CGT wiped AND no IHT…

@Mark_Harding @LoftusSteve 100%. Let's get rid of a bunch of them (starting with stamp and iht), and on housing levy CGT on true profit.

OK I take it back. I thought Streeting might be the least bad option but this is moronic. Dangerously moronic. CGT is less because there's an element of risk. This would be the death of UK investment.

@ajbonner @LoftusSteve Less tax, not more.

@LoftusSteve CGT on primary residences is something I think would make sense (with abolition of stamp). But on investment returns - silly.

@LoftusSteve And a good chunk of it is inflation, not real terms gain.

@julianHjessop Absolutely needs to be indexed. And we need to be talking about less tax, not more!

Here's my tuppenceworth on capital gains tax (CGT)... 1️⃣ as a starting point, CGT and income tax rates should be equalised, based on the principles of tax neutrality and simplification 2️⃣ I don't really buy the "double taxation" objection, because its only the gain that is being taxed not the original investment 3️⃣ the UK is an outlier in its relatively favourable treatment of capital gains (though many would say that's a good thing!) Now for the 'buts'... 4️⃣ it could not be as simple as just equalising CGT and income tax: capital gains are lumpier (so CGT would need to be smoothed to be fair), and the tax should only apply to real gains (so you would need some form of indexation to strip out inflation) 5️⃣ you would probably also still want some form of carve out for genuine entrepreneurs, and for other certain other forms of investment. Increasing CGT could discourage saving and distort decisions (for example, people would have a bigger incentive to hold on to assets rather than pay tax, or rush to dump them in anticipation of future tax increases). 6️⃣ for these and many other reasons, the revenue to be gained (or possibly lost) from raising CGT is relatively uncertain; the behavioural responses, including capital.flight, could actually reduce revenues... 7️⃣ finally, this should only be part of a wider reform of the tax system; the UK already taxes "wealth" in many different ways, and any increase in CGT should be used to cut other taxes, such as stamp duty on both property and shares, and IHT (but that is not of course what Labour leadership candidates are thinking!)

@Finumus1 @worstall The plan all along… Given the recent burst of cumulative inflation it’s long over due that indexation of CGT returned.

@worstall Yeah, I mean they used to be the same as income tax (approx), and they were reduced when indexation was abolished (as I'm sure you know), as a simplification. Now doubtless we'll put them up again but forget the indexation thing.

Presumably the point of equalising CGT with income tax (assuming they don't bring back indexation allowance), is just performative cruelty? Because it won't raise any more money. Pretty sure even the OBR thinks the Laffer peak is ~28%?

@julianHjessop Indeed.

@julianHjessop But it can? Parliament is sovereign. The current government *could* rejoin the EU if they wanted, whether right or wrong, however that is defined, ie morally, ethically, politically.

For those suggesting Labour should just put #rejoinEU in their next manifesto and get a mandate that way... 🤔 A General Election which might be won with just a third of the votes cast simply cannot trump a (single issue) Referendum where more than half wanted to leave the EU!

@Rhino_Records What's going on with the Rhino store? No longer ships to the UK, so no access to Rhino Reserves + a limited selection of Rhino High Fidelity via new UK store. Will ALL titles be available to UK? Also, the UK prices are steep compared to importing from US...Not happy right now!

Rhino High Fidelity (Rhino Hi-Fi) continues its premium audiophile series with a trio of celebrated albums from Dusty Springfield, Cher, and Joni Mitchell. The latest installment of the limited-edition vinyl reissue series features Dusty in Memphis, 3614 Jackson Highway, and Court and Spark. Cut from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180-gram black vinyl at Optimal in Germany, these releases feature glossy gatefold packaging with “tip-on” jackets and newly written liner notes. They are limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies and available today exclusively at Rhino.com and select Warner Music Group stores internationally. Dusty Springfield: Rhino.lnk.to/DIMHiFi Cher: Rhino.lnk.to/3614JHHiFi Joni Mitchell: Rhino.lnk.to/CASHiFi

@Keir_Starmer This is a parody account, right?

I’ll always champion peaceful protest. But the Unite the Kingdom march organisers are peddling hatred and division. We’ve already blocked visas for far-right agitators who want to come here to spew their extremist views. They don't speak for the decent, fair, respectful Britain I know.

@AntonSpisak Or it could be a combination of both…

Ten years too late, we might realise that the Brexit referendum wasn’t really about Europe, but about the dissatisfaction of a large swathe of voters with the state of the country and ‘the system’. The tragedy is that an entire British political class used that disenchantment for its own political ends. They promised voters one thing, delivered another, and never took responsibility for any of it.

@Steven1897001 @vickygrayson_ No negative consequences for those already in state education from the additional pupils?

@vickygrayson_ Victoria if Gemima and tarquins parents cant afford the fees they will have to go to the state schools to mix with karen and keith

“[Phillipson’s] policy of imposing VAT on private schools to pay for state teachers is having devastating results: Labour said 3k children would leave private school as a result; by last autumn 25k had & more will follow. Almost 120 schools are closing.” thetimes.com/comment/column…

@billkruse @MerrynSW You haven’t seen this point raised anywhere else…?

@MerrynSW Who are the IFS exactly & why should we care either way what they come out with?

All wealth taxes back fire.

@grayso72 @ClarksonsFarm1 Define “fair share” please…

@ClarksonsFarm1 How about balancing the books by getting the wealthy to pay their fair share and stop creating offshore tax havens? Also can we make MPs pensions fall in line with other state workers? After all they don’t really produce much except more bureaucracy

Yet another stealth tax on the working class. Once again poorly disguised behind the thin veil of a net-zero initiative. Incredibly unfair, hoping for a complete U-turn on this ridiculous policy.

@nicole_clash If AI will do most jobs (it may), that implies there will be some (important) jobs that need humans to do them. If humans are supplied UHI, what incentive remains to do those necessary jobs? Will it be compulsion? Ultimately AI/ bots will do it all, but until then…?

“Why would we let AI take our jobs and rely on the government?” What people don’t realize is, AI is GOING to take your jobs, most of them. It’s already starting. And unless the government is willing to SHOOT every single person that uses AI (unrealistic), most traditional jobs will be more efficiently done by an AI or an automation. It is incredibly naive to think that “bombing the data centers” will stop the progression. You can shut down all the major AI labs today and it would barely make a difference. I can go on and on about why yes, the AI and the robots are in fact coming for your jobs. If you knew what I knew, you would believe me. For the purpose of this argument, let’s just assume that I am right, that AI is going to take the majority of jobs. When people lose their jobs, most people are gonna be royally fucked. They have rent to pay, kids to take care of. Food, water, etc. We need the government to step in. The alternative is, people die. Or they resort to stealing, looting, etc. “But if the government pays everyone, that’s communism/ socialism!” Wrong. If the government shuts down the free market, and gave everyone food water and shelter, that would be communism. It is infinitely better for the government to give people cash than raw resources. It lets the average person have the purchasing power to shape the free market. Why is the distinction important? Because the beauty of capitalism is, it pushes innovation and surfaces the best products to consumers. It lets the average person be able to start their own business. For example, suddenly there are more artists in the world. More musicians. More game developers. The people having cash in their hands means that they can use it to support their favorite art, music, games. “I doubt the government is actually gonna pay people, they’re corrupt and evil.” Yes, the government is corrupt. But what you have to realize is, even the government has incentives. When AI increases the efficiency of every single company, there will be more taxes collected from the corporations (see below tweet). It is in the government’s best interest to reinvest that money back into the economy in the form of UBI/ UHI. Most people who are against what I’m saying, and what @elonmusk said, assumes that the choice is between “AI taking our jobs and we rely on the government.” vs “We keep our jobs.” That is not what the choice is though. The real question is, what should the government do to make this brutal transition period the least painful as possible? It gets very very nuanced, but it absolutely has to start with the government giving people cash. That is the only way. The alternative is a communist police state with people starving, dying, looting, and rioting. And absolutely no one, not even the government, wants that.

@imPenny2x Why is income even necessary at this stage?

99% of people really do not understand abundance as Elon describes it. The fundamental reason is that they don’t understand compound growth. Same people who would probably pick 1 million dollars today over a penny that doubles in value every day for 30 days. It’s a bad choice by the way. You lose out on millions. Imagine if that doubling object was a labor producing robot instead of a penny. Compounding labor. It’s actually crazy if you try and wrap your mind around it. So Elon mentions Universl High Income and the midwits flip a lid. “The elites won’t share” You don’t get it. They won’t need to share. They will make everything so cheap, it is effectively free. Charities will have immense resources to distribute. Unfathomable intelligence will exist to help optimize production and distribution. An unfathomably large labor pool will exist that operates on solar power exclusively. The public work projects that are erected will be unseen before levels of breathtaking. I think we are incredibly blessed to steward this new age of abundance. Can you see it now? Can you see the future?

@pix3lpro @PeterMcCormack @campbellclaret I’m curious, what do you think it is that GDP per capita is showing here?

@PeterMcCormack @campbellclaret Ha ha. That total GDP strip out immigration and change it to GDP per capita, and you will see immigration is the only reason for those numbers. What a fool!

This guy is utterly delusional… incredible that the charlatan Johnson put such a clown in charge of such an important negotiation. It will take years to undo the damage done.

@3InPlaybets @LeeHurstComic Or they increase prices for rest to cover shortfall…

@LeeHurstComic Do the attractions get to claim the rest from the government(A) or just lose it (B)? If it’s A it’s not there problem as they get paid anyway and open to abuse Or C they get such a big subsidy from the government it’s not there problem

When working people cannot afford the £99, the tourist attractions will have to make do with the £4 from families on benefits. Good luck with that.

@Pazatodos2017 @Simmons__ hrp.org.uk/tower-of-londo…

@Simmons__ It doesn't seem to be true. Where does one get these "UC" tickets? I'm disabled, get UC yet couldn't find any such concessions when I wanted to visit Tower of London last March. It was £35 same price as all working age adults who weren't students. I couldn't afford to go.

Is this fair?