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Why Cameron Should Disband the Coalition and Cut Taxes Now to Kickstart the Economy

Posted: 04/09/2012 00:00

As a working class boy from Sheffield, I've been a supporter of the Conservatives all my life - bar supporting a UKIP councillor in a row with Westminster Council - but I fear the Tories have lost their way right now when it comes to the UK economy.

The easiest thing in the world to get our economy moving is to cut taxes. It's the simplest, most direct route that sadly frightens David Cameron and George Osborne. They're frightened of being pointed labelled rightwing fascists with people saying, "what about the poor people who aren't earning good money?"

But if you haven't got affluent people, then you can't look after the ones who really need help in society. Benefits are paid for by people who are working. It doesn't come from the sky. Therefore you should encourage people to work and to encourage them, you have to allow them to can keep as much money as they can possibly keep so they can aspire to a better life. When you are in a situation where taxes are high, aspiration goes out of the window. People can see that they're going to get nowhere, so it's an attitude of 'what the hell'. Then you read about all the people who aren't paying taxes because they've got clever accountants. Do I think that's immoral? No. They're just looking at our tax system and working it out to their advantage.

But the man in the street doesn't get the chance to do that. That's where it's immoral, that not everyone is given the opportunity to reduce their tax. In America, the top tax rate is under 11%. Over here, the tax rate is ludicrous. What you're saying to people is don't bother earning over £150,000, because we will start taking more money off you, so you stop having aspiration. I own my own companies, and I pay myself a salary, a very big one, therefore I am very annoyed that I have to pay extra. I do everything legal, correct and proper. Not because morally I think that's the best thing in the world, but I have no alternative. If someone came to me with a scheme and said as a high salary earner in the centre of London, this could work for you, it's within the legal bounds of the tax system, I would take it up immediately.

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The government has got the middle classes, the salaried people by the throat and I think it's bad that the salary earner is made to pay for just about everything that happens in Great Britain.

I am still a Conservative but I am reluctantly. The only problem I have with UKIP is their policy towards immigration. I think it's too extreme, because I know Britain's strength has come from it over the centuries and that isn't going to change. And also I see a great deal of enthusiasm from people who have come to this country to work. They are prepared to work very, very hard, and not for cheap wages either. You see the first and the second generation too turn into very good business people as we know from the Asian community. In Stringfellows, with the girls, as long as they're EC, we're fine. A lot of my dancers are EC girls. They come from other countries to make their money here with an idea of going back, but the majority of them stay and become citizens and that's how it works.

Now, going back to the tax situation, it won't change because we have this ridiculous Coalition situation. It makes me so angry. I have no respect for Nick Clegg and I sometimes feel the same way about David Cameron. They both know their ideologies don't mix and the ones who are benefiting right now are Labour. And the way they dealt with the economy in the past, they shouldn't be seen in power for at least another 25 years. But because of our ridiculous Coalition, it could be that they could win the next General Election.

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What David Cameron needs to do tomorrow morning is disband the Coalition. If people say you can't do that, if I was him, I would say, well get rid of me, and we're going to form a minority government and then it would be up to the Liberals who would probably go along with Labour to throw out the Conservatives. Then, the British people would see what it's all about, that the Liberals will go with anybody to get any kind of power.

The Lib Dems have already proven that they can't deal with power, not in this day and age. They're an old finished political dogma that now should really disappear. We haven't got a Conservative government, we have people like David and George who speak like Conservatives, but sadly, don't put it into practice.

Why am I a Conservative when I'm a working class boy from Sheffield? That word again, aspiration. To aspire means you want a good life. That's what keeps everybody going.

But even if you had better tax breaks in this country, even with all the aspiration in the world, you've still got to work hard! People look at what I've got and they ask what's the secret? And I say 50 years - my life is good, but it took me that long to get here. I've been bankrupt about two or three times, but it's a matter of applying yourself and getting up and starting again, and I didn't do that with any A grades or first class diplomas, I did it with a desire to succeed and make money. And when people stop thinking that making money is a bad thing, then Great Britain will respond. I think Great Britain is a wonderful country and I think the future is still very good.

So David and George, cut the bloody taxes, so they are way, way less than 40% for anyone on over £34K. In fact, with anybody who earns over £150,000, cut it down to 10% and then nobody would bother going offshore and all the money would come back into Great Britain. In two or three years, with a major tax change like that, then Great Britain would be absolutely soaring. Cheers to that!

 
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As a working class boy from Sheffield, I've been a supporter of the Conservatives all my life - bar supporting a UKIP councillor in a row with Westminster Council - but I fear the Tories have lost the...
As a working class boy from Sheffield, I've been a supporter of the Conservatives all my life - bar supporting a UKIP councillor in a row with Westminster Council - but I fear the Tories have lost the...
 
 
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01:47 PM on 10/02/2012
I aspire to earn a great salary. However I also recognise that the fantastic opportunities we are given by our state through education, healthcare, infrastructure, come at a price. Without those, the opportunity to fulfil aspirations would be limited to the tiny minority with the pre-existing means to succeed, and a lucky few who succeed through genius or patronage. The greater mass will be left to rot. And so the reason I aspire to a great wage is not so I can one day have an account in the cayman Islands accruing an ever larger balance at the expense of my fellow citizens, but so that I can put back in to the system that allowed me to achieve success, for others to follow. Stringfellow's attachment to Thatcherite/Reaganite trickle-down economics which relies upon the rich getting richer in order to generously create jobs is proven to be an unworkable fallacy. They hoard wealth, and investment is made in efficiency measures to further increase wealth at the expense of human labour. No large multinational ever became such through altruism and a desire to create jobs - they are a temporary side-effect until they can figure out a way to shed those positions whilst maintaining profits. So Stringfellow, spare us the faux economics lecture, and just tell it like it is - you hate helping anyone other than yourself, and you would like shinier distractions from seeing the rest of us left working bloody hard to just feed our kids.
01:24 PM on 09/20/2012
"To aspire means you want a good life. That's what keeps everybody going" so true, yet the Goverment acts as if that's a crime. I love the article except not wanting Labour to come to power for the next 25 years, that's wrong. Labour sees the aspiration of ordinary people and encourage it, Conservatives acts as if aspiration is the preserve of the privileged.
10:11 AM on 09/19/2012
Like Mr Stringfellow, I am a working class boy, though I recall it was comprehensive education, full grants at university and the NHS that saved my life as a child that account for my present wealth, as much as any personal endeavour. Tax breaks would mean nothing to me, even though I pay in the top band. Let's face it, once you earn more than about £50,000 a year, you're having to put work in to find stuff to spend it on - inventing hobbies for yourself, buying dull magazines about cars or boats, looking at housing that's bigger than you need. Jewellery, watches, cars, houses. Effectively you're just an ape clad in glitter.
The important thing, after your basic needs are taken care of, becomes to do a job you love for its own sake, something that is more valuable than any financial remuneration. Personal ambition isn't limited to financial gain. I'd rather the money was spent improving schools and hospitals than enabling me to buy another round of champagne at Stringfellows. The best way of improving your own quality of life is to improve it for everyone - particularly in education. Look at the Scandinavian model.
Also, if we could just get tax dodgers with offshore accounts to pay what they owe then much of our debt could be cancelled. These people often employ a state-funded workforce - educated, kept healthy and safe from crime and international aggression at taxpayers' expense. They are benefits cheats, leaching off the
03:27 AM on 09/18/2012
A major issue here is education... newer generations don't want to work in pubs or call centers they only want "good" jobs. While 1 or 2 generations ago people would work on anything they could, to make a living... now people prefer to do nothing than work in a job that is not "good" in their point of view.
This leads to a lack of staff on a lot of jobs and recruitment of immigrants to fulfill the gap.

A possible solution to this issue would be to provide education for new areas currently booming like 3D printing, movie animations, etc.

We must understand the era of manual work is slowly disappearing as most things become automated but skilled people to design, program and build machines/systems are increasingly in demand.

Does the government education department check what is in demand in the job market and pass on this to schools so they won't be teaching youngsters about things that have no demand in the job market? I see a lot of designers who are jobless because design has very low demand compared to the number of people in the area.

Robotics is booming in the next decade... 3D printing is booming... schools should be focused on areas that are booming not areas that are dying.

These are the real issues that need solving... not reducing taxes on those with high incomes, that's for sure! :-)
03:23 AM on 09/18/2012
When I read this article I got the impression the author is well connected and all his friends must earn 150k+ because I don't believe anybody from the "people" would ever think lowering taxes to "rich" people who make 150k per year is a good thing... seriously... people who aspire large will always strive to make more money regardless of the amount of taxes they have to pay on it.

As for all the crazy outsourcing that has been going on for 10 years, why is nobody doing anything about it? Millions of jobs were moved abroad and now everyone is so surprised there is a crisis? Really?

There is no reason why UK would ever have to import any food from abroad... why not upgrade existing farms to hydroponic farms which aren't affected by weather conditions and plagues, produce 10 times more wield in 25% less time and bigger crops? You can grow anything anytime of the year... no crop losses no droughts... seriously... I don't understand why this is not being done.

I see movements around the world from people who build their own hydroponic farms at home or gardens or land... but the people who should be doing it aren't doing it.

By eliminating as many unnecessary imports as possible (from all the things that can be produced in-house), the economy would be boosted insanely.
08:46 AM on 09/14/2012
Mr. Stringfellow~
Apparently you suffer from the same delusions as your counterparts across the pond, the Republicans.
You think your party stands for working class people? Please.
Ever since your incompetent PM ( I certainly didn't, and never would vote for him), and his useless Chancellor backed into government, they've done their best to completely dismantle any kind of financial recovery while they attend galas, sporting events, and wine tastings at our expense.

I would take you more seriously if you just admitted you were a Tory supporter because you hate paying taxes.

Instead you try selling a cart of manure as perfume base.

Sell your manure elsewhere.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
MelRoy
I think, therefore...here I am
01:06 AM on 09/10/2012
Business owners stopped investing in the British people. The government strategy has been to promote class warfare - to literally pit the middle classes against the working and non-working poor - hoping maybe we will forget that we are all being screwed by the rich.

You are fully aware that clubs, pubs and restaurants routinely hire new immigrants because they are willing to agree to waive their right to a 48 hour week in exchange for very low pay and sleep six to a room for a year and send most of their wages back home - then they leave. I know the owner of one popular West End eatery who tells me he ONLY employs 18 year old Polish girls because he never has to worry about them asking for a promotion or a salary increase or Sundays off. And one Docklands banking division which replaced 500 staff with Indians because they work for peanuts and 7 days a week (including Christmas Day) for one year, then go home to be replaced by another 500. The local restaurant which used to do brisk business for breakfast, lunch and takeaway sandwiches has closed down because the bank employees spent no money on food or drink whatsoever. You cannot force people to spend money to support local businesses, but these cynical employment practices are responsible for a huge outflow of capital.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
MelRoy
I think, therefore...here I am
11:55 PM on 09/09/2012
- Do away with ALL tax avoidance loopholes.
- Do away with the working tax credit, and raise the minimum wage to £10 per hour.
- Modify employment law so that only those people who have resided in the UK for at least a year have permission to work, to deter unskilled workers from coming over and then sending most of their income home.
- Invest in Britain's infrastructure, and train (or retrain) the unemployed in valuable related trades (having worked on domestic projects, I am aware we must import engineers and i.e. electricians from overseas as we have a severe skills shortage in these disciplines).
- Reduce rates and cap commercial rents. Untold numbers of small businesses have gone under because of greedy landlords and sky-high rates.
- Introduce rent control on private residential properties and bring back home improvement grants for the working and middle classes.
- Time the Royal Family was entirely self-funding.
- Middle income earners are worse off now than ever, because each time the government lowers the 20% threshold they reduce the 40% threshold by the same amount. Introduce 5% progressive tax thresholds for every £10k worth of income starting at £50k, capped at 45%.
- Reduce VAT to 15%.
- Reduce the tax on fuel - because high fuel costs mean high costs for everything else (including food).
- Education, education, education.
- Raise the state pension, not the pension age. Stop starving Granny.
12:53 AM on 09/10/2012
I concur absolutely, not much left to say! But I think it's way above the heads of our politicians. Twelve changes are far too many for them to think about all at once!
03:42 AM on 09/18/2012
MelRoy covers a lot of points similar to what I commented.

One point not in this list is about upgrading existing farms to hydroponic farms, to stop importing vegetables/fruits. Hydroponic farming basically guarantees wield since it is not dependent on weather conditions and not vulnerable to plagues. It does not use soil and you can grow anything anytime of the year at optimal controlled conditions.

With vertical hydroponics, farms would benefit from:
- Produce 10 times more wield (it can be more depending on the vertical area used)
- Growth rate is increased by 25%
- Crops grow larger and healthier
- There is almost no waste
- No need for machinery, soil, fertilizers or chemicals
- No soil means no worry about insects or plagues
- It does not require sunlight and does not have to be done outdoors

What could be done to implement this:
1. Define a standard model of hydroponic farm with highest productivity / cost ratio
2. Provide workshops for all farmers to learn about hydroponics
3. Define a price and production level per square meter for all different types of vegetables/fruits so anyone who wants to upgrade can do the math first
4. Provide means for farmers to upgrade their farms in form of low interest loans for example
10:14 PM on 09/09/2012
The author of this article confuses his own self interest,and that of his friends,with those of ordinary people of our country.
06:35 PM on 09/09/2012
You are an affable sort of chap Peter, but I think you are, to a degree wrong on this one. I feel that the personal allowances at the bottom end of the scale should be increased, to say £11 - £12k. and a further tax band of 75% introduced at £150k. Businesses rely the toil of their workers and on ordinary people purchasing their goods and/or using their services, they get rich from that, therefore it is only right that they further invest in to the market place to keep the pendulum swinging!

Joe Public, wherever he/she sits in within the framework of society, pays taxes on what they earn and on what they spend! If they do not earn, they cannot spend, if they cannot spend, they cannot earn, as eventually the whole capitalist system will grind to a halt!
05:06 PM on 09/09/2012
Stringfellow should stick to his business. Which many think is not the business at all. Where is his economic credential? What does he know about macro or micro economics?

Biggest problem with economy, arms length regulations and whatever regulations were in force were not applied rawbustly. It is about time, some congenital idots realise that economic mayhem was brought by banks and city, with many Ponzi schemes and services provided just to enrich themselves.

Regan, George Bush and others, did cut the taxes for rich and economy took a tumble. While Clinton brought things under control.

LIBOR scandal and money laundering by some banks only goes to.

Also just have a look round where rich avoid paying taxes by transferring their wealth to off shore bank accounts. So Mr. S don't betray your ignorance.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
jessjesskk
Benevolent Zombie Power
04:26 PM on 09/09/2012
Income taxes should be cut to foster activity: yes

BUT inheritance taxes should be increased drastically (with an exit tax) above a certain threshold (say £5m for the sake of discussion), to rebalance starting chances in life

AND
In the current environment, how would cameron got any government without the LibDems?
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
knightinchainmail
04:04 PM on 09/09/2012
Was going to make another comment, but to be honest Peter you are such an intellectual lightweight can't be bothered
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Lykos
Nobody Never Eat No Fifty Eggs
04:00 PM on 09/09/2012
The government don't lower taxes because they have overheads. And unlike a spilt glass of well-marked-up and likely watered-down lager in your joint, there's no real flow downwards from cutting taxes. Cut taxes from the rich, and the money is hoarded, hidden away from the economy, the economy shrinks. Cut taxes from the upper middle businessmen (and that's who you're fighting for), and the money pays down debt or gets hidden in tax avoidance schemes, the economy shrinks. But instead, tax the comfortable fairly, and fully representatively, and place public money downwards where it can do some actual good...? And those poorer people *spend* their money (out of *necessity*) and the economy gets the money back, and your economy doesn't shrink - it doesn't grow much faster, i know, but unlike your vapid suggestion it doesn't shrink.
Also. The Tory government *can't* disband the coalition. It's the only reason they were able to be in power in the first place. Oh. And you're a twerp, and i can't believe anyone published your dumba55 theories.
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Lykos
Nobody Never Eat No Fifty Eggs
04:00 PM on 09/09/2012
The easiest thing in the world would be to cut entry prices to your club. And the easiest thing in the world would be to offer free beer. And yeah, you'd get people blinded by greed and the only something-for-nothing that's going on out there turning up in droves to your business, Mr Stringfellow. But you don't do that, do you? In order to pay for the rent, the electricity, the stock, the bartenders, the bouncers and so on (and see how each of those could *easily* be parodies of what's being paid for by government)... oh, and of course, for your more-than-generous skim off what you deem to be the deep top... You *have* to charge. It's just good business sense. You don't lower prices because you have overheads. The government don't lower taxes because they have overheads.