Golden Shower Report post Posted October 4, 2005 With Brown getting desperate to shore up public finances, he's planning a raid on the insurance industry. Why should we care if he raids these companies? Quite simple, IMO, this is another raid on our pensions. So while the "prudent" chancellor raids our savings, he then tells us to save more! Brown raids insurance companies It wouldn't be so gauling if they weren't told by the treasury that they would qualify for tax breaks if they used a more conservative investing strategy. Now they have been told that because they have so much cash, they are trying to avoid paying tax so cough up! Now if you work in the industry I can imagine it's going to be just a little bit harder to keep your job, with the extent insurers use offshoring. Gordon, if you were "prudent", you wouldn't be in this situation! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest KingCharles1st Report post Posted October 4, 2005 With Brown getting desperate to shore up public finances, he's planning a raid on the insurance industry. Why should we care if he raids these companies? Quite simple, IMO, this is another raid on our pensions. So while the "prudent" chancellor raids our savings, he then tells us to save more!Brown raids insurance companies It wouldn't be so gauling if they weren't told by the treasury that they would qualify for tax breaks if they used a more conservative investing strategy. Now they have been told that because they have so much cash, they are trying to avoid paying tax so cough up! Now if you work in the industry I can imagine it's going to be just a little bit harder to keep your job, with the extent insurers use offshoring. Gordon, if you were "prudent", you wouldn't be in this situation! Have these companies already paid tax somewhere down the line already? Just wondering. If so, then isnt this illegal? BUT even so, if the insurance companies get hit by this new outlay, they will just pass it on to the consumer... THATS US!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ShirtyTheSlightlyAggresiveBear Report post Posted October 4, 2005 Under current tax rules, insurers pay tax only on the funds that they move out of their reserves to pay as dividends to shareholders. The draft legislation would see insurers take a one-off tax hit on the entire sum in the investment reserve, which the industry fears could cost hundreds of millions of pounds. After the initial hit, insurers will then pay tax on the amount by which the investment reserve grows. Wont this now mean that instead of holding onto the funds, they will start to distribute more it via dividends? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dog Report post Posted October 4, 2005 Your right! These stealth taxes (and red tape) are having a very destructive effect. Unemployment is not only rising but the rate is accelerating (and all the job losses are from the private sector). Gordon blames the far east, oil prices etc. The reality however is that many of the jobs are being exported to Ireland, Switzerland, Germany and France. Ireland has now overtaken the UK as a pharmaceutical manufacturer. They were almost unkown in this field 20 years ago. Terrible damage (some of it irreperable) is being done to the private sector but the government seems too arrogant to care. Gordon is happy to wreck the econmy just to get the key to number 10. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Masked Tulip Report post Posted October 4, 2005 We may as wel all give up and go get one of those cushy jobs in the public sector with a public sector pension. I see Labour being in power for at least one more election and, as a self-employed person, it is increasingly impossible to justify being self-employed in this climate. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zsuzsanna Report post Posted October 4, 2005 Dear Dog, It is not only the private sector which is affected. Myself and my husband we both work in the public sector (diffrent area) and we both had redundancies from our workplace. And some more are comming. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dog Report post Posted October 4, 2005 Dear Dog,It is not only the private sector which is affected. Myself and my husband we both work in the public sector (diffrent area) and we both had redundancies from our workplace. And some more are comming. On a personal note I hope you guys find something soon. The wider picture however is that the public sector is still growing (despite promises of big reductions by Gordon Brown). The public sector seems to be out of control. They no longer see themselves as public servants and they are draining the resources and vitality of the nation. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zsuzsanna Report post Posted October 4, 2005 On a personal note I hope you guys find something soon. The wider picture however is that the public sector is still growing (despite promises of big reductions by Gordon Brown). The public sector seems to be out of control. They no longer see themselves as public servants and they are draining the resources and vitality of the nation. I know exactly what you mean. The public sector is not efficient enough. Unfortunately our managers do not seem to be bothered by that. Half of our staff could do all the work if it would be arranged more efficiently. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
