[mpweiher]

Except for...revenues are not going to stay the same.

For example, George Osborne has just proposed to slash the corp. tax rate from 20% to 15%, in order reduce (not eliminate) the almost certain reduction in UK investment.

Last year, CT net receipts were £ 42 billion[1]. At the current 20% rate. At 15%, that would be £ 31.5 billion, for a reduction of £ 10.5 billion. Let's divide that by 52 weeks and you get £ 200 million. Which happens to be £ 10 million more than the UK's net contribution to the EU budget.

So all your "savings" just evaporated just with corporation tax alone, and that's assuming that Osborne's plan works and there is no reduction in activity/investment, which is dubious.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm...

[endeavour]

It isn't that simple. There isn't a linear relationship between the tax % and the revenue to the treasury. Lower taxes encourage more companies to set up in the UK.

We saw this recently in the UK when the top rate of income tax was raised to 50% and the income to the treasury actually fell.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve

[mpweiher]

As I wrote, the tax cuts are being proposed to compensate for lower investment due to brexit, and it is unclear whether they will be able to compensate fully.

[endeavour]

Ok but the numbers you quoted assumed a linear relationship.

In no way is it "almost certain" that investment in the UK will decrease. The evidence currently suggests the complete opposite. Look at the performance of the FTSE100 since the referendum to see the flood of foreign investment coming into the UK listed companies thanks to the weaker currency.

I'd also point out that decreasing tax rates is the exact opposite of what the chancellor said he would do before the referendum.

[tonyedgecombe]

They had already announced rates were going down to 17% so it's only another 2%. This is a tax that is very difficult to collect and becoming more so over time.