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by graemep 194 days ago
The problem with the UK tax system is not that it is progressive. In fact, once you add NI it is not all that strongly progressive.

The problem is that complexity of tax law, the number of loopholes, incentives, refunds....

The really big problem is that people on low incomes do not have an incentive to work because the loss of benefits means they are barely any better off from working. That is a strong argument for UBI, or at least a much slower rate of loss of benefits so people keep more of their income.

There are a lot of imprecise and misleading claims made here, for example:

> people who are talented, people who are wealthy, people who have capital, people who have entrepreneurial skills, they can move.

Talent, wealth, and entrepreneurial skills are not the same thing. Wealth is often inherited, talented people may be employed and not all talents are all that portable. While capital can be moved the assets that it is tied up in cannot - you can see your business and move, but that just means someone else buys your business. A wealthy person does not have to live where their investments are.

1 comments

Read a comment some stories back, that all loss of benefits should be gradual on a curve, never with cliffs. So that you'd pay a few hundred thousand in taxes and get a benefits check for 1 dollar, or pound or whatever.
The UK does not have many cliffs, but the curve is too steep.

There is also a very high effective marginal for high earners in certain circumstances (particular range of incomes, have children). People complain about his as well as the steep loss of benefits. Its very rarely the same people complaining about both.