[Politics] The Labour Government

[Weststander]

I'm not surprised by your response, and would add that in the post I responded to you were talking about billionaires and big business, and now you're talking about businesses. I've no problem with SMEs also contributing. I have a problem with billionaires full stop contributing. And most big businesses are doing their damnedest to avoid paying towards the public coffers -- so that ought to be a criteria, ie it's valid for Sainsbury's and Tesco, but not Amazon and Meta.

Business rates need a huge reform, something is mooted. Genuine retailers large and small pay huge sums in business rates, one of several reasons for high street / mall woes and empty stores. Whilst per square foot or per revenue Amazon etc pay bugger all for their huge rural warehouses, by comparison.

 

[Machiavelli]

Business rate need a huge reform, something is mooted. Genuine retailers large and small pay huge sums in business rates, one of several reasons for high street / mall woes and empty stores. Whilst per square foot or per revenue Amazon etc pay bugger all for their huge rural warehouses, by comparison.

Spot on. I still need an explanation as to why RR hasn't done this in the budget, or shifted corporation tax onto sales rather than profits. I suspect the answer, I fear, is Brexit. That Britain is alone, and can't actually do anything, and that we'll just become poorer and devoid of control (the irony) which just enables fascism to emerge in the back door. Potentially frightening times.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Spot on. I still need an explanation as to why RR hasn't done this in the budget, or shifted corporation tax onto sales rather than profits. I suspect the answer, I fear, is Brexit. That Britain is alone, and can't actually do anything, and that we'll just become poorer and devoid of control (the irony) which just enables fascism to emerge in the back door. Potentially frightening times.

Emerge… we’ve been frighteningly close for a few years now.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

I desperately want PR so everyone's vote counts and we break the two party cycle. However, the one danger is that it does give a parliamentary platform for extreme minority parties - the BNP would have got MPs back in the day for example. Most historians argue that Hitler would never have achieved power without PR in Germany and then we would not have had WW2.

Farage has been having political sway for years and he’s only now got a seat in Parliament - the shift in membership of the Tories has also gone similarly far to the right. Those leaning or falling far sides on the right (and occasionally on the left) aren’t being swayed by what happens in the HoC or HoL, but by what happens on social media, their favourite news outlet or on breakfast TV, because that’s where they’re easiest to reach.

The one major benefit of PR is that people will feel heard. People that feel heard tend to be less extreme.

 

[abc]

I'm not surprised by your response, and would add that in the post I responded to you were talking about billionaires and big business, and now you're talking about businesses. I've no problem with SMEs also contributing. I have a problem with billionaires full stop contributing. And most big businesses are doing their damnedest to avoid paying towards the public coffers -- so that ought to be a criteria, ie it's valid for Sainsbury's and Tesco, but not Amazon and Meta.

I like the idea of some sort of qualifying criteria to be able to fund political parties such as (like you suggest) paying all due taxes or being uk resident etc. Better than the current situation but I would prefer some form of state funding ( though I agree, it wouldn’t be a popular policy)

 

[abc]

Business rate need a huge reform, something is mooted. Genuine retailers large and small pay huge sums in business rates, one of several reasons for high street / mall woes and empty stores. Whilst per square foot or per revenue Amazon etc pay bugger all for their huge rural warehouses, by comparison.

Business rates like employers NI is a tax before trading which puts an excessive burden on a business and stifles growth. All taxes should be made on profits but this has to be accompanied by a much tighter regime that forces everyone ( esp the likes of Amazon) to pay what is due, not what their clever accountants can enable them to minimise.

 

[abc]

I cannot say I am an expert in this BUT I cannot say this is something I have picked up on. This flies in the face of the idea, at least amongst those that I have spoken to, that there reason Germany likes PR is that they're not keen on one party having power. As I say, I am not an expert and this is not something I have looked into any great detail.

Interesting, very much a mainstream view as far as I have read and studied over the years. But perhaps this particular historical perspective is different in Germany itself.
Either way, I think PR is ultimately more democratic

 

[dsr-burnley]

The one major benefit of PR is that people will feel heard. People that feel heard tend to be less extreme.

That contradicts what has been said earlier about extreme parties being kept out of power. France has proportional representation, but Le Pen's support grows and grows as the political "establishment" has to try more and more desperate measures to ensure that she is kept out of office. Would you say Le Pen's supporters feel like they are being heard?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

That contradicts what has been said earlier about extreme parties being kept out of power. France has proportional representation, but Le Pen's support grows and grows as the political "establishment" has to try more and more desperate measures to ensure that she is kept out of office. Would you say Le Pen's supporters feel like they are being heard?

They’re heard, all their supporters votes count and the party is heard in parliament. Watch Euro TV and you’ll sometimes hear them yourself.

As for being kept out of office, what keeps them out is only having a hundred or so seats. If they were more popular they’d gain enough to be in power. It’s this simple.