Death and taxes they say are the only certainties.
Tax credits are a contradiction in this context, after all there is no such thing as a death credit.
Apart of course from Easter when Christians celebrate what Mr Cameron apparently has some issues with, the Resurrection or the death credit.
But it has been applied only once unless of course you count Lazarus.
Not satisfied with taxing earnings of course recent Governments have also taxed spending.
So the majority of us pay tax on what we earn at a rate varying by the amount we actually earn, 10%, 20%, 40% or 45%.
Then we pay more tax on what we buy.
Be that warm pasties or just about anything else, VAT or Value Added Tax is paid at 20%.
So of the, to quote a former Prime Minister who was a hero of mine, pound in your pocket, you actually have 80 pence to spend and if you buy something for 50 pence, then of the 30 pence you have left another 30 pence has disappeared from your pocket into the Government's pocket.
Unless, of course you spent it on an alcoholic beverage, cigarettes or fuel for your car.
Then other factors apply.
Taxes are ratcheted up for reasons connected with the general health of the nation or the need to fill in the pot holes in the nations roads.
Apparently in an attempt to make sense of taxation the Chancellor has tried some rationalisation. So pensioners who have traditionally had a higher personal allowance, seen their personal allowance be brought into line with the allowance received by the lower paid.
Seems fair enough to me.
After all it was obvious that raising the bar on low earnings and allowing the low paid to keep more of their earnings meant that the pensioners allowance would either be subsumed into the new rate or increased disproportionately.
As far as I can tell I don't actually pay more tax on my pension I just pay it on my wine and my fuel.
Which brings me to the question: Why?
As I write I am drinking a sparkling white wine, a Cava bought in my local Lidl in Spain for about £1 50.
In my local Lidl in Carlisle it would be more expensive, at least 28% more expensive because in the UK sparkling wine attracts an excise duty of 28.47% (the actual figure might be higher after recent budgets) in addition to the 20% VAT.
So wine that can be sold in Europe for £5 00 will in cost the the British consumer about £7 50.
VAT is charged in Europe but there is no excise duty.
A similar picture emerges with regard to fuel.
According to Quentin Wilson, Britain has the highest fuel duty in the EU, in rough terms we pay as much in tax as the fuel actually costs, representing a rate of taxation at almost 100%.
Tax is what Governments charge people in order to finance their expenditure. Additionally of course taxation is used to achieve certain moral goods, reduce the health risks (and costs) associated with smoking or drinking alcohol.
Some Government expenditure is of immediate benefit to individuals and to society as a whole, education, welfare (including pensions), infrastructure development, refuse collection.
So here is a big society debate worth having.
Let's have a serious debate about tax, by all means let's tax earnings, but the issue of taxing spending needs reviewing, especially when the Government are trying to use taxation to improve individuals lifestyle choices, history makes it clear that you cannot legislate for goodness.
Once I've paid tax on my pension I want to be left free to decide whether I stay in and enjoy a bottle of wine, walk to the pub and enjoy a pint of beer or decide not to drink at all and drive into town to see a film, listen to live music or watch a football match.
My choice, my money, I've paid my taxes and can make my own decisions on how I spend what's left as a responsible member of of the big society.
As for death I've donated my body to science ............
Tax credits are a contradiction in this context, after all there is no such thing as a death credit.
Apart of course from Easter when Christians celebrate what Mr Cameron apparently has some issues with, the Resurrection or the death credit.
But it has been applied only once unless of course you count Lazarus.
Not satisfied with taxing earnings of course recent Governments have also taxed spending.
So the majority of us pay tax on what we earn at a rate varying by the amount we actually earn, 10%, 20%, 40% or 45%.
Then we pay more tax on what we buy.
Be that warm pasties or just about anything else, VAT or Value Added Tax is paid at 20%.
So of the, to quote a former Prime Minister who was a hero of mine, pound in your pocket, you actually have 80 pence to spend and if you buy something for 50 pence, then of the 30 pence you have left another 30 pence has disappeared from your pocket into the Government's pocket.
Unless, of course you spent it on an alcoholic beverage, cigarettes or fuel for your car.
Then other factors apply.
Taxes are ratcheted up for reasons connected with the general health of the nation or the need to fill in the pot holes in the nations roads.
Apparently in an attempt to make sense of taxation the Chancellor has tried some rationalisation. So pensioners who have traditionally had a higher personal allowance, seen their personal allowance be brought into line with the allowance received by the lower paid.
Seems fair enough to me.
After all it was obvious that raising the bar on low earnings and allowing the low paid to keep more of their earnings meant that the pensioners allowance would either be subsumed into the new rate or increased disproportionately.
As far as I can tell I don't actually pay more tax on my pension I just pay it on my wine and my fuel.
Which brings me to the question: Why?
As I write I am drinking a sparkling white wine, a Cava bought in my local Lidl in Spain for about £1 50.
In my local Lidl in Carlisle it would be more expensive, at least 28% more expensive because in the UK sparkling wine attracts an excise duty of 28.47% (the actual figure might be higher after recent budgets) in addition to the 20% VAT.
So wine that can be sold in Europe for £5 00 will in cost the the British consumer about £7 50.
VAT is charged in Europe but there is no excise duty.
A similar picture emerges with regard to fuel.
According to Quentin Wilson, Britain has the highest fuel duty in the EU, in rough terms we pay as much in tax as the fuel actually costs, representing a rate of taxation at almost 100%.
Tax is what Governments charge people in order to finance their expenditure. Additionally of course taxation is used to achieve certain moral goods, reduce the health risks (and costs) associated with smoking or drinking alcohol.
Some Government expenditure is of immediate benefit to individuals and to society as a whole, education, welfare (including pensions), infrastructure development, refuse collection.
So here is a big society debate worth having.
Let's have a serious debate about tax, by all means let's tax earnings, but the issue of taxing spending needs reviewing, especially when the Government are trying to use taxation to improve individuals lifestyle choices, history makes it clear that you cannot legislate for goodness.
Once I've paid tax on my pension I want to be left free to decide whether I stay in and enjoy a bottle of wine, walk to the pub and enjoy a pint of beer or decide not to drink at all and drive into town to see a film, listen to live music or watch a football match.
My choice, my money, I've paid my taxes and can make my own decisions on how I spend what's left as a responsible member of of the big society.
As for death I've donated my body to science ............
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