General Chat

As Father Ted said: "The money was just resting in my account".

.......then they try to put the moral pressure on the majority of us, who are struggling to survive!!!!

If we had a decent wage (perhaps paid for by firms not having to double their last years profit before they declare they have made a profit) there would be no need for tax credits etc.and the insurmountable cost of the admin!!

George, your comment

I wonder how many in the government try to avoid paying tax.?

Answer= the majority

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ianmcowie/100009953/why-should-mps-be-exempt-from-new-law-to-block-tax-avoidance/

Roy

I find it rich that a PM has made a statement like that,
They have very short memories about their fiddling of expenses, they were dipping their slimy GREEDY hands in the honey pot.

I wonder how many in the government try to avoid paying tax.?

george

A friend of mine works for the 'Inland Revenue' (guess someone has to lol) and managed to have the outside of his house painted 'for free' :-). He had accepted the quote of a tradesman and assumed that on completion of the job, he would be presented with the final invoice. Instead of which, the chap knocked on the door and basically asked for cash for the job. When my friend asked for an invoice and explained that as he worked for the Inland Revenue he wouldn't be able to settle in cash, the guy disappeared pretty quick, muttering that he would of course return with the bill and yes a cheque would be fine. He was never seen again lol. I guess he was one of the guys that the government are trying to pin down.

I can only imagine the face of a window cleaner. Haven't seen one in this area for years.

I almost always pay the small job man in cash and confessi I once and only once paid for a fairly big job in cash too to my (on behalf of my daughter) advantage.

I proimise to pay penance for that.

Vera

I can imagine my window cleaner's face if I said I wanted to pay with a credit card.

Gwynne

If folk were being truly honest I am guessing there'd be very few who haven't paid cash at one time or another for a job or a service x

Quite so maggiewinchester re cash to avoid VAT

How many of us have tried that? Quite a few, OH and I included!

Just been announced by a government spokesperson that 'those who pay cash to tradesmen in return for a discount' are contributing to tax evasion by the tradesmen.


Probably not as bad as the exremely wealthy (just how much does one person need to live on?) stashing their money in offshore accounts. But the government's 'on their case'.

I wonder who will be exposed first - the very wealthy or the window cleaner?

Danny Alexander in June:

The basic rate of tax could be cut by more than 2p if everybody paid what they owed to the state, Danny Alexander suggested today.


The Treasury Chief Secretary said everyone else had to pick up the tab when the wealthy avoided their obligations.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I suppose I could say 'What's 2p in the £ to me, I work 37hrs a week and earn exactly what I earned 9 years ago!! - basically a pittance.

However, 2p in the £ for many people could be the difference between having to claim one of the various benefits, or not.
...and where do the benefits come from? Taxes paid by honest people, not those who avoid paying tax.

...so who's in favour of paying tax on behalf of those wealthy enough to avoid it?

The rich and their tax loopholes is always a great way for politicians to point the finger?

The poor unworthy scroungers who pray on the benefit system is the other great way for politicians to point the finger?

If people want the rich to pay their taxes then STOP believing politicians who blaming loopholes in the tax system

The truth is that loophole do NOT exist

The tax legislation does not have LOOPHOLES

The tax legislation only has EXEMPTIONS

These exemptions are their because the POLITICIANS put them their and then they blame these rich people with these top accountants for finding these exemptions,

You do not have to be rich and employ top accountants to find these exemptions you only need to read up on tax law

but you do need to be rich enough to be able to take advantage or these exemptions

Roy

i no people who have paid hundreds of thouands in tax, enjoyed the money and never saved, now they have to be on benefit and they get a pitance, when they have paid hundreds of thousands to this country when needed get nothing back, thatw what i find disgusting

if there is a loophole allowing people who have money to save more n pay less, then good for them,

I really believe that if you earn the money, you pay the tax on it, end of, after that what you do with the remainder is your own business.

But the government should close the loopholes that allow people or businesses to pay less less than the amount set for 'us all.' Eg ( figures for illustration only) if the rate of tax is 20% up to 1 million income, that's what you pay...if it's 40% over 1 million that's what you pay.

If you don't like it, leave the country and earn your money elsewhere.

I agree wholeheartedly with what you just said,
Tax the lazy beggars, the ones who would rather doss about than go and get a job because they get their social money for a start.


George

George, if the rich get away without paying their full whack then it follows that the rest of us have to make up the shortfall. There is no money tree where we can go to get what they get out of paying.

The rich are not all intelligent - many of them are rich because they were born rich and have never had to do a day's work in their lives. They pay other people to make sure they stay rich. Tax the lazy beggars, I say.

I would love to pay less tax but I acknowledge my responsibilty to the rest of society. Maybe if the rich paid their dues we would all pay less tax.

Gwynne

Firstly, the so called poor do not pay higher taxes,
If these people have made their money, good luck to them for trying to keep it, why give it to the bloody scroungers.
They have the intelligence and drive to earn their money.
Charities are also prone to filtering huge sums of money away.

The NHS, well there's another thing, stop foreigners milking it and start charging people who abuse it, like drunks, druggies, smokers, and some of the others who take up NHS resources with their petty problems.

On average, most people would love to be able to avoid paying tax, but they haven't got either the intelligence or the guts.
When i worked, I am retired now, I would do what I could to cut my tax liability, and why not, the bloody politicians give away billions to so called third world countries, and most of it is pilfered away by the governments of these grasping contries.

George

The point is that they have hardly paid any tax on it - they've hidden it away in off shore accounts. Is that fair? Shouldn't they pay taxes like everyone else?

Obviously some people here think it's fine for the rich to get even richer and for the average and the poor to pay higher taxes to make up for the shortfall created by those who avoid paying tax. If you're happy to pay more so that the rich don't have to that's up to you. But I'm not.

Merlin, you seem to think that because there's some waste in the NHS that justifies tax avoidance - I can't follow your logic there.

There are decent rich people who are happy to pay their way and their taxes because they know how lucky they are and feel they should support the less well off.

Kudos to them and shame on the others.

Gwynne

if they have earned it let them keep it,
its there money,

The trouble is Merlin they are not paying tax on it and it is borderline evasion but they have creative accountants to keep them legal.

Money going abroad is a separate issue and is quite often tied up in the politics of the day. When we have no further use for them the funds will be cut. I don't think any government really gives to help the needy. The charities do that ie via our money again. Everyone gets my money Its a wonder I have anything left.

Vera