Robin Hood taxation
Steal from the rich and give to the poor. The current taxation system in this country is all wrong for entrepreneurs.
You spend all your time building up a business, creating wealth, creating jobs, creating a future for the country and how are you rewarded? By having your hard earned money taken away from you in every single possible way from corporation tax, personal tax, capital gains tax, employers national insurance, etc.
Sure, everyone is taxed and most people (although they may say they don’t) will probably agree that tax is a good thing. It, after all, pays for our country, our schools, our health service and all the things that are important to us.
However, anyone who has ever done maths at school will have been taught about percentages and how 20% of a little is a little and likewise 20% of a lot is a lot. So if you're earning a low wage your 20% tax is relatively low and fair. If you're earning a large wage 20% tax is considerably more but it's fair because you're paying the same percentage.
The system whereby the more you earn the higher the tax percentage just isn’t fair, nor does it encourage the majority of people to go out and create wealth. You're better off in a lot of cases if you just stay at home watching Jeremy Kyle and having children because you not only get a free house but you can also claim for ‘essentials’ such as cigarettes and Sky+ HD.
Creating wealth just means that at some stage you will not just have 20% taken off you but 50%. Is that a reward for setting up a business? Is that a reward for employing people?
Taxes should be on things we as a country don’t want or things that cost the country money, so for example higher taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and even fatty foods. If you choose to spend your money on these things then fair enough you can pay the tax, however people with jobs and especially those with their own businesses employing people should be rewarded by lower tax schemes.
Don’t get me started on the real taxation in this country because as we know it’s a damn sight higher than 50% when you account for VAT, fuel duty and the hundreds of other stealth taxes.
With the new 50% tax bracket all that will happen is successful entrepreneurs will look to move out of the country and/or setup offices and homes abroad.
Antony Chesworth is the founder of ecommerce software company Ekm Systems Ltd.
