Anxious life of the 'Ipod' generation

[Rebecca Loos]

I do not disagree that GB has imposed very high indirect taxes in this country - but surely Denmark has got indirect taxes too? Even if less, when combined with the exhorbitant income tax, then surely Denmark has got a much higher level of taxation than the UK?

[Lucifer Box]

I do not disagree that GB has imposed very high indirect taxes in this country - but surely Denmark has got indirect taxes too? Even if less, when combined with the exhorbitant income tax, then surely Denmark has got a much higher level of taxation than the UK?

Sure, but the IFS and IoD dispute the "much" bit, as the basis on which the two are compared (GDP/Spending ratios) is deeply flawed, flattering high indirect tax tax countries (the UK) and penalising high direct tax countries (Denmark). The case that (for example) airport duties are consumer spending is a weak one indeed.

[Lucifer Box]

Interesting addendum. If you actually look at the OECD figures, Germany, which is always presented as a high tax country ("at least we're not as highly taxed as France and Germany", you often hear), has a lower ratio than the UK (i.e. government spending is a smaller proportion of German GDP than UK spending is of UK GDP). Even more interesting, the proportion collected in German indirect taxes is fully 10% less than the UK, meaning the gap between the two is almost certainly wider in real terms.

[OwlHoot]

I think another GB trick is to subtract all the tax credits from the total take, and quote the net figure as the overall tax take, which is utterly specious bollocks - Tax is any compulsory levy, regardless of whether some is redistributed.

[Dundeegeorge]

To get back to the thread (do keep up)

Youngsters nowadays, don't know they're born.
When I were that age I had to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning, work a full day in the pits etc.
(Cue pointless cut'n'paste of reams of Python material (did you notice that I capitalised Python, that's interesting, I wonder what that means, I wonder if I really shouldn't get out a bit more!!!))

Sorry to break into your fascinating pissing contest, boys, off you go again.

[Lucifer Box]

I think another GB trick is to subtract all the tax credits from the total take, and quote the net figure as the overall tax take, which is utterly specious bollocks - Tax is any compulsory levy, regardless of whether some is redistributed.

Another dirty accounting trick that raised eyebrows at the IMF was removing all PFI spending from the balance sheet on the grounds that "it's not really spending".