She insisted that Banks were to blame for all the worlds' ills, and that they should be paying more tax. I tried to point out that a corporation DOES NOT PAY TAX, and was ridiculed for that fact.
It is difficult to consider, but simple when one does.
Any tax that that a corporation hands over is merely a levy charged to customers, employees and their suppliers.
Think about it: A company is in the business of turning a profit. If tax is raised, would the board accept a lower profit margin for shareholders, or just increase the product/ service margin and pass it along to consumers?
It is the same with the minimum wage. Forcing a minimum wage simply raises prices and puts people out of work. First the company will raise the margin on the goods to cover the increase in wages, thus covering the costs from you and I; the end users.
Second, anybody on minimum wage compares the act of working, versus not working and readily concludes they may as well stay at home doing nothing for just a little less money.
An eight hour day at five pounds minimum wage produces a gross income of £200 per week. Minus tax and national insurance, and take home pay is a little over £130 per week.
Unemployment benefit is around £70 per week (single person and not including any housing or council tax benefits), so in effect somebody on minimum wage works a forty hour week for just £60.
Where as they can stay at home watching TV for the same amount of money, and probably more when additional benefits are taken into account.
The fact is that as much as I agree that banks and speculators are the scourge of the earth, taxing them is not going to help. The only thing to do is let the scum go bankrupt when the screw up and charge them if fraud or negligence can be proven.
