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Tag: income tax

  • End tax relief for datacentres to fund energy bill support this winter, say Greens ahead of Budget

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    Green party leader Zack Polanski (Green Party of England and Wales). Image: Bristol Green Party Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
    Green party leader Zack Polanski (Green Party of England and Wales). Image: Bristol Green Party Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
    • Greens call on government to remove datacentres from full expensing tax relief scheme to bring forward an additional £5 billion in corporation tax across 2027-2029
    • They say this could be used to increase the Warm Homes Discount by up to £500 for those with highest energy needs 
    • Leader Polanski says the government should be prioritising lowering bills over handouts for big tech at Autumn Budget next week

    The Green Party has called on the government to end certain tax reliefs for datacentres and use the money to fund support for energy bills this winter, as households are expected to see bills rise by over £271 in January – the biggest jump in four years.

    The Greens say that by removing datacentres from ‘full expensing’ tax relief, the Treasury could bring forward an additional £5 billion extra in corporation tax across 2027-2029. This could be used to increase the Warm Homes Discount from £150 to up to £650 to support 5.6 million households facing a spike in their energy bills. 

    There are currently around 500 datacentres in the UK but their number is expected to expand by more than a third. Last week, the Chief Executive of Ofgem warned that datacentres could push up household energy bills even further. 

    Earlier this year the Green Party called for an immediate end to the blanket designation of new datacentres as ‘critical infrastructure’ and tighter planning rules to prevent a rash of new datacentres taking precedence over households for water and energy usage.

    Green Party leader Zack Polanski said: 

    “Right now the government is allowing big tech giants and energy-guzzling datacentres to kick their tax obligations down the road while families are being stretched to breaking point by ever-rising energy bills. 

    “This is wrong. The government’s priority at the Budget next week should be supporting families this winter as temperatures drop and bills spike. 

    “Ending full expensing tax relief for datacentres would free up £5 billion – money that could be used to fund immediate support for households struggling with their energy bills.” 

    This is part of a broader package of measures the Green Party are calling for at the Autumn Budget, which they say could raise over £60 billion to fund urgent cost of living measures. The Green Party Leadership, MPs and Peers have today written to the Chancellor laying out their full proposals, which include: 

    • Aligning rates of Capital Gains Tax with Income Tax and closing loopholes, to raise an additional £19.7 billion annually by 2030. 
    • Applying National Insurance to investment income, in line with employment income, to raise at least £6.1 billion per year.
    • Introducing an annual wealth tax of 1% on assets over £10 million, and 2% over £1 billion, to raise at least £14.8 billion. 
    • Introducing a proper windfall tax of 38% on the UK’s biggest banks, to raise at least £19 billion. 
    • Ending tax breaks to fossil fuel producers to raise £2.7 billion. 
    • Introduce a three-year emergency brake on rents and lifting the freeze on Local Housing Allowance which would cost £2 billion a year by 2030. 
    • Funding free bus travel for under 22s in England costing £1.9 billion a year.
    • Extend free school meals to all primary and secondary school children to help with food cost inflation costing around £1.5 billion per year 

  • Nigel Farage blasted for ‘fantasy economics’ as Reform claims £225billion savings by axing net zero projects

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    Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.
    Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/farage-reform-net-zero-tax-labour-child-winter-fuel-b1229834.html

    He is calling for the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap and restoring the winter fuel payment to all pensioner

    Nigel Farage’s tax and spend plans were slammed as “fantasy economics” as Reform UK claimed it could save a massive £225 billion over five years by scrapping net zero projects.

    The Reform UK leader was seeking to march onto Labour territory by making a series of pledges including axing the two-child benefit limit and restoring the winter fuel allowance for all pensioners.

    Mr Farage’s party also wants the threshold for paying the basic rate of income tax to be dramatically increased from £12,570 to £20,000.

    …

    Reform sources said the £225 billion figure of savings from ditching net zero projects was based on a report by the Institute for Government.

    But the IfG stressed that the bulk of this green investment, highlighted in the paper called “Paying for Net Zero” was due to come from the private sector, not public funds.

    Jill Rutter, senior fellow at the IfG, told The Standard: “Cancelling private investment does not save the Government money.”

    …

    Nigel Farage reminds you that he's the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.
    Nigel Farage reminds you that he’s the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.

  • SNP vow to ‘sabotage’ Labour’s ‘watered-down’ House of Lords reforms

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/snp-vow-sabotage-labours-watered-down-house-lords-reforms

    King Charles III reads the King’s Speech, as Queen Camilla sits beside him during the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords, London, July 17, 2024

    THE SNP has vowed to “sabotage” Labour’s “watered-down” House of Lords reforms with a deluge of amendments.

    Labour’s House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, aiming to exclude the last remaining 92 hereditary peers from the legislature, faces its third reading in the House of Commons today.

    But SNP MP Pete Wishart has tabled amendments ranging from abolishing the institution altogether to making peers’ £342 daily allowance liable for income tax.

    Pointing to the “egregious example” of £18,808 paid to private healthcare tycoon Lord Hameed of Hampstead last year, despite him playing no role and failing to vote even once, Mr Wishart argues that taxing the £20 million paid out in allowances last year could generate over £9m — enough to restore Winter Fuel Payments to more than 22,000 pensioners in Scotland.

    Urging Scottish Labour MPs to “at least” back him on taxing allowances, Mr Wishart commented: “That’s the only viable option for anyone who believes in democracy.

    …

    “The Labour Party has repeatedly broken its promise to abolish the House of Lords for more than a century and, frankly, this embarrassingly limited Bill is 114 years too little, too late.

    “The undemocratic House of Lords is an archaic institution of the kind you’d find in a banana republic and it’s second only in size to the Congress of China costing taxpayers more than £200m a year.

    …

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/snp-vow-sabotage-labours-watered-down-house-lords-reforms

  • Greens propose that equalising capital gains tax could pay for lifting the two-child benefit cap many times

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    Image of Keir Starmer and a poor child.
    Zionist Keir ‘Kid Starver’ Starmer. Image thanks to The Skwawkbox.

    Capital Gains Tax is paid at a lower rate than Income Tax so that unearned income is taxed less than earned income: rich people who don’t even have to watch it coming in are taxed less than the hard-working families that we hear so much about. The Green Party argues that hundreds of thousands of children can be lifted out of poverty if Labour committed to equalising capital gains tax to pay to scrap the two-child benefit cap. The four newly elected Green MPs, will be proposing a reasoned amendment to the King’s Speech that includes the scrapping of the two-child benefit.  

    The IFS estimates that the cap will impact 2.63 million children by the end of this parliament and that scrapping the cap would cost in the region of £3.4billion – before taking into account the wider economic impact of poverty on health and welfare systems. In their recent manifesto, the Green Party estimated that making Capital Gains Tax fairer could raise £16bn, a move that would impact less than 2% of income taxpayers. This £16bn figure is supported by research conducted by Arun Advani, a tax expert at the University of Warwick, who estimated that equalising CGT and income tax rates would raise £16.7bn a year.

    Green MPs will today propose an amendment to propose the government scraps the two-child benefit cap. Green Party Co-Leader and Bristol Central MP Carla Denyer, speaking on behalf of the Green group of MPs said

    “I think Labour are serious when they say they want to change the country. But the change they are looking to achieve will always be hamstrung for as long as they limit their own potential to raise additional revenue to spend on frontline services. The impact of this approach is already clear. Every day we have children going hungry, unable to concentrate in school or struggling to ascertain even the very basics – this is the real world impact of child poverty.  And so today we’re offering Labour a positive fairer taxation that will allow them to redistribute money from some of the wealthiest to some of the very poorest. This is a political choice that they must now make.”   

    Green Party Work, Employment and Social Security Spokesperson, Prof Catherine Rowett said, “Scrapping the two-child benefit cap is a moral and practical imperative. It is a matter of social, economic and racial justice. Today we have outlined one way that Labour, if they had the political will, could choose to help millions of children. And child poverty blights lives and costs millions, as generations of children are condemned to lower achievement and a lifetime of poor health. When they say there is no money, remember this is a political choice – they’re ignoring the political, social and economic costs of keeping children in poverty.”  

  • Labour’s policy is unending poverty for the working class

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour’s-policy-unending-poverty-working-class

    …

    Labour has ruled out a wealth tax if it wins the next general election.

    And to make it absolutely clear, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has emphasised that Labour would not increase the top rate of income tax.

    …

    The first of Starmer’s 10 pledges when running to succeed Jeremy Corbyn was to “increase income tax for the top 5 per cent of earners.”

    …

    In a recent study the London School of Economics wealth tax commission concluded that a one-off wealth tax was preferred over increasing taxes on work or spending.

    A one-off wealth tax on millionaire couples paid at 1 per cent a year for five years, they found, would raise £260bn.

    By way of contrast Reeves’s spending plans rise not even to a modest £12bn.

    Labour’s latest policy reversal is the clearest sign that Starmer’s electoral strategy hinges on assuring the rich and powerful that neither their wealth or power is threatened by Labour.

    This is Westminster Labour’s new philosophy of never-ending poverty for working people.

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour’s-policy-unending-poverty-working-class