Gareth Wilson

Here are my ideas. Don't be scared. I'm filled with love really.

FUNDING
1) Replace the mandatory foreign aid spending target with a disaster relief fund, where unspent money carries over into the next budget year to be topped up to the required amount, and is independent of preset mandatory spending commitments.
2) Restrict the EU "divorce" settlement to the value of the UK's actual existing spending commitments and let the EU whistle for £39m+ (more on this later).
3) Complete Brexit and end Britain's yearly net contribution to the EU.
4) End child tax credits and the working family tax credit, redirecting HMRC resources to a new superior working tax credit that I shall come back to below.
5) All new child benefit claimants restricted to claiming child benefit for no more than two children.
6) Housing benefit to be capped to £20'000 per year in London and £10'000 per year throughout the rest of the UK.
7) Introduce a 0.5% turnover tax, levied upon the gross sales of all companies operating in the UK, headquartered and paying tax on their profits overseas, to solve the problem of highly successful multinationals paying comparatively minuscule levels of tax in the UK. Because all companies headquartered and paying tax on their profits within the UK will be exempt from the turnover tax, this will in turn create an incentive for companies to declare their profits for taxation in the UK and to relocate their headquarters to the UK (bringing additional clerical jobs in the process). Exemptions from the turnover tax will also be offered on a case-by-case basis to overseas based companies investing in manufacturing and research and development operations within the UK.
8) Wipe out VAT fraud. Have all VAT registered addresses with abnormally frequent VAT number registrations, all companies associated with those addresses, and all directors of those companies investigated and interrogated by HMRC. Unpaid VAT will be retrospectively calculated and demanded by HMRC. Failure to settle the demand will lead to the confiscation and sale of assets by HMRC.

GROW THE ECONOMY & MAKE THE PEOPLE RICHER
1) Abolish income tax entirely for everyone earning £21k/year or less.
2) Lower the higher rate of income tax to 35% and the additional rate of income tax to 40%.
3) Abolish employee, self-employed and employer national insurance contributions.
4) Restore the central government grant for councils to pre-austerity levels, but fix council tax for 10 years and force all councils to slash business rates by 50% across the board.
5) Scrap section 24 to lessen upward pressure on rents and further free up admin within HMRC.
6) Restore police funding to pre-austerity levels, slash virtue-signalling police red tape to ensure maximum bodies on the beat, while forcing the police to investigate all crime again and sharpening the organisation into a well-equipped Police FORCE, prioritising the physical stature and prowess of its newest beat cops over politically-correct box ticking.
7) Further increase jobs in the research and technology sectors, while making the UK a force to be reckoned with, by INCREASING defence spending and showing no hesitation in using defence assets to dissuade incursions into British territory.
8) Don't increase the national minimum wage to £10/hr (a Labour idea) to ensure that hard-up small businesses are not sunk by high wage costs. But...
9) Greatly incentivise businesses to pay their workers at a rate equivalent to £10/hr, by allowing them to claim back the necessary increase for each worker as an additional tax credit (on top of offsetting them against tax as an increased outgoing). Previously freed up HMRC resources will be redirected towards the reconciling of these filed yearly claims from businesses with the bank statements they must also submit to qualify for the additional tax credit.

BREXIT
1) Walk out from the negotiations and proceed to arrange bilateral free trade deals immediately.
2) Do not impose tariffs upon EU goods and services. Do not erect a hard border with the Republic Ireland. The UK would however react accordingly should the EU or Ireland fail to demonstrate the same initial restraint, but ultimately the ball will be in their court to spite their own faces with an Irish hard border and/or tariffs imposed upon British goods and services by the EU.... Read More

After their 2015 election victory, the Conservatives proceeded to betray and alienate various of their traditional voters. Then this spring their arrogance reached new heights with the blatant abuse of their power to call elections, the utter nonchalance of the party's current leader to toward campaigning before the general public, and their insulting expectation of the very voter base they'd spent the last two years backstabbing and exploiting to still be motivated to go out and vote on the Tories' behalf.

First there was Section 24, then the attempts to raid pensions, then the behind-the-scenes-screwing of our cabbies on behalf of Uber. They tried to increase national insurance contributions for the self-employed and utilised the same disgusting levelling-the-playing-field sophistry that they did with Section 24. They have taxed insurance premiums and tried to tax a truly obscene proportion of the property wealth of pensioners requiring care. They been laissez-faire and conservative towards their wealthiest friends and allies, while being destructive tax and spend socialists towards small businesses who are the real economic backbone of Britain.

Last night the accumulated arrogance, sophistry and backstabbing of the last two years culminated in sections of the betrayed core vote not bothering to turn out. Those of my friends who I am aware voted Tory in 2015 did not vote at all. I voted Conservative in 2015 and last night voted for UKIP.

We'd been treated as expendable in favour of the Conservatives gaining new votes from students and the youngest workers. But in this endeavour, the Tories were outdone by the grandiose irresponsibility of Labour... so yet another gamble that failed to pay-off.

All-in-all it was just deserts for the corrupt corporatist prostitutes of Westminster.... Read More

The Tories are as expendable to me as Section 24 showed we are to them...

I'd sooner rip out my own eye balls than vote for that bunch of corrupt, corporatist, small-business-bashing, mealy-mouthed, backstabbing twirps.... Read More

Imagine how the Independent would cry, if an article were written using a similar title to the below, but with the words "self employed" replaced with "benefit claimants" or "asylum seekers".

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/self-employed-philip-hammond-budget-national-insurance-virtuous-morally-bankrupt-a7620876.html

The alt-right prospers from the condescension of these metropolitan-socialist, ignoramus pillocks.... Read More

... Read More

I briefly flicked on Sky News last night, and the featured reporter was laying into the Treasury over National Insurance... Making pretty much the same statements that we have about them... Accusing the department of giving mealy mouthed excused to Sky News by pretending to be levelling the playing field and claiming that the increased NI contributions are not properly comparable to those subject to the Tory tax-lock. It all sounded so familiar. This issue is going to run and bring to light a lot of what we've been saying about this toxic and destructive department.

Check out the backlash in the papers today... Read More

Insurance premium tax up
Road tax up
Business rates up
Pensions looted
Landlords taxed on fictitional income
And now the self employed to pay higher national insurance contributions

Stab, stab, stab goes the knife in the backs of hardworking Britons.

Tory voters your corrupt and lying party is quite simply no longer for you.

You do not have the wealth with which to buy policy influence, nor a corporate empire with which to reward Conservative politicians with directorships.

You are therefore, in the eyes of the party you supported, a non-entity, a nobody; an irrelevant, expendable particle of uninitiated fecal matter.... Read More

My personal view is that housebuilders are not so stupid as to have to rely on Government for instruction as to when and where to build new homes. Where there is demand there will be supply.

As with most things, the supply of new builds dwindles in response to the demand for new builds doing likewise. People stating that they aspire at some point in their life to own their own home does not constitute such demand. The demand for new build is driven by people actively seeking to buy new build.

The construction of new builds is down and this points to a significant fact: the builders are not building because the people are not buying.

Our population consists of a labour force that is increasingly mobile, people yet to settle into a long-term work/living arrangement, and people incapable of ever owning their own home. This is increasing the demand for rental accommodation relative to that for owned homes, and because of these market forces, during the last two decades the demand for new build houses from landlords has been increasing relative to that from owner-occupiers.

But as of the 2015 Summer Budget, the Government and local councils have engaged in an all out tax and regulatory assault upon landlords, destroying their confidence to invest and their demand for new build property. Construction levels are decreasing along with this demand.

The Tories are trying to doctor the relative demands for rented and ownable accommodation into an artificial split, with the media blaming homebuilders for the reduction in new builds when in reality it is the government that is at fault for having choked off demand.

These policies will not work, and will inflict damage upon the living standards and labour mobility of the United Kingdom population for as long as they are pursued.... Read More

Something off of the current topic that I wanted to say...

Developers don't "land bank", my company does not "fabric bank", high street retailers do not "store bank" for any other reason than the following... There is insufficient demand among the people for what we have to sell at a given moment in time.

Demand for new build housing is falling, demand for owned homes is falling relative to that for rental housing. Demand for rental accommodation is rising.

The market is trying to meet areas of demand with supply, but the government is wrecking its ability to do so with utterly overkill tax grabs. Now the landlords that funded new developments to supply increasing demand for rental accommodation are being knee-capped by the tax system.

Of course most people aspire to own their own home... But increasing numbers do not wish to right now. Long term aspiration is not actual demand: and the demand for new houses was coming largely from the rental providers that this government has attacked, because they in their turn were supplying a growing market.

There is nobody else capable of filling the gap in demand for new build housing, and the builders are restricting supply to match that situation.

If there was a market the builders would supply it.... Read More

I'm in a cantankerous mood today, so I'd just like to say that the Parliamentary Conservatives have abandoned the aspirational capitalism of Margaret Thatcher, their core vote, and the concepts of integrity and public service. They are the real snivelling parasites: a bunch of vacuous and unprincipled little turds, transforming the party into one of corporatism, elitism, greed, lies, backstabbing and corruption.

They are the heirs to the snobs and brain-dead cowards, that gave the boot to the greatest, most radical and empowering British Prime Minister ever, and who then went on to lead the Conservative Party to defeat by New Labour. They will repeat this process again, but it won't be the dying Labour party that benefits from their folly next time.... Read More

The County Court System is a cesspit of laziness, evidence mishandling and rude, obnoxious, ignoramous judges, who are often devoid of all concept of public service and actively empower the guilty defendants of civil cases to full-blown criminality, through their combined inability to enforce and brazen contempt (usually expressed by default in hearings prior to any consultation of the evidence) for members of the tax paying public for daring to seek legal redress in the first place.

It is therefore imperative that all claims are upgraded to the high court stream as soon as possible to be enforced by HCEOs with a basic sense of customer service, manners and incentive to do their actual job.... Read More

Does Hammond have any smart-arse suggestions to replace the homes of those evicted or priced out of the market by Section 24?

We're not the problem nor responsible for answering his question.

The government has a funding gap because it is inefficient, ran by absolute pillocks, and needs to get its own house in order. They are spending too much money. And because they are spending too much money, they are taxing too much money. And because they are taxing too much money, the economy isn't generating enough money and those able to avoid paying taxes are not willing to contribute to the system. So then there is yet another shortfall, with tax rising yet further and the addiction getting worse and worse.

Meanwhile Hong Kong, a land of lower taxation, economic prosperity, and excellent public services, exemplifies the inadequacy of Hammond and his Consocialist peers.... Read More

Wales politics
Remove new tax on buy-to-let homes call by landlords

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-38560571... Read More

From the Axe the Tenant Tax Facebook Page:

"BIG & BREAKING NEWS FROM AXE THE TENANT TAX
TENANT TAX COALITION UNITES MAJOR INDUSTRY BODIES AND PROMOTES COORDINATED ACTIVITIES IN 2017

Dear Supporter,

This is an important and long post outlining a major step forward for the Axe the Tenant Tax campaign.

Boxing Day 2016 marks the one year anniversary of the Axe the Tenant Tax campaign. To celebrate this achievement, we are very pleased to announce a new and exciting initiative to take us forward into 2017 – the formalisation of an industry-wide ‘Tenant Tax Coalition’.

TENANT TAX BACKGROUND
As you know, we launched the ‘Axe the Tenant Tax’ (ATT) campaign specifically to fight against Section 24 of the Finance (no. 2) Act 2015. Whilst the campaign launch-pad was a legal challenge via the Judicial Review process (which was denied in October 2016 at the High Court), we were always fighting this battle on two fronts; legally and politically.

The ATT campaign has succeeded in gaining substantial media coverage, with more than 1,000 articles being published and national media coverage achieved. Our supporters have met with scores of politicians and a number of MPs have started to use the term ‘Tenant Tax’ or the ‘Axe the Tenant Tax’ in their communications. We have also created a growing list of MPs who are supportive of our cause.

Our proudest achievement to date is the fact that a wide and growing range of organisations have supported the ATT campaign. Many have chosen to put aside any differences and they have worked together for the greater good. This is to be applauded. In 2016 alone we received support from almost all landlord and letting agent representative bodies, property related media channels and more than 3,000 individuals and organsiations who support our goal to Axe the Tenant Tax.

We are very pleased to announce that this industry-wide collaboration has now been formalised. By encouraging and supporting individuals and organisations working both independently and more closely together, we believe that we can and will make an even bigger impact in 2017 and beyond.

TENANT TAX COALITION CHARTER
Coalition Definition
A coalition is defined as “an alliance for combined action.” Below is the Tenant Tax Coalition Charter…
Our Primary Goal
Our primary goal is to Axe the Tenant Tax, or to see Section 24 being amended so that the retroactive nature of the tax is removed.

Coalition Membership
All individuals and organisations that have supported our campaign to date automatically qualify as supporters of the Tenant Tax coalition. New supporters are welcomed and can join by one of the following means:
1. ‘Like’ our Facebook page -
https://www.facebook.com/clause24/
2. Make a donation to the coalition campaign - http://bit.ly/1TXGKwG
Core Coalition Stakeholders
Due to the fact that the Axe the Tenant Tax campaign continues to be a grass-roots, not-for-profit, volunteer-driven movement, we approached the largest representative bodies and asked them if they would engage with us and support us to an even greater degree than they have done over the last 12 months.
We selected organisations who have at least 1,500 paying landlord members and/or who have at least 500 letting agent paying members, to ensure that we had a critical mass of support from the start. We also needed to select a manageable number of Core Coalition Stakeholders, because it is no easy feat aligning interests and coordinating efforts between, in some cases, competing organisations. Huge credit needs to go to all Core Coalition Stakeholders for engaging with us and agreeing to increase their level of contribution and involvement with the Axe the Tenant Tax campaign.

We are very pleased to confirm that the following organisations are the Tenant Tax Core Coalition Stakeholders:
National Landlords Association (NLA)
Residential Landlords Association (RLA)
Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL)
Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA)
UK Association of Letting Agents (UKALA)
Together, these organisations represent more than 150,000 private landlords, who in turn provide homes to more than 1 million tenants. They also represent the largest number of professional letting agents in the UK.

In addition to the above, thousands of other individuals and organisations have been supporting the Tenant Tax Coalition and the Axe the Tenant Tax campaign to date. This support can and will continue in a variety of roles; including sponsors, supporters, donors, patrons, media partners, researchers and coalition members.
The Core Coalition Stakeholders above have agreed to support the campaign in the ways that are best suited to each organisations desires and circumstances. Individual and independent activities will continue but the Core Stakeholders will now also work together on some or all of the campaign proposals listed below:
1. Core Stakeholders support the primary goal, which is to ‘Axe the Tenant Tax’ or to see Section 24 being amended so that the retroactive nature of the tax is removed.
2. Core Coalition Stakeholders will share their outline plans for activity in relation to the Tenant Tax with each other, so that better visibility and co-ordination can occur and greater impact is achieved. The intention and goal is to ensure a more joined-up approach to the individual and collective media, lobbying and research efforts.
3. All Coalition members, including the Core Stakeholders, are encouraged to use either the terms ‘Tenant Tax’ or ‘Axe the Tenant Tax’ when referring to Section 24. This will support greater awareness by acting as a focal point for communications and referencing.
4. The Axe the Tenant Tax team will share communications from our supporters regarding the names and correspondence received from MPs and other influencers who have expressed their support for our campaign, with the Core Coalition Stakeholders.
5. An updated Tenant Tax website will be created with input from and links to valuable research and documents created by the Core Stakeholders to date. Key research from other organisations will also be considered for inclusion and can be submitted here info@tenanttax.co.uk
6. A summary of the key activities carried out by the Core Stakeholders to date in relation to their individual efforts to Axe the Tenant Tax will be provided and shared publicly via Tenant Tax communications channels.
7. Existing resources and research completed to date will be shared via the Tenant Tax website, with links back to the relevant Core Stakeholder organisations websites.
8. PR, Media and Social Media efforts carried out by the Tenant Tax team and all Coalition members will aim to drive far greater awareness from landlords, letting agents, tenants and other industry stakeholders who are not currently aware of the Tenant Tax. It is estimated that more than 90% of landlords are not members of any form of landlord organisation and are also likely to be unaware of the potential impact of the Tenant Tax to them personally.
9. Core Coalition Stakeholders have discussed the list of proposed activities and initiatives shown below. Core Stakeholders will choose to support in whatever way they believe that they can add the most value. They may engage with all of these activities, or choose a ‘pick and mix’ approach.

PROPOSED AXE THE TENANT TAX ACTIVITIES FOR 2017:
1. Westminster MP and Tenant Tax Coalition Dinner or evening reception. A dinner or reception hosted in the Westminster area with invitations sent to supportive and swing MPs. Core Coalition Stakeholders can be represented and have some time to share their views with MPs. This will be in addition to all of the past and ongoing lobbying efforts that have being carried out by Core Coalition Stakeholders and others.
2. Extensive Tenant Survey. Axe the Tenant Tax have agreed with SpareRoom that an extensive tenant facing survey on the implications of the tax changes and the knock on consequences to tenants will be sent to thousands of tenants in early 2017. The resulting findings can be used for PR and also to add weight to our combined lobbying efforts.
3. Mortgage Lender and Broker Engagement. Axe the Tenant Tax will be communicating with the Council of Mortgage Lenders and some of the largest individual mortgage lenders and mortgage brokers. The goal is engaging greater support and raising greater awareness to the vast numbers of landlords who are still unaware of the Tenant Tax. Core Coalition Stakeholders have agreed to lend their support to these communication efforts.
4. Research reports and lobbying efforts. The production of impactful research reports and follow-up media releases by the Core Coalition Stakeholders and other coalition members will continue. These will be shared via the Tenant Tax communication channels. Future collaboration on some of these efforts will be discussed.
5. Meeting with and writing to your MP – New Resource Pack. Axe the Tenant Tax will provide a clear and easy to use resource pack that will encourage landlords to contact their local MP. This resource pack will include the ‘best of the best’ resources from the Core Coalition Stakeholders efforts to encourage their own members to lobby MPs. It will also include suggestions regarding letters and responses to letter as well as Tenant Tax campaign documents that can be sent in advance and used as ‘leave behinds’.
6. March 2017 Budget Lobbying and PR. All Core Stakeholders and ATT will be lobbying government and producing numerous media releases in the run up to the March 2017 budget. The ATT campaign will support the efforts of Core Stakeholders and share relevant and appropriate activities and progress reports. (It should be noted that it is not in the best interests of our Primary Goal to share all lobbying efforts and there should be no expectation that this will happen for this reason.)
7. Axe the Tenant Tax Awareness Week – 3rd to 9th April 2017. Axe the Tenant Tax Awareness Week will consist of a series of PR, political and social media activities to link in with the planned start date of Section 24 on the 5th April 2017. This is based on a working assumption that the Tenant Tax is not abolished or changed in the March 2017 budget. Widespread social media campaigns, live events, webinars and direct communication to landlords, tenants, other stakeholders and the media will take place.
8. Raising Greater Awareness. All Coalition Stakeholders, supporters, sponsors and donors will be encouraged to share Tenant Tax links and materials and drive greater awareness towards the estimated 90% plus of landlords who are not aware of the Tenant Tax.
9. Funding and Resources. All Core Stakeholders have and will continue to provide financial support to the Axe the Tenant Tax campaign, either directly or indirectly. Significant costs and investment have and continue to be made by these organisations in the form of staffing, research and both direct and indirect costs towards the campaign to Axe the Tenant Tax. To support this investment and enable an even greater range of activities to be undertaken, the ATT coalition crowdfunding campaign will continue to be live and donations can be made here - http://bit.ly/1TXGKwG
The above is not an exhaustive list but it provides a strong indication on our direction of travel.

We hope that you are pleased with our progress and that we are marking our one year anniversary with a fitting announcement – the launch of an industry-wide Tenant Tax Coalition. We might have lost the legal battle but we will do all in our power to win the war! As the old Mexican proverb says:
"They tried to bury us. They did not know that we were seeds.”

NEXT STEPS
You can help us in one or more of the following ways:
1. Share.
Please share this post far and wide with friends, family and associates.
2. Donate.
Please add your financial support to our cause - http://bit.ly/1TXGKwG
3. Comment.
Please provide us with your ideas, comments and feedback here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clause24/?ref=bookmarks
Email: info@tenanttax.co.uk

It just remains for us to thank you once again for your support, past, present and future and to wish you and your family a happy, healthy and successful New Year.

Let’s continue to ‘Stand Together, Be Inspired and Make a Difference’ in 2017 and beyond.

Together, we can Axe the Tenant Tax.
Best regards,
Steve Bolton and Chris Cooper"... Read More

From the Axe the Tenant Tax Facebook page:

"AXE THE TENANT TAX ANNIVERSARY
A very important announcement...

Boxing Day 2016 marks the first anniversary of the Axe the Tenant Tax campaign. To celebrate this special occasion, we have a major positive announcement to share with you.

This announcement will outline how our campaign is set to step-up several gears in 2017 and beyond.

What we will announce is under embargo until midnight on Boxing Day. However, what we can share with you at this stage is that it is a BIG first for the property sector. And we believe that many new and positive things will come from it.

In the meantime, please share your own thoughts and ideas regarding practical suggestions for 2017 that would support the process to Axe the Tenant Tax.
What would you like to see happen?

It only remains for us to wish you a very happy Christmas and extend a big thank you for your support in 2016.

Steve Bolton and Chris Cooper

PS – The announcement will be shared via this Facebook page at midnight on Boxing Day. It will also be sent by email to our supporters. Please be ready to share it far and wide over the festive period. Thank you."... Read More

The below petition against Section 24 has generated over 1000 signatures...

https://www.change.org/p/the-chancellor-of-the-exchequer-stop-the-mass-tenant-evictions-and-forced-rent-increases-caused-by-section-24/

Please can everyone on Property118 take a moment to sign and share it.... Read More

The Labour Party are getting halfway towards grasping the implications of Section 24:

http://www.propertytribes.com/parliamentary-questions-affecting-landlords-t-127627593.html

Though they are responding to it in a very Labour-like way.... Read More

Osborne’s stealth taxes

http://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2016/04/osbornes-stealth-taxes.html... Read More

Local authorities and government 'have it in' for landlords, says leading agent

http://www.thebusinessdesk.com/mobile/eastmidlands/leading-property-agent-slams-government-and-local-authorities-over-housing/... Read More

George Osborne's family firm hasn't paid any corporation tax for the eighth year in a row

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/george-osbornes-family-firm-hasnt-8978990... Read More