"CBDCs are about ways of making payments; they are not a new currency."
"Whether a country needs a CBDC is really about the state of its current payments system," he pointed out in the House of Lords this month..
"What are the problems in our payments system to which a CBDC might be the answer? .... There are no problems to which a CBDC is the only, or even the most obvious, answer."
"Our payments system is more efficient than those in most other countries, certainly the United States."
"Most transactions are already digital, whether by tapping a card on a machine at the point of sale or making a digital payment on a computer for remote transactions."
"All of these are operated already by commercial banks and an increasing number of new payment vehicles."
"Competition has moved us from a system based on paper cheques to one driven largely by digital payments with virtually instantaneous clearing."
"It would be somewhat odd to try to increase competition in this area by creating a state monopoly of the payment system"
"Of course, there can always be improvements in our payment systems, but a CBDC is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for that.
"The major problem today concerns the cost and speed of cross-border payments, but much of this results from money laundering regulations."
"The enormous risk is that, in a financial crisis, households would abruptly shift their deposits from banks to [CBDC] accounts with the Bank of England, forcing the latter immediately to transfer the deposits back to the banks to avoid a collapse of the system."
"In 2008, when the Bank, with approval from the Government, lent a large amount of money to RBS and HBOS to prevent their collapse, the operations were covert and revealed only some months later to prevent a system-wide loss of confidence"
"That would be impossible if households could switch without limit instantaneously from all commercial banks to the Bank of England."
"So a retail CBDC has risks but no obvious benefits".
Lord King, from a position of immense experience, has completely demolished the case for a "Britcoin," British CBDC or "digital pound."
It thus remains quite puzzling why the Government and Bank of England are pressing ahead with such vigour? What are their real motives?
There's a sharp drop in the percentage of income tax paid by top earners, @the_tpa analysis of HMRC data has found
The top 1% are expected to pay 26.6% of all income tax receipts in 2025-26, down significantly from the 30.7% they paid in 21-22
A key trend has been reversed
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In 1979 Chancellor Geoffrey Howe cut the top rate from 83% to 60%. Before the cut, the top 1% of UK taxpayers paid only 11% of the total income tax take. By 1988 they were paying 14% of income tax revenue.
The Laffer curve is real.
In 1988 Nigel Lawson cut top rates from 60% to 40% and receipts rose further. By 1997 the top 1% of earners paid a much larger 21% of the total tax bill. This chart shows the huge increases in the percentage paid by higher earners as a result of the Howe-Lawson reforms
Labour's plans to force taxpayers to submit digital information about their earnings to the government every 12 weeks will hit lower earners the hardest, even pushing the poorest people out of work & onto benefits, experts have warned.
We should resist this scheme
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"It’s hard to imagine how so many single parents are going to find the time to continue running a business, juggling childcare but then also learn how to bookkeep & file quarterly updates without it putting a huge amount of pressure on top,” said Tom Bickle of JP Blackmoor Ltd.
Robyn Milstead of LKA Chartered Accountants said “These things are not just a source of anxiety, they're impossible for some. I really worry about tradespeople where English isn’t their first language. For single parents who are self-employed, the first deadline for submission is 7 August — straight in the school holidays.”
A Bloomberg analysis of 5 million company filings shows a big spike in departing business leaders over recent months, with more than 4,400 disclosing an overseas move over the last year.
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April exits were up 75% from 12 months earlier and the highest in 4 years.
Many departing are non-doms and if 25% of those leave then the Treasury starts losing serious money. “I’d be stunned if we didn’t get to 25%” said Catrin Harrison of law firm Charles Russell Speechlys.
Bloomberg spoke to over a dozen lawyers and other advisers to the ultra-rich who said anywhere from 15% to 65% of their non-dom clients are already out or are making plans to depart the UK.
Do you trust the Government to decide where your pension funds should be invested?
The Treasury has just said “The government will take a reserve power in the Pension Schemes Bill to set binding asset allocation targets.”
It's a shocking expansion of state power
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If the Government wants to get more pension money invested in British shares it should reverse Gordon Brown's tax grab & restore the pension dividend tax credit. And it should scrap stamp duty on shares.
But then it would have less cash to give to the public sector unions.
Robert Shrimsley says in the FT: "Like many of you, I suspect, I’ve come to the view that Rachel Reeves should oversee more of my financial decisions.
Who wants to see their retirement pot frittered away on cowboy outfits like Nasdaq indices or Nvidia when we could be supporting great British entrepreneurs like Michelle Mone?"
Angela Rayner's tax hike proposals would “seriously risk wrecking savers’ retirement plans” according to Andrew Tully of financial advisers Nucleus.
Punishing savers in order to reward public sector unions is not a morally justifiable policy
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“Savers need confidence that the goalposts won’t constantly shift. Rather than constantly tweaking rules we need cross party consensus on issues like this to deliver the stability required,” Tully said.
“Removing the dividend allowance may drive behavioural changes, including moving into assets that don’t produce a dividend or ensuring investments are appropriately held in wrappers," said Claire Trott, head of advice at St James’s Place.
This week Britain will be hit by a range of horrifying tax increases which will inflict major damage to the finances of British citizens, to businesses & to the economy.
We detail 12 scheduled tax hikes below
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Tax hikes are programmed for April 1 and April 6.
The greatest economic damage will be caused by hikes to Employer NI contributions. The rate will go up by 1.2ppts to 15% & the threshold cut to £5k, dragging many more low-paid & part-time workers into its scope.
The prospect of the hikes destroyed business confidence and has already led to major reductions in hiring & investment, lower pay & some lay-offs.
Now that the tax hikes are actually occurring, the pressure to reduce staff costs and numbers will be much greater.