Why we need "Net zero"

[Beelbeebub]

6 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Then they give money back in tax relief and incentives. Estimated at £10bn

So if the HOC figures are correct (£4bn in revenue) the tax payer could well be net negative ....

 

(Depends if the £10bn is per year or over a period)

[SteamyTea]

18 minutes ago, Beelbeebub said:

Depends if the £10bn is per year or over a period)

I did a quick search, would probably need a lot of unpicking to get to a £/TJ price which would be easier to understand.

[Beelbeebub]

4 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

I did a quick search, would probably need a lot of unpicking to get to a £/TJ price which would be easier to understand.

Convoluted tax accounting?!

 

Shocked I tell you! Shocked!

[-rick-]

Sounds a bit like we've built layers upon layers of bureaucracy to achieve nothing except making us an unattractive market.

 

An argument for removing the higher taxes and also the offsetting tax rebates. 'Back to basics' lol or maybe K.I.S.S.

[SteamyTea]

35 minutes ago, -rick- said:

An argument for removing the higher taxes and also the offsetting tax rebates

They could start with income tax and NI.

Flat rate on every £ that passes though your hands, then the argument just becomes the rate and not the principle.

 

They could abolish Corporation Tax, the clever companies don't pay it, it is hard to enforce, just stick it on Income Tax.

Then have a Sin Tax to discourage some purchases.  That could cover anything from Carbon to Crypto Currencies.

[saveasteading]

38 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

just stick it on Income Tax.

No. Cash would come back in a big way and not be declared.

[SteamyTea]

11 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

No. Cash would come back in a big way and not be declared.

 

51 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

passes though your hands

Then it becomes fraud.

 

Whenever you see one of those signs in a small business 'We love Cash' often followed by reasons like 'we get to keep all of it' or 'No charges to the bank'.  The trader is probably fiddling us all out of revenue.

It is now cheaper to use card payments than any other method (we currently pay 1.6% per transaction value).  To pay in cash at the bank costs us 3% and all the hassle of counting cash each night, checking the till float, putting right mistakes, storing a weeks takings safely and then taking it to the bank, which is realistically a 2 hour trip.

Forgot to mention the 11% charge on getting change.

 

If you run a small business these days and you do not use a card machine HMRC investigates you in a lot more detail.

 

We had our first cashless night last month.

Edited 3 hours ago by SteamyTea

[SteamyTea]

Just had a look at the nominal value of retail sales, in May 2026, they were £9.6bn per week.

If 0.01% of that did not go though the till, then that is £96m a week, or about £5bn a year (spring and summer sales are higher, so multiplied by 48 weeks).

Now many people in the UK fell for BJs £350m/week on the NHS.  So there is near enough a third of it just by people who think they are getting a bargain.

[Beelbeebub]

2 hours ago, saveasteading said:

No. Cash would come back in a big way and not be declared.

Plus it takes no account of expenses so massively punishes small businesses and self-employed 

 

Say 20% flat rate 

 

30k a year salary pays 6k tax and has 24k taken home 

 

200k a year tradesman with 170k expenses. Pays 40k tax and has a take home of -£10k

 

Like it or not tax is always going to be complicated.

 

 

[Mr Blobby]

3 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Whenever you see one of those signs in a small business 'We love Cash' often followed by reasons like 'we get to keep all of it' or 'No charges to the bank'.  The trader is probably fiddling us all out of revenue.

 

Yup.  No VAT on potatoes.  VAT on chips.