en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/7987011 Comments by Caracatus https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2021/02/emily-carver-an-online-sales-tax-would-be-a-clear-cut-case-of-levelling-down.html#IDComment1097454754 The idea that difference tax evasion and avoidance are clear cut is misguided. Companies like amazon and those individuals who profit most from tax evasion are the kind of people who fund lobbyists and think tanks like IEA to help create the tax loopholes which they then take advantage of. Wed, 10 Feb 2021 15:12:24 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2021/02/emily-carver-an-online-sales-tax-would-be-a-clear-cut-case-of-levelling-down.html#IDComment1097454754 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/will-tanner-covid-and-vaccines-imagine-what-would-have-happened-if-we-had-junked-intervention-and-opted-instead-for-laissez-faire.html#IDComment1097420572 Yes, 40 years on Ronald Reagan who increased Government spending and ran up massive debts is still put forward as some kind of role model for laissez-faire low tax economy. Never let the facts get in the way of a fairytale. Tue, 9 Feb 2021 10:56:55 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/will-tanner-covid-and-vaccines-imagine-what-would-have-happened-if-we-had-junked-intervention-and-opted-instead-for-laissez-faire.html#IDComment1097420572 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2021/02/the-universal-credit-uplift-easy-in-but-not-easy-out.html#IDComment1097398889 Wage competition has little impact on wages. There you go again spouting Marxist economics as if businesses were machines working to predetermined and unchanging economic laws of profit maximisation. Mon, 8 Feb 2021 17:49:21 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2021/02/the-universal-credit-uplift-easy-in-but-not-easy-out.html#IDComment1097398889 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2021/02/the-universal-credit-uplift-easy-in-but-not-easy-out.html#IDComment1097392868 There you go again spouting your Marxist theory of how business operates. The problem with your take though is that it has been tried repeatedly throughout history in many countries and it doesn't lead to higher wages.Its almost as if the only way to get workers to be paid the kind of wage they could afford to live on with state subsidy is to give the workers control of the means of production, distribution and exchange. Take one example, amazon, people work for below subsistence wages in his warehouses and no matter how rich the founder gets, none of it trickles down. Mon, 8 Feb 2021 12:54:22 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2021/02/the-universal-credit-uplift-easy-in-but-not-easy-out.html#IDComment1097392868 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/sammy-wilson-the-northern-ireland-protocol-needs-to-be-replaced-not-repaired.html#IDComment1097387748 "All of this was totally predictable." Time for a united Ireland or an independent Northern Ireland, anything to spare us from the whinging DUP. Mon, 8 Feb 2021 08:27:44 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/sammy-wilson-the-northern-ireland-protocol-needs-to-be-replaced-not-repaired.html#IDComment1097387748 https://www.conservativehome.com/localgovernment/2021/02/meghan-gallacher-scottish-conservatives-want-to-give-planning-decisions-back-to-local-communities.html#IDComment1097387598 Are we to expect this policy to be adopted in England ? Perhaps the author is unaware that planning decisions are made on the basis of the National Planning Policy Framework, Government set housing targets a lack of an entirely arbitrary five years 'housing' supply and that developers still go to appeal, which on major application is determined by the Government. And yet still the Government is determined to 'streamline' the process because it still isn't stacked enough in favour of developers. Oh and we haven't even got onto the issue of land ownerships. Mon, 8 Feb 2021 08:19:15 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/localgovernment/2021/02/meghan-gallacher-scottish-conservatives-want-to-give-planning-decisions-back-to-local-communities.html#IDComment1097387598 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/john-oconnell-presiding-over-the-biggest-tax-burden-in-70-years-is-surely-a-legacy-johnson-must-be-keen-to-avoid.html#IDComment1097231220 Here's one for the TPA, cut military spending to 1% of GDP, in line with the EU27 average. That would shave more off government spending than the entire Thatcher era. Interesting sin't it, that Thatcher failed so miserably to cut spending as a proportion of GDP, its almost as if some of her policies didn't work or had other consequence. An obvious difference is that Churchill and Attlee had just fought a world war, whereas the recent economic problems have been largely self inflicted. It is easy to cut taxes, Regan and Trump did it, they just ran up huge deficits and government debt. Boris has achieved a first though, he has inflicted the greatest economic damage in the shortest space of time of any UK government. Wed, 3 Feb 2021 06:55:27 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/john-oconnell-presiding-over-the-biggest-tax-burden-in-70-years-is-surely-a-legacy-johnson-must-be-keen-to-avoid.html#IDComment1097231220 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2021/02/ryan-bourne-how-many-lives-will-we-save-by-choosing-our-own-vaccination-programme-not-the-eus-lets-start-at-nine-thousand.html#IDComment1097231090 Given the Government didn't know which if any vaccines would work when they were ordered and given they accept no responsibility for any deaths, having done everything they could to prevent them, isn't it a bit sickening to claim credit for saving lives which haven't yet been saved? Wed, 3 Feb 2021 06:48:58 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2021/02/ryan-bourne-how-many-lives-will-we-save-by-choosing-our-own-vaccination-programme-not-the-eus-lets-start-at-nine-thousand.html#IDComment1097231090 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2021/02/daniel-hannan-joining-the-pacific-bloc-marks-the-rebirth-of-global-britain.html#IDComment1097231047 "these liberalisations are chiefly tokens of intent" - so why does the author draw ludicrous conclusions from them, could it be he can't bare to admit that Brexit isn't the fantasy he imagined. The idea that the EU was a 'slow growth area' is flawed as it compares utterly different economies. A economy growing from £10 to £12 has grown by 20%, it is high growth, whereas an economy that grows from £100 to £110 has grown by 10%,it is low growth, but, where are you better off ? Added to which, using GDP as the sole measure of growth is like using a speedometer to judge whether your car will pass its MOT. Wed, 3 Feb 2021 06:46:38 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2021/02/daniel-hannan-joining-the-pacific-bloc-marks-the-rebirth-of-global-britain.html#IDComment1097231047 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/john-stevenson-property-tax-reform-is-key-to-levelling-up-the-country-and-the-conservatives-electoral-chances.html#IDComment1097230845 "Stamp duty is a property tax which is an attack on aspiration and ownership" that's one way of looking at it, get rid of the emotive language and the sentence is meaningless. Stamp duty is one way in which the very richest pay a tiny bit of tax because it is harder for them to avoid, although it doesn't stop them trying. "someone living in a house worth £100,000 pays around five times more tax as a share of property value than someone living in a home worth £1 million." That is an utterly bogus statistic. Clearly even after 30 years we have MPs who don't understand how council tax operates. Wed, 3 Feb 2021 06:37:34 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/john-stevenson-property-tax-reform-is-key-to-levelling-up-the-country-and-the-conservatives-electoral-chances.html#IDComment1097230845 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/jethro-elsden-by-how-much-will-we-gain-by-choosing-our-own-vaccination-programme-not-the-eus-lets-start-at-100-billion.html#IDComment1097217098 What a wazzock of an article. How much could better handling of the pandemic have saved ? Let's not count our chickens before they hatch. Yes the vacinations has been good but its not over yet by a long chalk. Tue, 2 Feb 2021 18:57:41 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/jethro-elsden-by-how-much-will-we-gain-by-choosing-our-own-vaccination-programme-not-the-eus-lets-start-at-100-billion.html#IDComment1097217098 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/invictus-is-it-time-to-abolish-the-city-of-london-corporation.html#IDComment1097202124 Statues like those of colston present a sanitised view of history. Tue, 2 Feb 2021 08:15:00 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/invictus-is-it-time-to-abolish-the-city-of-london-corporation.html#IDComment1097202124 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/invictus-is-it-time-to-abolish-the-city-of-london-corporation.html#IDComment1097176713 So you have a gallop poll then, with respect, most people weren't asked. Not that your argument is relevant, just because values were widely accepted in Stalin's Russia, doesn't stop people removing statutes of him does it? Mon, 1 Feb 2021 10:49:51 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/invictus-is-it-time-to-abolish-the-city-of-london-corporation.html#IDComment1097176713 https://www.conservativehome.com/localgovernment/2021/02/gary-porter-the-voters-demand-more-local-control-we-should-listen-to-them.html#IDComment1097176635 local councils have no say over schools - the majority are academy chains, the limits of local police management is set by central government, the road maintenance budget is controlled by central government, the business rates are set by central government and council tax is set by central government. Mon, 1 Feb 2021 10:46:20 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/localgovernment/2021/02/gary-porter-the-voters-demand-more-local-control-we-should-listen-to-them.html#IDComment1097176635 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/invictus-is-it-time-to-abolish-the-city-of-london-corporation.html#IDComment1097173052 Why is it absurd to remove a statue ? We took down ones in post world war II Germany, they took them down in eastern Europe after the collapse of communism, they took them down in Iraq after Saddam Hussain, no one wants a statue of Sir Jimmy Savile down their road. "Royal African Company which traded slaves at a time when the practice was almost universally accepted." Where is the evidence it was almost universally accepted ? At best you make an unsupported assertion. Yes its difficult to judge people by todays standards (as is they were universal) but judging whether we should still have a celebratory statue is a lot easier. For years people in Bristol had asked for a the statue of Edward Colston on have an explanation added to it about his role in the slave trade, without which it was harming our collective understanding of history. For years they were blocked and ignored. Not a demand to take the statue down, but to add a plaque to it. If only they had listened then, perhaps the statue would never have been thrown in the dock ? Mon, 1 Feb 2021 07:46:07 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2021/02/invictus-is-it-time-to-abolish-the-city-of-london-corporation.html#IDComment1097173052 https://www.conservativehome.com/localgovernment/2021/02/gary-porter-the-voters-demand-more-local-control-we-should-listen-to-them.html#IDComment1097172843 This same arguments has been made for 50 years, yet the trend has been one of almost one way centralisation. Local government has become local administration of central government dictat. Sadly this site is swamped with articles explaining how Mayors or Unitary Authorities are what is needed, or articles criticising this or that local council for daring to try something different, which takes us in the opposite direction. Even some of the councillors who post in the comments seem to have little idea how local government works or rather doesn't work. Raving about how this party or that party have done something they disapprove of, even though the council had little or no choice. Mon, 1 Feb 2021 07:33:31 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/localgovernment/2021/02/gary-porter-the-voters-demand-more-local-control-we-should-listen-to-them.html#IDComment1097172843 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2021/01/iain-dale-johnson-can-say-all-the-right-words-but-not-in-a-way-the-public-related-to-as-blair-and-cameron-could.html#IDComment1097095115 Boris didn't say the right thing, which would have been I've done my best but the results have been amongst the worst in the world, it is foolish to pretend otherwise and it is time to hand over to someone else. Instead he says now is not the time for an inquiry? Beside which we have done everything possible and are world beating, any criticism is captain hindsight. Which rather prempts any investigation. It fine for the trump like supporters who sign up to every broken promise and u-turn as proof of success but to the floating voter, it's less appealing. Fri, 29 Jan 2021 13:02:08 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2021/01/iain-dale-johnson-can-say-all-the-right-words-but-not-in-a-way-the-public-related-to-as-blair-and-cameron-could.html#IDComment1097095115 https://www.conservativehome.com/localgovernment/2021/01/tim-briggs-labours-neglect-of-council-housing-tenants-means-the-party-is-losing-working-class-votes.html#IDComment1097059850 Just a few pointers- Governments have spent over 40 years doing everything they can to stop the building of council houses the minor and pathetic powers now returned to councils are a inconsequential dribble. Councils do no have powers to turn down developments just because they don't like them, they have to operate within the constraints of planning law. If the author thinks what has happened in a single London Borough is somehow all to be laid at the door of the Labour Party, he really needs to get out more and he would spot the same thing happening across the UK regardless of local political decisions. Thu, 28 Jan 2021 07:58:21 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/localgovernment/2021/01/tim-briggs-labours-neglect-of-council-housing-tenants-means-the-party-is-losing-working-class-votes.html#IDComment1097059850 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2021/01/andrew-gimsons-pmqs-sketch-the-comedian-has-learned-how-to-play-tragedy.html#IDComment1097041697 You don't seem to understand the difference between a Tory, which you clearly are, and a conservative, which is something different. Wed, 27 Jan 2021 16:23:14 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2021/01/andrew-gimsons-pmqs-sketch-the-comedian-has-learned-how-to-play-tragedy.html#IDComment1097041697 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2021/01/andrew-gimsons-pmqs-sketch-the-comedian-has-learned-how-to-play-tragedy.html#IDComment1097040249 Like Neville Chamberlain, Johnston ought to go. Nothing could do more to restore hope, confidence and and a feeling that at last someone is finally being held vaguely accountable than for the PM to resign. The mismatch between Johnston and the tasks in hand couldn't be wider. Time to install Jeremey Hunt as PM. Wed, 27 Jan 2021 15:07:13 +0000 https://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2021/01/andrew-gimsons-pmqs-sketch-the-comedian-has-learned-how-to-play-tragedy.html#IDComment1097040249