Following on from Hugo Swire telling us the top 1% (of which he is almost certainly a member) pay 27% of tax, a comment on South Devon Watch Facebook page:
“The only reason the 1% pay 27% of all income tax take is because they don’t pay their workers enough for them to have to pay any tax. All those part-time/zero hours workers on the minimum wage. Sanctimonious meretricious b*****d.”
Not to mention if that 1% paid ALL their taxes we might still have a proper, functioning national health service AND no potholes!
We are NOT in it together and the 99% know it.
East Devon Watch 
Lies, damn lies and statistics.
Saying that the top 1% pays 27% of all taxes is just flim flam.
What exactly is he including in that? Does he include e.g. Employers NI and Corporation tax in the 27%? Or Stamp Duty on house purchases? Does it include earning that are in offshore trusts?
And even if the figures relate only to income tax, they are still meaningless. For example, suppose that the Top 1% earned 90% of the total UK personal income. That would mean that the 99% of people earning the remaining 10% were paying 76% of the tax – which in turn means that the rate of income tax (i.e. the percentage of income actually paid as income tax) by the 99% would be approximately 28 times higher per pound earned than that paid by the 1%.
Now I am not saying that the 1% earn 90% of the total – I am just using this example to show that the statement made by Hugo Swire says nothing about the overall rate of income tax they pay.
And contrary to what Hugo was quoted as saying in a previous post here, paying income tax at 40% does not mean that the rich stop being rich. The capital that is used to generate the income is not taxed, it is only the income generated from it that is taxed. The world will not stop turning, the rich stay rich, however the UK plc finances will suddenly be in the black.
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