Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Hays,

It sounds like many of the described are dying in fur coats.

Perhaps, they should be advised to dispose to use some form of "equity release" and turn the heating on.

The "Tax" regime could be modified by raising proportional level on disposal of the property at time of sale.


Ambivalent about it.

Well then Haystack can you tell us how we can stop these bar stewards sending us these dam e-mails. If, in the case that your wife was a client of the Halifax and they had used her correct name then she would probably have opened it up, to probably find that her account was empty minutes/hours later. I am sick of getting junk mail from Inland Revenue/ppi claims/and numerous other banks. As we probably all do, there must be a solution to this.

Fred
The whole point is that the many of the owners of expensive houses could not afford fur coats. Why should they have to sell or release equity to pay tax. In the end the equity release money could all be spent and then how do they pay the tax. An interesting point is that with equity release them maybe the equity release company would be liable for the mansion tax a the new owner.

3m
There are few things in life less important than getting a bit of extra mail. If you want to stop post then register with MPS, phone calls TPS. You can reasonably expect companies to contact their own customers via post and email. If you don't like then contact each one and ask them to stop. In practice I have found that most will comply.

Companies send out direct marketing items because it works. It is not really 'junk mail' as most of it is targeted. It is similar to TV advertising except the company knows more about the person receivng the message.

both (fos)fred and gf have failed to answer the question as to why it is fair that the proposed mansion tax will target almost exclusively those living in the south of england, where a house valued at an arbitrary £2.5m will be perhaps double that of one of similar footprint even in say harrogate

a buyer of a house at £2.01m will already pay 7% stamp duty, whereas ......
2011/2012 stamp duty rates
Up to £125,000 0%
£125,001 - £250,000 1%
£250,001 - £500,000 3%
£500,001 - £1,000,000 4%
£1,00,001 - £2,000,000 5%
over £2,000,000 7%

however, the seller may well have bought that £2.01m house for say £350k only 25 years ago ...... furthermore, somewhere down the line, there will also be a 40% CGT tax bill on this hypothetical £1.65m profit

not frightfully well stated i'm afraid, but i'm sure even the northerners among us will be able to understand, even though some may fail to see the inequity in such a targetted tax

taking that tax a step further, apart from who assesses the value of a house and how - much harder than one may think - perhaps it would be fairer, if there is an insistence on such a tax, that it is the footage that should be taxed and not the value ..... thus the burden would be spread across a far larger proportion of the populace

Fred
I would vote for no inheritance tax, no capital gains tax and no tax on interest earned.

they're easy to stop .... it's called "blocking"! ..... that way they get sent straight to junk even if you haven't bothered (very very stupid) to instal one of the security systems

Fred
I would also vote for the same flat rate for all tax payers instead of higher rates for higher earners.

Sorry cyners but I happen to think you should stand up on your own 2 feet in this world.

Ive given my lad £200 to buy books with in his first year at UNI and Ive told him to use it well as thats all hes getting.

He knows what my views are, hes a sensible lad and hel make the most of that money I know that.

As for que jumping on education and health, sorry I cant abide it.

Cyners you southereners get far higher wages than people in the north for the same job. Maybe this just evens things up, and dont forget call me dave and IDS think everyone should be more mobile so yes you can come and live in the shit hole thats known as west yorkshire or even worse parts of lancashire, rochdale for example.

Im sure their will be a job waiting.....................................NOT.

what you do with your money is (and should be) entirely up to you ...... however, if i pay my insurance contributions but choose to give my (grand)children the chance of a better education, why should i not do so? ....... if i pay my NHS contributions but also choose to pay for private health care, why should i not do so?

did i have a private education? ..... indeed i did, but assuredly did not take proper advantage of the opportunities offered

have a i created whatever wealth i now happen to have? ...... yes, pretty much, so why should i not pass that on if i so choose?

living in yorkshire ...... i can think of many good reasons for so doing, and my older son now does so ..... not only is housing about half the price, but living costs in general are much cheaper, and assuredly his quality of life is very much better than it would be if he lived in the home counties

Cyners yep I agree.....

what you do with your money is (and should be) entirely up to you

EXCEPT for health and education.

You come into this world born equal but equal for some a lot in fact means not equal, just because your parents did well doesnt mean you should get a foot up on anybody else or not given a new heart because you can afford it and they can.

Thats the hypocrisy of this world very similar to daves call 'we are all in this together' ...MY ARSE.

gf
You cannot stop queue jumping in education. When a state school gets a reputation for excellence then wealthy people buy houses close to the school to gain entry. That cannot be stopped. Where I live the local school is full of kids who are the children of champagne socialists. The catchment area for the school is about 600 yards. Outside that area you don't get a place. Consequently all the houses near the school start at £1m.


If you stop private health care then the wealthiest will leave the country. When I had my software business we paid for private health insurance for ALL the staff.


An interesting aside is that a number of trade unions have had their own hospitals just for their members.

I think income tax rates should reduce as earnings increase. Why should somebody earning £100k contribute more than somebody earning £25k? They don't get any more for the extra money they've contributed, so it's only fair imo that a zero-rate tax band should be introduced on earnings above £100k.

Btw, it costs £550 to set up a company in the BVI and nearly as much again to service it annually. It also costs around another £750 to set up an offshore bank account, virtual office and all the other gubbins.

If the government were to introduce a zero-rate tax band for high earners, that's £1,300 that could go back into the economy!

3 M.

For god sake don't send them to your MP if a tory, or they will think it a good method of rising taxes or revenue for the party.

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Part of the problem with London prices is that is was subsidised by London ratings, which paid disproportionate wages.

This passed into the housing market and went with the house holder went they sold up and moved out.

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I don't see why a group of people should avoid financial responsibilities and pass excessive amounts on their children at the expense of the general tax payers who enabled them to make their "pots".

Even, if it is legal, it could be consider morally questionable, but the latter is within in the eyes of the operator. But it does seems the attitude of what you can get away with is O.K. A bit like a self selecting Mafia.

Hilary
That would be a lot fairer as the wealthiest consume less per capita of the services that taxes pay for.

Perhaps an extension to that idea would be useful. High earners could get a card to show how much they earn. This could be shown to buy goods without paying any VAT.


As the burden for the welfare state comes from the poorest then they should pay the most tax. The poor should pay for health care as they are more unhealthy. Smoking and obesity have become working class problems.

GF.

If your son has good results at the end of the year, give him a 1K and encourage him to do the same next year.

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If successful at end of degree, cover his expenses for his education.

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You can afford it.

Did more or less that for 4 daughters. Satisfied with the outcome.

The idea of a card sounds great, Haystack. Do you think they would do platinum cards to use in shops north of Watford?