I have launched a Mythbuster page on the Tax Research wiki. There aren't that many as yet - because these take time to write. But I hope that over time this page will become a real resource.
You will also find a Tax After Coronavirus (TACs) page on the wiki.
And there is a developing resource on money.
In due course I am hoping to also publish a series on basic explanations of key issues to ensure that these are readily available. The glossaries already published are part of that, but specific issues, like how money is created, really do need their own pages in due course, and will get them. Suggestions are welcome for this series.
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Excellent and invaluable work Richard. The Wiki is a superb reference point and easy to share. Please do tell us if and when you need more funding to support your endeavours.
I will!
Thanks
I’ve just been re-reading https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2009/quantitative-easing.pdf. It came to my attention again because it’s referenced in the accounts of the BANK OF ENGLAND ASSET PURCHASE FACILITY FUND LIMITED.
As it highlights the electronic creation of new money, it struck me that quoting this extract from the QE Bulletin may be useful in your Wiki on money –
“The Bank of England is the sole supplier of central bank money in sterling. As well as banknotes, central bank money takes the form of reserve balances held by banks at the Bank of England. These balances are used to make payments between different banks. The Bank can create new money electronically by increasing the balance on a reserve account. So when the Bank purchases an asset from a bank, for example, it simply credits that bank’s reserve account with the additional funds. This generates an expansion in the supply of central bank money.”
[Side issue: It would have been easier to read the iXBRL accounts of BEAPFF. As Company Secretary of a micro-company, I thought it was mandatory for accounts to be provided in iXBRL format, but clearly not the case for a company worth about half a trillion.]
I am working on a mythbuster on the Bank of England right now….
Thanks!
Not really a Wiki is it though?
It’s just a page on your website you’ve formatted to look like a Wiki, but only you can edit those pages, so there is no group posting or moderation.
Almost as if you don’t trust people not to correct the stuff you put out.
Why is that?
It’s a wiki because it works as one
And I am not the only editor
But as Wikipedia knows too well, an open wiki is a nightmare on issues like those addressed here and I am really not going to provide a sandpit for the trolls to play in
So not a wiki then. No dissenting views allowed, no independent fact checking. And by trolls I assume you mean people who don’t agree with what you say, or know more (not hard, given a brief review of the stuff you have written) about the subjects in hand then you.
All this “wiki” achieves is re-hashing the same laborious stuff you have put out many times before.
No – it’s a valuable information source for many that needs protecting from abuse from the likes of you, no doubt
And if you see something wrong – feel free to tell me
Hi Richard,
I’m really enjoying your mythbusters. In fact deployed one of them on LinkedIn earlier today (the one about repaying national debt). To which I received the following reply:
“so why do all governments insist on telling us we have to repay it. Also, why do media financial ‘experts’ insist that not paying it back is a bad thing for governments and continuously criticise them for it?”
A kind of ‘no smoke without fire’ response I think.
How would you answer it?
thank you for your time.
Kirsten
The claim has a simple motivation: those saying we have a debt burden that does not exist want to shrink the size of government so that essential services cannot be delivered and the wealthy can pay less tax
Thank you! That is what I thought, but couldn’t say as clearly.
Those who exaggerate the significance of government debt to the health of the economy belong to the minority of the population whose income from commercial and/or financial operations would be adversely affected by their proportionate support of the State that maintains the infrastructure and well-being of the nation upon whose disposable income they rely on to be maintained in the manner to which they have become accustomed. From the ONS the total of all salaries and wages is £1.1 Trillion. From Richard’s research it appears that the average tax burden on the total working population is about 36%, c. £400 Billion, just under half government spending, prior to corona-virus. Borrowing by individuals was about £0.25 Trillion p.a. that puts the value of transactions they can engage in at about £1.35 Trillions. The BoE computer last recorded £248 Trillions p.a. in GBP transactions, it is about time that those who make most use of national money [a common good – without a sizeable population it wouldn’t sustain the value it has] paid an equitable level of taxation commensurate with their use; those who enjoy the greatest benefit paying for the privilege of extracting wealth from a commonwealth.