Originally Posted by
Shed-on-a-Pole
Philbky - Excellent post. If there was a 'like' button on this forum I'm sure many would be hitting it. How often are we told - especially in discussions on PPRuNe - that the bulk of taxes are raised in London therefore they have a moral right to spend them there. That whole conundrum of businesses announcing national and international financial results from a London HQ address needs to be called out with reference to where the taxable profits are actually earned.
Shed, I don't believe anyone has been moralising, just pointing out simple economic facts. Corporation tax, to which I presume you are referring to, accounts for just 8% of Treasury revenue. The notion that London and the south east's contribution to the tax base is down to some historic quirk of business geography, and that it is the hard working regions that actually underpin their wealth is not borne out by the evidence.
In terms of GVA (which is workplace-based, not HQ based), London and the South East generate 37.5% of the national total compared to the north's 19%; in terms of more direct measures of taxation, London in its own right (£16bn in 2013) generates more business rates than the whole of the north (£12.5bn)...and the south east a further £10bn.
As I've said before if you want to change the situation you have to find a way to change the system and find different ways of measuring the value of investing in infrastructure outside of London..