Should a referendum on Scottish independence only include people living in Scotland?

[Big J]

6 hours ago, Richard 1234 said:

If you are saving 20-30k in tax you are not making an average income as you claim to be.

and you have just said no one in their right mind will pay too much tax yet in the same breath you would say the big corporations should willingly pay more......

 

I didn't claim to be earning an average income. That is the tax saved for both myself and my wife as the forestry business is our sole income. We are very much in the normal range, and frankly what would be the point of the stress of running my own business for 10 years if I was going to settle for the national average salary of £28677/pa? I'd be as well just going PAYE for someone else and forgetting the stress.

 

It's worth noting that we do collect an awful lot of VAT for the exchequer too. 

 

It's besides the point though. I use basic accountancy and due diligence to reduce any instance of overpayment of tax. I do not have a legal team on retainer to fight the HMRC or IRS should I be challenged on how little tax I pay.

 

I also did not say that large corporations should pay more. As it stands, they pay proportionally less. I am simply suggesting parity.

[trigger_andy]

3 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

a good platform for me to go off on a philosophical bender.

Whats his name?   

 

3 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

You may well not trust my judgement generally and that is fine, but trust me on this one.

Its not that I dont trust your judgement, its like you said, we see things from a very different perspective. 

 

Its all good though.  

[Richard 1234]

1 hour ago, Big J said:

 

I didn't claim to be earning an average income. That is the tax saved for both myself and my wife as the forestry business is our sole income. We are very much in the normal range, and frankly what would be the point of the stress of running my own business for 10 years if I was going to settle for the national average salary of £28677/pa? I'd be as well just going PAYE for someone else and forgetting the stress.

 

It's worth noting that we do collect an awful lot of VAT for the exchequer too. 

 

It's besides the point though. I use basic accountancy and due diligence to reduce any instance of overpayment of tax. I do not have a legal team on retainer to fight the HMRC or IRS should I be challenged on how little tax I pay.

 

I also did not say that large corporations should pay more. As it stands, they pay proportionally less. I am simply suggesting parity.

I agree there would be no point in the stress of running a business if you don’t get the financial reward. You however have said you are earning a “normal” or “average” amount I could find it if I could be bothered but I can’t at the moment.

whats a “normal” range? 
personally I think you should make as much as you can and keep as much Of it as you can legally. 
I also think that should be the case for all people including the giants. You say you collect a lot of vat what about google and amazon. What about all the NI and PAYE tax they pay for their employees (I know they don’t pay exactly but you know my meaning)

flat rate would be best as then you are not punished for working hard/smart. I can’t see it ever happening though

[Baldbloke]

I no longer earn a big wage and am more than happy earning my 22 k gross. I do however appreciate those that earn considerably more and because of that contribute more through tax, insurance contributions and by employing others. Long may the incentive to earn more continue.

[Baldbloke]

I note no one mentioned my earlier post concerning the SNP justification for a further referendum, and the contradiction that Scotland would have to had to leave the EU had the first result favoured independence.

In other words, the SNP would have caused Scotland’s departure had we voted for Independence in 2014, but they’re happy to blame Westminster for us now doing so.

 

 

[trigger_andy]

1 hour ago, Baldbloke said:

I note no one mentioned my earlier post concerning the SNP justification for a further referendum, and the contradiction that Scotland would have to had to leave the EU had the first result favoured independence.

In other words, the SNP would have caused Scotland’s departure had we voted for Independence in 2014, but they’re happy to blame Westminster for us now doing so.

 

 

Sorry, was buried under a flurry of posts. ? I did read it before though. 

Completely agree with your assessment. The SNP seem to have their cake and eat it. No matter the outcome in their mind its a clear indication for Independence.  

[Big J]

2 hours ago, Richard 1234 said:

I agree there would be no point in the stress of running a business if you don’t get the financial reward. You however have said you are earning a “normal” or “average” amount I could find it if I could be bothered but I can’t at the moment.

whats a “normal” range? 
personally I think you should make as much as you can and keep as much Of it as you can legally. 
I also think that should be the case for all people including the giants. You say you collect a lot of vat what about google and amazon. What about all the NI and PAYE tax they pay for their employees (I know they don’t pay exactly but you know my meaning)

flat rate would be best as then you are not punished for working hard/smart. I can’t see it ever happening though

 

Normal range for an individual is £30-80k, I'd say. Most people I know are in that range (from one end to the other) and I don't know many people either side of that, though I do know some. 

 

I agree that within the rule of law, people and corporations ought to be allowed to minimise their tax exposure. My point is that the extent to which some of the larger corporations do this goes beyond what is socially and morally justifiable, and blurs the line of the law chronically. As such they are routinely challenged in the courts. Many companies have a fair tax policy, like Lush:

 

Company Tax Policy

UK.LUSH.COM

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A general dislike of seeing money vanish from one’s wage packet, coupled with dissatisfaction with the quality of services offered by our local authorities and central...

 

It's worth noting that they paid only £1m less corporation tax on less than 1/3 of the profit, and Lush's UK turnover is only 14% of Amazon's.

 

Amazon accused of handing over 'diddly-squat' in corporation tax | Technology | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Firm attacked even though it says its contribution has nearly tripled since 2017

 

 

It is possible for a company to be both profitable and socially responsible and paying a reasonable and fair amount of tax is part of that.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

21 hours ago, Mull said:

 

I think ‘closing the loopholes’ is what J is suggesting? And now you too?

 

Wholesale simplification of a system which has added endless layers of complexity upon complexity would be a grand starting point. 
 

Maybe if the whole system was so ‘straight forward’ that the need for flash suits to prepare submissions was made redundant - well that’d be a start!

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

6 hours ago, Big J said:

. I do not have a legal team on retainer to fight the HMRC or IRS should I be challenged on how little tax I pay.

You don’t need one J, they are muppets and easy enough to make them look like it in front of a judge - been there, done that ?

[Johnsond]

11 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

Wholesale simplification of a system which has added endless layers of complexity upon complexity would be a grand starting point. 
 

Maybe if the whole system was so ‘straight forward’ that the need for flash suits to prepare submissions was made redundant - well that’d be a start!

What would be interesting is a set of statistics to show what the actual effect in reality it would have on monies taken in by HMRC if it was a flat rate for all. Be nice to see some of the tax inspection guys having to work in the real  world. I’d imagine the savings from streamlining  the HMRC would be considerable if all those confusing layers of bollocks were stripped away.