Letters to the Editor – 02/06 – Drugonomics, Taxing times, Best of Twitter
Drugonomics
[Re: Vice adds around £10bn to the UK economy, Friday]
That drugs constitute such a sizeable chunk of economic activity is a reminder of the potential gains to be had from legalisation. At around £1bn for powder cocaine, £828m for cannabis, and over £4.4bn for all illegal drugs combined, these estimates give an idea of the fiscal windfall that the taxpayer could see through legalisation. The money could then be put towards tax cuts elsewhere. All this is not even to mention the sizeable savings that would be incurred by ending the costly war on drugs.
Nathan Harris
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Taxing times
[Re: Taxman claims nearly a third of an average pensioner’s income, Friday]
So first we get negative real interest rates for around seven years, and then the state goes on to take a third of what’s left through taxes. And politicians wonder why people don’t save for their retirement.
Name withheld
With the ratio of workers to pensioners set to get progressively wider, this situation only looks set to deteriorate. Unless something radical is done to re-shape the state, we’ll all be paying more.
Kim Morris
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BEST OF TWITTER
German finance minister Schaeuble: We should not mindlessly pursue “more Europe”.
@NinaDSchick
Bank of Italy’s Ignazio Visco says Italy has lost 15 per cent of its manufacturing capacity since 2008.
@minefornothing
Abenomics suffers a crippling blow: economy sputters as inflation soars, QE delayed indefinitely.
@zerohedge
Nasdaq is just 18 per cent away from record highs. Don’t worry, money-losing IPOs are already there.
@ReformedBroker