Tomorrow Friday 27 February at The Brewmaster nr Leicester Square Tube (Exit 1 and turn left at the top of the stairs into "St Martin's Court") from about 5.20 onwards. We put a yellow YPP leaflet on the table so that you can recognise us.
The tax reform app is taking shape, if you have an Android phone and a Google account and would like to test it, please send me an email.
Thursday, 26 February 2015
Tuesday, 24 February 2015
"No country for young people - UK generation gap widens"
From today's FT:
Britain’s young adults, who for much of the 20th century enjoyed living standards well above average, have been displaced by the rise of the comfortably-off pensioner in the most dramatic generational change in decades.
Average twenty somethings have seen their living standards slip from a position of comparative affluence to well below par over the past 35 years as average pensioners have enjoyed a rapid rise up the national league tables of incomes, according to Financial Times research...
A major reason for the shift is the rise in house prices in recent decades. Many older people bought cheap and have locked in sizeable gains, although, with people living longer, some are now facing the prospect of having to sell those homes to pay for expensive care.
Britain’s young adults, who for much of the 20th century enjoyed living standards well above average, have been displaced by the rise of the comfortably-off pensioner in the most dramatic generational change in decades.
Average twenty somethings have seen their living standards slip from a position of comparative affluence to well below par over the past 35 years as average pensioners have enjoyed a rapid rise up the national league tables of incomes, according to Financial Times research...
A major reason for the shift is the rise in house prices in recent decades. Many older people bought cheap and have locked in sizeable gains, although, with people living longer, some are now facing the prospect of having to sell those homes to pay for expensive care.
Thursday, 19 February 2015
YPP meet-up, Friday 20 February
Tomorrow Friday* 20 February at The Brewmaster nr Leicester Square Tube (Exit 1 and turn left at the top of the stairs into "St Martin's Court") from about 5.20 onwards.
We put a yellow YPP leaflet on the table so that you can recognise us.
Dress warm!
* The only day of the week named after a female deity, according to the feminists :-)
We put a yellow YPP leaflet on the table so that you can recognise us.
Dress warm!
* The only day of the week named after a female deity, according to the feminists :-)
Thursday, 12 February 2015
YPP meet-up, Friday 13th
For the not-so-superstitious among you, tomorrow Friday 13 February at The Brewmaster nr Leicester Square Tube (Exit 1 and turn left at the top of the stairs into "St Martin's Court") from about 5.20 onwards.
We put a yellow YPP leaflet on the table so that you can recognise us.
We put a yellow YPP leaflet on the table so that you can recognise us.
Wednesday, 11 February 2015
"What will you do to crack down on tax dodging?"
My fellow PPC Rohen Kapur and I have received identically worded emails via 38 Degrees as follows:
I'm concerned about the recent revelations that HSBC has been helping the super-rich dodge their tax, and that the government has not been acting to stop this.
As a prospective parliamentary candidate in my area, can you let me know what you pledge to do to crack down on tax dodging and prevent scandals like HSBC from happening again?
I'm also concerned that HMRC are not doing enough to investigate these cases to recoup the tax and instigate legal proceedings.
How do you intend to deal with this?
1. Yes. We, YPP, will crack down on tax avoidance. That's at the core of our manifesto.
Unlike the Conservatives or UKIP, we are not primarily funded by landowners, land speculators and the financial sector, so we are quite happy to point out that the biggest drains on the real economy are exactly those people. Let's not dwell on who funds the Lib Dems, Labour and the Greens :-)
2. Our tax policy is to reduce taxes on output, employment and profits to one single flat 20% tax on all incomes (no tax breaks, no loopholes), and to collect the other half of revenues with Land Value Tax (approx. 3% of current selling prices) and a bank asset tax. Combined with welfare simplification and reform, all working households will be thousands of pounds a year better off. The gains to our core voters will be even higher.
3. With a radical simplfication of taxes on earnings, instead of HMRC having endless different departments chasing all manner of different layers of taxes and adminstering all manner of different tax breaks and subsidies, HMRC will be able to focus all their efforts on collecting that single flat 20% without fear or favour.
In particular, we would ensure that withholding taxes are imposed on all profits siphoned out of the country via interest or royalties. And shut the revolving door between the Big Four accountancy firms and senior ranks of HMRC or Downing Street.
4. As to the banks, they lurch from one scandal to another. What have we had since the financial crisis? LIBOR rigging, PPI misselling, interest rate swaps, money laundering, tax evasion, insider trading... The list for the years leading up to the financial crisis is of course endless, in every country in the world.
Remember also that about eighty per cent of bank lending is secured on land. With a proper Land Value Tax in place to keep land prices low andstable and a hefty bank asset tax to discourage credit bubbles, banks would be cut down to size and forced to focus on proper lending to support the productive economy (i.e. finance to small businesses or short term consumer loans).
The government holds the trump card in all this. If banks do not play by the rules, their banking licences will be withdrawn. End of.
I'm concerned about the recent revelations that HSBC has been helping the super-rich dodge their tax, and that the government has not been acting to stop this.
As a prospective parliamentary candidate in my area, can you let me know what you pledge to do to crack down on tax dodging and prevent scandals like HSBC from happening again?
I'm also concerned that HMRC are not doing enough to investigate these cases to recoup the tax and instigate legal proceedings.
How do you intend to deal with this?
1. Yes. We, YPP, will crack down on tax avoidance. That's at the core of our manifesto.
Unlike the Conservatives or UKIP, we are not primarily funded by landowners, land speculators and the financial sector, so we are quite happy to point out that the biggest drains on the real economy are exactly those people. Let's not dwell on who funds the Lib Dems, Labour and the Greens :-)
2. Our tax policy is to reduce taxes on output, employment and profits to one single flat 20% tax on all incomes (no tax breaks, no loopholes), and to collect the other half of revenues with Land Value Tax (approx. 3% of current selling prices) and a bank asset tax. Combined with welfare simplification and reform, all working households will be thousands of pounds a year better off. The gains to our core voters will be even higher.
3. With a radical simplfication of taxes on earnings, instead of HMRC having endless different departments chasing all manner of different layers of taxes and adminstering all manner of different tax breaks and subsidies, HMRC will be able to focus all their efforts on collecting that single flat 20% without fear or favour.
In particular, we would ensure that withholding taxes are imposed on all profits siphoned out of the country via interest or royalties. And shut the revolving door between the Big Four accountancy firms and senior ranks of HMRC or Downing Street.
4. As to the banks, they lurch from one scandal to another. What have we had since the financial crisis? LIBOR rigging, PPI misselling, interest rate swaps, money laundering, tax evasion, insider trading... The list for the years leading up to the financial crisis is of course endless, in every country in the world.
Remember also that about eighty per cent of bank lending is secured on land. With a proper Land Value Tax in place to keep land prices low andstable and a hefty bank asset tax to discourage credit bubbles, banks would be cut down to size and forced to focus on proper lending to support the productive economy (i.e. finance to small businesses or short term consumer loans).
The government holds the trump card in all this. If banks do not play by the rules, their banking licences will be withdrawn. End of.
Thursday, 5 February 2015
YPP meet-up, Friday 6 February.
Usual rules apply, tomorrow Friday 6 February at The Brewmaster nr Leicester Square Tube (Exit 1 and turn left at the top of the stairs into "St Martin's Court") from about 5.20 onwards.
We put a yellow YPP leaflet on the table so that you can recognise us.
We put a yellow YPP leaflet on the table so that you can recognise us.
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
The Daily Mash on Home-Owner-Ism (again)
From The Daily Mash:
LONDON renters are hoping for enough snowfall to fashion their own crude igloo-style dwellings.
31-year-old teacher Emma Bradford said: “I’ve been renting an expensive shithole after being priced out of the property market. Snow is my only chance of owning a home, even if it melts before I get a chance to put any pictures up. This morning I scraped together enough to build the bottom inch of a crude dome structure on the pavement, but then someone destroyed it with a baby buggy.”
However, the current flurry of snow which has fallen on London is already the property of millionaire foreign investors. Russian oligarchs and Asian venture capitalists bought the snow as it was still crystallising from atmospheric moisture.
Their representative, buy-to-let agent Tom Logan, said: “We are excited to unveil Arctic Heights, an exclusive development of 382 contemporary snow dwellings in the middle of East London.
“Our igloos offer boutique, easily commutable eskimo living in Zone 5. Starting at £1k per week, deluxe ‘Snowdude’ models even have a window made from an old car windscreen.”
The snow owners also plan to levy a £5 per day charge on Londoners who are walking on their flakes.
LONDON renters are hoping for enough snowfall to fashion their own crude igloo-style dwellings.
31-year-old teacher Emma Bradford said: “I’ve been renting an expensive shithole after being priced out of the property market. Snow is my only chance of owning a home, even if it melts before I get a chance to put any pictures up. This morning I scraped together enough to build the bottom inch of a crude dome structure on the pavement, but then someone destroyed it with a baby buggy.”
However, the current flurry of snow which has fallen on London is already the property of millionaire foreign investors. Russian oligarchs and Asian venture capitalists bought the snow as it was still crystallising from atmospheric moisture.
Their representative, buy-to-let agent Tom Logan, said: “We are excited to unveil Arctic Heights, an exclusive development of 382 contemporary snow dwellings in the middle of East London.
“Our igloos offer boutique, easily commutable eskimo living in Zone 5. Starting at £1k per week, deluxe ‘Snowdude’ models even have a window made from an old car windscreen.”
The snow owners also plan to levy a £5 per day charge on Londoners who are walking on their flakes.
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
The Daily Mash on Home-Owner-Ism
From The Daily Mash:
LEADING a dull suburban life with a mortgage and two children is now a phenomenal achievement, everyone has agreed.
Modern life has become so challenging that ‘averageness’ is now considered an ambition on a par with becoming an acclaimed novelist, professional sportsperson or successful entrepreneur...
Factory supervisor Roy Hobbs said: “With my small detached house, ‘luxury’ caravan and three ISAs, I’m living the dream, although not a very interesting one.
“My advice is to have the purely coincidental good fortune to buy a house just before a massive property boom that fucks everyone else.”
LEADING a dull suburban life with a mortgage and two children is now a phenomenal achievement, everyone has agreed.
Modern life has become so challenging that ‘averageness’ is now considered an ambition on a par with becoming an acclaimed novelist, professional sportsperson or successful entrepreneur...
Factory supervisor Roy Hobbs said: “With my small detached house, ‘luxury’ caravan and three ISAs, I’m living the dream, although not a very interesting one.
“My advice is to have the purely coincidental good fortune to buy a house just before a massive property boom that fucks everyone else.”
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