mightytharg

So if only the EU had a mechanism where we sent millions of our hard-earned cash to a bunch of thieving foreigners then it would be OK? I think we have that already, another problem solved.

You used to be able to lend out gold and get interest on it. Doesn't that work any more?

Well my good deed for the day was writing to the Evening Standard asking them to investigate the shady housing dealings of a local MP and the collapse of a housing association with £300 Million of taxpayers money (I know, a drop in the ocean). I think the press is the way to go. Getting them and some MPs into a campaign for BTL to pay tax on their interest payments like everyone else. Maybe someone could compile a list of MPs that don't have BTLs and then someone on HPC from each constituency could write to them and pretend we are a bunch of commies and demand "fairness" etc. (shouldn't be hard for most of you). The MPs might be up for it since higher taxes is free money for them, plus they've probably had to endure lots of dinner parties with their colleagues bragging about their taxpayer funded BTL empires.

The weirdest thing is the "campaigners". Hmm, what shall I protest about? The war in Iraq, no. Animal rights, no. Starving millions, no. Greedy old people, yesiree that's the cause for me...

Just to get the thread back on topic. Do you think it's like last time, when the stock market sell-off enabled billions to be poured into housing? This would explain Rightmove's report showing huge price increases in London last month

Anyway, just to prove you wrong, the (site of the) monastery down the road from me that Henry the Eighth seized is not still owned by the aristocratic elite. His son founded my school there, my school burned down and they sold it, it is now owned by Merrill Lynch. You can't get much more egalitarian than that!

Instead of complaining, why don't you parasites just thank us taxpayers for all the money we lavish upon you. Supermarkets don't pay much for produce because the farmers are so awash with cash from the taxpayer theycould care less what price they get for the produce. Although interestingly, you never get anything for fair price from a farm shop or farmers' market. And don't give me some sob-story of how you have to get up at 5am, whatever the weather, so that you have time to apply for all the grants and subsidies and write all your begging letters. And boo-hoo because you have to cut the weeds twice a year on your set-aside land using a mower fuelled with that special cheap farmers' petrol Carbon tax phooey. I try to buy as much food as possible sourced from outside the E.U., those scroungers already have enough of my cash.

Nowadays it's all taken care of through the tax system. Rich people give most of their earnings away. We are the greatest philanthropists who have ever lived. (P.S. I'm still waiting for a thankyou from some of you poor people out there).

I predict massive swings from one party to the other each election from now on. Not for any political reasons. It's just they have voted themselves massive payouts each time they lose an election, similarly lots of cabinet reshuffles. Imagine if a party decided to change leader each day it was in office. 1 million pounds each - and all legal. You heard it here first.

Of course we shouldn't. We won't be able to get jobs in the building industry because of all the smiling, hardworking immigrants. So don't worry, they will build the houses for themselves.

Is there any way we can get rid of housing associations. They cause a lot of social problems and environmental damage. Workers can't live near their jobs etc. I'm not too happy about subsidising Red Ken's minion with another 50 grand a year on top of his already generous salary either. Any of the political parties against them? Maybe they have all rewarded their donors with plum jobs running these scams so we can't get out of it?

Dear Scrounger, Benefit fraud is a crime. Tax avoidance is not and is encouraged by the government (ISAs etc.). Look up fair in the dictionary; treating people unequally probably isn't top of the list of definitions. If something is legal it doesn't mean it is morally right, and vice versa. Scrounging unnecessary benefits is obviously morally wrong, and keeping more of your own money away from the scroungers is clearly morally OK. HTH. mightytharg

As I'm sure you are aware ownership existed before law, and exists just fine without it. It would be way cheaper to pay for armed guards anyway, instead of our overpaid police force (260K/year desk jockeys).

You people are sick. I give you 60 grand a year and you don't even have the simple curtesy to say thanks. I've done the teaching (too good, so the kids weren't screaming), and the minimum wage job. Not cruel or a girl so I haven't tried nursing. And as for inequalities growing, who's fault is that? That's right the poor. They keep voting Socialist so the Socialists have an incentive to keep them poor, it's circular. I don't know why I should have to pay corporation tax or VAT either. You explain it you're the one who thinks high taxes are so good. And who's this guy in the £500,000K house? Some Northerner in a government job maybe? Wouldn't get you a decent flat round here. P.S. Where did you get those laughable tax figures from? 35%??? Income tax 40%, NI 15%? Corp tax 30% VAT 17.5% (earnings) VAT another 17.5% (spending), inflation 10%?, petrol tax 80%?, booze 40%? Capital Gains 19%, car tax, council tax, hotdog tax, stamp duty, parking & speeding taxes, companies house fees, planning taxes, import taxes etc etc. It's madness.

You don't see a problem with working hard for a whole year and then giving up everything you've earnt in exchange for some bureaucrat giving you a LOUSY STAMP? What's wrong with you?

All your figures are completely wrong, tax is way out of control. It's over 50% including all the stealth taxes. The tax on wages should include corporation tax, income tax, VAT, and national insurance. I have to pay all these (and Capital Gains and inflation) out of the money I earn. Think about that. At over 50% there's nothing the workers (collectively) can do to improve their situation. The harder we work the worse off we are compared to the parasites. Can you imagine how it makes me feel to read the posts from you commies? I give more than fifty percent of my money to help out those too indolent to earn it for themselves (doleys, polititicians, nurses, teachers, Tax Credit Mums etc.) and they're still not grateful! Taxes should be much lower obviously, but given they are at these insane levels, why don't you poor people say thanks once in a while?

I think the increased tax on everything except BTL combined with dropping the already miniscule tax on BTL will be a factor. People will now move into BTL even more. Also the incentive for BTL'ers to sell a house each year for the tax break (especially at ehe cheaper end of the market) will make renting more uncertain, so more renters will be forced into the buying market. Hope you are right though. A 60% would a grotty terraced house round here down to £320,000 - only fifteen times average salary. I'm pretty handy with a knife, so I should be OK despite the crime rate. Happy days!

He probably works smarter, not harder. Well that's true too, but what I was referring to is that they give away around 50% of their earnings as well (through the tax system). That alone makes them the biggest philanthropists in history. As you say, some of them also work so hard that they have to hire nannies, and in doing so help the poor even in more. I'm not sure why the communists always drone on about income inequality. The guy could go on the dole instead, depriving the socialists of two and a half million in tax each year and reducing inequality. How would that help the whiners?

It does seems unfair that the person on 100K pays around twenty times as much as the person on 10K and only gets the same services in return. Even worse for the guy on 5 million who pays a thousand times as much. Fortunately the rich tend to be nicer people than the poor, so we don't mind helping out those less fortunate than ourselves.

Why does it never occur to you communists that the reason that minimum wage isn't enough to live on is because the socialists want it that way? They could make houses cheap just by abolishing shared ownership schemes, some taxes, and relaxing the planning system. They don't because they want to keep you poor. Nothing personal, it's just that the poor keep voting for them and they want the cash. Lots of countries you can have a nice life for a pound a day, get rid of the socialists and you would have (at worst) 40 times that and a great life. But you would probably rather just keep on whining...

Well, with some policemen already scammming over a quarter of a million pounds a year an extra £200 doesn't sound so much. It's only taxpayers' money.

You guys are lucky to live somewhere where they can't track what you are spending. All my pounds have a little serial number down the side so the communists can easily track them from the cashpoint to the pub if they so desire.

Here's a quick comparison of taxation for BTL and for manufacturing. See if you can see why many people think manufacturers are paying too much tax. The problem is that the tax system does distinguish one type of legitimate business from another, and it is massively biased towards non-productive businesses. Say you borrow 500K for a house and rent it out on an IO mortgage where rent = Interest + running costs. There is no VAT on rent. Twenty years later you are in the same position. Except through inflation money is only worth a third of what it was. You now own a 1500K house and still owe only 500K. You have made a million pounds and not paid a penny in tax. There is 18% capital gains tax when you sell. A manufaturing business is very different. Say it makes something (from cheap materials) instead and sells it immediately for a profit. They add 17.5% on everything they sell and send this to the Government every three months. Then they pay 30% on the profit as corporation tax. The remaining (50% approx) is retained in the company and when the company is closed down or shares are sold they pay another 18% capital gains tax. Total government take: Manufacturing: approx 57% tax. BTL: approx 18% tax. (these figures are biased in favour of BTL since the company making things will have to pay employers NI as well).

Please don't help nimby scum who want to keep us out of affordable property. It's probably just a wind-up anyway.

Yeah they made the tenants pay the rates instead of the landlords. The encouraged the buy-to-letters (many of them corrupt Labour politicians who the protests helped into office) causing most of your problems. So yeah, good idea, why not try that again... Can't do any worse this time.