Clegg to push for £12.5k income tax threshold at Budget

[doodab]

It's not a tax avoidance scheme if it was clearly intended by Parliament.

So if the DTA says clearly that Amazon's storage and distribution network isn't a permanent establishment and doesn't give rise to a tax liability, it's not a tax avoidance scheme is it.....

[AtW]

So if the DTA says clearly that Amazon's storage and distribution network isn't a permanent establishment and doesn't give rise to a tax liability, it's not a tax avoidance scheme is it.....

Amazon is different case because they are multinational so they can legitimately be shipping from France in a free trade zone like EU, the solution here is to make sure taxes are about right and there are no anomalies like Liechtenstein with way too lower taxes, and also no BS loopholes like Irish-Dutch thing that is exploited by major companies.

[MicrosoftBob]

It's not a tax avoidance scheme if it was clearly intended by Parliament.

How else would you describe something whose sole purpose is to enable you to avoid paying tax ?

[TykeMerc]

Yeah subsidise MyCo instead

Bog off, they should subsidise ME personally, not even MyCo

[AtW]

How else would you describe something whose sole purpose is to enable you to avoid paying tax ?

Parliament sets tax rates, so there is no avoidance if one does what the Parliament intended and paying tax at the rate which was set, even if it's 0.

[Zero Liability]

A large part of the issue is the gap between the richest and poorest in a society. The more pronounced this is, the worse things tend to be in a particular country in terms of crime, health, mental health, educational outcomes etc. It would be no surprise if self reported happiness correlated with this as well.

Why think the tax system is there to correct this? By the by, this is largely an effect of credit expansion throughout the world. It massively benefits assets such as equities.

As far as I am concerned, the goal of tax is to provide the government with revenue to cover the provision of services it considers 'essential' and only it can (supposedly) provide. This may include a safety net provided by something like a negative income tax. If the government has created a situation where it is legally possible to minimise tax for large MNCs, then the problem lies with its laws, not them making use of it. If it runs constant deficits because it spends too much, the problem is that it spends too much, not that it doesn't tax enough, because it taxes humongous amounts of revenue, and on top of this it prints and borrows to cover any shortfalls and then spend some more. I would not be surprised if many of us pay something close to 50% of our income once all taxes are factored in, including the loss of purchasing power through inflationary credit expansion.

All around, I would like to see much lower taxes, however the 'wealthy' shoulder a big burden of it as it is, as does anyone who belongs to the productive segments of society. Rather than demonising corporations (in the end, they resolve down to shareholders, employees, suppliers, creditors etc., there is no 'corporation' ultimately), the government can find ways to structure the tax system both more equitably and efficiently. The UK tax system is bananas.

As the French experience is proving, some of them may just pack their bags whilst FDI declines if the tax system is set up to penalise them.

[doodab]

Why think the tax system is there to correct this?

I didn't say it was, I was just pointing out that the reason the Danes consider themselves happy probably isn't because they pay 50% tax.

[amcdonald]

Parliament sets tax rates, so there is no avoidance if one does what the Parliament intended and paying tax at the rate which was set, even if it's 0.

As tax avoidance is the arrangement of one’s financial affairs to minimize tax liability within the law, describe how it is not tax avoidance

[Zero Liability]

I didn't say it was, I was just pointing out that the reason the Danes consider themselves happy probably isn't because they pay 50% tax.

It's worth bearing in mind Denmark ranks pretty favourably on economic freedom indexes, whatever those may be worth. It'd be interesting to compare the UK to the Scandinavian countries and see like for like where and how much more it taxes and regulates. They tend to tax income more heavily but are more relaxed in other respects.

[AtW]

As tax avoidance is the arrangement of one’s financial affairs to minimize tax liability within the law, describe how it is not tax avoidance

Arrangement implies artificiality to me - like arranged marriage it's not genuine and therefore should be considered null and void.