Will Atlas shrug in the UK?

[Cainkane1]

Monday, Apr 27 2009

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER: The last thing this country needs is a pirate raid on the wealth creators who still dare navigate our stormy waters

(...And don't lynch me as a rich b*****d flying a kite for his own cause - I really fear an exodus of talent)

By Andrew Lloyd Webber

Last updated at 10:40 AM on 27th April 2009

Fearful: Andrew Lloyd Webber says an exodus of talent is inevitable

The opinion polls have uttered. The country loves the new 50 per cent top rate of income tax. Soak the rich. Smash the bankers. So Government spin doctors are in second heaven. The Conservatives' silence redefines a tomb. And I suppose there'd be quite a turnout for the public flogging of Sir Fred the Shred.

But before you book your tickets, hold hard. And before you lynch me as a rich b*****d flying a kite for my own cause, let me beg you to believe that I am not.

I believe that this new top rate of tax could be the final nail in the coffin of Britain plc.


Breach of Rule 4 removed. Text copied from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1173545/ANDREW-LLOYD-WEBBER-The-thing-country-needs-pirate-raid-wealthy-dont-lynch-Im-rich-b---d.html

Please don't copy large sections of text from a copyrighted source. As a guideline, quote a paragraph or two and provide a link to the original.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

So 50% top rate of tax and he still won't leave the country :eek:, looks like the UK will have to try 60%, or else go for a targeted approach with a special tax on ugly plagiarists.

[GreNME]

Honestly, if someone is so deluded as to take the ravings of a bat***t raving (and horrible) fiction writer so seriously as to try to act out their fictional scenario, then the most I can say is good riddance because they must not have been that bright to begin with. Stupid, selfish, short-sighted people are what have brought about the economic crisis we're in right now, so I'm not really of a mind to start shedding tears over their wanting to take the ball and bat and go somewhere else.

I hear Dubai is nice this time of year.

[Megalodon]

Because if all that "talent" goes away, nobody could ever replace them!

No one else would be able to so utterly screw up things...

[volatile]

On the discussion radio and TV shows since the budget, there have been swathes of idiotic responses like this.

Some saying that we need more doctors and nurses; others, like Webber here, saying that Britain is bankrupt, and yet all simultaneously against paying more tax.

Which one is it guys? Better public services and a lower national deficit - or lower taxes?

ETA - "These talented young people know they will make it impossible for them to educate their kids privately in the UK." deserves a laughing dog.

ETA2 - Another laughing dog for "Of course, with hindsight, their bonuses were obscene. But New Labour gratefully taxed them", because lump sums are paid as non-discretionary bonuses and not as salary precisely because corporate taxes can be lowered though such methods (http://www.thetaxguide.co.uk/CuttingYourCorporationTaxLiabilityThroughBonuses.h tml).

When people like the billionaire Hans Rausing use tax avoidance schemes to end up paying less tax than I do, I really find it hard to worry about the crocodile tears of a tiny percentage of the population who might have to forego an extra few thousand pounds in their bank accounts (with no subsequent drop in lifestyle levels) to help pay for the mess they and their mates got us into in the first place.

[boooeee]

George Harrison said it better. A funky bass line always helps when you're trying to get a point across.

Also, "One for you, nineteen for me" is bit more extreme than "One for you, one for me".

[geni]

For legal reasons he has to employ himself through his own company.


Only legal reasons I can think of are tax and liability related. So that would roughly translate as him being upset that his tax dodge is not as good as it used to be.

[ponderingturtle]

So how do people think Atlas Shrugged will do as a musical?

[Ian Osborne]

When people like the billionaire Hans Rausing use tax avoidance schemes to end up paying less tax than I do, I really find it hard to worry about the crocodile tears of a tiny percentage of the population who might have to forego an extra few thousand pounds in their bank accounts (with no subsequent drop in lifestyle levels) to help pay for the mess they and their mates got us into in the first place.

This.

It really is galling to see the rich using tax loopholes unavailable to the ordinary man in the street, and then complain about it when their tax bill goes up a little in the budget. How many of the whiners, for example, pay their spouses to do nothing in particular except spread their household income across two salaries, doubling their allowances in the process?

[gumboot]

Only legal reasons I can think of are tax and liability related. So that would roughly translate as him being upset that his tax dodge is not as good as it used to be.

Not really. It's pretty standard practice in film and theatre around the world for technicians with a lot of gear (particularly if they hire it out to others) to form a company which they then become an employee of. That's the only practical way of doing it.

[gumboot]

So 50% top rate of tax and he still won't leave the country :eek:, looks like the UK will have to try 60%, or else go for a targeted approach with a special tax on ugly plagiarists.

Plagiarist?

Explain?

[Darth Rotor]

I giggle with glee that Andrew Lloyd Webber has his panties in a bunch over taxation in the UK.

Eff me, I find his whinging perfectly fitting.

Way to be your own self, Andy me lad.

DR

[Beerina]

To make leaving viable in this respect, there has to be a better place to go with respect to financial freedom*. The delta between a place like the UK and the US isn't that great, especially with the US government spitting out cash at rates that now greatly exceed the deepest part of World War II, in which the US was engaged in a major war on two fronts and building a major sea vessel per week.


So something bad will happen in the US. And rest assured it won't be blamed on the masses who elect the politicians, by those politicians.







* Which is to say, freedom.

[GreNME]

So something bad will happen in the US. And rest assured it won't be blamed on the masses who elect the politicians, by those politicians.

When did you join the conspiracy theory crowd?

[Ashles]

Monday, Apr 27 2009

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER: The last thing this country needs is a pirate raid on the wealth creators who still dare navigate our stormy waters
Wealth creators. Wealth creators???

What, for himself?

Andrew... GO!!! WE. DON'T. CARE.

Might be actually nice for some other writers to actual be able to get some bloody West End Venues freed up from his pap.

Do these guys actually think everyone is going to fall down screaming "No! Andrew! Don't leave!"

[dudalb]

When did you join the conspiracy theory crowd?


It's more like Beerina is a born again Libertarian.

[dudalb]

Any discussion of that rights and wrongs of the tax increase has been lost in a sea of venom.


When people like the billionaire Hans Rausing use tax avoidance schemes to end up paying less tax than I do, I really find it hard to worry about the crocodile tears of a tiny percentage of the population who might have to forego an extra few thousand pounds in their bank accounts (with no subsequent drop in lifestyle levels) to help pay for the mess they and their mates got us into in the first place.

Yeah, the economy would be so much better if the Government just took it over and managed it . The Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China during the Mao era showed that.

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Plagiarist?

Explain?

Lloyd Webber and director Trevor Nunn turned T.S. Eliot's Book of Practical Cats poems into Cats (1981), the longest running musical in Broadway and West End history. Because Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Company acted as co-producer, Cats made him a multi-millionaire. After collaborating with lyricist Don Black on Song and Dance (1982) and lyricist Richard Stilgoe on Starlight Express (1984), Lloyd Webber achieved another mega-hit with Phantom of the Opera (1986). With lyrics by the otherwise unknown Charles Hart, Phantom went on to gross over $2 billion worldwide by the century's end. (Claims of plagiarism by the Puccini estate were settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.)

From Who's Who in Musicals (http://www.musicals101.com/who6b.htm)

He's been dogged by a number of accusations that some of his tunes bear a more than superficial resemblance to the works of better composers, however I freely admit that I only used the word because I can't stand the oily, tory, arse-faced little twat

[GreNME]

It's more like Beerina is a born again Libertarian.

I didn't realize Libertarians all bought into the "economy is gonna collapse" woo so universally. Regardless, it's still conspiracy theory.

[Jaggy Bunnet]

Which one is it guys? Better public services and a lower national deficit - or lower taxes?

I think everyone realises that 0% tax raises nothing, as does 100%. The question is what effective rate of tax raises most - i.e. at what point does the tax take lost from people cutting back on hours worked / leaving / avoiding tax exceed the additional tax raised from those who do pay the higher rate. There are going to be some very high effective tax rates under the new rules (60%+) which may well start to generate negative returns.

Of course one of the problems of the tax credit system is that it led to some stupidly high effective tax rates for some pretty badly paid people - funny how that got a lot less coverage than the proposal to introduce high tax rates for better paid people.

ETA2 - Another laughing dog for "Of course, with hindsight, their bonuses were obscene. But New Labour gratefully taxed them", because lump sums are paid as non-discretionary bonuses and not as salary precisely because corporate taxes can be lowered though such methods (http://www.thetaxguide.co.uk/CuttingYourCorporationTaxLiabilityThroughBonuses.h tml).

Sorry but this is just wrong. In what way are bonuses taxed any more favourably than salary?

One of the other good ideas on the site you linked to is to reduce your corporate tax bill by increasing your expenses - so instead of paying £28 to the government, incur an unnecessary £100 expense so you end up with nothing instead of £72. Genius.

http://www.thetaxguide.co.uk/CuttingYourCorporationTaxLiabilityThroughExpenses. html

[volatile]

Yeah, the economy would be so much better if the Government just took it over and managed it . The Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China during the Mao era showed that.

In what way was that related to the post of mine which you quoted?

[GreNME]

In what way was that related to the post of mine which you quoted?

In much the same way that YOUR POST WAS LIKE HITLER! :eye-poppi

[volatile]

In much the same way that YOUR POST WAS LIKE HITLER! :eye-poppi

Wanting to crack down on tax-avoidance loopholes apparently makes me a Stalinist... :rolleyes:

[Wildy]

Wanting to crack down on tax-avoidance loopholes apparently makes me a Stalinist... :rolleyes:

Of course. Apparently letting the wealthy get tax-avoidance loopholes is some God given right or something like that.

[Beerina]

When did you join the conspiracy theory crowd?

Said massive change in the economy will cause problems that exacerbate any cyclic activities, in spite of loud protestations to the opposite by people claiming it will stop a particularly egregious downcycle.

This is merely a prediction; keep it in mind over the next few years. I'm willing, and hopeful, to be wrong.


The other half about politicians blaming it on everyone but themselves is nothing new to anyone on this planet aside from neonates.

[Beerina]

I didn't realize Libertarians all bought into the "economy is gonna collapse" woo so universally. Regardless, it's still conspiracy theory.

You guys must be reading the posts from the other Beerina around here. I think he spells his name with three e's.

[BillC]

Wasn't there a Spitting Image sketch years ago featuring Andrew Lloyd Webber saying much the same thing?Andrew Lloyd Webber : "... and if Labour win the General Election, I'm leaving the country!!!"
(Screen fades to black.)
Announcer: "That was a party political broadcast of behalf of the Labour Party."

[GreNME]

Said massive change in the economy will cause problems that exacerbate any cyclic activities, in spite of loud protestations to the opposite by people claiming it will stop a particularly egregious downcycle.

This is merely a prediction; keep it in mind over the next few years. I'm willing, and hopeful, to be wrong.


The other half about politicians blaming it on everyone but themselves is nothing new to anyone on this planet aside from neonates.

In 2012-2013, would you be okay if I came back to you and asked you to revisit your prediction for accuracy? Are you willing to critically examine your own claims on this if I do?