(03-04-2021, 10:48 AM)Borin' Baggie Wrote:(03-04-2021, 10:07 AM)JOK Wrote:(03-04-2021, 06:06 AM)Ted Maul Wrote: This country is hilarious.
Corbyn, raise corporation tax to 26% "Marxist"
Sunak, raise corporation tax to 25% "saved the country"
Did Mr. Corbyn have to contemplate the effects of a pandemic?
The fact that we're in a pandemic makes it even more stupid to increase corporation tax
The uplift isn't immediate and one of the problems is that Covid has created an imbalance between some businesses having been brought to a virtual standstill, while others (supermarkets, the online specialists, etc. ) have experienced something of a windfall. One consequence of that selective boom has been that the businesses doing very nicely out of it have also benefitted most from the use of publicly-funded infrastructure.
I'm not wedded to Corporation Tax as a solution; for one thing profits are too easily 'sheltered' by devices like transfer pricing and cross-charges (which can be challenged if the will is there, as in some countries it is, but apparently not so in the UK); but, for now, it's the solution we have. Sunak had the option of implementing a more radical approach - taxing turnover rather than profits for example - but I doubt that would have been universally popular either.