Gordon Brown can't add up

naffa said:
Damn, I definitely won't be voting for him after that. :p
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So an illegal war, screwing up the economy, raising hundreds of stealth taxes, and raiding pensions are all forgiveable, but holding up ten fingers when he says "five" is the ultimate deal-breaker? :p
 
lucasade1 said:
I can only hope it's voters just didn't study their policies and voted out of environmental concerns, surely no one can want a britain like that?
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Thinking about it, I reckon it's as much the fault of the Green Party as it is of ignorant voters. There's a Green active about where I live and in the last local election he spent ages blabbing about the environment and nothing else, so people figured that they just didn't have any other policies.

They seem to avoid talking about other policies, and I don't think it's just because the environment is their flagship cause.
 
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Superewza said:
Fine, but you still haven't made a case for the conservatives... the would raise taxes across the board if they got voted in.
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OK - let's try to clear this tax issue once and for all...

Labour have massively increased the overall tax burden to the UK economy since 1997. The Institute of Fiscal Studies has published a very insightful report on the UK taxation system ( http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn09.pdf ) which reveals several interesting facts:

Firstly, here is an extract ( from http://www.ifs.org.uk/ff/revenue_composition.xls which is referenced in that report) showing total annual tax receipts from just before labour came to power in 1997 through to the latest available figures in 2008/9

taxes1.jpg


Notice that the total net tax income has almost doubled from £269Bn to over £500Bn during that time. Income tax has more than doubled, National Insurance has more than doubled, Corporation tax has increased by >50%, VAT has increased by 68%, pre-housing slump Stamp Duty has increased by >400%, and Capital Gains Tax has increased by over 600% :eek:

In addition to this, it has introduced and/or increased many other 'stealth' taxes which, whilst small in total tax revenue, have a big impact on those particular items/markets (e.g. Air Passenger taxes up by 375%, Insurance Premium Tax up by >200%).

However during that time labour has also increased borrowing more in real terms than any peacetime government.

It's like you earning £20,000 today and getting a doubling in your salary, but spending all of that plus going out and racking up £40,000 in credit card debt. :mad:

As far as income tax is concerned, the number of higher-rate income tax payers has almost doubled, and:

The top 1% of income tax payers pay 23% of the total income tax bill.
The top 10% of income tax payers pay 53% of the total income tax bill.
The top 50% of income tax payers pay 89% of the total income tax bill.

You can see why the introduction of the new 50% income tax rate is not going to help, because if even a tiny number of the top 1% earners decide to leave the UK then it will have a massive negative impact on total income tax revenue.
 
Superewza said:
Oh yeah, because nobody else uses stooges.

Gordon Brown hasn't done anything to the economy, it was all set in motion by Blair (in this country at least). Everybody makes mistakes, are we to be so pedantic that this is a deciding factor in where your vote goes?
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You know he was the chancellor before right?
 
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