Dr swank from what you say it sounds as if your employment will be significantly funded by taxation and so it is a bit rich to bitch about the taxes we are all paying to keep you in the lap of luxury . Your current role is to assist an entity that has done something so wrong it faces millions in damages, avoid it’s legal liability ? Are you really sure you do anything more socially useful than a benefit cheat . The average benefit cheat will be lucky to screw 15k out of the state you claim to be helping deprive the eu of far more than you could earn in a life time.

Dr R Swank ‘worse than a benefit cheat’! 😆

You couldn’t make it up…

Mefty – ok fair enough, I guess it’s pushing it a to call IFS right-wing (and I’m not a big lefty anyway, actually I am in some ways but not others), and the do get criticsed for being to taxy by the right wing fringe as well.

Despite my reservations about policy groups and think tanks (and I’ve worked in that environment) I think it’s all grist to the mill of an informed opinion

I know I’ve had enough of this country, it’s spineless leaders, the spongers and scroungers etc. If the OP and anyone else fancies a revolution, let me know. In the meantime I’m off back to my bubble, where I’ll try to block it all out and get on with my life.

chipsngravy – Member
I know I’ve had enough of this country, it’s spineless leaders, the spongers and scroungers etc. If the OP and anyone else fancies a revolution, let me know. In the meantime I’m off back to my bubble, where I’ll try to block it all out and get on with my life.

I’ve had enough of people not reading threads and reposting an already thoroughly debunked line.

Decent streets and roads

Struggling to see “decent” roads around here at the moment!!! Potholes, bumps, crap surfaces, etc etc!

I would say that if everyone on here earned the same as the OP they would be the same. No one wants to pay tax and personally I don’t see the benifits that a lot of folk are saying they see from paying tax.

If the country wasn’t in debt we could save 50 Billion…thats the bigger problem!!!!

Right, enough of the asking what it is I do. I “solve problems” for large organisations. I fix broken projects, mend dysfunctional departments

Anyone been made redundent as a result of your “solutions”?

I’ve had enough of people not reading threads and reposting an already thoroughly debunked line.

Well there are some scroungers! But yeah in the great scheme of things they are of minor concern.

Ms you must have had a really short or sheltered life I love paying tax . Tax funds the NHS that saved my sons life and ensured my mum can still walk . It provided my education and part of my mums pension. It gave my .brother a job and the equipment to do it relatively safely . It provides a police force that in general are a force for good and a fire service who entertain us all with their jolly red engines and delightful bells . Anyone who resents paying tax is a scrounging scumbag who should be forced to have a tattoo to state they opt out of receipt of all state benefits and support and are willing to pay a surcharge in supermarkets as they don’t wish to benefit from the state subsidy of cheap labour.

Anyone been made redundent as a result of your “solutions”?

No. That isn’t what I do. Not lost one yet, and don’t intend to.

Two choices – Suck it up and stop whining or go self employed/contractor if you can and become more tax “efficient”.

Just while you’re contemplating your choices I’ll leave this here so you can gain some perspective on how terrible your life is.. Things, as they say, could be worse.

People earning a living somewhere that’s not England.

crankboy – got there before me.

…what you said and not to mention all the private sector people who earn money through public sector contracts

I used to pay lots of tax, but only because I earned lots. Never bothered me, I just was happy with the big number appearing in my bank account periodically. I then went on to spend said money, helping the economy further and paying more tax. So it goes, we live in a nice safe country with lot’s of lovely soft first world advantages. It’s not perfect but both historically and geographically there aren’t many places I’d sooner be. And the few that I would (warmer climate, better mountains, better surfing, all close together) tend to be higher taxing and/or economically worse than us anyway.

I think this thread just goes to show that the ‘divide and conquer’ propaganda machine of the traditional tory right is working fantastically well. Heaping the blame on the ‘feckless’ unemployed is the overarching objective – get everyone blaming the most vulnerable when in fact the costs/impacts of their alleged lifestyle or behaviour (competing with 5 other people for every job available), is negligible in the grand scheme of things versus the costs of bank bailouts, corporate tax dodging, long-term artificially low interest rates creating unsustainable debt levels, woefully inadequate regulation of financial services, HNW individuals tax dodging and many other similar conduits for removing money from circulation in this country before HMRC gets a sniff.

DrRSwank – Member
I regularly work weekends, evenings etc and get no paid overtime

In that case youre doing someone who may be unemployed out of a job, work your normal hours and any extra work can be made up by the new member of staff, you did ACTUALLY WANT PEOPLE OFF BENEFITS DIDNT YOU.

Also a bit more simplistic, but if your alledged higher tax band kicks in at say 60 k, why not ask your boss to pay you 50 k and then youre paying less tax.

This is a trend at the moment, pay one person very high amounts to work every hour god sends, to avoid paying 2 people to do the work, and probably be happier, your wealth seems to be making you quite misserable. Owing to a series of circumstances I won’t bother going into last year I earned around 1/10th of your wage, yet I seem to be happier. I used to pay more tax, now I don’t pay so much, but as I’m public sector I haven’t had a pay rise in 3 years, you sound to have had one, which should cheer you up, but that too sounds to have upset you.

My advice, request a paycut, or job share.

Can’t we force them to work or do something useful?

Ahhhhhh Die Endlösung…..

“Chantelle, Crystal, Chardonnay, Kade, Kane, Kieron, Kyle, Mason, Troy, Tyler…. bevore you start ze public vork you need ze delousing, step into zis shower…..”

“…. Gunter, das zyklon heißem Wasser bitter”

I smell troll…. no one can be that inflamatory

Trolling pays well these days doesn’t it?

DrRSwank – Member
I regularly work weekends, evenings etc and get no paid overtime

In that case youre doing someone who may be unemployed out of a job,
yeah, and the person you’re doing out of a job>? you’re paying tax to fund their benefits. Well done, you. Working hard to keep someone out of a job and paying to do it.

I think this thread just goes to show that the ‘divide and conquer’ propaganda machine of the traditional tory right is working fantastically well. Heaping the blame on the ‘feckless’ unemployed is the overarching objective – get everyone blaming the most vulnerable when in fact the costs/impacts of their alleged lifestyle or behaviour (competing with 5 other people for every job available), is negligible in the grand scheme of things versus the costs of bank bailouts, corporate tax dodging, long-term artificially low interest rates creating unsustainable debt levels, woefully inadequate regulation of financial services, HNW individuals tax dodging and many other similar conduits for removing money from circulation in this country before HMRC gets a sniff.

Yeah it’s always the Tories fault even when they’re not in power. Nothing was any different when the others were in.
This country needs a taxation system overhaul – I’d vote for that.

Ms you must have had a really short or sheltered life I love paying tax

Thankfully its the first one 🙂

Disagree with your post! NOBODY loves to pay tax, if you could get the same without paying it you wouldn’t pay it. If you hadn’t needed those things you would think differently! Yes some very good things from paying tax and as the OP said it wasn’t that he was moaning about not paying it it was that some people pay a lot more than others. I think even if it is a trivial amount that the unemployed feed into tax they should still be made to work if on job seekers allowance. It would certainly show that they were doing something for their benefits and change peoples opinion on the whole matter!

I’ve managed to minimise my tax exposure by being incredibly unsuccessful. Sure, I live in a manky suburb that makes Royston Vasey seem aspirational, but other than that it’s all going very well.

Ms you must have had a really short or sheltered life I love paying tax

Thankfully its the first one

Disagree with your post! NOBODY loves to pay tax, if you could get the same without paying it you wouldn’t pay it. If you hadn’t needed those things you would think differently! Yes some very good things from paying tax and as the OP said it wasn’t that he was moaning about not paying it it was that some people pay a lot more than others. I think even if it is a trivial amount that the unemployed feed into tax they should still be made to work if on job seekers allowance. It would certainly show that they were doing something for their benefits and change peoples opinion on the whole matter!

You do sound a bit simple, even for someone young.

Tax is the price you pay to live in a civilised society; there are other places to live.

it wasn’t that he was moaning about not paying it it was that some people pay a lot more than others.

IIRC they also pay more for their clothes their holidays their home and their car. I think it has something to do with having more money.

I think even if it is a trivial amount that the unemployed feed into tax they should still be made to work if on job seekers allowance. It would certainly show that they were doing something for their benefits and change peoples opinion on the whole matter

It would not change my opinion.
Discussed this to death on here but a few obvious points
1. This is an expensive system to administer – you need to monitor them doing this work so you pay people to do this etc
2. It effectively reduces the amount of jobs we have so it increase unemployment – councils and in particular private firms who exist to make money will then use them to clean parks, sweeps streets etc. Locally I can name a number of companies who exist by having volunteers and stringing them along about the chance of an actual job at some point in time – they have been doing this for years – why would any company recruit staff when they can get free ones?
3. Its just about feeling like you are paying for them to do something. Given the minimum wage and what they are expected to do to be seeking work they are on less than the minimum wage and they have to earn their benefits. Despite the myths you cannot do **** all and still get the money

Its sounds like a good idea but the basic problem[cause] with the unemployed is that there are not enough jobs for everyone to work.

As for paying too much tax my heart bleeds for the struggling wealthy it must be utterly terrible trying to get by on higher rate tax….i dont know how you do it but I am thinking of you in your time of need….perhaps we should set up a charity to help you cope? Perhaps we should get the unemployed to cook and clean for you whilst you are out at work ? perhaps they could be yours till they get employment?

The financial system which we all rely on, only exists because the state exists and provides the legal foundations for money. To say that you would rather pay no tax, is to say that you think that the state shouldn’t exist, in which case your money wouldn’t exist, as there’d be no banking or legal system to maintain the fiction that is modern money.

Taxes are great, they mean we can have a functioning state, rather than living in some mad max apocalyptic future world. They allow things like the internet to happen (largely state funded initially, and wouldn’t work without state support and regulation}.

That’s spot-on Joe, trouble is we have a system that allows some people and organisations to pay nothing even when they’re clearly making a mint.

I moved to Germany which has higher tax than the UK, creates more government employment and gives higher benefits. It also has cleaner streets, lower crime, more efficient transport and much more sporting and recreational facilities. All in all I very much feel that the higher taxes contribute to a much better life.
The biggest problem in the UK is the greed and selfishness of the rich, they are far to insular to realise the benefits of contribution to the health of wider society.

Brill well said that man……………………………………..

Hmm Germany has a quite different economic profile though. And you don’t get social healthcare either.

I am generally in favour of higher taxes and higher state spending, but the big problem is that without the support of the population it’ll never work. By all accounts it works in Sweden, and people there seem to understand why they pay taxes and the benefits it brings them. Like free childcare for instance.

I wish people here would see the positives of paying taxes, rather than just whining about it 🙁

Germany has a universal[1] multi-payer health care system with two main types of health insurance: “Law-enforced health insurance” (Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung) known as sickness funds and “Private” (Private Krankenversicherung)…..According to the World Health Organization, Germany’s health care system was 77% government-funded and 23% privately funded as of 2004

I do agree though many of our social problems would be far less if we lived in a more egalitarian society that offered equal opportunity for all rather than living in a more american style one with large rewards for the winners and crumbs from the table for the losers who we stigmatise as lazy and feckless whilst the rich moan about paying taxes and we cut them whilst reducing benefits and delivering bedroom taxes and arguing for no inheritance tax. It is selfish and moaners just want it to be even more selfish.

The distribution of commas and full stops needs attention too… 😉

your right, two is one to many. 😳

I’m glad you guys totally destroyed the OP….

I don’t have to respond to his massive insult to human intellect now.

I don’t have a problem with what the government spends money on, I have a problem with how they spend it.

If we could get government efficiency up the same as the best in the world, you could set the personal allowance at 30K or 40K, and still have more money to spare to improve services. We have become experts at burning money while providing little for it.

evidence for that claim please – any part of it?

If we could get government efficiency up the same as the best in the world,

Questions;

1. What is ‘government efficiency’?
2. Who or what is the ‘best in the world’ at delivering it?

We have become experts at burning money while providing little for it talking a load of old cobblers, apparently.

As i see it very few folks on here are in the low pay bracket ,i only get £6.51 per hour ,so have to do in excess of 60 hours a week to earn a living wage after tax.
But i still have to pay it ,so if your earning over 40 k or 60 k a year and doing bits of overtime more the fool you.

I Would love to work less but got no choice .

mountainman – Member
As i see it very few folks on here are in the low pay bracket ,i only get £6.51 per hour ,so have to do in excess of 60 hours a week to earn a living wage after tax.
But i still have to pay it ,so if your earning over 40 k or 60 k a year and doing bits of overtime more the fool you.

I Would love to work less but got no choice .

!00 percent respect for you and I am not mocking you
good man

For me the term ‘society’ means sharing.

ian martin – Member
For me the term ‘society’ means sharing.

With you 100%

I work hard and I’m expected to subsidise those that do not. Doesn’t seem fair. It isn’t incentivising me to work hard….

Well it appears that either you don’t need incentivising to work hard, or maybe there’s something else incentivising you other than knowing that the money you “earn” isn’t getting wasted on benefit scroungers.

Can I have a guess? Is it that you net £25+ an hour even with all that tax you pay? Do I win a prize (I’m sure you can afford it)?

As for paying too much tax my heart bleeds for the struggling wealthy it must be utterly terrible trying to get by on higher rate tax….i dont know how you do it but I am thinking of you in your time of need….perhaps we should set up a charity to help you cope?

You can mock but you try telling your au pair that you are reducing her food allowance and she will have to shop at Asda rather than Waitrose. Not easy.