The UK has been ranked behind five major competitors on personal and business taxation, according to a Populus poll for The Times in which voters were asked to rate the UK’s ‘performance’ in terms of ‘the level of personal taxation’ and ‘the level of taxes on wealth creation’.
Sixty-one per cent of respondents ranked the UK’s performance on the level of personal taxation as poor or very poor, while 5% thought the UK’s performance was good and only 1% thought it was excellent.
Broadly similar findings were reported in relation to ‘taxes on wealth creation’ including corporation tax and capital gains tax. Three quarters of participants said the UK ‘performs worse’ than the US in this respect. The majority believed the UK performs worse than India (57%), China (65%), France (63%) and Germany (73%).
Commenting on the story on The Times website, one reader asked: ‘Who were these “voters” who were in a position to be able to draw comparisons?’ Populus said it interviewed a random sample of 2,047 adults online between 17 and 19 June.
The poll findings suggest that voters do not yet regard Britain as being ‘open for business’, the paper’s Deputy Political Editor, Sam Coates, concluded. But he noted that Britain is ranked fourth by voters as a place to set up and run a business, ‘better than India and France but behind the US, Germany and China’.
The UK has been ranked behind five major competitors on personal and business taxation, according to a Populus poll for The Times in which voters were asked to rate the UK’s ‘performance’ in terms of ‘the level of personal taxation’ and ‘the level of taxes on wealth creation’.
Sixty-one per cent of respondents ranked the UK’s performance on the level of personal taxation as poor or very poor, while 5% thought the UK’s performance was good and only 1% thought it was excellent.
Broadly similar findings were reported in relation to ‘taxes on wealth creation’ including corporation tax and capital gains tax. Three quarters of participants said the UK ‘performs worse’ than the US in this respect. The majority believed the UK performs worse than India (57%), China (65%), France (63%) and Germany (73%).
Commenting on the story on The Times website, one reader asked: ‘Who were these “voters” who were in a position to be able to draw comparisons?’ Populus said it interviewed a random sample of 2,047 adults online between 17 and 19 June.
The poll findings suggest that voters do not yet regard Britain as being ‘open for business’, the paper’s Deputy Political Editor, Sam Coates, concluded. But he noted that Britain is ranked fourth by voters as a place to set up and run a business, ‘better than India and France but behind the US, Germany and China’.
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