We All Need To Pay More Tax - IFS Director

[@DamienTalksMoney]

We tried a new mic stand for guests, and it picked up banging on the desk as you will hear. Sorry about this, we will make sure it doesn’t happen again, but hope you still enjoy the conversation!

[@EamonCoyle]

I get it Damien, banging on the desk is more RudeTube than KZbin lol

[@chrislambert9435]

Concerning Savings . . . what about the waist of the cash so far spent on all of HS2 etc, oh and the Heathrow new run way, all of which was abandoned by government

[@EamonCoyle]

@@chrislambert9435 I apologise for becoming moderator of the channels comment....but are you blaming HS2 being cancelled on the mic, or the desk ?

[@DamienTalksMoney]

@@EamonCoylepretty expensive mic stand

[@andypayne2743]

Didn’t even notice. This was also one of my favourite guests that you have had so far - really informative and also Paul explained the complexities of the system in a simple way.

[@motazElAshmawy]

In regards to the NHS, as an NHS Doctor, I do not know how to say this nicely. 80% of the NHS computers are sitting on ancient systems that manage patient records (Not even OLD, no, it is ancient). At least half of the doctor's time (verified by many quality projects) is spent navigating a cluttered computer system looking for information rather than treating patients. Unless you are going to fancy trust that invested in IT (which you can count on your fingers) chances are you are receiving suboptimal care because of poor investment in the NHS.

[@andrewharris3900]

One day when we have an Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient Government all these things will be fixed. A Government that is good at programming, engineering, chemistry and so on.

[@user-cj6cy6eu4c]

​@@andrewharris3900Thank God we have an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent MARKET in other areas ensuring we can all afford our energy bills & saving us all from having to use food banks. Phew!

[@evilqueen1]

This pod but this episode in particular is an excellent example of why most broadcast media is going to be killed off over time. Nowhere on mainstream media would Paul be allowed to expand on the subject matter to the degree that he was able to here because it would eat in to either football, I'm a Celebrity or Britains got talent. It's an absolute travesty that this is the case as this is excellent content. I really hope that valuable content such as yours finds a way in to the mainstream diet. Thank you.

[@MakingMoneyPodcast]

Ha ha, thanks - appreciate that and we hope so too...

[@Flat-Five]

Unfortunately, the level of disorganisation I have seen in the NHS makes me think that a lot the money being spent there is being wasted. I'd like to see nurses paid better and I know it's no easy task, but with the right management, I bet it could be run far more effectively than it is. People would feel much better about taxation if they knew it was spent well.

[@andrewharris3900]

They should just transfer the NHS into the ownership of the workers.

[@DevineOne]

Management are taking all the money in the NHS with salaries in the hundreds of thousands and lavish parties. As you know the actual nurses don't get better pay.

[@jabberwock95]

The irony is, a lot of the inefficiency in the NHS comes from attempted cost saving. First they slashed the number of managers and secretaries. Great, that means rotas, clinics and theatre lists are disorganised and more clerical work being done by doctors. Then they slashed IT and equipment budgets. Great, now doctors wait 5 minutes for a computer to log in and spend an hour looking for an ultrasound scanner. Just slashing costs randomly is a great way to destroy the productivity of your organisation, and that's what happened to the NHS. If we want better productivity we need reform, which requires AT THE START an INJECTION of cash to move to new ways of working. Then you might get savings.

[@Flat-Five]

@@jabberwock95 great points

[@ashtech1184]

I have exactly the same opinion on the military. Having spent 6 years in the Army I have nothing against the military receiving billions for our defence but currently an enormous chunk of it is completely wasted due to terrible management. The military does not need more money. It needs to learn how to spend what it's already getting.

[@TheMrChugger]

Lads, you are doing an immense job with this podcast. Thank you 🙏🏻

[@DamienTalksMoney]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed, Paul was a great guest

[@ryanjames702]

These podcasts explain financial issues so clearly, I wish I was taught this when I was in school. Great content as always 👍

[@MakingMoneyPodcast]

Thanks for the kind words Ryan 🙏

[@Cassp0nk]

Not taxing people more is not a subsidy in the context of fuel. A tax is a tax. I hate how policy wonks frame taxation as if not doing it is morally wrong.

[@richardbarry04553]

Every dollar I make besides the bills I’m stuck with go to federal and state income taxes, state sales tax, and property tax. It’s an absolutely crushing amount I am forced to pay. And now my body is falling apart making it really difficult to keep working so hard. I’m headed toward homelessness and the government couldn’t possibly care less.

[@davidstirk4732]

In the UK those state and federal tax equivalents go towards free public health care and subsidising low income housing. In the US you don't get that and a big chunk goes on defence and keeping tax low for the extremely high earners

[@richardwills-woodward5340]

NOTHING is free. @@davidstirk4732

[@funbarsolaris2822]

Tax revenue is there to stop that happening and prevent people from becoming homeless or sick. You need to ask why tax money is being spent on other things (like 100 trillion $ wars that achieve nothing and tax breaks for billionaires to buy private islands and have little children brought to them)

[@playpianotoday6223]

Paul Johnson is so good at explaining all this. If our politicians could explain it as well as him they would have more chance of getting us onside with what they want to do.

[@ttrjw]

One issue for the NHS is that lots of experienced staff are retiring - in particular doctors. It takes 10 years to fully train a doctor - and there's been a shortage of training places for a long time.

[@janeknight3597]

Why are we not training enough Drs? Who makes that decision??

[@liamo8932]

Heremy Junt practically declared war on junior doctors within the last 10 years also

[@Alex-cw3rz]

​​@@janeknight3597the government sets the number of places and the incentives

[@andrewharris3900]

Train them up all you like, British doctors will always flee the NHS, a monopoly employer that pays far less than private healthcare countries like the US or Australia.

[@liamo8932]

@@andrewharris3900 OK boomer

[@apoch2001]

The problem is,the tax that is collected is ultimately wasted from inefficiency and poor spending decisions. Most ppl in the country are terrible at managing money and politicians are no different.

[@chelleh8673]

Very interesting discussion with Paul. One problem with trying to make the tax system fairer, even if governing political parties weren't able to get donations from big business, or listen to think-tanks that do; is international organisations/rules, like International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) or Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) that allow corporations to sue governments if they don't like new policies they create. Until this ends, there is unlikely to be a fair taxation system in the UK, or many other countries.

[@richardwills-woodward5340]

And no-one voted for supranational governance that ignores democracy. it is frightening. Most of these bodies are also formed of people from authoritarian jurisdictions with no understanding of democracy and freedom.

[@alinamolla9695]

Very interesting! However, not clear how increasing taxes would change anything considering that in countries with sovereign currency taxes don't fund spending? That wasn't really covered. Related to it is national borrowing. Who as a country are we borrowing from? Would be great to have an episode on this. It's not personal finance per se but clearly affects it since it's an excuse for more taxes. Finally, the notion of tax increase goes against stimulation of demand. People already struggle to spend as before and suffer from fiscal drag.

[@mikedudley4062]

Public sector is wildly inefficient and wasteful, I could give you lots of examples of waste, but here's just one from the NHS.... A friend of mine as a consultant, went into a trust to sort it's finances out as they were losing money. Having spent months tracking the money he found one GLARING error.... In this one trust alone having looked where the wages were going he found 10s of people, who were still being paid, Even though they had left the trust, some of them had been left as long as 2.5 yrs... How shocking is that, that millions of £ are wasted on paying people not even working there.... The NHS needs less money not more, if it was ran better it wouldn't be so wasteful !!!

[@dsmith657]

Government must spend before it can tax. This is because for the currency issuer all spending is currency creation and all tax is currency destruction. The primary purpose of tax is to create demand for the currency. Therefore the whole premise of the discussion is flawed.

[@maria8809ttt]

Taxation for government expenditure has been obsolete for years. How they sill get away with this premise is beyond me. They have caused economic harm that will need to be addressed. It's shameful. When the truth comes out to the general public what the UK is capable of in terms of ' for the public good'. There will be so much anger.

[@ONeill01]

Yes exactly

[@m0o0n0i0r]

Good video, I think having a simple flat rate tax should be the way forward. This way we would not need as much staff in the tax office.

[@jdshgaming3416]

Just in the process of reading the book; what he doesn’t do is outline just how much tax workers already pay. Income, NI, VAT, Insurance Tax, Council Tax, TV License, Tax on water/gas/electric. If you own a vehicle then MOT, vehicle tax, tax on fuel. Not including if you have children. For people on 30-40k your spending power is like 15k. Most people are effectively taxed at 50% and now we’re being told it’s not enough. Maybe it’s a spending problem. Not an income one

[@purplepeople950]

Few questions based around our national debt... Who do we owe the money too? The banks? The Imf? Also who authorises borrowing and how did we get into so much debt? And can we ever pay it off? Or will it be like a credit card you can never catch up on?...

[@finnwheatley2194]

International investors (commercial banks, insurers, pension funds and sovereigns wealth funds), plus the Bank of England, foreign central banks. You don’t have to pay off national debt as such because nations don’t die like people

[@purplepeople950]

@@finnwheatley2194 thanks, makes sense. Is it not incurring higher interest rates over time as the debt increases though?

[@joannabaker6398]

To whoever buys government bonds.

[@lukeskirenko]

Indeed, the elephant in the room that no-one acknowledges. If an economy requires more money in proportion to its expansion, the idea that that money is borrowed and interest paid on it is ridiculous. But the monetary system hasn't been designed per se, it's been slowly shaped by whatever vested interests have won out. Whether or not it's a conspiracy that governments are subservient to lenders I still have no idea... the historical accounts of these things tend to vary depending on the political disposition of the author. But it should be the primary goal of any government to model the way that the financial system and money is working. Politicians generally don't give a toss, they just reiterate the conventional wisdom about government and national debt.

[@MrDrzebedee]

It is very worrying that this man works for the IFS and doesn’t know that the NHS problems are primarily bottlenecks caused by insufficient social care and badly nurtured society cohesion. No wonder the incumbent politicians are running around like headless chickens.

[@vvwalker7261]

"badly nurtured social cohesion" wtf are you talking about. He didn't say the reasons he gave were the only one

[@stevec6232]

It is insane he doesn't clarify this as a key issue

[@InsanitiesBrother]

Insufficient social care... mate. This is a cost. When trying to reduce costs, you can't just respond with "well spend more". It's a never ending cycle.

[@chrisgray1507]

I think the biggest issue is the amount of money the government waste. Look at HS2 and Rwanda Policy as recent issues. As well as the billions wasted on PPE

[@AndrewHepburn]

Re fiscal drag: it's much worse in Scotland - we pay 42% (not 40%) on salaries over £43k (not £50k)... and the SNP are now suggesting we pay 45% on everything between £75k and £125k

[@minimad8793]

He seemed a very nice, intelligent and down to earth guy who knows his onions. So glad he is an independent and not politically motivated. Well worth my time to watch. Nice one lads :) oh and T, defo chancellor :)

[@jimbojimbo6873]

The NHS is a bit f a shambles imo, we have increased spending and service has gotten worse The standard of people employed by the NHS is shocking in terms of competence.

[@lightweightben]

Demand is vastly increased and increasing though. That’s because modern healthcare (drugs, devices) is more advanced and expensive, plus ageing population which is also sicker (more obesity, collections of chronic conditions that previously killed them). Spending has increased but no where near in line with the demand for the service. Also the infrastructure has not been invested in and that has long term costs which do mean you lose efficiency as you have to work with the old decaying buildings/tech/machines. It’s actually fairly efficient compared to the private sector health system (I have worked in both).

[@maria8809ttt]

The private sector is robbing it blind. The money goes in for them to crow over but is then removed. Shameful.

[@stephencolvin7819]

Before the government rushes to raise tax I'd like them to prioritise smoothing out marginal tax rates. The peaks and troughs in marginal tax rates have an adverse effect on behaviour and people end up making decisions in their own personal interest but not necessarily in the best interest of the country.

[@AR-fy2qo]

The reason the nhs is falling apart, is club age 20-40 yr are choking outpatients. With health anxiety and made up conditions. The nhs was never set up for that.

[@plagiarisedwords]

Always wondered why no one proposes making childcare fully tax deductible. People even those with high paying jobs quit to become full time child carers which makes no economic sense at a country level. Cost of this will be partially offset by people who stay in work paying some income tax who otherwise would have become a stay at home parent paying 0 income tax

[@user-oc8zh9ti2t]

No to more tax. Absolutely not.. Higher rate tax of 40% is madness?! Is the government doing half my job? At most tax should be 10 to 20% regardless of what you earn, even if it's millions.

[@chrislambert9435]

This just shows how government takes cash out of the pockets of people that earn it, and give it to people that have not earned it . . . so-that government gets more votes

[@johnristheanswer]

No , it shows 1% of rich people pay 30% of all taxes .

[@chrislambert9435]

@@johnristheanswer Yes, of course. Its that hard working 1% that is getting cash taken out of their pockets and its being doled out to people that a/ do not work b/ and do not pay taxes

[@johnristheanswer]

@@chrislambert9435 Correct. And.... many of those hard working 1% offer employment to others by running successful businesses , have taken huge risks to get where they are and don`t moan as if the world is against them.

[@chrislambert9435]

@@johnristheanswer The "big issue" is what will government do to get the 40% up & going so that they contribute

[@coopsnz1]

​@@chrislambert9435everyone pays taxes do you consume duties " vat & excise taxes

[@ajt5ajt5]

I’ve almost finished the book and had no idea the reason behind the rabbit until this podcast. Love it

[@PeterHitchmanYT]

The issue with changing Council Tax are the crazy house prices, caused of course by not reforming planning laws. How many people are there that are now asset rich but income poor, e.g. those who are retired, they would really struggle with the suggested change. But it is OK they are also the people who vote, so it won't happen.

[@ronikessler5652]

Why are we looking for the government to supply these services? That seems like a fundamental issues with the thinking here.

[@Riaan3108]

VAT is a strange one. I recall it being 17.5%, then it was reduced to 15% and now it's at 20%. I'd advocate for it to return to at least the 17.5% level, if not the 15% level.

[@andrewharris3900]

Consumption tax is better than income tax. People can reduce consumption to reduce their tax exposure/burden.

[@allsearpw3829]

WHY HAVE VAT AND INCOME TAX ??

[@andrewharris3900]

@@allsearpw3829 income tax is the most immoral, why would you tax someone for being productive.

[@AR-fy2qo]

You need to regulate managers and politicians. And hold them to account, not the worker or public servant.

[@PhillCurtis]

👍 Great video, really enjoyed it. Growth in the UK seems hard to obtain, especially with the politics and especially with brexit increasing self imposed friction to trading with our closest parters (bonkers) and short termism 😢

[@stumac869]

Brexit is likely to be a benefit long term because our trade outside the EU has been growing whilst reducing within the EU, albeit it bounced back strongly post Covid. If we continue down the net zero route Europe's economy will colllapse because it will become uneconomic to invest due to uncompetitive energy prices.

[@davidstirk4732]

Trade growth outside the EU for the UK has been less than the trade reduction between the EU and UK due to Brexit. This has reduced GDP and tax receipts unnecessarily. We didn't need to reduce EU trade to increase rest of the world trade. They are not mutually exclusive. It will always be better to trade geographically closer to you due to delivery costs. Brexit is like a slow puncture on our economy.

[@richardwills-woodward5340]

Incorrect. There is no chart to show this. The GDP of the UK has outstripped that of France and Germany since 2016 and 2019 respectively. But it is still pathetic compared to our past performance when we had cheap energy and common sense. @@davidstirk4732

[@robaudi20v]

@@davidstirk4732 please stop blaming brexit its old and boring now. the elephant is in the room its about time people like you addressed said elephant instead of pathetic finger pointing.

[@davidstirk4732]

@@robaudi20v I agree we will need to pay more tax in the future and a tax on wealth is probably the way to do it. I am just making the point that Brexit has unnecessarily reduced trade GDP and tax revenues. You might find the facts boring but it is something that needs to be addressed. Part of improving the well being of UK citizens, creating growth and raising more public revenue will be to reduce trade frictions with the EU, harmonise tax rates more broadly to prevent large corporations moving Head offices to avoid tax and cooperate with the EU on large infrastructure and communications projects. Ignoring the negative effects of Brexit won't make them go away!

[@DrBenVincent]

It would be amazing and blow your mind if you got a guest on who’s an expert in MMT. I’d recommend Christian Reilly of the MMTpodcast. MMT really changes your understanding of how tax works and what it’s for.

[@paulstannett465]

Fantastic - I've listened to this multiple times. One for the best so far; I wish it could've gone on for longer.

[@chrismartin5870]

Day 1: No one pays any tax. Day 2: Government: "What's the minimum we can tax and achieve our objectives?....ok, that's the new tax rate!" Day 3/today: Government: "What's the maximum we can tax without everyone leaving?"

[@MarkCW]

That was a great interview with Paul Johnson. He's a very likeable character. I still feel that rather than taxing the middle and working classes more there are rich tax pickings to be had with the £10-£100 trillion stashed away in off-shore trusts by the mega rich. I asked my Tory MP to look into it but she wasn't interested. Maybe she has her money there too, LoL 🙂

[@richardwills-woodward5340]

Don't be ridiculous. We have been through this time and time again. The top 1% pay 29% of all tax. The top 10% pay 50%. That's more than enough, the rest need to step up.

[@MarkCW]

@@richardwills-woodward5340 To quote the BBC, the richest 1% own almost half of the world's wealth, while the poorest half of the world own just 0.75%. In fact, they have acquired nearly twice as much wealth in new money as the bottom 99% of the world's population. Back to my idea: Taxing 2% of the tax free trust capital (British only) would double the UK's tax revenue so that our schools and hospitals would be much better. Don't get me wrong capitalism is a great system for rewarding meritocracy, but people inheriting more than say £5 million or 1% of Net Capital (whichever is the higher) is very unfair. Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger are only going to give less than 1% to their children to prevent them becoming lazy and living an unfulfilling life. Schools should change to teach children on how to manage their finances better and be more innovative in AI, Biotech etc.

[@richardwills-woodward5340]

Inheriting is perfectly fair. It is a family business and none of anyone else's business. It has all been taxed and the top 1% pay 30% of all income tax because they earned it for the most part. Very few families (even in the 1% get to not do anything at all, and those that try usually get a kick up the arse from their own side. We don't stay wealthy just by standing still, trust or no trust. Trusts are there to protect the big things, they don't necessarily correlate to cashflow and earnings. Trustees are there to make sure you can't spend your own money as you wish! Jealousy is evil. If you want more - build it yourself! Countries with better institutions, those that are more civilised and those with much higher average IQ's will all obtain most of the world's wealth. So comparing the Anglosphere and Western Europe to the world is a little mad. You can only compare Anglosphere with Anglosphere. EU with EU (totally different legal, political and economic framework and always has had) then Third World with Third World and so on. The tax you mention is a nonsense. I could (and would) easily avoid it. At our level capital is mobile. We pay quite enough tax. The question you should ask is why is everyone so damn lazy? Welfare out of control, people that can't be bothered to back tot he office and complain when they have to, victimhood culture that will ultimately lead to being poorer. Anyone with terrorist flags and rainbow lanyards statistically get sacked far more often. These are usually the ones that shout loudest. No time for it. What my has built employs thousands in finance and retail. This is a point always forgotten. 30% of all tax is insane and more than enough. @@MarkCW

[@MarkCW]

​@@richardwills-woodward5340 Thanks for taking the time to give me such a comprehensive and well thought through response. It is natural and reasonable for parents to want to give their family the best chance of success in life. I agree that jealousy is a bad thing if a rich person has worked hard towards creating their wealth. Personally, I find studying how people become successful really interesting and like to learn from their experiences. However, one form of narrative that the rich uses to confuse the poor is to talk about income rather than capital. To quote the LSE: - "Most of the revenue from the top one per cent comes from a cohort of high-earning employees, who pay the often-quoted top rate of 45 per cent income tax plus two per cent national insurance contributions, with minimal deductions or reliefs." Therefore, most of the tax in the UK is actually paid by the middle class not the rich. The reason for this as you rightly say is that the rich can easily move their capital to a different tax jurisdiction such as the BVI, Cayman Islands and Bermuda. Having an offshore trust (£15-20k per annum) is too expensive for the majority of the middle class. The reason governments love working class and middle-class employees so much is that they are taxed (too heavily because rich don't pay enough tax) at source. Even worse, foreign corporations such as Amazon pay next to zero corporation tax on sales made in the UK. Going back to the rich vs the poor: - to give you an analogy it's like asking two children to run the 100m as fast as they can. The rich kid can start at 99m and the poor kid can start at 0m. It's just not fair because both kids are running as fast as they can. So, there should be a level playing field whereby all children are taught to work hard, spend carefully and invest in income producing assets.

[@banksarenotyourfriends]

​​@@richardwills-woodward5340 The top 1% make a lot more than 29% of the national income though, so paying just 29% of the tax on all of that is clearly nowhere near enough. Much of your capital may be mobile, but good luck fitting things like grouse moors or our high streets into your hand luggage as you flee to your life of lower taxation.

[@DB25k]

You guys, just pick the right people to discuss financial aspects. This topic on TAX is very complex and we have our own views on it. This a great discussion on this with the appropriate person who obviously knows what their talking about. I got a lot of information from this video. Please keep bring the right people with your great questions , brilliant production...well done all of you.

[@DamienTalksMoney]

Thank you so much

[@chrisperkins7331]

This was a very comprehensive look at the issue of taxation, I am sorry but Mr. Johnsons simplistic ideas about how to reduce general taxation levels completely undermined his credibility. His idea that if we some how increased house building that that would give the economy the growth it needed. For the record there are 140,000 vacancies in the building trade, so even assuming you have planning permission who will build all these new houses? Another issue is that some how if we just get more growth in the economy things will be better. So, what exactly does “more growth” in the economy mean. People work harder, make more stuff we don’t need and can’t afford, or spend more time getting to and from work. Then there is the issue of the amount the UK spends on health (15% of the budget). Right now, 10% of the population is waiting to get into the NHS to get something fixed. We never used to be that sick as a nation. Could it be that instead of spending more on the health system we ask why are people so sick. Could it be that the reason we are so much sicker than previous generation, is because the food is poor, the water and air are more polluted than before?

[@vvwalker7261]

Great conversation, Paul has a lot of answers and seems it's whether politicians have the backbone to implement them. One of the reasons that tertiary education is so expensive is that too many people are going to university to get useless degrees. It can be free if a small proportion go to uni but if 50% of young people are doing it, that is when universities have to charge

[@PeoplePleaser578]

Why would they not go to University? Especially when every job that is not "Shovel this rock and dump it over here" either require 40 years experience, a degree or come as an internship that pays nothing - last 6 weeks and doesnt even guarantee you a job.... or they just go work in mcdonalds for no money and live on the breadline.

[@davideyres955]

The problem with council tax is the real big houses in london are often held in offshore trusts so are also avoiding stamp duty as well as not paying council tax.

[@getreal7964]

There's NO honesty in politics but Paul is intelligent and tells it how it is and the vast majority of the country are bright enough to see all that, which is why a lot of us don't bother voting.

[@peterdawson2384]

Two areas where money could be saved , scrap foreign aid and housing benefit Local government housing departments should make a profit.

[@jam99]

We shouldn't conflate really unpopular changes with what the media want to write headlines about. These are often not the same and it is important to remember this.

[@Mike-rr2ni]

Taxation Waste Let me tell you about an NHS trust that was overspending, and it took a management consultant to look at the numbers, and find that there were 10s of people who'd left the trust upto 2.5 years ago and were still receiving FULL Salarys.... Let me tell you about a council, that found out through another management consultant that over 100 mobile phone contracts and handset replacements were being paid for , for people that had left the council.... How about the CEO of Birmingham council being paid £250k a year, but bankrupt the council and has not been sacked.... Or a head teacher that overspent on budget by £7m and the council couldn't stop them, or couldn't sack them but had to find the money from the tax payer.... Is there government waste... I would guess 20% of the money you pay.... People should be outraged

[@user-cb8ip8fq8e]

"... it feels like I get taxed on absolutely everything, car, breathing ... " What do you think 'Carbon' taxes are, but a tax on breathing?

[@johnwilliams8869]

Fantastic interview.. Learnt so much. Brilliant.

[@Bornlivemoveon]

Stop giving out tax payers handouts to other countries. Spend it in the UK.

[@grassy-ass]

The problem as I see it with the demographic timebomb, isn't incentivising people to have more kids, we need to incentivise the people who should have kids to have more. I'm not for a second saying that if you have more money you will be a better parent, but what I see in my area is people with money having 1 or no kids, and the people in poverty having kids like they are going out of fashion. All this does is starts a generational poverty and puts even more strain on our economy in another 20 years.

[@richardwills-woodward5340]

Until the Government takes their hands off the mandatory indoctrination of children, I won't have more. The crap learnt at school is why this country doesn't function. That applies to the entire West and Anglosphere though, frankly.

[@helixvonsmelix]

We need that chap from Argentina running the country.

[@stewartkarol757]

It's plainly obvious that there's not enough money to go around, more tax is sadly inevitable. If the government wasn't so full of incompetence, wastage, scared to make the big decisions, don't properly plan for the future and pander to the rich but instead gave us value for money and were more transparent it wouldn't be so bad. They have forgotten that the government works for us and not the other way around.

[@mikepringle5523]

Great well informed discussion.You have really upped your game Damien with this one!

[@PaulStevens100]

I refuse to pay more tax until the ridiculous amounts of waste gets sorted out. Example, 6 figure salaries for bullshit EDI departments.

[@the-Brown]

He mentions that it is unfair that capital gains tax is washed out on death, but fails to consider that the asset which had the capital gain will form part of a person's estate and the full value could be liable for Inheritance tax levied at the full rate of 40%. Effectively this was put in place to stop assets being double taxed on death, not a loophole.

[@davidalderson7761]

Paul is good BUT he can help more by talking MORE about wealth tax as most tax is regressive and it shouldn’t be. If an owner of a house in Chelsea pays 0.2% of it’s value in council tax then Hartlepool residents to should Pay 0.02 or 0.2 as well not 2%. IFS NEEDS to be more clear on its message of fairness. It’s why we ended up with 2.99 million people going to food banks.

[@whatanabsolutejoke]

As a self employed freelancer where income is variable we need to abolish payment on account it is completely unacceptable to expect me to pay half of the projected tax the year prior to when it is due. Just tax me what I actually owe not what you think I will owe next year on top of this at the same f**king time. Nobody who is a small business has the cash flow to pay in adv. Completely ruins cash flow. Paye employees don't have to do this.

[@1001legoboy]

What about strategies to spend less?

[@alexm7310]

Excellent interview! What a fascinating man. Interesting comments at the beginning on the NHS... so much money (more money) and it's not making any difference

[@MakingMoneyPodcast]

Glad you enjoyed it 🙏

[@kalebdaark100]

Every 10 minutes or so someone says something in this video that makes me want to give it another like.

[@adamb6024]

Loving the podcasts Damo! Great format to deep dive with other experts in a conversation format.

[@DamienTalksMoney]

Thank you

[@kevinchristian1547]

Charging less tax for gas does not represent a subsidy.

[@danielmerrell8926]

I think there is a very simple and fair idea for income tax and capital gains tax a flat 20% no separate bands

[@coderider3022]

Council tax in my area is crazy, I pay same for a flat which is 1/2 the value of a house 50 meters away.

[@Riaan3108]

Very insightful and well delivered content.

[@cornish5278]

Brexit is bad and I need to pay for climate change 🤔

[@michaelmajewski8796]

Interesting dialogue and comparison between the UK and US. Here's a thought thought, keep taxes where they are and produce more. If you incentivize more production the government will draw from a larger pot of money rather than continue to tap an already squeezer pool like wages (however wages/income are defined). Regardless of which side of the Atlantic you're on, its a revenue in terms of the (insert currency) tax amount problem; not a tax rate problem. Generally, governments spend more than they generate. If they increase the tax rate, the government does nothing but shrink the incentives for people and businesses to earn/produce more. Therefore, the pot of money becomes smaller and eventually you're just milking a dry udder---how well does that usually end? Bottom line what is the amount of money a government really needs to function? The government should seek to raise that much and no more. If they do raise more than that, congratulations! The tax payer gave an interest free loan to the government that produces a tax refund (at least in the US).

[@eoghanhennessy15]

Less tax doesn’t equal subsidisation of a commodity in my view

[@feralfae3391]

Yeah it’s a bit weird that he says that we’re subsidizing electricity by paying lower tax on it.

[@iplaywaytoomuch]

If the government subsidises energy companies from whom we buy the energy then those who buy more are benefitting more from a subsidy

[@arthurdyer3679]

"I pay all of those" - 25min 20sec... I feel your pain.. its crazy isnt. Keep up the good work

[@ynwa5xinistanbul]

Im more inclined to believe that Government Taxes do not provide the funding for Government expenditure. In a Fiat currency, like the UK, the government can simply spend new money into existence, taxes simply allow a mechanism to incentivise behaviours and withdraw money from the economy to help manage inflation. Please see Prof Stephanie Kelton’s lectures which really do help to understand why our Country is so broken at the moment.

[@tomjones8715]

Half way through his book. Excellent read… However I strongly disagree with his personal take on ir35. This put the policing of tax, as he put it on the customer. That’s Hmrc’s job that’s the end of it. When introduced ir35 just meant employers put blanket bans out there. This decimated the contracting world but also massive contracts. For instance trying to get aircraft engineers has been a nightmare. I’m already a border control agent and a social worker as part of being a landlord! I shouldn’t be a hmrc agent! That’s their job! Maybe he should police those that give him the source material he uses. Oh wait…that’s not his job!

[@ppaul3560]

He just doesn’t appreciate how much the public sector wastes each year. We need a much more efficient public sector first. After 30 years working in the private sector I ended my career with 3 years contracting in the civil service and saw the wastage first hand.

[@maxilopez1596]

I completely disagree with the notion that we need to pay more tax.

[@DamienTalksMoney]

Maybe a better way to frame it is, we will need more tax revenue and what Paul attempts to do is suggest where that could come from

[@maxilopez1596]

@@DamienTalksMoney I'm reading the book now. So far he has addressed the ladder curve, but hasn't addressed my main objection: if you tax us more, working people are going to work less, emigrate, and above all stop all non essential spending. The economy will just freeze over. I'm hoping he'll deal with the governments inability to just continue borrowing more and more in the second half of the book.

[@McInerneyEoin]

If tax goes up I will leave.

[@chipledhungaman]

Noted. What would you do instead?

[@maxilopez1596]

@@chipledhungaman privatise the NHS and do away with the triple lock...for starters

[@robwindridge7804]

The fact he is caught up in the climate alarmism put me right off . The green agenda is the new religion and the new reason you should pay more tax to justify your carbon footprint, just like you seek forgiveness from the clergy who could read and write , for them to forgive your sins , pay them money and you won’t go to hell.

[@samf8074]

Loved this one, very interesting.

[@steve6375]

One way to get more money is to tax gambling and lottery winnings (above certain threshold). Other countries do, so why not UK? Could it be something to do with these companies 'lobbying' our politicians and making contributions to the main parties?

[@stumac869]

Most gambling wins are trivial with the exception of the National Lottery, so if you only tax those over a certain threshold (e.g. £10,000) the amount raised wouldn't amount to much in the scheme of things The National lottery already pays 12% tax on all wagers. If you pay tax both the wager and the win that would be double taxation.

[@steve6375]

@@stumac869 I was thinking more of a £500 threshold (similar to USA) and winners of lottery are taxed as well as company making money from them (we are already taxed twice on earnings, income tax and IHT!). Also, it would help to remove cash transactions and money laundering. Of course, gambling institutions might not like that because they would lose business...

[@mikewa2]

So no real mention of the effects of Ai and the possible consequences to employment! It’s unclear how much things will change short term but it will be a change like we cannot imagine. Ai is becoming more powerful each day, don’t underestimate its power.

[@davidalderson7761]

It’s not hard to tax global wealth even with all the hot outs…… the top Line says “your paying x% of your wealth” simple endex no need to go down the flowchart. Your total Wealth is this and you’re paying 2% of it minimum.

[@damian1690]

It would be nice to hear what impact the increases in taxes have on a grey area, as I'm sure there are people who simply doesn't declare their income just because taxes are so high. Wouldn't it be better to have lower taxes and make sure everyone pays them? I guess we all know some people who are working and taking benefits at the same time. And they do so, because they do not declare what they earn. Not only doesn't they pay income tax, national insurance, but also take money from benefit, which are generated from our taxes. So it's a triple lose for a society... It won't be any better, if we will feel that taxes are going up and we don't have anything in return, while "clever people" aren't taxed at all, and are getting public support. And it's not really only rich people as you can imagine ^^

[@jasonbuksh2958]

We need more awareness on where our tax goes - we already pay too much for little value achieved

[@joeallen781]

This is what we've been waiting for!

[@garethgazz9332]

The gambling industry have to pay a point of consumption tax, so regardless of where the company is based, any money earned from British business is taxed here. Could that work for other industries?

[@mkdons22]

About to listen now, thanks damo love the content on both channels

[@MakingMoneyPodcast]

Hope you enjoyed it!

[@mkdons22]

​@MakingMoneyPodcast I did 😊

[@AR-fy2qo]

The money goes to "friends" who then place it offshore. Definition of waste.

[@jongreenwood3029]

How do I vote for Paul Johnson? 🙌

[@nickw8071]

The answer is less government, lower the tax rate to a flat rate and let entrepreneurs and those savvy enough to earn higher rates employ their money in a more productive manner - everyone wins - well except the “people” that we debt to that keep making it up out of thin air

[@Sixmanclan]

How is everyone missing the point, you’re average joe on basic rate tax and NI aren’t the people that need to pay more. It’s people who make money from assets, not work, that need to be taxed more!

[@andrewcheadle948]

Was all going so well until he said "quite rightly we're committed to achieving net zero"! That's when I realised that he hasn't a clue what he's endorsing, and how much that will cost us!

[@harryzachariou1]

I pay 65% marginal rate, how much do they want 80% 90% on every further £ I earn, what’s the point.

[@Gridpipe]

Taxing less isnt subsidising. If the govt paid the electricity, that would be subsidising...

[@chrisballUKtoNZ]

yesssss!! released right before my tuesday morning commute, perfect listening!! love it

[@MakingMoneyPodcast]

Love being part of your routine Chris 🙏

[@creators1000]

Amazing video guys!

[@TeddyCWT]

I feel tax should change if you become millionaire status…I.e if you have above 3 million you should be on an adaptive tax upto 90% if need be…this will slow down the rate the rich are running past the poor and taking all the assets away.

[@harryg6895]

Cant the government invest in other money making avenues? Nationalising and revitaliing industry, transport, utilities etc? France does very well from selling electricity. What do we do? Weve sold everything off

[@saelaird]

If taxes go up much more, I'll leave the UK. Simple. The problem is shitty public sector workers. I work in the private sector and often deal with public sector folks, theyre just terrible. This entire conversation presupposes that the state must be as large as it currently is... I disagree. A strong private sector is the answer.

[@Mike-rr2ni]

The answer is smaller government, consuming and wasting your money.... Less tax and the money is spent in the economy and people are better off... Big government achieves nothing and only stops people doing things, serfdom to the state

[@skylineuk1485]

Fantastic discussion.

[@SavvyMoneyShow]

Nice video I spoke to a government official before about taxes and spend

[@SavvyMoneyShow]

It is always interesting

[@goober-ll1wx]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck the government...

[@user-gz2oe2oc4l]

Really interesting stuff. Great video. For me we have a big problem with replacing our population. Rather than paying child benefit, you should get a 2% tax reduction per child up to 3 with 1% of the 2% going to a child SIPP to fund their retirement and reduce their pension burden. Also, abolish NI and just incorporate it into income tax streamlining the system and ensuring that wealthy pensioners pay their fair share. Reduce inheritance tax to 8% and scrap all exemptions so far more of the really big estates would be collared with less wealth stripped from the middle class. Legalise most drugs and tax them at a level commensurate with their harm. Anyone continuing to sell really bad drugs to face life in prison and have their assets seized. This would reduce crime and its cost and raise additional revenue.