Thursday, October 02, 2014

Taxing your brain

There has been rather a lot of ink spilt and blogs filled with righteous anger at the proposal of the government in relation to tax.

But, wait a minute, what short memories we all have.   The PM’s forward promise to move the 40% threshold up to £50,000 means that the rate will kick in at the boundary level last seen in 2009/10 under, yes, him, Gordon Brown.  

Let's look at the details. In 2009 the 40% rate kicked in after £37,400 of taxable income.  Under a Conservative government in 2020 after a decade in office it would kick in at £37,500 (£50,000 – £12,500). A move in the right direction of £100… 

Confused?  

Well the threshold drag has been a hard-to-headline stealthy massive tax hike by this government. With no other deductions and no change in the N.I. rate (which surely will be abolished in a final Lawsonian type reform towards which George Osborne is ideologically inclined)  the net take home figure would only be improved by some £2,100 for a £50,000 earner in 2020 compared to 2010 – a 4.2% relief. 

Whereas someone on minimum wages making £12,500 in 2020 compared to 2010 will see nearly a 100% improvement in their net take home pay…

And how are you going to vote in May 2015 if you are not in the higher wage bracket?  Bit of a no brainer really.

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