One for the high taxation sympathisers

[Kermit]

If MDs and CEOs do not work for their money, as you suppose, then why do you only pick on them?

I dont see all these people demanding high taxation calling for there to be a 90% tax on winnings from gambling- someone who wins £10million on the lottery does not contribute anything to society, did not work for their money, and, in many cases, drops out of the employment market full stop. But I dont see these people demanding high tax for high earners demanding that 90% of all lottery winnings or horse-racing winnings should go back to the Government simply because "the winners have money, they can afford to subsidise everyone else".

I feel it is all down to class prejudice- rich people dont play the lottery, the working classes do. And, after all, taxing the working classes is A Bad Thing when there are so many higher-classed people to tax for every penny they have.

[Simbelyne]

No, its down to redistribution - why should rich people live in luxury while others starve? To bring the working classes up the upper classes will have to come down a bit. Simple Common Sense.

[Aladdin]

90%? Nah, peanuts. Why not 99%?

Like it or not Kermit normal tax rules don't apply to lottery winners. Nothing to do with 'class wars'.

Some tax is (or used to be) collected from betting. And great amounts of Lottery money go towards good causes, which in effect save money to the treasury.

In any event, the salaries of everyone in this country who earn above 100K put together must be hundreds of times bigger than prize money handed over to winners.

It is only logical and right that high earners contribute more. They have as much to benefit as anyone else from a country with good public services. And an extra 5% on amounts exceeding 100K or an extra 10% on amounts above 300k are hardly going to make a difference.

If so many high earners weren't such a bunch of greedy cheating bastards and paid the tax they should instead of spending tens of thousands on tax avoiding schemes and using every trick in the book in order to pay a fucking pittance in tax, the state would have many more billions at its disposal and there would be no need for further rises.

[Kermit]

I couldnt agree more, to be totally honest- I just like arguing.

So why not put tax on betting winnings- betting tax doesnt count, btw, as you pay that regardless of whether you win or lose. Id also tax shareholder dividends, if they arent already, just for the record.

[Aladdin]

I think all tax on winning bets has been removed recently, as the Internet had made possible for punters to place bets tax-free with offshore companies anyway, and UK-based bookmakers were losing a lot of business.