The game has changed.. is it dawning on people yet?

[I1L2T3]

I saw it but took no notice. Why would the EU renegotiate the free trade agreement which was the cornerstone of Treaty of Rome. I was assuming we were discussing something feasible not pie in the sky. But if that is the backbone of your ideas to tax multinationals then I wish you luck.

 

The main idea is to forget about the concept of free trade, because we don't have it so there is no point pretending.

 

That feeds into the idea, common across the political spectrum although more so on the right, that we need to renegotiate our position with the EU. We need some basis on which to do that and protecting British jobs and industry should be at the core of it.

 

Are you happy with the EU? Are you happy that competitors outside the EU can protect their interests and we can't?

[MrSmith]

Then you've thoroughly misunderstood the point because I did not claim that.

 

One is the use of the tax system to encourage economically beneficially behaviour.

 

 

How is it economically beneficial to encourage people to save and pay less tax?

[I1L2T3]

How is it economically beneficial to encourage people to save and pay less tax?

 

Is that a serious question? Remember the context of the point I made - ISAs.

 

Look it up.

[MrSmith]

Is that a serious question? Remember the context of the point I made - ISAs.

 

Look it up.

 

So how are ISAs economically beneficial? if they didn't exist people would still save and pay tax on the interest, that would give the government more money to waste, some people might choose not to save and spend the money instead which would be good for the economy.

[I1L2T3]

So how are ISAs economically beneficial? if they didn't exist people would still save and pay tax on the interest, that would give the government more money to waste, some people might choose not to save and spend the money instead which would be good for the economy.

 

ISAs encourage people to save and/or invest. Up to a point this is a good thing. It provides banks with funds for example. The funds can then be lent out to businesses and households. Obviously too much saving could inhibit growth but ISAs have a limit on how much can be saved/invested.

 

As you say giving it to the government to waste is not palatable. I can't believe you think that's a better option.

[Anna Glypta]

The main idea is to forget about the concept of free trade, because we don't have it so there is no point pretending.

 

That feeds into the idea, common across the political spectrum although more so on the right, that we need to renegotiate our position with the EU. We need some basis on which to do that and protecting British jobs and industry should be at the core of it.

 

Are you happy with the EU? Are you happy that competitors outside the EU can protect their interests and we can't?

 

It doesn't much bother me. I was always amused to see British workers on strike for higher pay when the company car park was full of imported cars. I buy goods made overseas because British workers do nothing to protect their own jobs by buying British and do everything to destroy their jobs with wage demands and strikes. So in that respect I'm quite happy with the Treaty of Rome.

As far as I know the only bits of EU law that anyone is talking about renegotiating is the right of EU citizens to live here and claim benefits, and the human rights legislation, and I think it is only the Tories that want that.

 

But no one is talking about altering the free trade agreement. So companies can and will move manufacturing out of this country to cheaper wage countries within the EU and pay their taxes there, and the workers will pay their taxes there too.

 

Regarding the rest of the world, we have free trade agreements with most countries and are free to restrict goods from the rest if they restrict our exports, but as our products are largely priced out of these markets anyhow it hardly matters.

 

Spain and Greece have almost 30% unemployment because they cannot compete. Either other countries would have to increase their wage rates or they need to lower theirs. It is quite simple. 35 years ago we manufactured most of what was sold here. That is no longer the case and we now base our lifestyle on cheap imports which we buy on ever more debt and credit.

[I1L2T3]

It doesn't much bother me. I was always amused to see British workers on strike for higher pay when the company car park was full of imported cars. I buy goods made overseas because British workers do nothing to protect their own jobs by buying British and do everything to destroy their jobs with wage demands and strikes. So in that respect I'm quite happy with the Treaty of Rome.

As far as I know the only bits of EU law that anyone is talking about renegotiating is the right of EU citizens to live here and claim benefits, and the human rights legislation, and I think it is only the Tories that want that.

 

But no one is talking about altering the free trade agreement. So companies can and will move manufacturing out of this country to cheaper wage countries within the EU and pay their taxes there, and the workers will pay their taxes there too.

 

Regarding the rest of the world, we have free trade agreements with most countries and are free to restrict goods from the rest if they restrict our exports, but as our products are largely priced out of these markets anyhow it hardly matters.

 

Spain and Greece have almost 30% unemployment because they cannot compete. Either other countries would have to increase their wage rates or they need to lower theirs. It is quite simple. 35 years ago we manufactured most of what was sold here. That is no longer the case and we now base our lifestyle on cheap imports which we buy on ever more debt and credit.

 

No, we are not free to negotiate with other economies. We must do it through the EU as a bloc which makes it difficult to do deals in our own national interest.

 

EFTA members on the other hand can negotiate their own deals, better tuned to their individual economic needs.

 

We are not just priced out of third party markets. Many of those markets are actively protected by their governments - perfect examples in the far east.

[Anna Glypta]

 

We are not just priced out of third party markets. Many of those markets are actively protected by their governments - perfect examples in the far east.

 

Where China is the largest market for British built Rolls Royces.

[I1L2T3]

Where China is the largest market for British built Rolls Royces.

 

It's still a heavily protected market, difficult to export to. The Chinese hold all the cards.

 

Shame that David Cameron has upset the Chinese government.

[Anna Glypta]

It's still a heavily protected market, difficult to export to. The Chinese hold all the cards.

 

Shame that David Cameron has upset the Chinese government.

 

I'm going to leave you to it and go listen to the cricket. I haven't seen one word on this thread that gives a clue how to extract one penny in tax from a multinational other than reducing our corporation tax level so they choose to take their profits here..