Delicious LiveJournal Links for 10-22-2010

[andrewducker]

• UN expert calls for a fundamental shift in global drug control policy to decriminalize possession, EU supports it.
  (tags: drugs)
• This explains how my sense of humour works
  (tags: knowledge inspiration connection humour)
• Chromeless: Build your own Browser UI using HTML, CSS and JS
  (tags: browser html ui firefox javascript css mozilla)
• J.K. Rowling’s Plot Spreadsheets
  (tags: harrypotter jkrowling writing)
• Nick Clegg accuses IFS of 'distorted nonsense'
  (tags: politics uk)
• The Hobbit casting announcements - confirming Martin Freeman as Bilbo (amongst others)
  (tags: thehobbit movies)
• It Could Have Been Worse… if the Liberal Democrats had NOT been in the Government
  (tags: politics uk libdem)
• Universities minister is against unlimited fees.
  (tags: university education uk politics)
• Google 2.4% Rate Shows How $60 Billion Lost to Tax Loopholes
  (tags: google tax taxes taxation)
• Why Apple saddled the new MacBook Air with geriatric CPUs
  (tags: apple technology)
• IFS analysis of tax and benefit changes - families with children worst off, clearly regressive.
  (tags: politics economics government uk)
• MP Nadine Dorries says her blog is 70% fiction. Basically admits that she lies to her constituents.
  (tags: politics uk EpicFail)
• Myth-busting: what the Coalition’s plans for houses really mean
  (tags: housing uk)

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

It Could Have Been Worse… if the Liberal Democrats had NOT been in the Government

Obviously the Tories alone would have been worse, but nonsense like:

And this tax they would raise. From whom? Not on "ordinary" people, says Mr Johnson and Johnson, newly minted Economics for Dummies reader. But as Lady GoreGore points out: they'd only tax the EXTRA-ordinary people, the best and brightest, the ones who found the companies and make the inventions, create the music and win the prizes. Great strategy for growth, you've got there Mr Johnson and Johnson.

This is nothing more or less than the same vile nonsense about the wealthy being entitled to their money that mouth-breathing libertarians over here love so much. I've been reading about the situation in the UK and it looks remarkably similar to the situation here - the greedy rich and their puppets claiming that austerity for the poor and middle class is necessary, because otherwise they might be able to afford all three of their yachts. I'm remarkably unimpressed with the liberal democrats, they look a whole lot like ambitious sellouts.

[andrewducker]

I should probably point out that tax rates for the rich are significantly higher than they are in the USA.

Doing some playing around here and then checking the official rules for clarification, the tax rate for anyone earning over £40k is 40%, earning between £100k and £150k it does some weird stuff due to the way that allowances are withdrawn (marginal rates suddenly jump to 60% and then drop to 40%, averaging 46% over that bracket) and then stabilise at 50% over £150k.

I wouldn't really be comfortable with tax rates above 50%. Taking half of the money that rich people earn is fair enough, more than that feels wrong to me. (And, obviously, there's tax based on residence as well, but that tops out at £2,300 per year for Edinburgh.) Plus VAT (sales tax equivalent), which is currently 17.5%, going up to 20% in January. Which means that a top-rate earner who gets £1,000 and buy as much as they can with it will pay £600 in tax and get £400 of stuff. That's doesn't really strike me as entitlement :->