Who was the best prime minister?

[Pblakeney]

Whut? Agnes will be paying the lowest band, minus 25% single occupancy discount. If she really, really can't afford that she can apply for Council Tax Benefit, and may well get it if her circumstances qualify. Her house, despite increasing in value, is still in the Band A it was designated in 1991. Am I missing something?

Some people want the system changed so that Agnes pays a shedload of tax because her house is now worth £2m.

 

[briantrumpet]

Some people want the system changed so that Agnes pays a shedload of tax because her house is now worth £2m.

Rick Chasey for starters. Or rather, she should sell the house and move to somewhere more appropriate.

 

[Pblakeney]

Rick Chasey for starters. Or rather, she should sel the house and move to somewhere more appropriate.

Rick never really thought that through. All the boomers downsizing would just up the demand for small houses pushing first time buyers out of the market altogether. While simultaneously boosting the prices of larger houses.

 

[secretsqirrel]

Rick never really thought that through. All the boomers downsizing would just up the demand for small houses pushing first time buyers out of the market altogether. While simultaneously boosting the prices of larger houses.

Rick Chasey for starters. Or rather, she should sell the house and move to somewhere more appropriate.

Whilst Rick would not consider moving somewhere more appropriate.

He will be pleased that he left such an impression that we are still discussing him tho’. At least he has found cheap accommodation somewhere

 

[briantrumpet]

Whilst Rick would not consider moving somewhere more appropriate.

He will be pleased that he left such an impression that we are still discussing him tho’. At least he has found cheap accommodation somewhere

With about 80k posts (IIRC) it's not entirely surprising he got noticed, even ignoring his sometimes surprising points of view.

Or was it 180k posts?

 

[icowden]

Whut? Agnes will be paying the lowest band, minus 25% single occupancy discount. If she really, really can't afford that she can apply for Council Tax Benefit, and may well get it if her circumstances qualify. Her house, despite increasing in value, is still in the Band A it was designated in 1991. Am I missing something?

Largley what happends when the Govt gets round to re-valuing the properties.

 

[BoldonLad]

Largley what happends when the Govt gets round to re-valuing the properties.

Although re-valuing the properties may make things LOOK more sensible, in practice, nothing changes, Agnes's House will still, in all probability, be Band A, because ALL of the houses will have increased in value. The mix of Band A - Band H properties will remain more or less constant, even if individual house valuations were undertaken, little will change, same type of house in same street does not vary hugely in value just because owner has carried out "improvement".

 

[Psamathe]

Although re-valuing the properties may make things LOOK more sensible, in practice, nothing changes, Agnes's House will still, in all probability, be Band A, because ALL of the houses will have increased in value. The mix of Band A - Band H properties will remain more or less constant, even if individual house valuations were undertaken, little will change, same type of house in same street does not vary hugely in value just because owner has carried out "improvement".

I seem to remember from when I lived in France local property taxes were based on strict measurements, quite complex but you could do them yourself eg floor area with a headroom above a threshold (eg attic rooms were not just floor area). And if you did anything to change the raring eg attic extension then it was your responsibility to notify the authorities and provide a new set of measurements and your tax was adjusted accordingly.

 

[briantrumpet]

I seem to remember from when I lived in France local property taxes were based on strict measurements, quite complex but you could do them yourself eg floor area with a headroom above a threshold (eg attic rooms were not just floor area). And if you did anything to change the raring eg attic extension then it was your responsibility to notify the authorities and provide a new set of measurements and your tax was adjusted accordingly.

Still the same. When I submitted the figure to the local tax office (following an update in the system) using the area given in notaire's sales info, the tax bod thought it was too low, so I measured all the rooms (including the cellar, but not the loft), and sent him the list. I did point out that the cadestral map was incorrect in a couple of aspects, so that wouldn't be an accurate way of measuring it. Didn't seem to affect my tax bills (d'habitation and foncière) much, if at all.

Thankfully for me, France loads most tax onto income rather than property. That said, I'm amazed anyone bothers being self-employed, as the tax is based on turnover rather than profit, which is a pretty hefty disincentive to take risk.

 

[icowden]

Thankfully for me, France loads most tax onto income rather than property. That said, I'm amazed anyone bothers being self-employed, as the tax is based on turnover rather than profit, which is a pretty hefty disincentive to take risk.

On the flip side it stops people playing accounting tricks to reduce profit.

 

[briantrumpet]

On the flip side it stops people playing accounting tricks to reduce profit.

Indeed, but saying that if you make a loss you'll still have to pay a regular tax amount seems designed to drive small businesses out of business in one fell swoop.

'Auto entrepreneur' was the label I was trying to remember, to give the scheme its official title.

 

[Stevo 666]

On the flip side it stops people playing accounting tricks to reduce profit.

You don't think that they would try accounting tricks to reduce revenue then?

Although to clarify Brian's statement above the French 'micro-enterprise' tax regime is only applicable to suitably small businesses (as the description implies) and is optional.

 

[icowden]

You don't think that they would try accounting tricks to reduce revenue then?

Probably, but I think it would be harder. It's difficult to disguise the amount of money that has come in, but easy to say that you started building a new office or paid for a load of training costs, purchased hardware etc.

 

[Stevo 666]

Probably, but I think it would be harder. It's difficult to disguise the amount of money that has come in, but easy to say that you started building a new office or paid for a load of training costs, purchased hardware etc.

Small businesses and traders accepting cash in hand payments is an easy and well known example.

 

[Bazzer]

Probably, but I think it would be harder. It's difficult to disguise the amount of money that has come in, but easy to say that you started building a new office or paid for a load of training costs, purchased hardware etc.

In addition to what @Stevo 666 says, depending upon how other income or gains are taxed in France, there are other possibilities.
Certainly in the UK, something similar was tried during war time. Excess Profits Tax.
Industries linked to war time activities saw their turnover and consequently their profits rise. Governments sought to tax these excess profits at higher rates. This led to companies trying to move income into gains, (this was pre CGT) and a raft of tax cases which provided some guidelines as what was and was not acceptable to the Courts.