New Proposal..brits Could Pay10% Tax On Assets

[timebandit]

Here we go again.

What this would mean is men and women having to pay a levy on the total value of their accumulated assets, including their properties, cash, bank deposits, money funds, and savings in insurance and pension plans.

A deal between the EU and euro partners subsequently resulted in every single man and woman paying a 10% ‘tax’ on their savings to bail out the banks.

The news came unexpectedly and was introduced as a ‘one-off’, in much the same way as the IMF is now recommending for other countries across the EU.

The tax will be on ALL households in the Eurozone. There is no discussion whatsoever of reforming the system.

New proposal..Brits could pay10% tax on assets

PDF link to IMF paper

[Limon]

It's a speculative paper from the german central bank discussing things governments could do in the event of impending national economic collapse and sovereign default. It's not going to happen in the UK unless you believe that (i) we're about to default on our debt and (ii) Osborne will turn to some random german bureaucrats for a solution.

[onlyme2]

It would collapse the property market in milliseconds if it came about.

There wiould be mass sell off of property to pay off 2/3%, let alone 10%, The property rich who bought decades ago have in many casesnot earnt a fraction of their nominal worth over their entire lifetimes. 500k prop 50k tax and err 10k if lucky in liquid savings

[Eddie_George]

It would collapse the property market in milliseconds if it came about.

There wiould be mass sell off of property to pay off 2/3%, let alone 10%, The property rich who bought decades ago have in many casesnot earnt a fraction of their nominal worth over their entire lifetimes. 500k prop 50k tax and err 10k if lucky in liquid savings

Nah, banks would allow you to release the equity in your pwoperdee to pay the tax. Financial innovation innit?

Edited January 11, 2015 by Eddie_George

[gf3]

I think inequality is a big problem and I think something needs to be done about it. They could target people with over a million but the rich are very good at finding loop hole. I don't hold up much hope of them making a success of this.

[Bloo Loo]

how about closing 10% of banks?

[billybong]

The IMF also suggests that this “one-off” tax should be reintroduced at least once every 25 years to ensure the economy stays in good order.

So it's only in good working order if those who benefit from the tax are still ripping you off.

[weaker]

Whilst i don't think this proposal will see the light of day, you can see the general direction governments go when they get desperate.

I would urge hpc'ers to think about the value of physical gold, accumulated anonymously with cash over a long time-frame in such a situation, or perhaps in the event of the introduction of means-testing for pretty much anything you can imagine e.g. nhs use, ...

Now, go on, squash me for being a bug. (I lost all my gold in a boating accident in Finland... now was it lakeKangasjarvi, or Kangasvesi??)

[olde guto]

Whilst i don't think this proposal will see the light of day, you can see the general direction governments go when they get desperate.

I would urge hpc'ers to think about the value of physical gold, accumulated anonymously with cash over a long time-frame in such a situation, or perhaps in the event of the introduction of means-testing for pretty much anything you can imagine e.g. nhs use, ...

Now, go on, squash me for being a bug. (I lost all my gold in a boating accident in Finland... now was it lakeKangasjarvi, or Kangasvesi??)

Hold gold anonymously, fine, but if this 10% plan ever came about you can be sure that laws would be introduced to regulate/register gold ownership, perhaps with the state laying claim to any unregistered goal. As for cash, well they could re-value the currency (plenty of countries have done it) anything in a bank account is fine but your wad of £50's under the mattress becomes a wad of pennies. Hold the cash in Dollars, fine, but you have to present your passport when they are converted to £ and banks record any electronic transactions, this is of course reported to the Government.

If you happen to be one of 1% you'll of course be fine as you'll have the resources to set-up an avoidance scheme.

[davidg]

With interest rates since 2008 the government has already levelled a tax of 20% on anyone with cash savings.

[Bruce Banner]

With interest rates since 2008 the government has already levelled a tax of 20% on anyone with cash savings.

How did you work that one out?

[happy_renting]

It would collapse the property market in milliseconds if it came about.

There wiould be mass sell off of property to pay off 2/3%, let alone 10%, The property rich who bought decades ago have in many casesnot earnt a fraction of their nominal worth over their entire lifetimes. 500k prop 50k tax and err 10k if lucky in liquid savings

Me likey!

(Actually, I don't, I detest and resent all tax)

[happy_renting]

How did you work that one out?

I expect Daveg refers to the subtle tax on cash, savings and pensions called 'inflation'.

[longgone]

Here we go again.

New proposal..Brits could pay10% tax on assets

PDF link to IMF paper

if that ever came into force , paris massacre would look like a fun day out

[frozen_out]

Surely if they did this then debts would have to be tax deductible? Most people would therefore owe nothing, and the rich would engineer it so they didn't owe anything either.

[wish I could afford one]

10% is a big number. Countries that successfully run wealth taxes normally take fractions of 1%. For example Italy's IVAFE rate was 0.2% for 2014.

[weaker]

Hold gold anonymously, fine, but if this 10% plan ever came about you can be sure that laws would be introduced to regulate/register gold ownership, perhaps with the state laying claim to any unregistered goal. As for cash, well they could re-value the currency (plenty of countries have done it) anything in a bank account is fine but your wad of £50's under the mattress becomes a wad of pennies. Hold the cash in Dollars, fine, but you have to present your passport when they are converted to £ and banks record any electronic transactions, this is of course reported to the Government.

If you happen to be one of 1% you'll of course be fine as you'll have the resources to set-up an avoidance scheme.

laws to register what was lost in a Finnish lake? Think about it...

It's portable too.

[billybong]

Surely if they did this then debts would have to be tax deductible? Most people would therefore owe nothing, and the rich would engineer it so they didn't owe anything either.

In that case it would mainly affect the retired who usually try to avoid debt and to some extent have lender debt limits due to age.

So it would effectively turn out to be a pre-emptive inheritance tax.

[TheCountOfNowhere]

Theyve already robbed us blind to save the banks.

I fear the only solution to the bankers might be these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillotine

Difficult times. Keep flexible and be able to move you and your family out of here at the drop of a hat.

Edited January 11, 2015 by TheCountOfNowhere

[davidg]

I expect Daveg refers to the subtle tax on cash, savings and pensions called 'inflation'.

Yes I think the figure is 23% if you held cash in a typical savings account relative to inflation.

[R K]

The tax will be on ALL households in the Eurozone

Wealt, inheritance taxes etc beyond a certain point are an excellent idea.

Not sure why people would jib at that.

[Rare Bear]

I expect Daveg refers to the subtle tax on cash, savings and pensions called 'inflation'.

Hardly subtle to anyone who can do arithmetic.

[Bruce Banner]

Yes I think the figure is 23% if you held cash in a typical savings account relative to inflation.

Your original post was rather misleading....

With interest rates since 2008 the government has already levelled a tax of 20% on anyone with cash savings.

Although taxation is usually quoted as an annual rate, I assume you meant 20% over a seven year period?

Originally you said "20% on anyone with cash savings" as though it was a tax. Now you are saying that it's 23%, relative to inflation, if held in a typical savings account, hardly the same thing. My average interest on savings over the last seven years is over 4% per annum, somewhat higher than inflation.

[Bill D'arblay]

Hold gold anonymously, fine, but if this 10% plan ever came about you can be sure that laws would be introduced to regulate/register gold ownership, perhaps with the state laying claim to any unregistered goal. As for cash, well they could re-value the currency (plenty of countries have done it) anything in a bank account is fine but your wad of £50's under the mattress becomes a wad of pennies. Hold the cash in Dollars, fine, but you have to present your passport when they are converted to £ and banks record any electronic transactions, this is of course reported to the Government.

If you happen to be one of 1% you'll of course be fine as you'll have the resources to set-up an avoidance scheme.

If things get that desperate we will see wholesale adoption of cryptonote technology like Bytecoin.

[Guest TheBlueCat]

ALL households in the Eurozone.

Since when was Britain in the Eurozone?