Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 5h

The dog expressing my level of fatigue pretty accurately right now

4

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 12h

I won’t believe it’s the top until Deutsche are saying this

1 1 8

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 13h

(And, no, not the Beat Generation - the most unhinged opinion someone could have is probably that On the Road is good)

1 5

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 13h

Spent my late teenage years until my mid-20s reading mostly classics obsessively with the (mad) idea that I had to read stuff early in life if any of the ideas were going to imprint. And, honestly, no idea how much of it actually stuck. Much preferred American mid-20th-early 21st century lit.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

1 11

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 14h

For the credit market enthusiasts out there - current US HY BB/B spread distribution still suggests a very benign outlook. But the drift over the past quarter has been left to right (getting a little more cautious at the margins)

1 2

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 14h

We have laws that prohibit funding of terrorist organisations, organised crime and/or sanctioned entities and…yet there is no ability to monitor these types of flows. Seems like a loophole authorities might want to get involved in closing.

1 8

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 14h

Crypto is legalised crime; every purchase is just exit liquidity for these types of schemes

Allison Morrow @amorrow.bsky.social · 14h

Incredible reporting and writing from the CNN investigative team on the scammy world of crypto ATMs

Americans are losing millions to scammers at crypto ATMs. Here’s how companies profit

Companies often fail to refund money to victims and aggressively fight police to claw back scam money seized from machines.

www.cnn.com

2 2 16

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 16h

+1 Regulate that s***

1

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 16h

Ha, no I assumed exactly that! And you are quite right to make the point.

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 16h

Right, that is exactly what I was responding to in the initial post. It’s always “someone else should pay more tax”. And that mindset has just run out of road here.

1 3

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 16h

As the IFS notes, though, it is far from perfect and doesn’t go far enough to correct for historical underfunding - especially for the poorest LAs. Just look at the 2010-2015 period here

1

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 17h

Also, they have to be able to fail in a way that doesn’t harm the provision of the service itself. Which is hard to engineer.

4

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 17h

It should be noted that the government’s Fair Funding Review is already attempting to address questions of redistribution between local authorities ifs.org.uk/publications...

2 1

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 17h

Right, the problem is that local authorities have very different funding issues. Some continue to be majority grant funded, some rely almost entirely on CT revenues. Others are mixed. The system overall is chronically underfunded (centrally) and fixing that needs to be part of the political project.

1 1

Reposted by Tomas Hirst

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 18h

To be clear, I support a regular, small(ish) property tax based on annual valuations. It would be *much* better than CT. But ultimately it’s got to be part of a wider package of tax reform that funds local authorities adequately. Means raising taxes in aggregate. MPs should be honest about that.

1 2 15

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 18h

Whole pitch is really that central government grant funding is too low (it is) and it’s forcing a number of local authorities to squeeze council tax. How we fund central government spending at system level is the big question here.

2 1 6

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 18h

To be clear, I support a regular, small(ish) property tax based on annual valuations. It would be *much* better than CT. But ultimately it’s got to be part of a wider package of tax reform that funds local authorities adequately. Means raising taxes in aggregate. MPs should be honest about that.

1 2 15

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 18h

So, in the interest of fairness there are proposals to reform council tax and stamp duty in ways that close gaps around v high value properties (mostly in London). These are reasonable - but ultimately we don’t want reforms to be revenue *neutral* right now. www.ukonward.com/wp-content/u...

www.ukonward.com

1 1 6

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 18h

Ah, sorry just read the second link that makes clear would need to significantly hike CT or replacement to cover for loss of SDLT

1

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 18h

Lots of dubious claims made there about incidence and impact that (if true) would likely mean lower property tax revenues overall. No fiscal maths on there at all as far as I can see. To be clear, I am pro reforming CT but promises of big tax cuts right now are either misleading, dangerous or both.

1 1

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 19h

They are suggesting it *cuts taxes* but revaluation would very likely increase the rates everywhere. It’s not serious.

1

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 19h

Seems pretty clear this is a “tax those other people” proposal to me

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 19h

Are they saying people should pay more property tax? Doesn’t seem the straight read to me.

1

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 19h

Better than moveable, structural damage I guess?

1 2

Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 19h

Speedy recovery sir

1 1