50p tax rate 'failing to boost revenues’

[Valin]

The Telegraph:

 

The amount of income tax paid fell sharply last month in the first formal indication that the new 50p higher rate is not raising the expected amount of revenue.

Robert Winnett, and James Kirkup

2/21/12

 

The Treasury received £10.35 billion in income tax payments from those paying by self-assessment last month, a drop of £509 million compared with January 2011. Most other taxes produced higher revenues over the same period.

 

Senior sources said that the first official figures indicated that there had been “manoeuvring” by well-off Britons to avoid the new higher rate. The figures will add to pressure on the Coalition to drop the levy amid fears it is forcing entrepreneurs to relocate abroad.

 

The self-assessment returns from January, when most income tax is paid by the better-off, have been eagerly awaited by the Treasury and government ministers as they provide the first evidence of the success, or failure, of the 50p rate. It is the first year following the introduction of the 50p rate which had been expected to boost tax revenues from self-assessment by more than £1billion.

 

(Snip)

 

And the answer is....Wait for it!

 

HMRC launches tax evasion task force

 

 

 

[clearvision]

Have these guys ever taken economics? There is a bell curve on tax revenue, just like selling a product. Price it too low you don't make any money, price it too high and you don't sell anything and don't make money.

[Rokke]

Time and again "experts" prove that the only lessons they are willing to listen to are the ones they write.