Lee

What is the best "counter intuative" valentines day film to watch? Romcom coded, but not really a Romcom (examples off the top of my head Shaun Of The Dead or Deadpool)

An excellent haul of books this Christmas!

All racism is bad. All killing of innocent people is bad. When will people get that into their racist heads?

He’s a a spreadsheet obsessive with limited experience outside his political and think tank bubble

If I hear/see the words "fair", "fairness", "fairer" by a politician again in an attempt to quell critical thinking I'm not sure I can be responsible for my actions!

Contractors, only the taxman knows IR35’s true cost, not that he’ll tell you As the government continues to flatter IR35, the data needed to truly gauge the full, detrimental impact of the HMRC rules is conveniently not being disclosed.

An excellent article about the realities of IR35 - contractoruk.com/news/contrac...

The failure of today can be summed up by

A is working badly
B is not A
Therefore B is correct

No reference to C, D, E or even that A is the best of a series of bad options.

Tax advantages of self employment are not at a record high despite what the Resolutions Foundation says

Marginal rates
Basic rate
PAYE 25%
SE - 25% - 31%

Higher rate
PAYE - 42%
SE 46% - 50%

And that’s not including all the little freebies employees get like equipment, training, software etc…

“Fairness” is clearly the government’s nebulous word of the moment to stop people critically thinking about ideological decisions

Raymond Van Der Laughing Gouw?

Idea for the Budget – IR35 is meant to make contractors pay the same tax as employees, then fairness says employees should start paying tax on the £1000s of gear, software, and business travel contractors fund themselves — or better yet, cover the full costs out of their own pocket too.

Pretty sure the marginal rates of tax are broadly in line with PAYE too…

If I’m honest, I don’t want anyone to experience this, but if it’s the only way to get empathy and morality back for this then so be it!

Permanent jobs are increasingly being rebadged as inside-IR35 contracts. I hope those who backed this system get to feel what it’s like to be taxed as employees, stripped of rights, and exploited by umbrella firms — just to grasp the damage they caused.

I've a lot of love for Sneakers - full marks for his comedy acting as he receives instructions to "crack" the electonic door lock...

Since I started seeing the reviews of this 24 hours ago I’ve gone from thinking this would be the car crash film of the year to being genuinely excited about seeing it!

I've been recently diagnosed with autism, and I can confirm whilst we can come over as not having a filter which may annoy people, it does not cause the same sociopathic behaviour as Gregg Wallace is displaying!

This has been an absolute classic series of Taskmaster!

A good way to generate tax revenue would be to charge income tax on employees computer equipment, training, business travel etc… and/or make employees pay for it out of their own pockets (it would generate £1000s)! What do you mean it doesn’t sound fair? Well that’s exactly what Inside IR35 is…

She’s just a fan of the Biscuit and Brownie Yorkie that was trialed recently

For the first time in a while I went to London for a few days last month and the air was way my pleasant that it has been in the past

Don’t get me wrong, the cut off was way too low when they first did it. But not all pensioners are frail. Many are part of the richest cohort to retire. The WFP is for those in need it’s not a lifestyle supplement.

When you live in an area where rich pensioners moan about the WFP whilst drinking their 10th expensive latte of the week before getting into their BMWs to go back to their houses worth £500,000 which they bought for £5 in the 70s (yes some hyperbole there) means testing it doesn’t sound too bad.

I deeply suspect in a few years we’ll see a variation on this statement said often - “Though framed as a moral necessity, the policy underdelivered and proved counterproductive”

In terms of total tax paid you’d be wrong there. (and there’s a whole different story about HMRC’s attitude there). I know we’re in a era of horrific right wing populism but it doesn’t mean we should hit left wing populism

Don’t worry. It’s not Twitter - it’s been cordial between us and I’m happy to answer questions.

It isn’t flat. Dividend tax jumps to 33% after £50000 (and the tapering of corporation tax starts at £50000)
The marginal rate of tax is a bit higher compared to PAYE at that point

Please explain how pedantry would help me set a suitable years salary if I only have £4000 worth of business. That’s the real world there for you. The take home personal money is broadly the same for an equivalent PAYE salary. What is is called is irrelevant.

Also it is not legally possible to set up as a sole trader in some industries - the insurance which is mandatory for my industry is not available to sole traders. What is important is that the marginal tax rates have been broadly equalised and the tax is paid - it doesn’t matter what it’s called.

Please tell me how someone whose business does not have a regular income can draw a regular salary from it? At the start of the business year I had £4000 worth of business and then lost £30000 worth of work 2 days before it was due to start - there is no way you can set a years salary like that.