Re: Marxism back again : Sun Jul 08, 2012 8:40 pm  

You'll know that Marxism is back when the middle classes of the UK paay alot more in tax to fund social and health care, rather than relying on the wealthy to pay for those things for them and moaning.

Re: Marxism back again : Sun Jul 08, 2012 9:08 pm  

Sal Paradise wrote:

The mods on here will be pleased - as long as they eat at the top table!!

What do you mean by that, or is it yet another statement you couldn't hope to back up with any facts?

Re: Marxism back again : Mon Jul 09, 2012 6:51 am  

Dally wrote:

You'll know that Marxism is back when the middle classes of the UK paay alot more in tax to fund social and health care, rather than relying on the wealthy to pay for those things for them and moaning.

it is back then, because VAT has gone up, middle England pays more taxes these days than it did under Blair, in fact for most people it was that Blair era when taxes were at their lowest

Re: Marxism back again : Mon Jul 09, 2012 11:00 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

The mods on here will be pleased - as long as they eat at the top table!!

How did you get on when you reported your drug-dealing, benefit-thieving relative to the relevant authorities, Sal?

Re: Marxism back again : Mon Jul 09, 2012 11:01 am  

sally cinnamon wrote:

Skidelsky is a great writer, his book "Keynes: Return of the Master" is a superb read for summarising the different strands of economists and their alternative explanations of depressions and financial crises.

I'll look that up. Ta.

Re: Marxism back again : Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:10 pm  

sally cinnamon wrote:

it is back then, because VAT has gone up, middle England pays more taxes these days than it did under Blair, in fact for most people it was that Blair era when taxes were at their lowest

The problem in this country and the US is that the very wealthy and business pay a hugely dispportionate part of total tax (arguably due to paricularly unequal income distributions in those countries). This causes problems as because politicians are beholden to the wealthy to pay the bills they are easily influenced by them and need to promote their interests. A key issue arises in times like these in that the incomes of the wealthy, self-employed and businesses are liklely to fuctuate wildly and generally go down and so tax take significantly falls (and with it deficit increases). If a higher proportion of tax was paid by the middle (who decide elections!) then tax take would fluctuate less with the economy - as alot of said people are on fixed salaries.

Re: Marxism back again : Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:25 pm  

Or ...

Companies could just pay the tax they're supposed to.




Ooooo look – I've just had a rocket-science moment.

Re: Marxism back again : Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:46 pm  

Mintball wrote:

Or ...

Companies could just pay the tax they're supposed to.




Ooooo look – I've just had a rocket-science moment.

How are we as a society going to deal with the care and health needs of an ageing population?

Re: Marxism back again : Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:56 pm  

Dally wrote:

How are we as a society going to deal with the care and health needs of an ageing population?

Mintball wrote:

Or ...

Companies could just pay the tax they're supposed to.




Ooooo look – I've just had a rocket-science moment.

To add what should be howlingly logical: you employ the number of people you need to. You train them properly. You don't expect them to do a visit in 15 minutes. You don't give them zero-hours contracts. You pay them a proper, living wage. Which means they'll be in work – and they won't need in-work benefits to survive. They'll be paying tax themselves – and they'll be contributing to their local economy, helping that to thrive.

Yet another rocket-science moment.

Re: Marxism back again : Mon Jul 09, 2012 1:08 pm  

[quote="Mintball"][/quote]

If they're not then HMRC should be chasing them with typical public sector efficiency.

The fact is they are paying what the law and HMRC say they should. So, again it comes back to political decision making.