Half of CGT take if not more is just taxing people on inflation.
Our CGT system is largely taxing people on notional gains which in some cases have not even covered the losses through inflation.
The left usually has a profound dislike for what they call, unearned income - ie not actual wages. A business owner who takes his income from a successful business in the form of dividends to save on tax is simply taking advantage of a relief written into the tax code to pay less tax. It is fine. A frugal person who over fifty years of saving and forgoing spending, builds up an investment portfolio should be able to reap the reward without the tax man ripping him off by taxing inflation when he sells some part of his assets. Same with a house. Remember - the individual bought those shares, or that house out of his taxed income. The money was taxed when he earned it in the first place.
Governments sometimes act like gangsters. They do it just because they can.
Tax is a form of extortion even though we may come to the conclusion that there are certain things a nation must pay for and that tax is the way to do it.
What we have seen over time is a massive rise in activities the state pays for. I see no reason why probably millions of children whose fathers have abandoned them should be paid for by the state. Even less am I prepared to tolerate the funding of families who have large numbers of children without adequate means to support them. The two child benefit cap should stay.
I think in some respects, the French have it about right when they take to the streets and riot to show government, as they did in 1789, that they will not put up with any more of their impositions.
EDIT:
By the way - some of those tax reliefs you seem to object to were made to encourage certain kinds of financial behaviour such as saving, and buying your own home. The fact that they treat share holdings differently, is simply an indication that they should give the same tax relief there as they do on ISAs. It is not a sign that ISA relief should be abandoned.
High tax governments ALWAYS suppress the economy. They should spend less and tax less, not spend more and tax more.
People should have MUCH more responsibility for themselves and their own income. There are massive numbers of working age people being kept by the state now.
UK Parliamentary committee says :
"
- 3.7 million people of working age receive health-related benefits – 1.2 million more than in February 2020. We are now spending more on incapacity and disability benefits (almost £65 billion) than defence – and that figure is set to rise."
Look at the size of the working age disability benefit we are paying right now. The purple shaded area is for WORKING AGE disability payments. Total payments of £65 Billion - and the lion's share - about 75% of that to working age adults.
That is insane.
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