Growing faster – cutting taxes on transactions

The government has developed a bad habit of increasing taxes on transactions. It now penalises people heavily if they buy an expensive new car. It hits anyone investing in rental accommodation for others. It penalises anyone who buys an expensive home or who needs a second home to help with their work or provide for their holidays. High Stamp duties have cut the volume of property transactions, and high VED has helped slash the purchases of new cars.

It is doubtful these tax rises have produced additional revenue. Clearly lower volumes of transactions reduces revenue, though there are some offsetting gains from charging much more on the transactions that survive. There are also hidden tax losses. The property taxes mean less Estate agent and conveyancing income, less turnover for removal firms, less business for builders, decorators and home designers serving the needs of people moving and wishing to adapt their purchase. As car sales fall so there are losses of turnover and profit for car businesses.

The government should review its current transaction taxes and seek to find a level which does less damage to turnover and related activity. Cutting the duties would increase total revenue, and might even increase the revenue from the turnover taxes themselves , given the penal levels some now run at.

155 Comments

  1. Richard1
    July 27, 2018

    Yes it is a wonder people can see clearly that international trade tariffs are bad news but can’t see that the same applies to domestic transaction taxes!

    1. Hope
      July 27, 2018

      JR , you know this about scaring us witless into delaying article 50, second referendum or accepting complete capitualtion.

      The BBC happy with fake news for those not equated with the facts, per Guido today. All the celebs coming out promoting second referendum. This is a coordinated propaganda campaign.

      Look at all May’s capitulations and ask why Trump did not have to do the same, nor Canada, nor Japan!

      Lords King and Lawson made it clear the EU will not and cannot give the U.K. a good deal or the others would leave. Why would they remain?

      This farce has got out of hand by a few dishonest politicians wanting to thwart the will of the people in a proper electoral vote. Irrespective of the issue May and co must go for this reason alone. Letwin made the point to all of you in parliament. May’s chequers plan and they way it was secretly written demonstrates why she must be forced from office.

      May is a national disgrace to democracy. Her supporters the same. No clever or weasel words will change this.

      1. Hope
        July 27, 2018

        I noticed in a supermarket today the label making it clear sugar tax included on certain items, Sugar Puffs no longer sugar puffs just soft mush.
        Increase on tax to fly, increase on tax to insure.

        Taxes higher,than 49 years, highest tax take as,a percentage of GDP as well. Tories telling us what we can eat, think, buy. They slam the strivers and support the shirkers and feckless giving away our taxes hand over fist; including May’s white paper where she assures the EU the U.K. will continue to give £3.75 billion each year for its European Development Fund in addition to the £14 billion she fritters away on overseas aid. £17.75 billion that could provide social adult care, doctors, nurses, teachers, put police officers on the beat 24/7 to stop murders and terror attacks, sort out the unfit Home Office, provide proper prisons and sentencing. £17.75 billions is an awful lot of tax money that May wastes.

      2. Denis Cooper
        July 28, 2018

        Aided and abetted by her sidekick Olly Robbins she is now turning my country into an international laughing stock. I winced to see her on TV humiliating herself, and therefore the rest of our nation as well, by stopping off on her way to her holiday to plead with the Austrian government to support a rubbish plan which was rubbish from the very start and which has been rejected by the EU as rubbish and which the Austrians no doubt also see as rubbish. She may not have changed her mind but she has certainly changed mine: I used to think the best thing would be to remove the Olly part of the Therolly combination, now I think both need to go.

    2. Stephen Priest
      July 27, 2018

      US annualised growth 4.1%.

      1. Hope
        July 27, 2018

        JR, read Guido. US economy soaring 4.1 percent, Germany and France 0.2 percent! May wants to shackle the economy with the highest taxation in 49 years and the EU ball and chain bureaucracy, Trump reduces his with enormous effect. All the US experts proved wrong and quoted by Guido! Who should the U.K. Have a Trade deal with? Would the US d mind we are under the control of its courts, regulation alignment, decide our trade policy, freedom of movement, welfare benefits,etc etc.

        Oust May you know it makes sense. The smell of freedom looking towards the US looks far better than the stench from the EU.

  2. Bob Dixon
    July 27, 2018

    Goodbye Hammond

    1. Lifelogic
      July 27, 2018

      Yes please. Just like May he is wrong, wrong, wrong on almost everything.

    2. alan jutson
      July 27, 2018

      Bob

      If Only

  3. cryingoutloud
    July 27, 2018

    And what about Tory MPs sitting on the benches alongside the people who make these decisions, if parliamentarians cannot influence the obvious changes that are necessary then what hope for the rest of us?

  4. Mark B
    July 27, 2018

    Good morning

    Our kind host is ignoring the other side of the coin. That the MPC and BoE have lowered interest rates to new lows. Only recently has it started to raise them. If interest rates are to raise, then I see no reason for the large tax take. If however interest rates are to remain low, then it makes little sense in raising them and increasing tax revenue. Unless that is there is an underlining problem with the UK economy because we sure as he’ll have not got to grips with the deficit let alone the national debt.

    Some markets were becoming too inflated. What is most certainly lacking from the Chancellor is a clear purpose. Does he wish to normalize the economy and interest rates or, tax more ? Because doing both without mending the roof and cutting government spending is a sure fire way to economic disaster.

    1. mickc
      July 27, 2018

      But the interest rates actually charged to the borrower are not low. The whole idea is to save the banks…..at the expense of the populace.
      The Conservatives do not believe in people being allowed to keep their own money; they believe in high taxes, high interest rates and a large state.

      1. Lifelogic
        July 27, 2018

        Indeed one of the main four banks that was rescued by tax payers is now charging everyone about 68% on overdrafts (they call it a daily fee) yet they pay nothing or virtually nothing on deposits. This even to the most solid of customers. Where on earth are the competition authorities what is the FSA doing about it? How are they able and allowed to get away without even quoting the real APR by the trick of making it a daily fee that is not quite an exact percentage?

  5. Lifelogic
    July 27, 2018

    Exactly. To be rather more blunt Philip Hammond is a half witted, economic illiterate, tax borrow and piss down the drain socialist. One who like to persecute landlords, tenants, people saving into private pensions, second home owners, people who die, people who are hard working and prudent, retailers, people who insure, people who vote Tory, people who save, people who would come to our country and invest, the non doms and almost all the 80% who work in the private sector (who earn with pensions included only about 70% of the people in the state sector they carry). This is doing massive damage to the economy, jobs and living standards.

    He is continuing the insane fiscal policies of Brown and Osborne. He continues to rat on the £1 million each promise made by Osborne many moons ago. He is taxing landlords on profits they have not even made (hardly sustainable for very long). Yet the man has the chutzpah to pretend he is tax cutter.

    The treasury inspired (and totally idiotic and prescriptive) bank lending restrictions are doing massive economic damage too. This on top of his absurd taxation (the highest for 40+ years. As is Hammond’s insane tax complexity and ambiguity in the tax system.

    He also supports the “renewable” expensive energy agenda lunacy wish further damages the UK’s ability to compete.

    1. Lifelogic
      July 27, 2018

      I recently flew to Glasgow airport landing over thousands of wind farms which were clearly generating almost nothing. Billions of pounds of “investment”, all doubtless funded by insane tax payer subsidies (mainly English tax payers one imagines). This to provide expensive and intermittent energy. I do sometimes wonder who check that they are not reselling grid electricity back to the grid (it would after all be very easy to cheat the subsidy system in this way).

      Hammond and May are also both electoral liabilities who are leading us to the appalling prospect of a Corbyn/SNP government and Venezuela. A warm up act for them.

      1. fedupsoutherner
        July 27, 2018

        @Lifelogic. Sturgeon is harping on about wanting more onshore wind turbines. We have a wind farm opposite us that is only allowed to operate at 40% because there are too many larger wind farms taking up all the capacity available on the grid now. With this in mind, it is madness that another wind farm is currently being erected right next to this one and another one behind us is in planning and likely to be approved in the next couple of months. Do these people have any brains? The money that we are being expected to stomp up for this lunacy is disgusting. It’s just another tax by the back door.

        1. Lifelogic
          July 27, 2018

          Indeed “follow the money” they have brains, but they are not being used in the tax payer’s or bill payer’s interests. That is clear.

      2. alan jutson
        July 27, 2018

        Lifelogic

        Do not forget some wind farms are paid not to produce any electricity in their contracts, if we do not need the power at the time of their normal production they stop.

        Thus they even earn when they are stopped and doing nothing. !

        Yet another bit of excellent negotiation by someone in Government.

        I wonder if we pay for those that are broken or under service at the same time, if the others that could work are at a stop ?

      3. Lifelogic
        July 27, 2018

        Inflation at 40,000% now it seems in Maduro’s Venezuela. Corbyn’s model economy for the UK.

      4. Stephen Priest
        July 27, 2018

        I often drive through Germany. You see the odd wind turbine turning, but usually they are static.

        Relying on gas from Russia and wind turbines proves that Angela Merkel is nothing but wind and gas. She has no electricity.

      5. Hope
        July 27, 2018

        I think you all would do good to remember Cameron campaigning against the Lisbon Treaty telling us on YouTube of the dangers of it, he also claimed we would have a referendum. The same Cameron who dropped all main points before his alleged negotiations with the EU, lied to say he reformed it and then campaigned to stay in the EU under the Lisbon Treaty he strongly warned us about having no say on treaties etc! Cameron and May are totally untrustworthy and you cannot believe a word either say. They are liars. He did not reform the EU and she has not kept faith with the referendum vote, Lancaster speech, red lines or comments in between.

        JR knows we have no say on some of our taxes! We had a civil war to change this.

    2. Stred
      July 27, 2018

      Don’t forget the £20k probate tax for anyone leaving, £2m and huge rises for anyone with a bigger house than average in S. England. Then the 40% IHT comes on top. Hammond would take the fillings out of the the teeth of the deceased if he could get away with it.

      1. Lifelogic
        July 27, 2018

        Indeed probate tax another back door increase in IHT on top of his failure to index the threshold and ratting on the £1 million each promise.

    3. Bob
      July 27, 2018

      @lifelogic
      If this website had a facility to vote one’s approval or not for readers contributions, I would have given yours a thumbs up.

      1. Lifelogic
        July 27, 2018

        Thanks.

      2. Fedupsoutherner
        July 27, 2018

        Bob, I second that. I think the contributors to this blog would do a far better job of running the country than the numpties we have in office at the moment, Andy excluded of course.

  6. Peter Wood
    July 27, 2018

    Good Morning,
    In this piece you describe the nonsensical actions typical of a socialist government.

    I cannot think of a worse criticism for a party that carries the name: Conservative.

    1. Lifelogic
      July 27, 2018

      Exactly.

    2. Anonymous
      July 27, 2018

      So… we may as well have Corbyn.

      The simplest way to abolish the UK Parliament is not to vote.

      If we are to be a vassal state of the EU then MPs and Lords become superfluous. Of the biggest industry in need of closure since coal mining.

  7. Richard1
    July 27, 2018

    Off topic, we are now informed that ministers – potentially including Mrs May? – are saying privately that they will under no circs contemplate no deal. Of course this info will have gone to the EU &, as set out many times on this website and elsewhere, that means they have no incentive to agree a workable deal, they will just wait for the U.K. to cave in. If this is the case there are two choices: 1) go for an off the shelf arrangement such as the EEA or 2) ditch Mrs May now and negotiate with a credible no deal option. Tory MPs inc backbenchers have a responsibility here – the present road to nowhere is not in the national interest.

    1. Know-Dice
      July 27, 2018

      Last week Mr Major said on the Marr show, “we should take any deal”…music to the ears of Barnier and co…

    2. Denis Cooper
      July 27, 2018

      Having read this part of yesterday’s statement from Michel Barnier:

      http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-18-4704_en.htm

      “The EU cannot – and will not – delegate the application of its customs policy and rules, VAT and excise duty collection to a non-member, who would not be subject to the EU’s governance structures.”

      I wonder whether the EU trusts us enough for any deal at all on anything.

      He could have just said that the scheme proposed by the UK was complex and may not be workable, and in any case he found it hard to see the point of it, but instead he chose to emphasise that as a non-member the UK

      “would not be subject to the EU’s governance structures”

      and so presumably could not be trusted to perform the agreed task properly.

      But if the EU feels that it cannot trust us to carry out an agreement to collect its customs duties without continued supervision by the EU’s governance structures – the Commission, then the ECJ – perhaps it should be asked whether there is any kind of agreement where it would trust us to do what we pledged?

      1. alan jutson
        July 27, 2018

        Dennis

        Meanwhile Mrs May and her Ministers are still trying to sell the Chequers deal to the Public.

        What is the point, its been rejected !

        Absolutely no point in trying to sell a deal to the UK population, if its not acceptable to the EU, unless of course there is a hidden agenda in doing so.?

        More capitulation on the way ?

        When is enough, enough John ?

        Surely to goodness enough humiliation has already been lumped on the UK already.

        For goodness sake, we are the 5th Largest trading Nation on this Earth, not the 50th. !

        1. John C.
          July 27, 2018

          It seems that Barnier has done all he can to make it clear he will accept no deal with us. He wants to make an example of us, not an arrangement with us.
          It must irritate him that we creep back with ever humbler submissions when all he wants is to see the back of us.
          It has elements of comedy, and would have made a good episode in “Yes, Prime Minister” .

        2. Denis Cooper
          July 28, 2018

          Even worse is that she is still hawking this rubbish plan around the EU member state capitals even though it has already been rejected out of hand in the EU federal capital … does she really think that any of the other national governments are going to take her side and tell Barnier that he should think again? Why should they? If it was a very good plan then some of them might, I suppose, but it’s been obvious from the start that it is a totally stupid and pointless plan.

    3. Alison
      July 27, 2018

      Richard1, I strongly agree. I really am terrified about Mrs May being at the helm in the last days and hours, for example up to the October EU Council meeting and 29 March 2019. Equally terrifying is having the unaccountable pro-Remain Olly at her side, and I am sure the one really at the helm.
      She is infinitely weak, demonstrably. That also means that it is profoundly irresponsible to leave her at the helm.
      We urgently need to get people not to talk about ‘no deal’ but ‘WTO deal’. A WTO deal puts the UK back in control or greater control, in particular in negotiations with the EU.
      The timings to replace Mrs May are now very tight.

    4. Timaction
      July 27, 2018

      Everyone out here knows that intransigent Maybot must go and a Brexiter installed. Her plan was deliberately short to bounce us into a deal that keeps us in the EU as a vassel state. She has no mandate for this, in fact the reverse. She has lost the right to Govern. She needs to be removed or call an election so we can install Brexiter candidates regardless of party allegence!

      1. Denis Cooper
        July 28, 2018

        It also locks us into the ECHR, an ancillary aspect of the White Paper which has received little attention here but was noted by Michel Barnier:

        http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-18-4704_en.htm

        “The White Paper commits the UK to membership of the European Convention on Human Rights.”

        Well, it unequivocally declares that commitment, on page 52 here:

        https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/725288/The_future_relationship_between_the_United_Kingdom_and_the_European_Union.pdf

        “The UK is committed to membership of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).”

        And this is being recommended by a Prime Minister who said in a long speech made before the EU referendum:

        http://www.conservativehome.com/parliament/2016/04/theresa-mays-speech-on-brexit-full-text.html

        “But as I have said before, the case for remaining a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights – which means Britain is subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights – is not clear. Because, despite what people sometimes think, it wasn’t the European Union that delayed for years the extradition of Abu Hamza, almost stopped the deportation of Abu Qatada, and tried to tell Parliament that – however we voted – we could not deprive prisoners of the vote. It was the European Convention on Human Rights.

        The ECHR can bind the hands of Parliament, adds nothing to our prosperity, makes us less secure by preventing the deportation of dangerous foreign nationals – and does nothing to change the attitudes of governments like Russia’s when it comes to human rights. So regardless of the EU referendum, my view is this. If we want to reform human rights laws in this country, it isn’t the EU we should leave but the ECHR and the jurisdiction of its Court.”

        Now if she had her way we could not decide to leave the ECHR without also renegotiating our treaties, including trade treaties, with the EU.

  8. Ian wragg
    July 27, 2018

    It won’t happen under this socialist government.

  9. David Cockburn
    July 27, 2018

    A particularly unfortunate tax is Stamp Duty on share purchases. It penalises long term investors while not touching high frequency trades when we should be supporting patient capital and it discourages business in London, driving it to Dublin and elsewhere.

    1. Lifelogic
      July 27, 2018

      CGT without indexation (a tax on profit you have not even made rather like the new landlord interest mugging) is rather worse.

      1. Nicholas Murphy
        July 27, 2018

        CGT is easily avoided – unlike stamp duty.

        1. Lifelogic
          July 27, 2018

          How pray is CGT avoided unless you leave the country that is (and even then for residential property)? Did you mean IHT? And this too is not that easily avoided if you die unexpectedly, may not live for 7 years or want to remain in your nice house.

  10. formula57
    July 27, 2018

    “The government has developed a bad habit of increasing taxes on transactions” – it certainly has but what can you expect from a government that is not on the side of the people?

    One of the worst transaction taxes is that on insurance premiums, levied at a rich 12 per cent..

    Has T. May yet committed to sign up the UK for ever to the Evil Empire’s intended wretched Tobin Tax on financial transactions?

    1. Lifelogic
      July 27, 2018

      Similar to the insurance tax. M Gove (who lumbered is with May and seems to be going mad now) even wanted to extend 20% VAT to private school fees. The reverse is what is actually needed. Tax breaks and vouchers to encourage more to pay privately. Indeed nearly all could be given freedom and choice in this way. Schools would improve hugely as a result.

      These large taxes and “free” at the point of use gives us dire state monopolies in Health Care and Education and zero choice for most people. What if we were taxed by the state and could only get our food, shoes and clothes from a state shop, is that the next plan from this government?

      1. Bob
        July 27, 2018

        If people were to stop their habit of tribal voting and vote for a party with a common sense manifesto that has been independently audited we might see some long overdue improvements in govt policies.

        To paraphrase Gandhi, be the change you wish to see in the UK.

  11. DUNCAN
    July 27, 2018

    The foundation stones are being put in place by the Tories that will ensure a Marxist PM at the next GE. If you think taxes are high under this grotesque PM then wait until Corbyn becomes PM. He will crucify the British people with exorbitant taxes and oppressive laws

    What a choice that we are presented with. A party led by a liberal left grotesque (May) or a party led by an unreconstructed Marxist (Corbyn)

    What have we done to deserve these two (people)?

    1. fedupsoutherner
      July 27, 2018

      @Duncan

      I received an email from UKIP today and very promising it looks too. More Conservative than May/Hammond rubbish. A lot of common sense policies too.

      1. Ian wragg
        July 27, 2018

        I have forwarded the UKIP information to my entire address book and will continue to do so. They have employed extra staff to cope with applications.

      2. Denis Cooper
        July 28, 2018

        I shall be rejoining today when I meet up with local members for the usual summer lunch. We must reorganise to resist this betrayal in every possible way, and nobody else is doing anything about it are they.

    2. Bob
      July 27, 2018

      “What have we done to deserve these two (people)?”

      If you vote LibLabCon, then that is what you will get.

    3. libertarian
      July 27, 2018

      DUNCAN

      You ask a good question. What have we done to deserve these parties , the answer is we keep voting for them and we on the free market side at least vote out of fear

      Change won’t ever happen until we force it to happen. We have to bite the bullet and vote totally differently without fear of the wrong outcome.

      The tories have been relying on the anti Labour vote for 20 years, because their party now has no connection to their remaining members or voters they continually pick the wrong leaders. They do that out of fear of what the opposition ( leftwing media) would say about a JRM, Boris etc. Well the opposition vilified Thatcher, yet the public voted her in time after time, she was only outed by the same people who are still destroying the Tory party.

      It might be worth hijacking the SDP ( a dedicated leave party ) or even the LibDems to finally send a clear signal to the Tories that they are finished . Whichever way we are finished anyway as our current choices are EU, Socialism or I’m a communist stupid.

    4. Anonymous
      July 27, 2018

      We should have killed the Tories off in 2010.

      I now realise that the referendum was 4D chess by federalists.

      Once the question was put to the people our position of being in-and-against was in peril. We were a thorn in the EU’s side.

      Had we voted Remain we would have become a full-ahead member state, euro, EU army – the lot.

      Having voted Leave we become a vassal state.

      The federalists have been very VERY clever. They have us hating our own institutions and parties and are (inviting in many more pro EU voters?)

      May will deliver Brino and Corbyn.

    5. Turboterrier.
      July 27, 2018

      DUNCAN

      The foundation stones are being put in place by the Tories.

      They have been laid and the mortar has set.

    6. majorfrustration
      July 27, 2018

      We believed what we were told and also thought that politicians would look to the voters best interests. Not any longer

    7. Mike Wilson
      July 27, 2018

      What a choice that we are presented with. A party led by a liberal left grotesque (May) or a party led by an unreconstructed Marxist (Corbyn)

      What have we done to deserve these two (people)?

      You didn’t vote for change in the AV referendum. You voted for first-past-the-post which gives us alternating and largely useless leaders from either the Labour or Tory parties.

      If you want change, you need to vote for it. The AV system proposed was awful, but it would have a stepping stone to a decent PR system.

  12. Andy
    July 27, 2018

    Yes – and we need more taxes on second homes.

    The Baby Boomers have pillaged our country – buying up multiple properties for themselves while objecting to new developments being built to house the young.

    The net result is the old sitting on vast property reserves – much of it empty – while the young are unable to get on the property ladder.

    Taxes have not worked. It is time for confiscation. You should be allowed ONE residential property. You have one year to sell any additional properties you have. If you do not they are confiscated by the state and used for social housing.

    You are allowed a small number of business properties – say 6 – which you can rent out either on a short or long term basis. The long term ones are subject to rent controls and minimum standards. We must wipe out rogue landlords.

    Finally – council houses are a small but valuable resource. Why are we putting some people in them for life? Crazy. These homes should be temporary accommodation for those in the most need. And we need to build masses more homes. Which will be impossible when all the good quality Eastern European builders go home and we are left with our predictable British layabouts. Thanks Brexit.

    1. Stred
      July 27, 2018

      This is from the Momentum branch of the Cameron /May Conservative Party. Actually, to the Labour Party might be less disastrous.

    2. Lifelogic
      July 27, 2018

      What complete drivel and dangerous & damaging drivel too.

      1. Lifelogic
        July 27, 2018

        Though I agree that there is no reason to provide subsidised housing to people who can afford the market rent. Why should other taxpayers have to carry them while paying full market rent for themselves?

      2. L Jones
        July 27, 2018

        Nothing new there then from Andy, LL. He/she really seems to have a failure of comprehension about important things, but merely spouts the same rubbish from different angles. He/she obviously has a chip on his/her shoulder and doesn’t understand the meaning of hard work, forward planning and the results of those. Perhaps he/she should look at the derided ”baby boomers” and wonder how, exactly, they achieved such success when their own parents had next to nothing after Germany’s last (we hope) war. ”Hard work”, Andy – get it?

        I daresay he/she is a Facebook clicker – just click ”like” and – hey presto! – you know it all.

    3. Edward2
      July 27, 2018

      Ranting about brexit is turning you into a would be dictator Andy.
      Confiscation by the State of freehold property legally owned by individuals or businesses is a policy idea which defines you as a Marxist left wing extremist.
      PS
      I thought you told us you own more than one property?

      1. fedupsoutherner
        July 27, 2018

        @Edward2. Didn’t you know? Andy is saving that for his old age care. When he becomes a pensioner and burden on the state who have confiscated his second home perhaps he could return to Switzerland where they have euthanasia.

      2. Lifelogic
        July 27, 2018

        Andy should take a look at the basket case that is Venezuela. Theft by government is theft just the same. As promised on Miliband’s tomb stone and Corbyn has promised confiscation/theft too.

      3. Bob
        July 27, 2018

        The TPA did an experiment whereby they asked passers by in an Islington Street to place a ball in a ballot box to indicate if they would like to pay more tax or less tax. When a person voted to pay more, the canvasser then offered to help them to immediately subscribe on the Treasury website to an additional voluntary tax contribution – and surprise surprise, they all made their excuses and hastily went on their way.

        Wouldn’t surprise me if Andy were among them. 🤓

      4. Jagman84
        July 27, 2018

        Party members will be exempt, I’d assume. The only drawback for the ‘useful idiots’ is their ultimate fate when they are no longer useful or needed.

    4. ChrisK
      July 27, 2018

      On yer bike, sonny. My second property has housed my in-laws until their death, now houses our ill adult son, so I am a ghastly baby-boomer who has “raped and pillaged” the land? What shall I do with him, put him on the street? You are suffering from the Brexit dementia syndrome, that is turning minds to mush.

    5. fedupsoutherner
      July 27, 2018

      @Andy. I take it the new housing you say we will need will be for the immigrants coming when we are forced to take ‘refugees’ from Europe. Too many people like you will be the downfall of this country. I presume when you return from your holiday you will be selling the extra property you have told us you own.

    6. Richard1
      July 27, 2018

      Reassuring to see that an EU-fanatic is, when you scratch the surface, an authoritarian communist in favour of arbitrary confiscation. (Would this apply to your 2nd home in France?)

    7. Dave Andrews
      July 27, 2018

      A rash generalisation of baby-boomers that is only very partially true.

      I share your wish for a kind of rationing in residential property, given it’s a finite resource that everyone needs. My proposal would be to remove it as a purely investment option. No houses to be sold as second homes in regions where there is a local shortage. All houses to be owned by a natural person, except for legitimate bodies such as councils, trusts for minors and housing associations.

      With regard to Eastern European builders going home, and building left to British layabouts – “If any man will not work, let him not eat.”

    8. Anonymous
      July 27, 2018

      2nd home owners are generation X in their 40s and 50s. Not Boomers.

    9. A.Sedgwick
      July 27, 2018

      I admire our host for several reasons not least for posting crap like yours. You clearly have no idea what it was like growing up after 1940, life was very basic and quite hard. Apart from those on public sector pensions, the deficit for which those of us on private sector pensions are increasingly financing until this financial armageddon arrives within a decade, the vast majority of pensioners I know have one home and nothing else of value of which to speak.

    10. NHSGP
      July 27, 2018

      Tough on you.

      The socialist thinker in the state, all of them, took money from people for their old age. They now owe 10 trillion plus interest, all hidden off the books.

      That’s your debt burden. You are on the hook for that.

      PS. That’s why people are doing BTL etc. They have worked out the state is bankrupt.

    11. sm
      July 27, 2018

      1. Recent polling showed that the primary cause of Nimbyism was the lack of assured services provision, which is entirely due to our antiquated and out-of-date planning laws.

      2. I have been trying to think of any of my quite wide circle of relatively comfortable or wealthy pensioner friends who own more property than the home they live in. Including myself, the number comes to: zero.

      3. Your wild exaggerations and vitriol make it impossible to take your opinions seriously.

    12. Glenn Vaughan
      July 27, 2018

      Typical email from a 30 something still living in the parental home.

    13. Anonymous
      July 27, 2018

      Of course, there isn’t just a housing crisis but a schools and infrastructure crisis.

      This lays to rest the wicked lie that old people are to blame for everything.

      You’ll be old a lot quicker than you think, Andy. Ageism – you will find – is as discriminatory as racism. You will be judged not on what is within but on your skin and those who abuse and neglect you will not care that you voted Remain.

      These are the foundations you are laying etc ed

    14. Original Richard
      July 27, 2018

      Andy,

      You start by saying there should be “more taxes on second homes” and then later “You should be allowed [only] ONE residential property”.

      Which is your policy please ?

      And as well as confiscation, why not have also introduce forced eviction to ensure that no-one lives in a house with more bedrooms than residents ?

      Whilst I do agree with you that council housing should only be temporary accommodation for those most in need I think your ideas are very extreme and where they have been tried it has been a complete failure.

      But of course for Marxists the purpose of such policies is to create poverty and thus perpetual power.

      PS : One of the purposes of Brexit was to be able to control our very rapidly expanding population and thus be able to more easily provide housing for UK residents.

      But again Marxists will believe in uncontrolled immigration for the purpose already explained.

    15. The Prangwizard
      July 27, 2018

      And what happens to those who do not comply with your totalitarian excesses? Do you apply the Uncle Joe Stalin technique to the people you and others like you clearly hate and despise. There is no room for humanity in your world, clearly.

    16. miami.mode
      July 27, 2018

      Andy. Typical hardline socialist thinking – devoid of all human empathy.

    17. NickC
      July 27, 2018

      Andy, We won’t need “masses more homes”, if all the Europeans go home. In fact we’ll need fewer. It’s called supply and demand. You should learn about it.

      1. hans christian ivers
        July 29, 2018

        Andy,

        With EU citizens contributing significantly to the Treasury that wold not necessarily solve anything it would mean less money for new homes.

        1. NickC
          July 30, 2018

          Hans, Of course there’d be less money for new homes – because the new homes wouldn’t be needed! Duh!!

    18. Wow!
      July 27, 2018

      One or two guys on my council housing estate have two properties. The ones they had in their first marriage which is now occupied with ex-wives and children and the bought council house with their new wives and kids. Which set of kids do you intend to evict? Why do you hate the working class?

    19. Man about the world
      July 27, 2018

      Each Eastern EU nation has its own building regs, materials, structure, style. I’ve lived in a few of them. Well if those workers return home they can help ease the massive housing problems in their own countries where their very specific knowledge, skills and talents are scarce due to the EU. One wonders how they could have made specific use of their skills anywhere in the UK apart from being sand and cement shovellers. But even the percentage mix is specific to here, as is its application and where exactly and not where. Odd! The houses, many times, do not even face in the same directions as ours, which are all over the place.. Too long to explain. You do speak sillinesses Andy.

  13. Nig l
    July 27, 2018

    Your other correspondents have already set out what many think about the key players, as with any PM it is the fiefdom of the payroll that keeps people quiet.

    On topic I find it strange that computer modelling cannot check the Laffer Curve effect on any tax. My guess is that a risk averse Chancellor prefers the bird in hand, as it were.

    One aspect that totally hacks me off is that I constantly read about new taxes being considered, flying kites or not. I never read about cost/efficiency saving initiatives.

    The recent NHS proposal was forced by the outcry over waste to include some, but half hearted an no one believes they wil be implemented or anyone punished financially for failure.

    1. Bob
      July 27, 2018

      @Nig l
      The Tory Party is a false flag operation.
      Hammond is not so much concerned with raising revenue as he is with virtue signalling to the followers of Corbyn by punishing strivers and rewarding skivers.

  14. nigel
    July 27, 2018

    You can’t do things like that; that would be “populist”.

  15. David Cooper
    July 27, 2018

    Worth noting that in two cases of stealth transaction tax – Insurance Premium Tax and Air Passenger Duty – their original “good intention” involved a relatively small token fixed charge that few would notice. The journey down the road to hell followed when successive Chancellors ratcheted them up. The sneering “Sorry Lewis” [Hamilton] from Chancellor Hammond last time around when hiking APD on Premium Economy flights was symbolic of deep contempt for ordinary victims of stealth tax.

  16. Ian wragg
    July 27, 2018

    So Barnier has rejected Mays totally unworkable Customs Plan.
    He also rules out the £39 billion being subject to a trade agreement.
    He really is pushing us to the exit with no deal. We should all be encouraged by his actions.
    Again 3 cheers for the ERG ammendments.

  17. fedupsoutherner
    July 27, 2018

    Hammond is a total waste of space. His policies do nothing to enhance the economy. My husband has worked hard all his life. He is now 71 and still running his own business. We don’t go on expensive holidays. We have one week away in a rented cottage somewhere in the Uk each year. This is our choice. We have animals at home that we don’t like leaving. Instead of going out for meals, entertainment etc we like to drive a nice car. After all these years we can finally afford something we have both wanted and yet we find we are penalised for this. The tax on our new car is abhorrent. The industry is suffering and nobody wants to drive an electric car that requires you to keep stopping to charge up. We have family 500 miles away and friends just over 250 miles away so it’s not a good solution for us. We are fed up being told what to do and taxed for being wanting something out of life that we like. Our money is providing employment for many.

  18. agricola
    July 27, 2018

    The way the country is run in the here and now is important, but who is there to influence it. MPs have little say. The general philosophy seems more Lib/Dem than Conservative, but then again that may be what the population want. In terms of producing the capital to totally re-build the country’s infrastructure, this spell of warm weather only highlights it’s failures. We await the winter to do the same.

    One thing is for sure, when and if Brexit materialises we will need a totally new approach to wealth creation and the economic welfare of the country. Unless there are radical changes in personnel and their thinking our economic well being will remain as grey as the Brexit fiasco. Who is there to create a Singapore of the West. No one of financial talent is speaking out to counter the Treasury/ Chancellor’s vision less slow crawl to left of centre .

  19. Tim the Coder
    July 27, 2018

    You mention the pragmatic damage of high transaction taxes, but not their fundamentally damaging nature: they disrupt or destroy the market and hence make everyone poorer. They are immoral at the most basic level.

    The essence of a market is to easily match buyers and sellers, so they can agree an exchange which benefits both. For a market to operate, you need volume.

    Taxing transactions glues up the market and causes many to accept less good outcomes, because the taxed outcome is too bad.

    I’d like to move, but cannot afford the stamp duty, so I’ll just have to commute 100 miles each way, etc.

  20. Adam
    July 27, 2018

    A Chancellor paid, and fined, according to results would be inclined to make better decisions.

  21. Nicholas Murphy
    July 27, 2018

    ‘It hits anyone investing in rental accommodation for others.’ This makes landlords look very altruistic. A CONSERVATIVE party should care less about BTL landlords; if driving more of them out of the housing market, so that more twenty-somethings can then get into their own homes – and then be forever free of the socialist trap that is council housing – then so be it.

  22. mickc
    July 27, 2018

    Commenters here seem, like me, to be broadly Thatcherite. They should realise that the Conservative party never was, and never will be. The current party is what Conservatism truly is; the Wets.

    The Lady was never meant to become Leader or be allowed to achieve what she did. To use the cliche, we will not see her like again.

  23. Anonymous
    July 27, 2018

    We’re getting a second referendum… and then Corbyn, aren’t we !

    All this huff and puff from Leave.

  24. Alison
    July 27, 2018

    Re transactions taxes:
    1) The EU has undusted its financial transactions tax idea again (10 member states). Italy now not keen – it wants to stimulate its economy, and taxes like that don’t help.
    2) There does need to be something to protect locals in areas popular for second/holiday homes, eg Cornwall, parts of Scotland.

  25. Rien Huizer
    July 27, 2018

    There is a simple solution: a flat or two level income tax (for individuals and corporations alike), the option for individuals to use business accounting, setting transacion taxes close to the actual cost to the government and raising VAT to achieve a long term balanced budget. Should one want to influence behaviour (Pigovian taxes) then that should be made explicit. For instance if one would want to curb the use of fossil fuels, a pigovian tax might help to achieve that.
    Of course the best way to achieve more efficientaxation is to reduce government provivion to the lowest possible minimum, for instance by changing the role of provider of health care to one of regulator, catastophic insurer and subsidizer for the neediest.

    Unfortunately politics works by pandering to interest groups so your efficiency is someone else’s sacrilege.

    It is the same with Brexit, incidentally. Either one is in (and puts up with whatever membership burdens are involved) or out. In between is the area where inefficiency and corruption thrive.

    1. NickC
      July 27, 2018

      Rien, Your view that the EU is some sort of jolly club that you are in or out of, is quite false. The EU is not a club, it’s not even like other treaty organisations (eg NATO). The EU has a life of its own. It is self-replicating political construct, and well on the way to metamorphosing into the USE. Unlike the USA, which it covertly copies, the EU has no demos, and therefore no democracy. The EU is straight out of Walther Funk’s textbook, via Vichy France. And the people of Europe are wising up to the lies of the EU and its accolytes.

  26. NHSGP
    July 27, 2018

    Well John. You voted for the finance bills that have created this mess.

    You are guilty.

    1. getahead
      July 28, 2018

      A somewhat large assumption, I suggest.

  27. Iain Gill
    July 27, 2018

    There should also be fewer taxes, and hidden charges, on self-reliance, and “doing the right thing”
    So, no tax on medical insurance, or paying to have medical treatments done (especially ones the NHS has decided it does want to fund like haemorrhoid or trigger finger ops)
    Allow private docs to write NHS prescriptions just like private dentists do, so patients get whatever discount they would be entitled to if an NHS doc wrote the prescription.
    Language lessons, swimming lessons, and all the rest that parents pay to bring their kids up to become tax free too.
    Travel to work, and accommodation costs if working away from home, to become tax deductible for all types of workers including PAYE employees. The exact reverse of IR35 and its nonsense. Encourage work. Also take such costs into account in all benefit calculations. Also take such costs into account when reducing tax allowance for higher earners.
    Change private pension rules to allow withdrawals to pay for medical treatment, so that pension fund can become not just a fund to pay for your pension in old age, but can also be used to pay for medical care you need before retirement age. So that people can “self-insure” more effectively for medical care, and use such a fund instead of having medical insurance. Allow market to develop for medical insurance only above funds available in pension pot. Allow extended families to have one pension fund which they can all spread the risks of expensive medical care.
    Unlike most politicians I also have a ready list of tax rises I would recommend, I have mentioned many before, increase cost of work visas, no first year in the country free of national insurance for foreign workers, no tax-free expenses for foreign workers for anything Brits working far from home within the UK could not claim, any child from a family where nobody has rights to remain in the UK to be charged for their school place.
    Etc

    1. Iain Gill
      July 27, 2018

      NHS does NOT want to fund it should say

  28. Ken Moore
    July 27, 2018

    Britain has long had trade deficits but, until the mid-2000s, usually balanced this pretty well with inward income flows. (Trade + income flows = current account).

    For a long time, though, Britain has been a big net seller of assets, and a big net borrower from abroad. Initially, this means an inflow of capital, balancing out the outflow on the current account.

    However, each asset sold sets up future streams of outflows of profits and dividends to overseas investors, and each new debt creates forward interest outflows. This is why there has been such a slump in the current account. Living on borrowing, and the sale of assets, is short-sighted, of course.

    Greatly simplified, but that’s the gist of it.

    The “kindness of strangers” issue – now include:

    – Will investors leave their profits in the UK, or repatriate them?

    – Will they carry on buying UK assets, and lending to the UK?

    A lot of this comes down to confidence. With lots of shops, pubs etc closing, the implication is that the UK consumer is hard-up – so what’s the point in investing in business that need to sell to that consumer?

  29. BOF
    July 27, 2018

    With the highest taxes in 50 years May and Hammond have relegated Conservatism firmly to the past. We now have only Marxists or Socialists to choose from.

    I am having difficulty imagining a good end to to this story unless there is an outbreak of common sense in the Party.

  30. walter
    July 27, 2018

    HS2 has to be paid for.
    Foreign aid has to be paid for.
    The EU has to be paid for ( seemingly whether we are in it or not ).
    etc.
    etc.
    The lives of millions of people who have walked, and those who are still are walking, into the UK and done nothing, have to be paid for.
    The ever growing number of imported criminals that are jailed here have to be paid for.
    Meanwhile, more cuts to our police etc etc.

    The govt is running out of people to tax. It will only end well for the people at the top (those who want to live in a decent country but keep their money offshore so they don’t have to pay for the country they want to live in ).

    1. GregH
      July 27, 2018

      Walter..HS2 can be abandoned- not sure if we will need it after brexit?

      Foreign aid can be pared back to the bone

      Yes the EU has to be paid but we can pay in instalments

      We can stop the immigrants- especially those on the make..we’ll have control

      We can build bigger jails for criminals and keep them in for longer
      That way we may need fewer police

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        July 27, 2018

        GregH. I can’t see any of those things happening with this useless government. If people are stupid enough to vote for the same 3 dumb parties then they can only expect more of the same. Self flagellation comes to mind.

  31. BOF
    July 27, 2018

    Instead of high taxes we need a serious reduction in the public sector. DC promised a bonfire of the quangos, which, like almost all of his promises, never happened. It needs to happen now as the public sector is unsustainable at this ridiculous level.

  32. a-tracy
    July 27, 2018

    How many Conservatives are there in your MPs John and you couldn’t stop your own Treasury punishing the voters. Steering people back away from Japanese Hybrids and protecting polluting diesels that we were all told we should use by the EU. You Conservative MPs all need to look at yourselves.

  33. John Finn
    July 27, 2018

    Slightly off topic, but a serious question

    What is the most recent estimate of GDP growth for 2017?

    I want to look a bit more closely at some data but if a revision has been announced which I’ve missed it might save me the bother. Thanks.

    1. Denis Cooper
      July 27, 2018

      From June 29th:

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44655658

      “However, the ONS also revised down its estimate for economic growth during 2017. It now says the economy grew by 1.7% last year, the weakest rate since 2012 and down from an earlier estimate of 1.8%.”

      1. John Finn
        July 27, 2018

        Thanks. My impression was that the 1.7% figure was the latest estimate. However, I thought I’d spotted an inconsistency in the July 10th monthly release spreadsheet but I now think that this is due to different approaches being used to calculate the estimates.

  34. Eh?
    July 27, 2018

    Given that Chancellor Hammond knows a bit on economics and debate, why is it he never presents an argument for his actions which incorporates a detailed critique of arguments ( JR’s ) opposed to his vision?
    It used to be a technique of political oratory.

    He merely broadly smiles one sentence Mr Obvious retorts to the likes of Labour’s McDonnell. Any ten year old can do that. Easy target as more than half a sentence leaves McDonnell stumped for an answer especially if you include the word Venezuela

  35. libertarian
    July 27, 2018

    John

    You are totally right about taxes. However you are part of a Political Party The Conservatives who do NOT believe in free markets, do not believe in light regulation, low tax, local control. You are part of a party that has waged war for last 8 years on the SME market place ( even though we saved the parties arse by generating 1 million new jobs whilst under attack) , you are part of a party that absolutely hates individual liberty , self reliance and aspiration.

    Your party with its insane policies against free markets in housing, taxing people out of the market etc has pushed the millennials and generation Z into the arms of the marxists by denying them any access to building assets.

    The Conservative Party is finished, it serves no purpose , its a Blairite party and the public aren’t buying another one of those. I guess history needs to repeat itself. We went full marxist in the late 60″s , Heath ( May) tried to do what the Tories are doing now and failed bringing in more socialism and the EU . Taxes rose to marginal rates of 98% , the talent emigrated in droves ( Yes Andy unbelievably we could move wherever we liked in the World before the EU ) , the country collapsed ( margaret Howards favourite we became the sick man of Europe ) by pursuing EXACTLY the policies being pursued now.

    Last time we were saved by the emergence of a strong, principled and determined leader. It isn’t going to happen this time.

  36. Anonymous
    July 27, 2018

    Gary Lineker “Brexit is even more important than football.” Obviously not. This BBC spokesperson waited until the World Cup was out of the way before getting stuck in.

    I don’t buy this rubbish that he’s a freelancer and so he’s exempt from impartiality rules. He’s one of the highest paid faces of the BBC.

    1. World Cup is over
      July 27, 2018

      The BBC have hefty court expenses to pay. Drop just one presenter. Job done!!!

  37. Martyn G
    July 27, 2018

    Lenin, Marx or Stalin, I forget which, once said words to the effect that ‘it is not necessary to invade a country to take it over, because that can be achieved by reducing the morale of its armed forces, causing the public to lose confidence and trust in its police force and by undermining the quality of its education systems’, thereby making it easy to achieve a power takeover via suitable politicians notionally elected on a democratic basis. Reminds me of somewhere but cannot quite recall where.

    1. Bob
      July 28, 2018

      “Reminds me of somewhere”

      Britain.

  38. Turboterrier.
    July 27, 2018

    Luxury top of the range vehicles are now being hit with the envy tax on its customers that every car over £41k and will pay for an extra excessive Road Fund Licence.

    Who thought this one up? Surely the plan to save the world is to get old inefficient engines and cars off of the road.

    All electric cars are not the panacea for all that ails our desire to own our own transport and its impact on the environment. Until the overall end product can compete on a level playing field without massive subsidies and the safe disposal of the batteries can be properly handled without any side effects on the environment it all adds to even more hidden costs to the owner. Where is all the components from raw earth facilities going to come from for all these millions of batteries and how long will they last?

    The plan should have been obvious, create an easier access market for all new vehicles.
    All vehicles prior to 2000, existing Road Fund Licence raised £200. Up to 2010 raised £150. Up to 2018 raised £100. All new vehicles after 2018 raised £50. The value of the RFL should be based upon the age of the vehicle. By attacking the critical mass of older cars in this way would surely raise more duty for the government and increase the number of old vehicles removal rate from our roads.

    It would assist the whole cars sales market. Tighter proposed plans on the MoT plus non payment of the RFL resulting in immediate destruction of the vehicle with a £3000 fine and two year automatic ban will make drivers think twice about breaking the law and also have a massive impact on fuel pollution.

    Our previous leader claimed that we were all in this together. Where is the freedom of choice? Hitting hard the people who have been successful enough to be able to buy a more expensive vehicle is totally immoral and unfair in that to be able to afford to buy and run such luxury top of the range vehicles means that they or their companies have payed a lot in income and other taxes to start with.

    1. alan jutson
      July 27, 2018

      Turboterrier

      Simple solution is to purchase a large 3 year old luxury vehicle at half its new cost, and then run it for years, thus same luxury travel at half the cost, and half the new road fund licence, as it reverts back to sensible levels after year 4.

      That is exactly what I plan to do when my 17 year old vehicle eventually fails, (passed its latest MOT last week) thus so far motoring for less than a £1,000 per year depreciation, excluding road tax, insurance, and fuel of course.

      1. Bob
        July 28, 2018

        @Alan
        Keep the old car running as long as you can, regular oil & filter changes etc.
        You’ll struggle to find a new car that can carry a proper spare wheel, the manufacturers make the wheel “storage well” too small so if you had a puncture on the way to the airport with a full load of passengers and luggage, there is literally nowhere to put the punctured wheel.

        Also, the new cars have tyre pressure sensors in each wheel and they cost £60 a piece, which means if you want a set of winter wheels you have to either buy 4 additional sensors or keep swapping the tyres on the same rims and that will cost £40 pa. You can’t win, so best stick with the older models.

        1. alan jutson
          July 28, 2018

          Bob

          Have always done exactly as you advise Bob.

          I do not like the 50mph space saving spare, or the can of foam either.

          Agree entirely that the original punctured wheel will not go in the space saver compartment.
          Always had cars with a full size spare.

    2. Original Richard
      July 28, 2018

      “Who thought this one up? Surely the plan to save the world is to get old inefficient engines and cars off of the road.”

      Unfortunately the cost to the environment in CO2 generation caused by the building of a new vehicle far outweighs the extra CO2 caused by the running of an existing car with a slightly poorer fuel consumption.

  39. Denis Cooper
    July 27, 2018

    Off-topic, here’s a brief film about Charles I triggering the Civil War on August 22nd 1642 by raising his Royal Standard at Nottingham Castle:

    http://www.explore-parliament.net/playMovie.htm?nssMovieName=0195

    Theresa May has similarly declared war on the people, all those decent folk who took the trouble to vote in the EU referendum on the understanding that they were being asked to make a decision, but of course her flag is chequered …

    Charles’ standard was blown down after a week, and he lost the war and his head.

  40. Nrs m8
    July 27, 2018

    The NHS hierarchy has endorsed a campaign for a “Scroll Free September”. Young people are encouraged to personally, individually, refrain from using social media for… a whole month.
    Sounds Victorian. I wonder if they believe it will make adolescents go blind.

    The NHS hierachy seem to have lost sight of reality and, that reading is quite healthy …in moderation of course.

  41. miami.mode
    July 27, 2018

    Rather like a gambler chasing losses. Cannot see any way out other than being determined to pursue current policy with even more vigour.

  42. Bob Dixon
    July 27, 2018

    I can put quoted shares into ISA’s and avoid the recent tax on dividends. But I cannot put my private unquoted company shares into an ISA’s so am now paying tax.

    1. Sir Joe Soap
      July 27, 2018

      That’s why SEIS schemes are around.

      1. libertarian
        July 28, 2018

        Sir Joe Soap

        If you have a financial interest in the company, or in any subsidiary of the company, then you are “connected” if you have more than 30% % of the share capital or voting rights. With more than 30% you are deemed to have ‘control’ of the company, and are therefore not eligible for income tax benefits under EIS, SEIS or SITR.

  43. Anonymous
    July 27, 2018

    The socialist state has to be paid for by someone. Until *someone* is taxed out of existence because people get wise to the fact that being a *someone* is a total mug’s game.

    Nothing exemplifies this better than when the old car you have (and you only have it to do your bit and get to work, otherwise you would not need it) breaks down and you get stiffed for a load of VAT to fix it. Then there’s the get-stopped -in-a-yellow-box tax or the 5mph speeding tax… all zero tolerance offences, natch.

    We all did a lot more than get on our bikes.

    But look how the lawless get treated ! Then ministers blamed EU law for their innaction and so we got Brexit.

    I’m not buying it that Sadiq Khan is responsible for London stabbings. Theresa May is from her time as Home Secretary. She emasculated the police in her time there.

    1. Steve
      July 27, 2018

      @anonymous

      “She emasculated the police in her time there.”

      The police went through a transformation starting with the Blair years. Since then they’ve become a kind of ShutzStaffel….supreme loyalty to the establishment, enforcing unwanted and undemocratic laws on it’s behalf.

      Jacqui Smith has a lot to answer for, in particular giving the police nasty imported toys which are illegal under international treaty due to them being classed as an instrument of torture.

      So besides Theresa May, there are two other culprits…..Blair and Jacqui Smith.

      Also the police federation for the willingness to sell it’s own backside to whomever was in power at the time.

      1. John C.
        July 27, 2018

        I blame the people doing the stabbing. Most truths are simple.

        1. Brit
          July 28, 2018

          They are just abiding by their custom

        2. Bob
          July 28, 2018

          @John C

          “I blame the people doing the stabbing. “

          If the govt had not built the Thames Barrier and London had been flooded, would you have blamed the govt or the River Thames.

          Government’s first duty is to protect its people and that is the simple truth.

  44. GreesT
    July 27, 2018

    Also CGT..Capital Gains Tax should be reduced..it is set at zero in Singapore and the economy is booming

  45. Mike Wilson
    July 27, 2018

    Not sure cutting stamp duty on house purchases will make much difference. If the Stamp Duty on a 500k house was reduced to, say, 1k, the price it sells for will go up 10k.

    Lack of supply and infinite demand always keeps upward pressure on prices.

  46. It's Glum here.
    July 27, 2018

    Here is an example of News and Hammondesque Glumism

    “In the second quarter, the U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 4.1%, almost double the 2.2% growth rate seen to start the year.

    This marks the fastest pace of growth for the U.S. economy in any quarter since the third quarter of 2014.

    This rate of growth, HOWEVER, was LESS THAN WHAT WAS FORECASTED BY ECONOMISTS”

    1. margaret
      July 27, 2018

      This is not good enough. What they PROPHECY should be exact .

  47. Andy
    July 27, 2018

    I note that the nice Dr Fox has accused the EU of putting political ideology ahead of the economic well-being of citizens. He really doesn’t understand irony does he? Not surprising as he also doesn’t understand trade. Brexit is the ultimate example of putting political ideologue before economic well-being. Even if the Brexiteers thought there was an economic case for Brexit before 2016 we now definitely know this is not true. There is no Brexit scenario which leaves your children better off than they would be without Brexit. And yet the ideologues plough on anyway.

    Reply We will be 12bn a year better off if we just leave!

    1. hefner
      July 28, 2018

      Everybody will be waiting for their £181 in 2019.

      1. Edward2
        July 28, 2018

        The money is paid to the government not you.

        1. hefner
          July 29, 2018

          Thanks, I know. It was just a comment in passing to point out that “we will” not “be better off” by £12bn, the state will. Do you really expect the average Briton to be better by 0.6 or 0.7%? Or is that some usual politician’s b…s…? And are you so gullible?

    2. Bob
      July 28, 2018

      @Andy

      “Brexiteers thought there was an economic case for Brexit before 2016 we now definitely know this is not true”

      Definitely know? How so? Are you a qualified seer?

      The best way to ensure that your prophecy becomes reality would be to put Remainers in charge of Brexit negotiations.

    3. libertarian
      July 28, 2018

      Andy

      As someone who can barely spell the word trade, who hasn’t got the faintest idea about business and indeed despite what you say has obviously never run a company. I think the irony klaxon just exploded

  48. Gina Dean
    July 27, 2018

    The cabinet are to do around robin to countries in the EU. Do they not learn anything Cameron tried this to no avail, he went cap in hand and got nothing. They also will get short sharp shift. How much more humiliation will the government tolerate before they say enough.

    1. Brit
      July 28, 2018

      The Austrian PM told Mrs May he does not wish a Hard Brexit. He’ll say anything to get round her.

  49. Dennis the Menace
    July 27, 2018

    “The report (The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee ) warns that the “relentless targeting of hyper-partisan views, which play to the fears and prejudices of people, in order to influence their voting plans” is a threat to democracy.” They’re talking about social media.
    At first sight one might reasonably think they are referring to the BBC, Sky News and their own behaviour as MPs. They are something out of a comic book.

    1. hefner
      July 28, 2018

      “Every week we sent £350 million to the EU enough to build a new NHS hospital every 7 days”, a Facebook ad sent to million UK people as shown in the DCMS report. Anybody here needing a tissue to wipe the egg on their face?

      1. Edward2
        July 28, 2018

        No its a good metaphor to give people an idea of just how expensive the EU membership is.
        And what alternative spending decisions could be made with the money we give the EU

    2. libertarian
      July 28, 2018

      Damian Collins and the DCMS committee are complete digital ignorants and are the biggest threat to democracy

  50. Den
    July 28, 2018

    If anything needs reviewing it id the Government. Some 70% of the Cabinet is europhile when this country made Leave the EU a mandate. The British have not had a ‘proper’ government since Mrs Thatcher was thrown out by traitors to Britain.

  51. Den
    July 28, 2018

    The hugely successful Hong Kong was built from scratch with low taxation and minimal government interference under British rule.
    It beggars the question why we did not practice the same here, in the UK.
    Instead, we have the opposite – High taxation and OTT Government interference. Although much of the latter is right down to our current membership and therefore under the control of the EU.

  52. Tom Rogers
    July 28, 2018

    Just abolish all existing taxes and replace with a Land Value Tax. Simple and cheap to run and would shrink the state.

    1. Edward2
      July 28, 2018

      Where will you get the cash each year to pay the land you might own?

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