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Ray Winstone is right about tax – but I bet he won't leave Britain Ray Winstone is right about tax – but I bet he won't leave Britain
(7 months later)
They say you should never meet your heroes – or listen to them give radio interviews – as you'll only be disappointed. And so it might have been with Ray Winstone who, apropos of nothing, launched into an unrelenting attack on the UK's tax system on Monday during a conversation about West Ham on TalkSport. In dulcet cockney tones he ruefully observed: "I can see myself leaving here quite soon. I love this country but I've had enough of it. I don't see what we're being given back. I just see the country being raped … They spent billions and billions and billions of pounds on [the Olympic stadium] and we can't build hospitals and we close down fire stations."They say you should never meet your heroes – or listen to them give radio interviews – as you'll only be disappointed. And so it might have been with Ray Winstone who, apropos of nothing, launched into an unrelenting attack on the UK's tax system on Monday during a conversation about West Ham on TalkSport. In dulcet cockney tones he ruefully observed: "I can see myself leaving here quite soon. I love this country but I've had enough of it. I don't see what we're being given back. I just see the country being raped … They spent billions and billions and billions of pounds on [the Olympic stadium] and we can't build hospitals and we close down fire stations."
It was, admittedly, a rather clumsily phrased lament (replete with a WTF use of the word "rape"), but on the whole I think the lovely Winstone is right to question who actually benefits from British taxes. How are ordinary people benefiting from a system that lines the pockets of companies like A4E and Virgin and finances nuclear weaponry, yet is apparently barren when it comes to treating the sick or rescuing people from burning buildings?It was, admittedly, a rather clumsily phrased lament (replete with a WTF use of the word "rape"), but on the whole I think the lovely Winstone is right to question who actually benefits from British taxes. How are ordinary people benefiting from a system that lines the pockets of companies like A4E and Virgin and finances nuclear weaponry, yet is apparently barren when it comes to treating the sick or rescuing people from burning buildings?
Disappointment averted, then – but only because I elected to listen to the entire interview, instead of relying on the Telegraph's version of events, which implied Winstone had melodramatically announced a plan to leave the country. "Ray Winstone: 'High taxes will drive me out of Britain'" its headline proclaimed, linking the actor's comments to Liam Fox's plan to reduce or even abolish some taxes in an oxymoronic bid to make us "a more responsible society".Disappointment averted, then – but only because I elected to listen to the entire interview, instead of relying on the Telegraph's version of events, which implied Winstone had melodramatically announced a plan to leave the country. "Ray Winstone: 'High taxes will drive me out of Britain'" its headline proclaimed, linking the actor's comments to Liam Fox's plan to reduce or even abolish some taxes in an oxymoronic bid to make us "a more responsible society".
Is this the new rightwing line on tax? That we can fight avoidance, but only if we couple it with dramatically reducing taxes so as not to drive rich people away? I suppose that's one way of stopping tax dodgers: just don't have taxes.Is this the new rightwing line on tax? That we can fight avoidance, but only if we couple it with dramatically reducing taxes so as not to drive rich people away? I suppose that's one way of stopping tax dodgers: just don't have taxes.
And yet, and yet, I hate to break it to Fox, the Telegraph, George Osborne or whoever else will regurgitate this argument in the coming months, but I'm afraid there isn't actually any evidence that the rich will leave over higher taxes. According to Lloyds TSB, one in five wealthy Britons have threatened to leave the country in the next two years. Quick off the mark as ever, the Tories suggested this is in response to the possibility of a 50p tax rate. Not so – the two biggest reasons cited for leaving the country were crime and (understandably) the weather.And yet, and yet, I hate to break it to Fox, the Telegraph, George Osborne or whoever else will regurgitate this argument in the coming months, but I'm afraid there isn't actually any evidence that the rich will leave over higher taxes. According to Lloyds TSB, one in five wealthy Britons have threatened to leave the country in the next two years. Quick off the mark as ever, the Tories suggested this is in response to the possibility of a 50p tax rate. Not so – the two biggest reasons cited for leaving the country were crime and (understandably) the weather.
In fact, cutting taxes featured below infrastructure spending as an incentive for remaining in Britain, and was on the same level of importance as investment in public services. As the Wall Street Journal summarised: "In other words, the affluent want more government services not less. And taxes were a relatively minor concern in their decision to move."In fact, cutting taxes featured below infrastructure spending as an incentive for remaining in Britain, and was on the same level of importance as investment in public services. As the Wall Street Journal summarised: "In other words, the affluent want more government services not less. And taxes were a relatively minor concern in their decision to move."
A 2011 paper for the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities entitled "Tax Flight is a Myth" which looked at migration between US states found that "income tax increases cause little or no interstate migration" and that "low taxes can prevent a state from maintaining the kinds of high-quality public services that potential migrants value".A 2011 paper for the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities entitled "Tax Flight is a Myth" which looked at migration between US states found that "income tax increases cause little or no interstate migration" and that "low taxes can prevent a state from maintaining the kinds of high-quality public services that potential migrants value".
Funny isn't it, how, as Winstone suggested, people do value well-functioning hospitals, properly resourced schools and good public infrastructure. In fact, you might even say we rely on those things to survive. Could it be that, unlike Fox, not everybody gazes at a nurse and sees an imaginary price tag dangling from his or her uniform?Funny isn't it, how, as Winstone suggested, people do value well-functioning hospitals, properly resourced schools and good public infrastructure. In fact, you might even say we rely on those things to survive. Could it be that, unlike Fox, not everybody gazes at a nurse and sees an imaginary price tag dangling from his or her uniform?
Which brings me to my final point. Taxes aren't just about administration or money, they are about collectivism. Taxes are the tacit agreement we have all made to buy into society, to accept responsibility for each other and to show compassion. I fail to see how a society based upon Fox's ideas of individualism could be anything other than irresponsible. And on that note, do we really want a society in which taxes act as a sort of reverse blackmail? Where the amount of money we solicit from the rich lessens and lessens because we are so afraid of what they might do to us if it doesn't?Which brings me to my final point. Taxes aren't just about administration or money, they are about collectivism. Taxes are the tacit agreement we have all made to buy into society, to accept responsibility for each other and to show compassion. I fail to see how a society based upon Fox's ideas of individualism could be anything other than irresponsible. And on that note, do we really want a society in which taxes act as a sort of reverse blackmail? Where the amount of money we solicit from the rich lessens and lessens because we are so afraid of what they might do to us if it doesn't?
These Faustian pacts we are encouraged to make with the rich, where we jeopardise our public services in the misguided belief that we are acting in our own best interests, are not based on evidence. They are based on the ideology of a government comprising rampant individualists, where the leading party obtains 50% of its donations from the very sector guilty of aggressive tax avoidance. It is a total fallacy to suggest we only have the choice of eye-wateringly low taxes or tax dodging. And if that's the narrative they're going to start pushing, let's push right back.These Faustian pacts we are encouraged to make with the rich, where we jeopardise our public services in the misguided belief that we are acting in our own best interests, are not based on evidence. They are based on the ideology of a government comprising rampant individualists, where the leading party obtains 50% of its donations from the very sector guilty of aggressive tax avoidance. It is a total fallacy to suggest we only have the choice of eye-wateringly low taxes or tax dodging. And if that's the narrative they're going to start pushing, let's push right back.
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