Sunday 9 October 2016

Money.

Before I start on today's topic - sorry about the photographs yesterday - I forgot to put them on.   If you are interested, I have added them now, so scroll back and you will see them.

Now to my hobby horse today.   I will not refer to the present case all over the papers yesterday - after all, as yet, nothing has been proven.   So let's make it a general comment.

Why is it that people who have millions, people who earn huge salaries (£250,000 a week is par for a footballer), people who inherit huge amounts of money, seem hell-bent on getting financial advice which enables them to invest the bulk of this money in 'off-shore' and similar schemes - all designed to evade
income tax 'legally' (so called )

Do they not realise that roads, the country's infrastructure, pensioners, people on low incomes, who have to count every penny each week, and the rest of us  who manage well and save our money if we can to leave for our children, pay our taxes at source, toe the line when it comes to increases and generally pay out what we have to towards the upkeep of roads and such like in our country?   

And while we are on the subject - most of us have a car to get from A - B these days (if we can afford it) - but on the whole we don't splash out on half a dozen top of the range vehicles, many of them four tracks which block the lanes and play havoc outside schools on the school run.

And no, it is not jealousy.   I have absolutely no desire for the jewels of Kim Kardashan, or the Chanel bag carried by Colleen Rooney, or the swish yachts of the super rich.   I am happy as I am, thank you - but I do resent paying more in the way of taxes for our utilities so that funds invested offshore and such like, can avoid paying tax on large parts of their incomes.

End of rant.

17 comments:

Hard up Hester said...

Although not on a similar scale an insight into the mind of someone I know who has not only avoided as much tax as possible despite being wealthy in most peoples eyes, but also claimed benefits and had free insulation fitted to his 6 bedroom home. His attitude is that he is more entitled to money than other people as other people waste money on cigarettes, clothes and other fripperies. He on the other hand stores it away. He also defrauded large sums of money from both his wives.

cumbrian said...

I don't care how big your house is, or how big your car is or how big your bank balance is, our graves will be the same size.

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

Greed is a powerful emotion and money is a volatile topic. Too many families (mine included) have fallen out over money. I agree with cumbrian's comment. You really can't take it with you, either! -Jenn (as I'm not from England, I don't know to what you are referring in the news, but I'm sure there are equivalent stories over here).

donna baker said...

Seems the same everywhere.

Librarian said...

I completely agree with you. Kim Kardashian can keep all her jewels, everybody else can keep their designer handbags, flash cars and yachts - I earn enough money to be able to pay the mortgage on my flat, go on holidays (this year, I've been away an incredible three times!!) and buy nice dresses I don't need and shoes that I do need. So, no, I do not envy those obscenely rich people their money. But I think they should pay taxes to the exact same proportion as everybody else - there'd still be plenty left, more than most of us will have in a lifetime.

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

I've always said there should be a tax on footballer transfers to pay for university education for folk in deprived areas. And why does Kim Kardashian need an $8m ring?

angryparsnip said...

Right On Sister !
Exactly how I feel.

cheers, parsnip

Midmarsh John said...

Can't find anything to disagree with there. With some it seems almost a mental disorder. The more they have the more they want even though they have no use for it.

Rachel Phillips said...

The thing is not to condemn wealth. Colleen and her family are very kind people and are very unique individuals. You could become Venezuela. Syria has an international football team who beat China this week. Tax avoidance by Google and Amazon and Starbucks is a scandal not to be overlooked

Dawn said...

I dont read newspapers so I am not aware of what you are referring to, but I would like to say hubby and me both have big 4x4 cars we have them because we like them, the road tax I pay is considerable more than the average car and it grieves me as I do many miles less than the average car driver, we also run our own business and we are walloped for tax, we also own rental properties, because we have all this and worked hard long hours to get were we are many people assume we are wealthy, we are not we just choose to spend our money on investments for the future instead of designer things, holidays, week ends away etc,

Derek Faulkner said...

Don't know what newspaper stuff you are referring to, I don't recall anything being in my Telegraph. However the kind of thing that you are referring to has been going on for many hundreds of years, there has always been a "them and us" - "have and have not" situation and probably always will be. I also feel sure that if some of us on here came into sizeable money and was given the opportunity to pay less tax, some of us possibly would. Despite being a life long football fan, the one big beef that I have is the obscene payment of £80 million for a one human being to kick a football round a pitch, you could fund a whole poor country on that, it's absolutely ridiculous.

Penhill said...

What I find intolerable in this day and age is people who have more than one home,when the majority of people cannot afford one.

Rachel Phillips said...

The accountant working for any business will always lessen the tax burden, including for farmers, by legal means for his customer. ISAs are a legal way to avoid tax.

Heather said...

I think you can sum it up in one word - greed. The more some people have, the more they want.

Derek Faulkner said...

Rachel makes an interesting point, does the Farmer have an accountant and if so does he accept his advice to lessen his tax burden.

The Weaver of Grass said...

In answer to your question Derek - yes, the farmer does have an accountant. How on earth would we manage without one - neither of us is capable or has the time or the inclination to work out exactly what to pay and how to go about it. I would have thought that was the most sensible thing to do.

Interesting to read your comments.

Dawn - I don't condemn 4x4s at all - in fact in your case I would have thought they were the most sensible vehicles to have because of your various projects at home. Two of my friends have them - one because she is quite severely disabled and finds it easier to get in and out of one and the other because the location of her house is such that in winter, in bad weather, it is the most sensible option. What I was questioning was the need for them as status symbols.

Thanks all of you for contributing to the argument.

thelma said...

Could it be that money has so corrupted our society that we have forgotten our humanity to each other. Who put a price of £5,000,000 on a ring, who the hell pays £80.000.000 for a footballer to kick a ball round (personal view sorry - hate football)the point is however much money you can hoard 'away' from the tax man, you won't be able to spend it all.
Being rich is a goal in itself and it is drummed into us by the very culture and society we live in, sadly at the expense of the world we live in...