Gordon's 10 worst financial gaffes

[norrahe]

Although I agree Western governments are too indulgent with handouts and useless make-work employment and so on, [/SIZE]

I have to ask why are governments so ready to hand out money to those who cannot be bothered to find work (not matter what) for themselves and why do we as taxpayers have to fund the beer swilling masses who are nothing but a leech on society.

It seems if you pay taxes for 20 years and then have the mishap to have been made redundant, you sign on and are entitled to sweet FA, but if you can't be bothered to get a job, it's a case of "here, how much do you want?"

It's a tad skewed, if you ask me!!!!!

[Tarquin Farquhar]

If JP MOrgan decides to relocate its new London offices somewhere else then the 50% might be seen as the worst gaff of all.

The 50% tax will be on people who could be located anywhere. They are the sort of people who need to be encouraged to come here.

Did you know the top 1% of earners contribute 24% of the tax income?

It's called progressive taxation, you'd expect higher earners to pay more, and the extreme high end to pay a lot more. In the USA the top 1% of earners pay 39.4% of federal income taxes; so the top 1% in the UK are probably not going to escape to the US to save taxes! It seems that the UK is a lot more unequal that the USA. You want to be even more unequal that that?

[Doggy Styles]

8. 50 per cent tax rate

We might not like it but I doubt that this will end up counting as a "gaffe".

I'm not sure about that

JP Morgan and HSBC may be the first of a few.

[Platypus]

I'm not sure about that

JP Morgan and HSBC may be the first of a few.

I doubt it - just the usual scare tactics.

[Doggy Styles]

It's called progressive taxation, you'd expect higher earners to pay more, and the extreme high end to pay a lot more.

That's a common socialist mistake. They already do pay more. 40% of 250,000 is a much larger contribution to public funding than 40% of 40,000.

And 40% of 2.5 million is a hell of a lot more that that. If just one of those leaves the country, the taxes of more than 200 people on average wage are needed to make up the slack.

In the USA the top 1% of earners pay 39.4% of federal income taxes; so the top 1% in the UK are probably not going to escape to the US to save taxes!

It seems that the UK is a lot more unequal that the USA. You want to be even more unequal that that?

The USA has a comparitively richer top 1% than us, and a lot more very low earners, hence the difference.

[original PM]

I have to ask why are governments so ready to hand out money to those who cannot be bothered to find work (not matter what) for themselves and why do we as taxpayers have to fund the beer swilling masses who are nothing but a leech on society.

It seems if you pay taxes for 20 years and then have the mishap to have been made redundant, you sign on and are entitled to sweet FA, but if you can't be bothered to get a job, it's a case of "here, how much do you want?"

It's a tad skewed, if you ask me!!!!!

Its completely fooked to be honest.

Give those without jobs food stamps and clothing vouchers so they can stay fed and warm - we need to stop giving the money as all they do is buy booze n drugs.

They should all be sterilised too - most of em are do not have the brains to be in charge of their ovaries/sperm.

[Pondlife]

Its completely fooked to be honest.

Give those without jobs food stamps and clothing vouchers so they can stay fed and warm - we need to stop giving the money as all they do is buy booze n drugs.

They should all be sterilised too - most of em are do not have the brains to be in charge of their ovaries/sperm.

I'd love to know the cut off point here.

[hyperD]

They should all be sterilised too - most of em are do not have the brains to be in charge of their ovaries/sperm.

Simply pay a fixed amount of benefits as vouchers. Want 10 spawns from 10 different baby fathas? Fine. Your choice. Just don't expect extra cash for opening your legs wide to the world without taking responsibility for your own actions.

[Scary]

That's a common socialist mistake. They already do pay more. 40% of 250,000 is a much larger contribution to public funding than 40% of 40,000.

40,000 is needed to live fairly comfortably outside London, the other 210,000 is spare extra money over and above what's needed for a comfortable lifestyle so should be taxed differently.

[Doggy Styles]

40,000 is needed to live fairly comfortably outside London, the other 210,000 is spare extra money over and above what's needed for a comfortable lifestyle so should be taxed differently.

Spare money left over? Only a marxist would make a comment like that.

Same tax rates for all of us. There can be no quibbling then, unless we get into the politics of envy.