A Third Of Uk Tax Comes From London, Report Says

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/a-third-of-uk-tax-comes-from-london-report-says-a7126756.html

The UK has become increasingly reliant on London for tax revenue since the financial crisis, taking almost 30 per cent of total tax revenue from the capital.

The figures from a Centres for Cities report highlights the drastic effect that a slowdown in London's economy could have on the rest of the UK.

The amount of tax generated in London increased by 25 per cent, or £28bn, between 2004-5 and 2014-15, while the share of tax generated in the other cities remained flat or fell.

The UK economy needs rebalancing and the focus needs to be moved from London to boost other areas.

[The Knimbies who say No]

Would be good to see benefit spend in London too, the housing benefit epicentre of the country.

[ChewingGrass]

and historically it was London that stripped the provinces and the empire of wealth.

London has never generated wealth it has aquired wealth from the subjugation of others, initially by military might and now by financialisation as its military and industrial power base has waned.

[spyguy]

Would be good to see benefit spend in London too, the housing benefit epicentre of the country.

I keep saying this - once you get out of the 'nice' bits, London is like Middlesbrough - with slightly better takeaways.

Whats even more anoying is that most of benefit claimants are not british!

Place is just doley central.

[South Lorne]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/a-third-of-uk-tax-comes-from-london-report-says-a7126756.html

The UK economy needs rebalancing and the focus needs to be moved from London to boost other areas.

..if Civil Service, Government and armed forces are included they need to be excluded....as they are there merely in London through geographical default ...and public sector taxes as a whole should not have been included in the comparison....

Edited July 9, 2016 by South Lorne

[winkie]

Lobsided, unbalanced country....have we reached the tipping point?

[BorrowToLeech]

And similarly, the queen pays far more in income tax than the majority of her subjects.

She's pretty much carrying the rest of us useless hangers on.

[scepticus]

There was an article on FTAV recently about how cities grow via super-linear scaling laws similar to those laws which govern the growth and body sizes of mammals. Its all about efficiency and surface area and metabolism etc.

Anyway, this itself is quite old news. What was interesting is that the Santa Fe researchers who originated this insight looked at various countries and cities and found that this law basically held. Except for the UK, strangely.

But when they looked more closely at this outlier they found that the law did hold; but only for London. The rest of British cities grew with boring old linear scaling.

So its official; London **is** sucking the life out of old Albion.

[spyguy]

There was an article on FTAV recently about how cities grow via super-linear scaling laws similar to those laws which govern the growth and body sizes of mammals. Its all about efficiency and surface area and metabolism etc.

Anyway, this itself is quite old news. What was interesting is that the Santa Fe researchers who originated this insight looked at various countries and cities and found that this law basically held. Except for the UK, strangely.

But when they looked more closely at this outlier they found that the law did hold; but only for London. The rest of British cities grew with boring old linear scaling.

So its official; London **is** sucking the life out of old Albion.

UK urbanisation is very strange.

Most of the large cities are in the North; the south only has 3 - London, Soton + Bristol.

The Northern cities are like places in the US rust belt.

London draws everyone in.

I know I sound like a broken drum but the UK benefit system is at the core of this distortion.

It encourages non productive people to stay in London - half of London resident draw (a lot) of benefit.

And the same happens in the North - the cities are pile up with non-productive.

Leaving the workers to commute in for hours.

[GreenDevil]

London is a xxxxpit. Sooner the economy is rebalanced the better for the country. If it means HPC and poverty short term so be, the people have nothing to lose. After all most are on HB and WTC...

[interestrateripoff]

UK urbanisation is very strange.

Most of the large cities are in the North; the south only has 3 - London, Soton + Bristol.

The Northern cities are like places in the US rust belt.

London draws everyone in.

I know I sound like a broken drum but the UK benefit system is at the core of this distortion.

It encourages non productive people to stay in London - half of London resident draw (a lot) of benefit.

And the same happens in the North - the cities are pile up with non-productive.

Leaving the workers to commute in for hours.

And the ex mining pit villages.

[billybong]

Apart from anything else such as where the tax take is actually spent (in London or elsewhere?) it would be interesting how much total credit/total debt (investment ) is pumped into London and to compare it with the rest of Britain, Very likely it's a similar percentage to the tax take percentage.

The figures from a Centres for Cities report highlights the drastic effect that a slowdown in London's economy could have on the rest of the UK.

A "drastic" slowdown in London's credit/debt would mean opportunities to divert some of the credit/debt elsewhere around Britain - it might even help to rebalance the economy away from the London financial sector and the crazy house prices in London and would likely seriously benefit Britain and even in a "drastic" way.

Don't hold your breath for it - basically you're dealing with self serrving bankers and their cronies and they don't like competition outside of the financial sector..

Edited July 9, 2016 by billybong

[South Lorne]

...ahh...bu

Apart from anything else such as where the tax take is actually spent (in London or elsewhere?) it would be interesting how much total credit/total debt (investment ) is pumped into London and to compare it with the rest of Britain, Very likely it's a similar percentage to the tax take percentage.

A "drastic" slowdown in London's credit/debt would mean opportunities to divert some of the credit/debt elsewhere around Britain - it might even help to rebalance the economy away from the London financial sector and the crazy house prices in London and would likely seriously benefit Britain and even in a "drastic" way.

Don't hold your breath for it - basically you're dealing with self serrving bankers and their cronies and they don't like competition outside of the financial sector..

..............ahh ..but....you have to factor in where our EU rebate as a net contributor is spent...and that's decided by the unelected officials in the EU ...how is that for democracy ...in fact it's a farce...many of the remain voters are beneficiaries under such rebates....and that's interesting.....

[nome]

And how much of that tax is spent back in London?

I once heard some figures quoted for investment in public transport... I can't remember the exact figures but for London and the SE it was measured in thousands of pounds per capita, whilst for the NE it was <£5 per capita!

Edited July 10, 2016 by nome

[Ballyk]

If Andrea 'Buy To' Letsom becomes PM she will scrap HS2 and forget about the North.

BTW I'm no massive fan of HS2, but opponents have yet to explain how they will relieve capacity on the West Coast mainline.

[Bloo Loo]

All this amazing income, and its still not enough.

[winkie]

[reddog]

Leaving the workers to commute in for hours.

Was actually thinking about starting a thread about this.

In my home town of Brum the few net tax contributors that there are left, are actively disadvantaging the themselves by moving to smaller towns 20 or 30 miles away which have less facilities, and they are then forced to commute into Brum everyday.

Edited July 10, 2016 by reddog

[South Lorne]

All this amazing income, and its still not enough.

..all the hot dog stands just of the Mall..they must earn a fortune...mainly tourist money...therefore exports....helps the balance of trade....

[Sandwiches33]

Londons benefits bill exceeds the 36billion spent on the military I heard, but I haven't seen any official figures on this.

So send claimants to fight isis as a solution?

[spyguy]

Londons benefits bill exceeds the 36billion spent on the military I heard, but I haven't seen any official figures on this.

So send claimants to fight isis as a solution?

Arent most in isis?

[Riedquat]

If Andrea 'Buy To' Letsom becomes PM she will scrap HS2 and forget about the North.

BTW I'm no massive fan of HS2, but opponents have yet to explain how they will relieve capacity on the West Coast mainline.

We don't, putting up with it is the lesser evil. Anyway she's not becoming PM (alas, if she was going to scrap that monstrosity). Increased transport capacity and ease just makes it easier for things to centralise to the larger place - London. The actual practical benefits for the country at large were realised a long time ago, "improving" them since then hasn't really added much and has taken away quite a lot.

[Trampa501]

London (like New York in many ways) has found ways to earn money. Not just financial services and banking hqs. All those tourists that use 5 airports to get to London - they don't just go shopping down Oxford Street or Portobello Road. They go to shows, stay in hotels/airbnbs, watch plays, go clubbing, buy lunch in Pret a manger etc.

I suspect the problem is that vast swathes of the country haven't worked out how to earn money after the demise of traditional industries.

[spyguy]

London (like New York in many ways) has found ways to earn money. Not just financial services and banking hqs. All those tourists that use 5 airports to get to London - they don't just go shopping down Oxford Street or Portobello Road. They go to shows, stay in hotels/airbnbs, watch plays, go clubbing, buy lunch in Pret a manger etc.

I suspect the problem is that vast swathes of the country haven't worked out how to earn money after the demise of traditional industries.

Hmm, dubious chart.

Needs to be tax/per head.

Greater London accounts for ~35% of the UKs population.

[Trampa501]

Hmm, dubious chart.

Needs to be tax/per head.

Greater London accounts for ~35% of the UKs population.

Not sure about your Greater London figure (22 million???), but it's certainly the case that huge numbers commute into London to work, from towns outside.

Would they find work to the same degree if the work in London disappeared?