RichardJMurphy

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

The Guardian agrees: Labour’s tax problems can’t be solved by a cosy coterie of old insiders https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/11/the-guardian-agrees-labours-tax-problems-cant-be-solved-by-a-cosy-coterie-of-old-insiders/. The Guardian’s editorial today reflects a great deal of what was said on my blog yesterday, not that I am complaining about that.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Why has Rachel Reeves appointed as her tax adviser a person who has said that tax is extortion and told parliament that he was not too worried about small businesses not paying their taxes? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/10/why-has-rachel-reeves-appointed-as-her-tax-adviser-a-person-who-has-said-that-ax-is-extortion-and-told-parliament-that-he-was-not-too-worried-about-small-businesses-not-paying-their-taxes/. Has she made a wise choice?

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

We need the tax system to work, which means Rachel Reeves will have to do a lot more than she’s planning https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/10/we-need-the-tax-system-to-work-which-means-rachel-reeves-will-have-to-do-a-lot-more-than-shes-planning/. Rachel Reeves has appointed a tax advisory panel that has no experience in small business taxation, which is where most of the unpaid tax in the UK is to be found. She needs to add depth to her team and give that team real teeth by forming an Office for Tax Responsibility.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Rachael Reeves will not close the tax gap by looking overseas. Pretending that the problem is elsewhere is no longer realistic. It’s in her own backyard. https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/09/rachael-reeves-will-not-close-the-tax-gap-by-looking-overseas-pretending-that-the-problem-is-elsewhere-is-no-longer-realistic-its-in-her-own-backyard/. Rachel Reeves really does need to read the Taxing Wealth Report 2024 , because if she wants more money, she's looking in all the wrong places.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Farewell to the ICAEW https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/09/farewell-to-the-icaew/. I didn’t expect to leave the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales this year, but their behaviour has left me with what I think to be no other option but to do so if I wish to continue to criticise them for what I think to be their serious ethical, accounting and governance failures. As a result I am no longer a chartered accountant, but my holding of the ICAEW to account will not cease.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Wes Streeting is a disgrace https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/08/wes-streeting-is-a-disgrace/. Streeting has said in the Sun that he is willing to fight healthcare unions and Labour supporters to undertake NHS reforms that will increase private sector involvement. Why does anyone support Labour anymore? Most who do are kidding themselves that it is still, somehow, related to the party that they once supported. It is not with the likes of Streeting in charge.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

We would all have been better off if the Bank of England had done nothing with interest rates at any time since 2021 https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/08/we-would-all-have-been-better-off-if-the-bank-of-england-had-done-nothing-with-interest-rates-at-any-time-since-2021/.
Inflation is returning to normal, and that has nothing whatsoever to do with increased interest rates.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Apathy might have the biggest turnout whenever the general election comes https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/08/apathy-might-have-the-biggest-turnout-whenever-the-general-election-comes/. When Labour is hard to distinguish from the failed Tories or even Reform on occasion, people will increasingly ask why they should bother voting for them.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Both the Tories and Labour are pro-market extremists now https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/07/both-the-tories-and-labour-are-pro-market-extremists-now/.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Are we ready for a debate on tax? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/06/are-we-ready-for-a-debate-on-tax/. When will we be ready for a debate on tax? I think it's sooner than most people expect, and if it does not happen before the election it will soon after it.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Capital gains should be subject to the same rate of tax as income https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/06/74908/. There is nothing fair about the capital gains, almost entirely made by the wealthy, being taxed at half the rate of income tax, largely charged on earnings from work. It is time that they were taxed at the same rate.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

For those who prefer video explanations of ideas, this one explains what the Taxing Wealth Report 2024 is all about. https://youtu.be/POneYxdL_8w?feature=shared

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

The launch of the Taxing Wealth Report 2024 https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/05/the-launch-of-the-taxing-wealth-report-2024/. The Taxing Wealth Report is published in full this morning. What it makes clear is that the claim that politicians make that there is no money left is wrong. There is enough money available to tackle all the problems that we face If only politicians were willing to tax those with wealth a bit more. it also shows that to do so would be entirely appropriate because they are massively under taxed at present.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Freeports are a threat to free markets and to the wellbeing of the populations of all countries in which they exist https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/05/freeports-are-a-threat-to-free-markets-and-to-the-wellbeing-of-the-populations-of-all-countries-in-which-they-exist/. Freeports only exist so that those using them might extract additional profits from the abuse of the societies that host them. Why are governments so stupid that they cannot see this?

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Is it beyond the wit of our politicians to make up their own minds? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/04/is-it-beyond-the-wit-of-our-politicians-to-make-up-their-own-minds/. The wast majority of people in this country are appalled by what is happening in Gaza, and yet our leading politicians seem quite unable to make up their minds on what action is required. Why are they so unable to decide on something so straightforward?

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

People do not know what fiscal rules are, so why is Labour fixating on them? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/03/people-do-not-know-what-fiscal-rules-are-so-why-is-labour-fixating-on-them/. Labour claims it will govern the country within ‘ironclad fiscal rules‘ but the evidence that people have no idea what these are is strong. Why is it, in that case, that Labour is talking about things that it must know people do not understand?

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

It takes considerable inability to get so much, so wrong, so often, but the Bank of England has achieved it. https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/02/it-takes-considerable-inability-to-get-so-much-so-wrong-so-often-but-the-bank-of-england-has-achieved-it/. All the indications are that there is an urgent need for a cut in interest rates by a significant amount very soon. The problem is that nothing of that sort is currently even being hinted at as a policy option from the Bank of England.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

I am not convinced that we are facing any good electoral outcome this year https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/02/i-am-not-convinced-that-we-are-facing-any-good-electoral-outcome-this-year/. Relief that we will be rid of the Tories will not be enough to satisfy an electorate battered by 14 years or more of electoral incompetence. When Labour is offering no real alternative to Tory policy, buyer’s remorse and further loss of faith in politics are too likely to permit pleasure about anything that is happening right now.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Smelling the coffee https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/02/smelling-the-coffee/. The price of coffee has gone up because it’s becoming much harder to grow it in south-east Asia, on which the market depends. The problem is global heating. When will we realise that this demands real change from us?

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Oxford needs to wake up and smell the shit https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/31/oxford-needs-to-wake-up-and-smell-the-shit/. The failings of neoliberal economics played a big part in the Oxford boat race crews’ losses yesterday. It really is time that they took note.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Why is Labour wrapping itself up in the Union flag? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/31/why-is-labour-wrapping-itself-up-in-the-union-flag/. I am not sure of Labour's motives for doing this, but whatever they might be they appear to be a profound betrayal of all that is ethical, just and inclusive and that is profoundly unattractive in a party set to rule this country.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Just suppose we tried to meet needs? What might happen? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/30/just-suppose-we-tried-to-meet-needs-what-might-happen/.
That there is still poverty in the world is the result of a choice that it continue by those with the means to eliminate it, who would collectively rather pursue their own excess consumption. What would happen if we did decide to meet needs instead?

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Why does Labour prefer long years of opposition to almost perpetual government? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/30/why-does-labour-prefer-long-years-of-opposition-to-almost-perpetual-government/. The Labour leadership's opposition to proportional representation makes no sense at all when adopting it would guarantee them an almost perpetual role in government. Could it be that petty party politics come a lot higher in their priorities than the needs of the country or actually effecting change?

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

Gordon Brown’s answer to poverty in the UK is to appeal to charity. When Labour looks like it will have a massive majority soon that is pathetic. https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/29/gordon-browns-answer-to-poverty-in-the-uk-is-to-appeal-to-charity-when-labour-looks-like-it-will-have-a-massive-majority-soon-that-is-pathetic/. I despair of the poverty of Labour's thinking on poverty, and just about everything else.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

It’s not just Thames Water: the whole of the English water industry is environmentally insolvent https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/29/its-not-just-thames-the-whole-of-the-english-water-industry-is-environmentally-insolvent/ There is much fuss about Thames Water right now. but none of the UK's water companies have a hope of meeting their obligations to supply clean water, rivers and beaches and simultaneously meet net-zero obligations. They are environmentally insolvent. Any government has to face up to this reality or we are all in very deep trouble.