Zack Polanski

Happy you say?

For clarity, how much do you earn, and how much tax do you pay?

 

UK debt and borrowing rates are currently higher than they were when Truss was removed from office for destroying the economy.
Job losses in the economy since the increase in employer NI are the highest for years.
Taxing our way to growth and prosperity is working great.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy989njnq2wo
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/uk-business-jobs-national-insurance-b2770929.html

 

Yes, happy. Obviously I'm not going to share my earnings with someone I don't know in an open internet forum.

Didn't you say you used to volunteer for lib dems? When did you take on a Trussite economic view?

 

It goes without saying that minimal tax on lower incomes is less of an annoyance than a huge sum on a higher salary. I pay over £20K a year in taxes currently, and looking at the state of the country and any services I might have call upon, it's hard to say that what is received in return feels like value for money.

I originally joined the Lib Dems under Charles Kennedy and remained a member through the period of coalition government until 2016/17. The Lib Dems are a broad spectrum from leftish social democrats on one end to libertarians/economic liberals on the right. I was probably most enthusiastic about the reforming agenda set out in The Orange Book - if anything I've become less cynical about state spending, while still highly irritated by public service ineffectiveness and inefficiencies, since leaving.

 

Which is literally all a consequence of Liz Truss attempting to make the kind of unfunded tax cuts you are vying for. Investor confidence, interest rates and the consequences of the immediate bond selloff it triggered are all still affecting us now, and likely will for years to come.

This isn't a defense of Reeves who has been mediocre at best. But the fact we are still recovering from the actions of a handful of days should be enough warning as to how bad the kind of tax cuts you are proposing would be for the country.

 

He's already front page news.

 

Tbf though 40 years of EU subsidies helped.

 

He'll get hammered for this for years or they'll find some more dirt to dig up on him. 'Green leader had secret romp on compost heap with Mystic Meg's mum' or some other garbage

 

" UK debt and borrowing rates are currently higher than they were when Truss was removed from office for destroying the economy."

That may be true, but in the interests of fairness, it needs to be recognised that medium to long term damage was done by it and any Chancellor would have struggled to put it right quickly.

 

You tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night. That doesn't make it the truth though.

The current UK government has killed growth, failed to deliver tax incomes that were previously forecast, negotiated badly both domestically and internationally, pursued investments with low returns, left no headroom for out turns or shocks worse than anticipated, and as a result left us with a sizeable and growing annual gap between incomes and expenditures or rolling crises to close them.

 

Of course, what's your point?

 

Whatever helps you sleep at night while endorsing the worst financial policy this century.

Fine to criticise Reeves but your solution is to suggest a plan that there is clear irrefutable evidence it would absolutely wreck our economy. Utterly insane. All because you don't want a tax increase on your well above average income. I think this conversation has run its course and I'd prefer to spend my time talking people who actually live on planet earth.

 

No it doesn't go without saying. Every pound someone earns is less important and impactful on their standard of living than the previous one.

 

That would be some story, given he's openly gay!

 

Norway has high rates of tax on their top slice and has one of the most successful European economies and distribution of wealth. Meanwhile the UK is the one of the most unequal countries in Europe when it comes to wealth distribution.

In the 50s and 60s under the Tory government the top rate of marginal tax was between 83% and 92%. Unemployment was 2.5%. That money funded the NHS and public services. Britain boomed and people bought houses for 3.3 times their wage. Today it's nearly 8 times that.

Do you think they actually should pay more tax? Or are you just making excuses for their lack of morality by saying they'd run away?

 

This is one of the other big issues. The government has failed to invest and build things. Instead it sold off all its infrastructure and holdings to the private sector because Thatcherism ie people and companies could make lots of money.

Now theyre between a rock and a hard place and if the markets can't see how they pay that debt off, their in ****, but they still won't build anything of note because they are still wedded to the miracle of the private sector doing it all. Which in the case of house building is just a laughable idea for so many reasons I won't list.

 

Don't forget the recent arguments for fracking to give us energy independence that completely ignore that it would all be done by private companies. And virtually all jobs would go to overseas based specialists. Then all the gas would be sold on the international markets with all profit going to the company shareholders. That will definitely pull people out of poverty!

 

I totally agree about Thatcher ruining the economy. A lot of this goes back nearly 50 years but most people will not grasp that. Indeed, we are still wedded to Thatcher's policies as she is still lauded and there's no mainstream alternative voiced that actually says her policies have ruined the country. About time the progressive alternatives got traction. Labour won't do it though as Starmer admires Thatcher.

 

Labour land of milk and honey
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx27nm2mn5po