RAPID RESPONSES
Pernicious taxes
[Re: Britain must embrace 30 per cent tax revolution to boost growth, yesterday]
I agree with the Tax Commission’s findings on inheritance tax. Inheritance tax is a tax on capital, on money that has already been fully taxed as income or otherwise. It’s pernicious and destroys the UK’s capital stock to pay for current government spending. Inheritance is often the seed-corn for small businesses, putting capital in the hands of people who would never want to risk a bank loan. And any inheritance not used by the recipient is recycled through the banking system to productive businesses. Government spending has to be reduced to allow capitalism to work properly and make us all better off in the long run.
John Hill
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Winners and losers
30 per cent is still a little higher than I would have liked, but the ideas of combining taxes and of ensuring that everyone pays the same proportion are a good move towards a simpler, fairer system of tax. We need to restore faith and trust in the system. I still think spending should be prioritised towards education, but that’s a separate point.
D J Thomas
Putting these ideas into action would require the greatest attack on government spending ever seen in the UK. And government spending isn’t just about numbers on a spreadsheet, but the real incomes and livelihoods of many hundreds of thousands of people. Not quite a fair system for all, I think.
Keren Jones