Always get it in writing

[Worty]

At the next general election I shall vote the party that provides a cohesive plan to catch tax-dodgers, pay teachers and NHS staff properly, recruit intelligent police officers, and overhaul the justice system. This can only be achieved by a considerable increase in taxes which, in the long term, will benefit us all.

Ooohh, this is a tasty one.  CB, I have absolute respect for you, but I have to ask the following:

1. There is no political party that understands morality on the scale you propose.  Catching tax dodgers whilst their 'mates' are shown the loopholes is a prerequisite of politics, it would seem.
2.  'Intelligence' and 'Police Officer' seldomly belong in the same sentence (in my humble experience).
3.  The judiciary are in the pockets of the rich, not to mention being influenced by whomever it may benefit.
4.  Sue works for the NHS and I worked in a school.  From what we both know and have seen, staff are remunerated very well.

This may boil down to whether one has faith in the system or not.  I'm afraid it's becoming increasingly difficult to trust politicians and 'the system' when all one sees is corruption, lies, hypocrisy and arrogance.  If anyone needed any proof of that, just look at the last 13 years of Tory 'rule' - especially Johnson. 

I do not trust anyone in authority, preferring to make my own judgements as to what I should, or should not, be doing.  I would support any political party that could demonstrate a single iota of integrity and honesty.

[limeyrob]

I'm a volunteer Public Governor for an NHS Trust.  They turn over close to 1 billion £ a year and have huge amounts of money.  The junior doctors that are on strike regularly post their ski trips on their social media, ditto the consultants who are an annual bonus that exceeds £120,000 but still strike for more.  Its gets little mention but a significant contributor to the shortage of Doctors and Consultants is the rule that once they have accrued a million pound pension pot they can't add more so they resign.  For a consultant they hit the £1M around mid 50's and that earns them £50,000 per year for life from 60 at our expense while they are free to practice privately.
The NHS needs lots of things but money is not one of them.

[Worty]

I'm a volunteer Public Governor for an NHS Trust.  They turn over close to 1 billion £ a year and have huge amounts of money.  The junior doctors that are on strike regularly post their ski trips on their social media, ditto the consultants who are an annual bonus that exceeds £120,000 but still strike for more.  Its gets little mention but a significant contributor to the shortage of Doctors and Consultants is the rule that once they have accrued a million pound pension pot they can't add more so they resign.  For a consultant they hit the £1M around mid 50's and that earns them £50,000 per year for life from 60 at our expense while they are free to practice privately.
The NHS needs lots of things but money is not one of them.

quod erat demonstrandum

[CheeserBeezer]

At the next general election I shall vote the party that provides a cohesive plan to catch tax-dodgers, pay teachers and NHS staff properly, recruit intelligent police officers, and overhaul the justice system. This can only be achieved by a considerable increase in taxes which, in the long term, will benefit us all.

Ooohh, this is a tasty one.  CB, I have absolute respect for you, but I have to ask the following:

1. There is no political party that understands morality on the scale you propose.  Catching tax dodgers whilst their 'mates' are shown the loopholes is a prerequisite of politics, it would seem.
2.  'Intelligence' and 'Police Officer' seldomly belong in the same sentence (in my humble experience).
3.  The judiciary are in the pockets of the rich, not to mention being influenced by whomever it may benefit.
4.  Sue works for the NHS and I worked in a school.  From what we both know and have seen, staff are remunerated very well.

This may boil down to whether one has faith in the system or not.  I'm afraid it's becoming increasingly difficult to trust politicians and 'the system' when all one sees is corruption, lies, hypocrisy and arrogance.  If anyone needed any proof of that, just look at the last 13 years of Tory 'rule' - especially Johnson. 

I do not trust anyone in authority, preferring to make my own judgements as to what I should, or should not, be doing.  I would support any political party that could demonstrate a single iota of integrity and honesty.

I agree with almost everything you say. Society is broken because the people in whom we vest our trust set the worst examples. It is interesting that people have absolutely no qualms about tax dodging. £20 quid here, £30 quid there, matters. Petty crime breeds greater crime if we allow the petty criminals to get away with it. Doctors and teachers are leaving their professions or emigrating in droves because of poor pay and other societal matters. Those of us who are decent and honest mustn't give up, and we should not turn a blind eye to dishonesty and corruption. Honesty is a fundamental trait of decent people. Swindling the taxman, thereby shifting the tax burden onto honest people, is dishonest and selfish no matter how large or small.

[Rex]

Which ignores the basic fact that were I to ask him to put those £20-30 jobs through the books, he would probably decline to do them on the basis that it then wouldn't be worth his time.
We're not talking £10K kitchens or £30K extensions going through on the nod, and while the argument of "ah yeah but mine's only a little amount so it's alright" shouldn't be used, it's still unrealistic to expect him (or anyone else) to have to spend his valuable time on book-keeping such nominal amounts.

[berger]

when the rule makers start obeying there own laws i will start obeying them , maybe?  i don't like the fact that if i take a bit of money dishonestly i get more jail than you do if you have stabbed someone, money is far more important than life in many cases . when rees smug the victorian multi millionaire toffee nosed tory starts paying his fair share of tax along with the rest of the gang of corrupt dictators with off shore bank accounts i may then stop being a naughty boy, untill then they can SOD orffff,  Gangsters the lot of them . As for Kingy and that lot of scroungers they can SOD orfff as well, get rid of that lot and house homeless veterans in buck house instead of clearing them off the streets for a royal shin dig so the public don't see them,   viva revo!

[Worty]

Respect to all comments and commentators

As for me, I just CAN'T seem to get the rebel out of my system.  Maybe if a better example was set by authority, I'd abide by it a bit more.  Still seems to me that castigating a fella for a £30 job because he's not declared it, compared to a multi-billionaire who's hidden his money away on offshore accounts, etc, is a bit too steep for me to accept - the govt get plenty of money from taxes which is squandered so easily on all sorts of rubbish and failures.

Subsequent govts have failed to win the trust of the public, so the public don't trust them.  The antagonism that exists, and the unfairness and inflexibility of the 'system' leads people to 'go underground', not just with income and taxes, but with a host of other things.  Even now with Ebay and other online market places, they are required to inform HMRC of certain people's trading habits so they can claw back a bit more cash.

If taxes were spent properly, everyone paid their dues fairly, and the govt genuinely worked for (and listened) to the public, I may start to be a bit more 'friendly' towards it.  Until then, I will have to decide for myself.

A squadron of pigs just flew over my house

[Topdad]

the same squadron had formated over my house just as I was posting they were pulling a banner saying "  its ok to not declare £60milloin  profit if you just want to protect your family and then lie about it to "

[berger]

Topdad ,  don't get me started on those gangsters that get knighted and the like while robbing the british tax payers and doing everything to avoid paying their taxes ,  i will be back on the fags in a second and haven't had one for 9 days now

[Topdad]

sorry to have set you off Berger but I don't want to be the start of you smoking again , so I'll be quiet

[limeyrob]

Guys! Its taken me 3 hours to trial assemble a 4 spring clutch and saw a nut in half for the clutch adjuster (I'm too tight to but a half nut...).  I don't think I'm ready to deal with wealth inequality, tax evasion and the redesign of the UK income tax regime to be non-regressive.  Unfortunately I'm more concerned with inheritance tax, perhaps its an age thing

[Worty]

Topdad ,  don't get me started on those gangsters that get knighted and the like while robbing the british tax payers and doing everything to avoid paying their taxes ,  i will be back on the fags in a second and haven't had one for 9 days now

Don't light up Bergs, those things will kill ya ....... and you'll be putting loads of 'fag tax' in the pockets of the idiots who are failing to run the country