loarmistead
11-21-2009, 03:07 AM
Poor England. Their glory days are most definitely behind them. And if we maintain our current course and rate, we won't be far behind them. With just the new taxes currently being proposed by the administration and congress, the effective tax rate of our "wealthiest" class is going to be over 50% just to the federal government, not including state and local taxes.
39.6% base rate + 15% payroll tax = ~ 55%. Then add in the "cadillac tax" in the health care bill, and the embedded federal taxes in gasoline and other goods purchases. Oh! And let's not forget increased capital gains and dividends tax rates. And I almost forgot Harry Reid's extra 4% payroll tax on folks making over $200,000. :doh0715: I don't claim to be a master mathematician, but it's looking like the $200,000+ earners are going to be paying about 2/3 of everything they earn, 66 cents of every $1, to the federal government. Then we can add in state taxes, which in blue states can be 10-15%. Then add in local taxes. Damn, looks like about 18 cents of every dollar you earn is actually yours... and the truly sad part is the government is still spending trillions of dollars more than it is taking in! Oh well, that's what you get for being successful! And as the article says, those successful folks "vote with their feet." Nothing difficult to grasp. NY, MD, and CA are figuring this lesson out the hard way.
Will America Copy England’s Class-Warfare Policy? (http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/11/20/will-america-copy-englands-self-destructive-class-warfare-tax-policy/)
Posted by Daniel J. Mitchell
After several posts about crazy decisions by the UK government, mostly involving extreme political correctness, it’s time to get back to basics and look at tax policy. A financial services consulting firm in London has just released a survey with the stunning finding that one-fifth of entrepreneurs are thinking of escaping the country because of punitive taxes — particularly the new top tax rate of 50 percent.
Here’s what Tax-news.com reported:
The poll of more than 300 entrepreneurs by business advisors Tenon also found that many more may follow in an attempt to escape the 50% rate of income tax, due to be introduced from next April on annual incomes above GBP150,000, with nearly half of the respondents (48%) still deciding what action to take. …Tenon points out that in the last month, high profile names such as the actor Sir Michael Caine and the artist Tracey Emin have threatened to change their tax residency to countries with more favorable tax rates. Popular locations for redomiciling include Monte Carlo, Guernsey, Liechtenstein, and the Cayman Islands. Andy Raynor, Chief Executive of Tenon Group, noted that entrepreneurs are showing their disapproval of the tax measures by “letting their feet do the talking.”
The mayor of London, meanwhile, is much less restrained regarding the foolishness of Gordon Brown’s class-warfare policy. Here’s what he has to say in the Daily Telegraph:
[T]he 50 [percent] tax rate that is beginning to drive these people away is a disaster for this country, and it is a double disaster that no one seems willing to talk about it. When Margaret Thatcher’s government cut the top rate of tax to 40 per cent in 1988, she was completing a series of reforms — beginning with the removal of exchange controls and followed by the Big Bang — that helped to establish London as the greatest financial centre on earth. Britain had been transformed from a sclerotic militant-ridden basket-case to a dynamic enterprise economy, and the capital became a global talent magnet. …So it is utterly tragic, at the end of the first decade of this century, that we are back in the hands of a government whose mindset seems frozen in the wastes of the 1970s.
By the way, I’m not picking on England. America is soon going to be making the same self-destructive mistake. Here’s my video on the broader subject of class-warfare tax policy.
39.6% base rate + 15% payroll tax = ~ 55%. Then add in the "cadillac tax" in the health care bill, and the embedded federal taxes in gasoline and other goods purchases. Oh! And let's not forget increased capital gains and dividends tax rates. And I almost forgot Harry Reid's extra 4% payroll tax on folks making over $200,000. :doh0715: I don't claim to be a master mathematician, but it's looking like the $200,000+ earners are going to be paying about 2/3 of everything they earn, 66 cents of every $1, to the federal government. Then we can add in state taxes, which in blue states can be 10-15%. Then add in local taxes. Damn, looks like about 18 cents of every dollar you earn is actually yours... and the truly sad part is the government is still spending trillions of dollars more than it is taking in! Oh well, that's what you get for being successful! And as the article says, those successful folks "vote with their feet." Nothing difficult to grasp. NY, MD, and CA are figuring this lesson out the hard way.
Will America Copy England’s Class-Warfare Policy? (http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/11/20/will-america-copy-englands-self-destructive-class-warfare-tax-policy/)
Posted by Daniel J. Mitchell
After several posts about crazy decisions by the UK government, mostly involving extreme political correctness, it’s time to get back to basics and look at tax policy. A financial services consulting firm in London has just released a survey with the stunning finding that one-fifth of entrepreneurs are thinking of escaping the country because of punitive taxes — particularly the new top tax rate of 50 percent.
Here’s what Tax-news.com reported:
The poll of more than 300 entrepreneurs by business advisors Tenon also found that many more may follow in an attempt to escape the 50% rate of income tax, due to be introduced from next April on annual incomes above GBP150,000, with nearly half of the respondents (48%) still deciding what action to take. …Tenon points out that in the last month, high profile names such as the actor Sir Michael Caine and the artist Tracey Emin have threatened to change their tax residency to countries with more favorable tax rates. Popular locations for redomiciling include Monte Carlo, Guernsey, Liechtenstein, and the Cayman Islands. Andy Raynor, Chief Executive of Tenon Group, noted that entrepreneurs are showing their disapproval of the tax measures by “letting their feet do the talking.”
The mayor of London, meanwhile, is much less restrained regarding the foolishness of Gordon Brown’s class-warfare policy. Here’s what he has to say in the Daily Telegraph:
[T]he 50 [percent] tax rate that is beginning to drive these people away is a disaster for this country, and it is a double disaster that no one seems willing to talk about it. When Margaret Thatcher’s government cut the top rate of tax to 40 per cent in 1988, she was completing a series of reforms — beginning with the removal of exchange controls and followed by the Big Bang — that helped to establish London as the greatest financial centre on earth. Britain had been transformed from a sclerotic militant-ridden basket-case to a dynamic enterprise economy, and the capital became a global talent magnet. …So it is utterly tragic, at the end of the first decade of this century, that we are back in the hands of a government whose mindset seems frozen in the wastes of the 1970s.
By the way, I’m not picking on England. America is soon going to be making the same self-destructive mistake. Here’s my video on the broader subject of class-warfare tax policy.