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Yep. We all knew the Venezuelans would not benefit from the money.

This is why we need Bluesky/X/Facebook/Youtube etc. Governments must be held accountable. Without these platforms we will only have the “official narrative” and any opposition will be denounced as conspiracy theory.

Why would anyone swap Greenland for pieces of green paper?

Big businesses yes, but only if we understand what “big” means. The government seems to think that wealthy is anyone who is a higher rate tax payer and that by freezing tax thresholds they are creating a country with more wealthy people.

One example of a loan against an unrealised capital gain is mortgage equity. But I think there needs to be some exemption to accommodate many old people who rely on these to live. And unless you tax capital gains on a primary residence taxing a loan made against a primary residence seems unfair.

When I injured myself while walking in CZ, I was stitched up at a nearby hospital. I had to show my passport and my EHIC card and understand that costs were billed back to the NHS (which I paid into for 40 years). Can’t there be a similar reciprocal arrangement in place in the UK for EU nationals?

But surely the government needs to introduce a wealth tax to fund public sector final salary pensions, increase funding for the NHS, pay train drivers more and build HS3, HS4, HS5 etc. I don’t see them getting around to lifting lids out of poverty. ☺️

… but with the bewildering range of “possible” tax rises that the press has speculated over for weeks, it’s a mathematical certainty that some of them will be right. And those that “guessed correctly” will claim they knew all along.

We already do. But maybe the rates for those taxes need to increase to align with other types of income.

A wealth tax will always be popular so long as the threshold for paying it is greater than your own wealth. Setting the threshold at £10 million meets this requirement for far more than 75% of the public. The 80% of millionaires are probably the millionaires with < £10 million wealth.

There is an argument to say that the reason for wealth is a failure to tax income. If income tax were higher, fewer people would be able to accumulate wealth in the first place.

“If the money is spent wisely” Hmmmm. 🤔

Not all wealth is created in the same way. If someone is careful with their money then they will build up wealth. But should that accumulated wealth be taken away from them as punishment for them not spending it?

Partners at magic circle law firms earn way more than that - you’re talking in the region of £1.5MM+ drawings per annum. But the law firms will collectively increase their costs to cover the extra tax burden. This increase will be unpopular but will generate GDP growth which is the aim.

Why would this be popular? One way that the law firms could fund it is by cutting the bonuses and reducing pay rises of the support staff who are regularly employed. That way the lawyers increase their pay to cover the extra tax burden and the “normal” staff (IT, procurement, HR etc) lose out.

Their argument will be that “you are wealthy if you’re a higher-rate taxpayer” and they’ll include your house as one of the assets. 🙁

I’m anticipating extra taxes for the wealthy who are earning more than £50,000 per year or those with more than £500,000 in assets. Easy peasy. Job done.

The ban is to protect the Israeli fans from the risk of violence. This seems the right thing to do. The fact that it’s necessary to impose the ban is the issue. But simply trying to reverse the ban is not going to solve the problem.

Land taxes make sense as they can be levied on a formula that is linked to area of land owned and the land usage/purpose. It’s other “wealth taxes” that are really difficult to measure.

Brilliant as ever Rosie. You are a national treasure.