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> and down to the awesome simplicity of their tax forms and tax code. Actually the UK tax code is canonically simple and should be adopted by the whole world ;)
by kspaans 11y ago
> and down to the awesome simplicity of their tax forms and tax code. Actually the UK tax code is canonically simple and should be adopted by the whole world ;)
I hope that wink means you're being sarcastic.[0] Yes, the majority of people are only in a single income tax bracket (20%). And the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system means that most people who earn wages or salaries don't have to file their taxes. But only looking at income tax doesn't take into account the whole picture. "National Insurance" is effectively just an income tax but it's far more complicated than the income tax system (it doesn't get ring-fenced for pensions or health care or social services, it goes into the same coffers as income tax receipts).
But consumption tax is a VAT, which is notoriously expensive to collect. Then there are tax credits on dividends, and various business tax rules. Oh yeah and property tax is paid by the occupier of a house or apartment, not the owner (council tax)! And then there is the City of London that pretty much gets to write it's own rules.
The UK's tax system is better than some, but it's possible to do _much_ better.
0 - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-tax-simplification https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-tax-si...
- tajen 11y agoI wasn't being sarcastic. In France you also have the taxes you mention (VAT, CGT, property tax, inhabitation tax, ...). We don't have the PAYE (UK) / PAYG (OZ) form. Employers here have no less than 22 kinds of "NI" tax (old age, incapacity, complimentary incapacity, retirement, complimentary retirement, health 1, 2, 3 and 4, low income insurance, unemployment insurance, etc). And that's just for a salary. The company still has to pay land tax, local tax, dividends tax, etc. It is at such a point that I believe the complexity of the wage sheet (there are more than 96 mandatory mentions on the French salary sheet) is the reason we pay monthly instead of fortnightly. I really assure you that the simple implementation of PAYE in France would improve our national gross product by 10%. It is huge, it does mean that way more than 5% of employees, public servants, accountants and consultants are dedicated to write, understand, advise, control and ombudsmaning salary sheets.
- kspaans 11y agoOK, I agree the PAYE system is great for those who earn wages/salaries. If you earn ~£43+/year you are in the 40% bracket and may have to file a tax return, however. That's in order to get things like the right amount of tax relief on your retirement savings contributions. The rest of the non-salary & non-income tax system aren't any better than any other country, IMO.