Why not tax the banks?

shrimp


Joined: 01/09/2010
Posts: 939

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 23:24

The situation we find ourselves in started in the financial sector and we spent 1.4 trillion pounds bailing them out. We are all paying for a party we were not quite invited to....Why not a tax on the banks which could raise 20 billion pounds in the Uk to help all those hit by the financial crisis in UK and around the world. This one easy decision could spare a lot of the ''tough ones''............

LaptaMike


Joined: 07/10/2009
Posts: 1679

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 23:32

Shrimp, sweetheart, if it doesn't affect me I don't care. We have very good accountants and lawyers.



On another note, I hope you are well.





Lots of love Mike

xxxxx

Quarmby


Joined: 15/09/2008
Posts: 975

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 23:36

Msg 1



What! And deny those poor bankers their annual bonuses. shame on you!

Lilli



Joined: 21/07/2008
Posts: 13081

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 23:58

leave the wankers , oops sorry typo bankers enjoy their bonus x

LaptaMike


Joined: 07/10/2009
Posts: 1679

Message Posted:
12/11/2010 00:07

Lilli, my mates wife works with fred the shred ;-)

No1Doyen


Joined: 04/07/2008
Posts: 16617

Message Posted:
12/11/2010 09:14

Don't the Banks get taxed like everybody else?

Jovial_John


Joined: 31/01/2009
Posts: 1024

Message Posted:
12/11/2010 12:44

Whatever tax the banks pay is eventually paid by the customers - higher charges or lower interest rates, they'll get it off you somehow.

No1Doyen


Joined: 04/07/2008
Posts: 16617

Message Posted:
12/11/2010 15:20

Too true John. The savings rates are appalling.

ilovecyprus


Joined: 08/05/2007
Posts: 2880

Message Posted:
12/11/2010 18:26

msge 1 whoever controls the money supply calls the shots.



It seems really difficult to know how much it cost the government to bail out the banks. I was surprised to see your figure of 1.4 trillion. I then looked on-line and the figure seems to be something like 850 billion.



I then looked at the latest article I found which says the bailout was between 70 and 140 billion, perhaps less. I watched a fascinating programme last night which said the bailout was only 63 billion and the government will get most of this money back in bank profits.



I believe the bank companies and the investment bankers pay sizeable taxes. Our financial sector is quite large so we rely on the banks to do well. This is what I understand but it would be good to be corrected.



I think the argument is, that if you tax banks or any company too high they will move to another country which offer better tax incentives. Basically you cant win.

Tootie


Joined: 28/08/2008
Posts: 2037

Message Posted:
12/11/2010 18:38

British Gas customers will face a 7% rise in gas and electricity bills this winter, the company has announced.



The increase, which comes into effect on 10 December, was the result of rising wholesale prices, it said.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11741766

ilovecyprus


Joined: 08/05/2007
Posts: 2880

Message Posted:
12/11/2010 18:57

The programme I watched last night showed how Hong Kong was thriving. The Scottish governor decided that the government should have a low profile and the people should generate their own wealth and keep the profits they make. There should be very little reliance on the state.



The average person is taxed 15%, and the poorer pay no tax. There is no VAT or capital gains tax. This has turned the nation in to a country of entrepreneurs and people are wealthier than Brits per head. Even though people pay less tax than the UK, the government take more revenue per head than the UK government because there is more wealth being created. Apparently this was the catalyst for China having a change of heart about how it runs it's country.



Be interested in other peoples thoughts on this. Is it pie in the sky. Perhaps because it is small that's why it works and would not work in the UK. We do know that the Chinese have an incredible work effort. This has been shown in uk schools.

ilovecyprus


Joined: 08/05/2007
Posts: 2880

Message Posted:
12/11/2010 19:03

ps apparently its not just Britain laying off public sector workers. I was absolutely blown away when I read this morning that Cuba, yes communist Cuba is laying off 500,000 of it's public sector workers and asking them to find jobs in the private sector. They are changing the law which currently prevents one Cuban employing another cuban.

ilovecyprus


Joined: 08/05/2007
Posts: 2880

Message Posted:
12/11/2010 19:08

cont msge 12



Do you think the TRNC will take the Cubans lead and do the same, and even make it possible for Brits to find work?

ilovecyprus


Joined: 08/05/2007
Posts: 2880

Message Posted:
12/11/2010 19:39

cont from msge 11



Lets get some debate going.



Do you think the UK has lost it's mojo? Do you think we have got comfortable and nicely dependent and can no longer match the drive and ambition of the Chinese and Indians?

Have we become too entitled and too expectant and because the Chinese and Indians have not had much they now have that insatiable thirst?



Or do you know what, should we just chill out more. Work less and become more peaceful and contended and just enjoy what we have in life rather than striving all the time. Apologies as I have hijacked this thread.

gavangie


Joined: 16/08/2010
Posts: 48

Message Posted:
12/11/2010 21:38

Before the credit crunch millions of small investors, mainly elderly people with minimal pension income, relied on the dividend paid on their bank shares to maintain a bearable standard of living. These people still retain a forlorn hope that, before they die, the banks will recover sufficiently to recommence the payment of dividends. IMHO it is not the banks as institutions which should be punished - what should have happened is that the executives running the banks should have been criminally charged and their assets stripped in the same way as, say, a convicted drug lord. Taxing the banks will only prolong the agony and sink the UK deeper into the mire.

rowlo



Joined: 12/10/2008
Posts: 4796

Message Posted:
12/11/2010 21:42

most of the banks are now owned by the taxpayer , do you want to pay more ?