• Syldon
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Stating you hate the Tories then come out with an opinion to try and promote them. Your last post said

    Oh, and for all you “vote the Tories out, get a labour government” fantasists:

    It is like you are saying I hate the Tories as a deflection from the fact you want to denigrate anyone speaking against them.

    As for your comments here:

    The windfall profits levy is expected to be £5b. I could argue this is government figure, so optimism is key here.

    Corporation tax from 2019 year end is £63.2b

    Corporation tax from 2023 year end £84.7b

    Which is a rise of £21.6b £26.5, this leaves £73.5b in extra tax receipts since 2019. That is still a massive amount. If we assume that the £3500 per household is correct for the total amount, then with the new amount it is still £2572.5 per household, that is without corporation tax and windfall levies. Which is still £172.5 higher than the Tories said we would get if we were stupid enough to vote for Corbyn.

    And for icing on the cake, Corporation taxes have actually decreased under the Tories from 28% in 2011, 24% in 2012, 23% in 2013, 21% in 2015, 20% in 2016 and 19% in 2018. The last 5 years have been the lowest rate for corporation taxes in at least the last 60 years. More proof that the burden of finances the country is falling on the poorer people in the UK.

    EDIT: Corrected the error in the sums.

    • Blake [he/him]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Take one look at anything I have ever written on Lemmy and you’ll see that I am by no means a defender of the Tories. Speak against them all you want, I’ll not defend them, but I also won’t abide the media sharing pro-industry, pro-capitalist think-tank bullshit, which is exactly what this is - a think tank that wants the Tories to tax the wealthy even less than they currently are.

      And for icing on the cake, Corporation taxes have actually decreased under the Tories from 28% in 2011

      Yes, it was dropping until the relatively recent announcement that they’re increasing it to 25% for companies that earn over 250k. That’s one of the reasons why this think tank is complaining about increases of corporation tax costing households money.

      the new amount it is still £2744 per household

      Except it’s not. It’s £0 per household, because corporations and fossil fuel companies aren’t households. If I instituted a wealth tax on billionaires and raised £282 billion with it, that’s not costing households £10,000 each is it?

      The Tories deserve tonnes of criticism about hundreds and hundreds of things they’ve done. But increasing corporation tax and the concept of a fossil fuel industry levy (as much of a total scam that the implementation is) aren’t among those issues.

      • Syldon
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Except it’s not. It’s £0 per household, because corporations and fossil fuel companies aren’t households. If I instituted a wealth tax on billionaires and raised £282 billion with it, that’s not costing households £10,000 each is it?

        This is after taking corporation tax and windfall away from the total £100b (100b-21.6=78.4b). Read it again.

        • Blake [he/him]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yeah, misread your comment, sorry!

          Your numbers are a wee bit off, but close enough - my calcs give £27bn corp tax rather than £21.6 (remember they’re increasing it this tax year to 25% from 19%).

          It’s irrelevant anyways. The windfall tax is all just propaganda to mitigate criticism of the fossil fuel industry. I don’t want to defend the Tories at all, I agree with you that they’re taxing the working class greater for the benefit of the wealthy. But that isn’t what the article is saying, and that’s why I’m annoyed at the article. The article is bullshit not because it criticises the Tories, the article is bullshit because it’s complaining about the wrong things! They mention three conservative government policies which they claim are causing harm to us, and of those three policies, two and a half of them are things we should be pushing for MORE of. (Higher corporation tax, taxes on the fossil fuel industry, higher income tax for people with high incomes). Those policies are bad because they don’t go far enough.

          • Syldon
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Your numbers are a wee bit off,

            Hands up, you are correct. I edited the post with correct figures.

            They mention three conservative government policies which they claim are causing harm to us

            I think you are reading an interpretation that is not there. They do not claim any policy is harming us. They state the facts of where the largest tax rises are coming from which is very near the wording of the report. The actual IFS report is here.

            The guardian states the report is damaging because of the conference next week. It is trying to stir up anxiety among Tory party members, but it does not cast aspersions over which tax increases are good or bad.

            I agree the windfall tax is just a sham. I would be very surprised if we see any receipts at all. They built huge cop out options into the bill. Shell have declared a reduction in investment because of the windfall tax while only paying £134m to the government from a worldwide £40b profit. The whole process is nothing more than a façade.

            • Blake [he/him]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              “Causing harm to us” was my short-hand interpretation - I’m just a guy writing internet comments, they don’t have to be perfect - but I don’t think it’s an unfair reading of the article.

              Acting like their analysis is unfeeling and unpolitical is classic IFS bullshit. Raising corporation tax, energy profit levy and top rate income tax are all good things and you want me to complain about it just because the Tories are doing it? Is tribalism more important than policy?

              I’d call out this crap regardless of who’s in power because it’s just typical neoliberal “taxes are always bad” bullshit. Tax the shit out of corporations and the wealthy, please.

              • Syldon
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                I don’t think they are saying the taxes are bad. Every media report will have a bias. The best place to recognise that bias is to follow the money trail. And if you look to the bottom of the report, it was commissioned by ESRC and the Nuffield foundation. The ESRC are independent and rarely get involved in the subject of reports. Nuffield are an independent body usually recognised for reporting on the NHS. The IFS only create the report, they have not chosen the subject matter.

                The timing and content of the report is clearly aimed at the Tory conference with the intent of highlighting just how badly the country is performing.

                • Blake [he/him]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  I don’t think they are saying the taxes are bad

                  Come on, stop arguing that black is white. The article calls the report damaging and even you said that it highlights how badly the country is performing. The article very clearly has the message of “isn’t it bad how much the Tories have raised taxes?”

                  Why are you like, arguing about this? I don’t really understand.

                  There are biases beyond who funds the report. Neoliberalism is biased against taxes, economists are overwhelmingly neoliberal and the think-tank is a group of economists. It’s not that complex, really.