With “a fifth of workers earning below the £9 national rate set by the Living Wage Foundation”, Polly Toynbee’s ideas for “most of us” to pay more tax need a little tweaking. Depending on universal credit should exclude many households from a higher level of income tax, but those with above-average incomes must pay more.
It makes little sense for those earning £49,000 to be paying the same rate as those on £149,000, nor should those earning £500,000 pay the same as those getting £200,000. The Laffer curve was only created to enable Ronald Reagan to lower taxes so it needs to be discredited, and draconian measures introduced to ensure that the rich, for the first time in our history, pay their fair share. Let’s start with a 90% tax on incomes over £1m.
All tax avoidance should be made a criminal offence, as should giving advice to enable it to take place. And of course, VAT needs to be imposed on private-school fees.
I agree, we need a progressive tax system. What we have now is regressive: council tax, VAT, National insurance, duties on fuel, alcohol and tobacco, all regressive. The myriad possibilities for taxation are reduced to these to limit the focus, but we could start by taxing unearned income (rent, interest, dividends, etc.) at a higher rate than earned income to curb rentierism, introduce a land value tax to replace council tax, consolidate national insurance and income tax so that higher earners don't dodge it, and have the kinds of income tax bands you're describing for higher incomes.
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