Wrong! The Vote Leave document was funded privately. The budget that has been allocated for both sides has not been distributed yet.
It was on the news the other day that David Cameron is planning to ignore that budget and write to us all before the campaigns officially begin.
Maybe he's using the £200000 that mummy gave him to try and get around inheritance tax Good to know that we're all in it together.
His mother was just using a tax law that's been in existence for donkey's years. It works for anyone and allows you to make gifts to your family - with possible tax implications. You are allowed to make an annual tax free gift, up to a total of £3,000, to your children but anything over that may attract 40% inheritance tax. That's a 'total' figure. So if you have a few children the £3,000 is divided amongst them. So, if you give your child a gift of more than £3,000 (wedding present or helping to buy a house - but £5,000 is allowed to help pay for the wedding) that gift is still counted in your assets for inheritance tax. You need to survive another seven years before it's not considered yours! As a lot of youngsters are now needing help with the deposit for their house you need to be careful how you help them. It should be a 'loan' and you can give them £3,000 a year out of that 'loan' as a gift (need to get the paperwork right). If you live in the south of England and own a home you are potentially already into the Inheritance Tax bracket. So 'spending the kids inheritance' means that 40% of it is actually the taxman's money. You can make as many 'small' gifts per annum of up to £250 to as many people as you like (don't forget me when you do it ) but it will be added on to anything you may have already given that year. So the same law applies to all of us. Cameron's mother needs to survive 7 years after having given him that money for it not to be taxable. It's just a matter of scale. Disclaimer: I'm not a tax expert, or accountant, so you need to look into the above if deciding to make gifts. You just need to be aware of the implication of helping your children to buy a house!
@shiney - I totally agree. It just grates a bit when these people are inflicting austerity and even poverty on some people. As I say, all in it together.
@longk You're right but I can't see any solution to it. You can't stop people accumulating money, either by working hard or by inheritance. I never forget, 50 years ago, what one of my customers said to me. He was a street market trader and had made a lot of money. It was the time when Harold Wilson brought in his 'austerity measures' (which eventually worked ). The customer said to me "If they took everyone's savings from them and distributed them equally amongst the whole population, I would be well off again in two years!"
For over twenty years I have advocated a lifetime personal inheritance and gift allowance which should be set quite low (maybe thirty to forty thousand) after which tax is levied at say seventy to eighty per cent. Why; The UK property market became inflated by various mortgages (interest only etc) that were largely viable as a result of inheritance. As property values and inheritance increased the buy to let market boomed aided by the inability of more people to be able to afford to buy. For those with mortgages personal debt increased and before we know it the UK population is one of the highest personally indebted societies in the world. Furthermore, we became a two speed nation. And so it goes on. Of course, the devil is in the detail. Provision has to be made for inheritance of a business with employees (the value of the tax due to be paid when the company/stake is sold, dissolved or placed in administration). Reduction of tax if the inheritance is transferred to buy an annuity. So on, so forth. Anyway, just my thoughts.
The problem with punitive taxes is that they breed tax evasion and not just avoidance. The people that have the money can afford to find ways to work around the laws. It's impossible to close loopholes fast enough to capture the problem and the only people that get hurt are not the ones you really want to catch. It would make a massive difference to the country if that sort of thing came in. For instance, you want to retire abroad but to bring in the high taxing system they would also have to stop you taking your money out of the country (it failed in the past). So you couldn't buy abroad! Otherwise the rich will use that escape and move to somewhere that suits their lifestyle and tax situation better.
One hundred percent correct. The devil is in the detail. Don't "do an Osborne" and rush vote winners through. Think about it, form it, finalise it and then release it. State it as an intention by all means but don't just do it. But you're right, it is too late to even attempt now. I could write an essay on this but I'm boogered if I can close the loopholes.
This is way over my head One part of me wants to leave and the other stay, what I don't understand is why not bring back passport control, and criminal checks for anyone wanting to come and live here, it can't be all that difficult
Well, it works for anyone in a limited sense, Shiney.......i.e: it doesn't work for those without any large sums of money to give to relatives in order to avoid tax.
Gnasher Sturegeon, is working on the stay in the EU Campaign,, Simply threatening another Independence referendum IF the UK vote OUT
There will always be rich people and poor people, it makes the world go round. Without a few people with a bit of cash, I for one would be out of a job. Nothing wrong with rich people as long as they spend it.
Yep, she started that line some months ago when Cameron confirmed there would be a referendum. The SNP will take the slightest excuse to get another Independence referendum in order to get the answer they want, whether or not that answer is what the Scottish people want. If you look at the political situation at the moment the extremists have come to the fore i.e. The SNP wanting independence without regard to the Scottish economy, the Labour Party having a disastrous General Election being taken over by Corbyn and his extremist cronies, and in the USA a man called Trump appealing to the disillusioned and extremists in their elections.
