An average household pays 33.8% of their income in tax. … Council tax is sharply regressive even after adjusting for rebates and Council Tax Benefit with the poorest 10% paying 7.1% of their income in council tax whilst the richest 10% pay only 1.5% of their income in council tax. Extract from The Equality Trust Many see the current tax system as unfair with the rich being able to avoid tax and also giant corporations such as Amazon and Google not paying tax in the countries where they operate. As we all know, currently, these corporate Giants register their businesses in countries where there is a more favourable tax regime they must be taxed locally. People avoid and evade income tax: if everyone paid what they ought to pay then what would the residual taxation level be? We need to raise more taxes to fund the costs of the pandemic but change from the current regime. We ought to aim for taking the poorest 10% out of the tax system and that includes Council Tax, which is a really punitive tax carrying the penalty of imprisonment. Council Tax debt is a real problem causing a lot of trouble for both council in collection issues and those who are on benefits who are struggling to pay it There is also the big issue around the complexity of the rest of the tax system and the behemoth that is needed to collect it, to say nothing of the financial burden of policing tax avoidance. Could we re-purpose VAT to provide some kind of solution to that problem? Taxes should also be more specific to drive behaviour for example; packaging tax or a Food Waste tax
1880-2
You must log in to post a comment.