Well done Gordon Brown, you bloody great plum. You were warned about taxing the rich in an attempt to pander to your socialist core vote. Now your ruin of our economy looks to be in its final stage - a city tax exodus. Sky are reporting that one of the City's largest trading firms, Tullett Prebon, is allowing staff to relocate abroad to offices "with more certain taxation regimes". They are are also considering moving their headquarters to Singapore. Tullet Prebon employ 12000 staff and pump millions of pounds into the economy.Sky News City editor Mark Kleinman said:
"This could have serious long-term consequences for the City of London.Chief executive Terry Smith, said the decision had been taken after staff raised concerns over the government's "explicit refusal to guarantee that similar 'one-off' taxes will not be imposed next year".
"This represents the most potent signal to date of an imminent exodus from the City amid growing government hostility towards the financial services sector."
Just great. Good one Gordon, your legacy is coming along nicely. What a tit.
14 comments:
By logical extension of your point, which I agree is a serious one, perhaps we should just say to these people that we will charge them no tax whatsoever, and we will bail them out no matter what kind of mess their greed and stupidity gets them into and then they can stay and bring all their playmates to play in the tax haven that is England. I say England, because I hope that Scotland will be able to secure Independence before then.
I never thought I'd see the day when I was supporting a Gordon Brown policy, but really, these people do have to do something to repay the money they have managed to extract from us.
I don't see how you can possibly say that Brown's policies concerning the City have been socialist. It's certainly not any kind of socialism that I recognise.
Tris - the only bit about your post that makes any sense is giving Scotland independence.
One thing's for sure... if Scotland gets independence (Insha'Allah)... it'll be no tax haven.
Well Mulligan:
I had to make a mistake somewhere.
Clearly, tris, in common with most of the public, and all of the Government, you have no understanding of who 'these people' are or are not.
What is a 'banker', in your world? How do you define it? You - and Gordon - don't really know.
That's why you agree with his policies. Just like you'd agree with a policy stating that 'bad people should go to prison.'
Lordy, Constantly I deplore mr Brown with all my heart and all my soul. Iwant him OUT.
But I damned if I see why my friends and relatives at the poorer end of the social structure should be the ones to do all the paying back.
People are taking wage cuts, wage freezes, losing jobs in the certain knowledge that they'll never get one again. Right now there are people trying desperately to keep warm in a freezing house, having just eaten an inadequate dinner. I know this. I live amongst it.
But we can't put a one off tax on people who are earning hundreds of thousands and getting bonuses, sometimes from banks that we own, and will be paying for for 25 years, or 40 years or who knows how long.
Call me an ignorant fool if you will. Maybe I am. I don't have your high understanding of the banking system, but why oh why should these people why can well afford it, not take some of the hardship that the rest of us suffer when they were partly to blame for it.
For the second year running my wage is frozen. Inflation they tell us is at minus 1.4%. Only a person who sends their under gardener to the shops and their chauffeur to fill the car up would believe that.
So I get poorer, and that's fine, but the bankers must not be taxed. Not even once.
No I'm not talking about counter clerks here. A banker, a merchant banker, a manager of a hedge fund. You're right of course I have a limited knowledge of what they do. I know that they were at least partly responsible for financial meltdown, for unplayable debts and for who knows yet what is to come. Every time we think we have bailed them out for good they come needing a bit more.
No. I don’t know much about their business, but so it would seem, neither do they, having made such a monumental cock up of it.
Tris
Taxing the bankers will not make a blind bit of difference to your wage rises or tax bill, neither will 50% taxes (which will actually take money out of the economy and cost jobs). It might make you feel better but in terms of an economic recovery, or helping address any of your personal circumstances, it has no merit whatsoever.
However you were 100% right about Scotland. I tip my hat to you on that one.
Milligan,
Could you please tell us what will make a difference?
And as I said at the top of this thread, if you reckon that what we need is to keep these overpaid people in England, and if their input is a solution to our crisis, should we not try to bring more of them here by reducing our taxation of the rich, and making this country a tax haven for the super-rich. It's what Brown has already done (despite protestations before the 1997 election that he would do away with tax loopholes). So we now have "top" people who pay less tax than their cleaners and boast about it.
For all that, it never did much trickling down, and the poor are still horribly poor, especially in low wage Scotland.
However, I'd love for you to explain, rather than me speculate about how else we could solve the problem.
One point that I would make though is that even in Britain, where everyone is far too busy watching the x-factor or Strictly Come Dancing, or going down the pub and getting legless, there comes a point beyond which you can't push the poor any more.
At some stage they are going to get fed up of hearing of more and more cuts whilst the bankers get more and more bonuses.
So even if in financial terms it won't work, it would be a good idea to remember that Mrs Thatcher was wrong. There IS such a thing as society. It's dangerous,
Well if you want to stimulate the economy then a flat tax for all, irrespective of income, and increase the tax free allowance to at least double it's current amount.
Of course this doesn't play with Labour's goal of controlling everyone with working tax credits, and benefits addiction (as well as AGW and anti-terrorism measures conventiently used to destroy our freedoms) , and the Tories don't have the balls, for fear of being accused of helping their rich friends when in fact they'd be helping everybody who wants to work.
And in an ideal world I'd scrap the bonus culture completely (especially for failed public service department and quango managers) but if we're to have them you can't legislate targetted tax rates for certain professions because they've been set up as the fall guys for government incompetence.
Mulligan:
Fair enough. Thanks. But what you are saying is that no one would do it.
So we remain stuffed, and what will happen regardless of which useless set of politicians is in control next time, is that we shall remain stuffed.
And, while we are stuffed, whichever party will continue to waste money that we don't have playing America's poodle so that their Prime Minster can prace about on the world stage pretending that we are not bankrupt and that he is important!
Great. Where's the nearest
gas oven?
Hey tris - this'll cheer you up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io00QGNNTEE
LOL Mulligan. It certainly brought a smile!!!! Thanks :-)
An ideal compliment to the Sexy Valentines Gifts I have got for my girlfriend.
Thank you.
Post a Comment