Jeremy Corbyn suggests that we have a National Maximum Wage. How would this work? Say my income is a mixture of salary, director’s fees, dividends from several companies, loan interest, royalties from patents, royalties from book sales, rental income and anything else we can think of. How exactly would Mr Corbyn cap my salary?
One obvious way would be to tax supposed surplus income at 100%, and this is possibly the only way. One may anticipate a number of emigrations, with people exercising their Magna Carta right to leave the country, or to “vote with their feet” as the East Germans used to say. There are many other English-speaking countries in this world, including much of Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Belgium in practice. We are not at war with anybody, and European citizenship may still be available for a fee. If Mr Corbyn is hoping to be the next Prime Minister, perhaps he could spell out now what he expects to happen.
I can declare more than one interest here. A tax band of 100% is likely to lead to rich pickings for accountants advising their clients how to avoid it. My own software may be a source of income in the future. I would have wanted to stay here in the UK and take the hit on tax, but tax at 100% marginal rate, combined with one other Labour Government policy that I object to, would induce me to emigrate. Let’s just remember that the last Labour Government invaded another country without declaring war, so they are quite capable of anything.