How much do "The Rich" really pay toward Society?

[toppstuff]

Proof of why the Politics of Envy is the road to ruin in the UK.

The top 1% of earners pay 24% of all the taxes.

Source HMRC.

So Labour want to drive high earners out of the country. Logical?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8417205.stm

[off_again]

...and they typically use less 'resources' than the rest of us. I don't see a top earner getting treated on the NHS!

[CzechItOut]

Income tax, not all tax.

And the top 10% of earners pay 53% of all income tax collect. OVER HALF!

[bobbylondonuk]

not to mention the high value consumer goods that keeps the economy ticking

[chr15b]

could have been just taking the michael, but i remember when Simon Cowell was on TG they said he paid more in tax than collection from speeding fines.

[Dr_Gonzo]

CzechItOut said:

Income tax, not all tax.

And the top 10% of earners pay 53% of all income tax collect. OVER HALF!

If you take out corporation tax from Plcs, then 'the rich' probably pay even more than 53% of all taxes. Stamp Duty @ 4% on high value houses, VAT on more/big purchases, interest on savings, council tax in higher band areas, corporation tax on privately owned businesses, inheritance tax etc

[Tiggsy]

"I left Gage Whitney making $400,000 a year. Which means I paid twenty-seven times the national average in income tax. I paid my fair share. And the fair share of twenty-six other people. And I'm happy to 'cause that's the only way it's gonna work. And it's in my best interest that everybody be able to go to schools and drive on roads. But I don't get twenty-seven votes on Election Day. The fire department doesn't come to my house twenty-seven times faster, and the water doesn't come out of my faucet twenty-seven times hotter. The top one percent of wage earners in this country pay for twenty-two percent of this country. Let's not call them names while they're doing it is all I'm saying."

Seaborn/Sorkin

[sa_20v]

And people ARE leaving these fair shores - not due to the level of taxation, but the unfairness of it (a fair tax rate would be a percentage of earnings, not an incremental percentage dependent on income)! We are already witnessing a dangerous downward spiral, with government spend continuing upward, taxation rising, high earners abandoning the UK (and also moving their businesses abroad), whilst national debt breaks new records.

Ironically the socialists blame capitalists for the failure of the banks - yet it was socialist policy which forced financial institutions to lend to people already living beyond their means.

I'm already in the process of escaping, and I strongly suggest you all consider it too - whilst you still can.

[turbobloke]

[toppstuff]

Tiggsy said:

"I left Gage Whitney making $400,000 a year. Which means I paid twenty-seven times the national average in income tax. I paid my fair share. And the fair share of twenty-six other people. And I'm happy to 'cause that's the only way it's gonna work. And it's in my best interest that everybody be able to go to schools and drive on roads. But I don't get twenty-seven votes on Election Day. The fire department doesn't come to my house twenty-seven times faster, and the water doesn't come out of my faucet twenty-seven times hotter. The top one percent of wage earners in this country pay for twenty-two percent of this country. Let's not call them names while they're doing it is all I'm saying."

Seaborn/Sorkin

Gotta love the West Wing.

[Fittster]

Quite possible 'The Rich' are getting a good deal

"The richest 2 percent of adults in the world own more than half the world's wealth, according to a new study released by the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University."

[Fittster]

sa_20v said:

Ironically the socialists blame capitalists for the failure of the banks - yet it was socialist policy which forced financial institutions to lend to people already living beyond their means.

When were the banks that required the support of the UK taxpayer forced to lend to anyone??

[HundredthIdiot]

If I was rich, I wouldn't base my choice of country on how much tax I was going to pay.

Surely the whole point of being rich (as opposed to just tight-fisted) is that you can afford to live wherever you like.

I might, for instance, choose France because the bread is tasty, or Hong Kong because I like Chinese food, or Copenhagen because I hear the eye candy is top-notch.

[Fittster]

toppstuff said:

Proof of why the Politics of Envy is the road to ruin in the UK.

The top 1% of earners pay 24% of all the taxes.

The wealthiest 1 per cent owned approximately a fifth of the UK's marketable wealth in 2003. In contrast, half the population shared only 7 per cent of total wealth. The results are even more skewed if housing is excluded from the estimates, suggesting this form of wealth is more evenly distributed.


http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=2

So this top 1% also have a very high percentage of the wealth.

[fido]

Depends who you define as 'The Rich' - there's the Oligarchs (think Empires) and then there are the Wealthy .. the Middlies always contribute the most in total whoever's in power. Labour have screw8d the Middlies (aside from a few favoured public professions) in favour of the Lessers.

[oyster]

Fittster said:

Quite possible 'The Rich' are getting a good deal

"The richest 2 percent of adults in the world own more than half the world's wealth, according to a new study released by the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University."

But that wealth that they own - they PAID for it. It belongs to them.

If the other 98% want some of it then they have to work for it.

[cottonfoo]

HundredthIdiot said:

or Copenhagen because I hear the eye candy is top-notch.

It is

[900T-R]

fido said:

Depends who you define as 'The Rich' - there's the Oligarchs (think Empires) and then there are the Wealthy .. the Middlies always contribute the most in total whoever's in power. Labour have screw8d the Middlies (aside from a few favoured public professions) in favour of the Lessers.

Fair assessment.

[Fittster]

oyster said:

Fittster said:

Quite possible 'The Rich' are getting a good deal

"The richest 2 percent of adults in the world own more than half the world's wealth, according to a new study released by the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University."

But that wealth that they own - they PAID for it. It belongs to them.

If the other 98% want some of it then they have to work for it.

Has the Duke of Westminster worked a lot hard than people with average wealth?

The point is they pay tax inline with their wealth, 20% of wealth means pay 20% of taxes, seems fair to me. Do you think the richest 1% of the population should pay less tax as a percentage of their wealth than the average member of society?

[sa_20v]

Fittster said:

sa_20v said:

Ironically the socialists blame capitalists for the failure of the banks - yet it was socialist policy which forced financial institutions to lend to people already living beyond their means.

When were the banks that required the support of the UK taxpayer forced to lend to anyone??

I didn't mention the UK did I?