tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post1726923798618373281..comments2024-03-29T08:01:51.705+00:00Comments on The Pub Curmudgeon: Making the poor poorerCurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-80374973385284510642013-10-22T22:47:44.546+01:002013-10-22T22:47:44.546+01:00Always tempting, often accurate. I am simply equat...Always tempting, often accurate. I am simply equating a proposal you want regardless of its effect on the poor with your motivation for doing for the poor and seeing through it.<br /><br />Don't be offended, my friend. Just try harder to disguise it next time. My arguments sharpen your blade.<br /><br />Cooking Lagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02830924433230427226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-13228259506936947312013-10-22T18:20:32.315+01:002013-10-22T18:20:32.315+01:00It's always tempting to accuse people of unwor...It's always tempting to accuse people of unworthy and self-serving motives, Cookie.<br /><br />But I would have thought one of the best ways of making the poor less poor is ensuring that actual poor people (as opposed to non-existent idealised ones) pay less tax.<br /><br />And I'm sure your average poor person struggling to make ends meet would really jump at the chance of more adult education.Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-21172635537326516942013-10-22T13:45:54.768+01:002013-10-22T13:45:54.768+01:00Ah but Mudge. I don't think for one minute you...Ah but Mudge. I don't think for one minute you care about the welfare of the poor. You are using them as a convenient tool for wanting a reduction in a tax you don't like.<br /><br />If you cared about the welfare of the poor you would advocate something that actually helped them, and that's not cheaper fags or booze. <br /><br />Maybe more free adult education. Something for social mobility. Maybe even more welfare. Something, at least, that would give them a chance of being less poor.<br /><br />Cooking Lagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02830924433230427226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-11153180937922153422013-10-19T16:07:21.443+01:002013-10-19T16:07:21.443+01:00So, Cookie, do you think it's OK that the poor...So, Cookie, do you think it's OK that the poor pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than the well-off?Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-45351775083787621122013-10-19T12:52:28.958+01:002013-10-19T12:52:28.958+01:00Honest and competent accountants? Do such people e...Honest and competent accountants? Do such people exist?Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09310220100267028274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-80506742288419668152013-10-18T09:49:53.887+01:002013-10-18T09:49:53.887+01:00Oo, bit of politics, as Ben Elton used to say. Goo...Oo, bit of politics, as Ben Elton used to say. Good strategy, anyway, establish the moral high ground of the welfare of the poor for a point about lower booze tax. Better than trying to argue for tax breaks for piss heads. Establish the terms of reference for the debate too. Quality.<br /><br />One thing missing, though, and that is the wider truth of tax. Beer tax is probably the smallest amount of tax I pay, and that’s saying summat, I’m a right pisshead. Probably is for you too, though maybe not for some of the pissheads that comment on this.<br /><br />I pay more in council tax every month than beer tax. 1p, 10p,£1 off a pint means buggar all, really, as some other tax I pay will have to go up.<br /><br />Though taxes do cause modification of behaviour, its human nature. I quickly figured out setting up your own ltd company was a no brainer 5 minutes after becoming a higher rate tax payer. No point in even being a basic rate tax payer when you think about it. Personal allowance, lowest possible NI contributions & dividend income. Result. I doubt all those poor scroungers on welfare are paying fag tax, they are buying baccy from the back of a ford transit that visits the council estate every few days with knock off gear. That and knocking out enough kids to get themselves in the Daily Mail.<br /><br />The wider point is that all your argument does is pick away at the edges of an unfair and unjust system that cannot be made fair. Not while people buy the lie that the government can spend more and hand the bill to someone else. If people decide they want smaller government, lower spending, then taxes will fall, so long as people want the government to do more they will rise.<br /><br />And what taxes will rise depends on what the government thinks it can squeeze without pissing off to many.<br /><br />Every so often they will figure out that 1p off a pint is popular and chuck out a bone, letting some people think they are winning whilst fleecing them in one of the myriad of other taxes they pay.<br /><br />You can’t win, all you can do is play the game. That and get an honest competent accountant.<br />Cooking Lagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02830924433230427226noreply@blogger.com