A test of our worldly, everyday knowledge.
Question:
Are we lawfully required to pay taxes?
del949:
DJW, you misunderstood the last part of my post that you quoted. I wasn’t referring to the comments re greece and taxation, but to the IMF apparently usung an argument to justify tax free pay and then failing to take into account the different living standard costs incurred by their members.
Seems a bit like all drivers everywhere getting “london weighting”.
I covered that argument in my reply:
djw:
You’re quite right, though living costs are incurred wherever you are, not where you come from. Still, relative buying power is a consideration when it comes to matters such as the value of a pension.
My wider point at the bottom of my last post is that arguments about Lagarde’s salary and tax affairs miss the bigger picture. The Daily Mail drew the comparison to tax avoidance in Greece. I believe these issues are wholly separate from Lagarde’s remuneration and that Greece needs to do something other than stick their head in the sand.
I feel for the Greek people, many of whom are suffering dreadfully for things that were not of their making. However, their country has to do something to reform and move on, which, to be fair, it seems to be trying hard to do. It remains to be seen what happens in the imminent Greek elections.
djw:
del949:
DJW, you misunderstood the last part of my post that you quoted. I wasn’t referring to the comments re greece and taxation, but to the IMF apparently usung an argument to justify tax free pay and then failing to take into account the different living standard costs incurred by their members.
Seems a bit like all drivers everywhere getting “london weighting”.I covered that argument in my reply:
djw:
You’re quite right, though living costs are incurred wherever you are, not where you come from. Still, relative buying power is a consideration when it comes to matters such as the value of a pension.My wider point at the bottom of my last post is that arguments about Lagarde’s salary and tax affairs miss the bigger picture. The Daily Mail drew the comparison to tax avoidance in Greece. I believe these issues are wholly separate from Lagarde’s remuneration and that Greece needs to do something other than stick their head in the sand.
I feel for the Greek people, many of whom are suffering dreadfully for things that were not of their making. However, their country has to do something to reform and move on, which, to be fair, it seems to be trying hard to do. It remains to be seen what happens in the imminent Greek elections.
The wider point you seem to have missed is that those who have the positions of influence in this world (and Lagarde must come into that category) are the ones who have created the mess we’re in now. Lagarde is not the primary cause of our current misfortunes but it’s a poor show for someone in her position to dig out the little man in this way. It’s just not on for them to lay the blame at the feet of the victims rather than the perpetrators. I’m not a bloody economist or politician but even I could see we were on the road to disaster several years ago. We have our Lords and Masters to blame for this not the man on the Clapham Omnibus. Vive La Revolution!
44 Tonne Ton:
djw:
del949:
DJW, you misunderstood the last part of my post that you quoted. I wasn’t referring to the comments re greece and taxation, but to the IMF apparently usung an argument to justify tax free pay and then failing to take into account the different living standard costs incurred by their members.
Seems a bit like all drivers everywhere getting “london weighting”.I covered that argument in my reply:
djw:
You’re quite right, though living costs are incurred wherever you are, not where you come from. Still, relative buying power is a consideration when it comes to matters such as the value of a pension.My wider point at the bottom of my last post is that arguments about Lagarde’s salary and tax affairs miss the bigger picture. The Daily Mail drew the comparison to tax avoidance in Greece. I believe these issues are wholly separate from Lagarde’s remuneration and that Greece needs to do something other than stick their head in the sand.
I feel for the Greek people, many of whom are suffering dreadfully for things that were not of their making. However, their country has to do something to reform and move on, which, to be fair, it seems to be trying hard to do. It remains to be seen what happens in the imminent Greek elections.
The wider point you seem to have missed is that those who have the positions of influence in this world (and Lagarde must come into that category) are the ones who have created the mess we’re in now. Lagarde is not the primary cause of our current misfortunes but it’s a poor show for someone in her position to dig out the little man in this way. It’s just not on for them to lay the blame at the feet of the victims rather than the perpetrators. I’m not a bloody economist or politician but even I could see we were on the road to disaster several years ago. We have our Lords and Masters to blame for this not the man on the Clapham Omnibus. Vive La Revolution!
Nothing to do with ordinary man taking out masses of credit card debts and flipping them every few months for 0% interest and never paying anything back on them !!!
Blaming the rich and bankers is easier i guess than taking a look at our own involvement
Solly:
A test of our worldly, everyday knowledge.Question:
Are we lawfully required to pay taxes?
At the risk of the QI klaxon - I think Income Tax is a temporary tax, imposed to fund the Napoleonic Wars 200 years ago (must have been a bloody expensive war!). Don’t the Gummint have to renew the legislation every year as part of the Budget to keep taking it?
Best explanation I ever saw was that it’s the Government’s job to take all your money, and your job to stop them. 
Gary
It’s simple to blame the bankers for everything, but to me it seems that Greece is in a different postion to the crisis in the UK, in that a lot of its’ problems were caused by its own population in general.
I watched a programme a few months ago(panorama?) which showed that nearly all ordinary people avoid paying any taxes if they can and the government has done nothing about collecting outstanding taxes, preferring to rely on borrowing finances instead.
Anyone know if Greece has an equivalent to PAYE?
The fall in the Euro /£ make my visit to Corfu next week a bit more affordable!
an aside re the imposition of income tax in the UK to support the Napoleonic wars, not only was that tax a temporary measure, but VAT was introduced solely to pay for our EU costs, and look how thats been incorporated into general taxation and how it’s increased.
Whirlwind:
Nothing to do with ordinary man taking out masses of credit card debts and flipping them every few months for 0% interest and never paying anything back on them !!!
Blaming the rich and bankers is easier i guess than taking a look at our own involvement
Tell me what you understand about “Ninja mortgages”.
What’s the problem that’s her net pay not gross and I’m not qualified to say whether she earns it but I know I wouldn’t wipe my arse with the daily mail. It’s a hate filled filthy rag.
It’s a hate filled filthy rag.
I agree, unless of course it prints something that I agree with and then it’s a well balanced paper with excellent journalists! 
del949:
It’s simple to blame the bankers for everything, but to me it seems that Greece is in a different postion to the crisis in the UK, in that a lot of its’ problems were caused by its own population in general.
I watched a programme a few months ago(panorama?) which showed that nearly all ordinary people avoid paying any taxes if they can and the government has done nothing about collecting outstanding taxes, preferring to rely on borrowing finances instead.
It’s not surprising that Panorama like all the media is using diversionary tactics to shift the blame for the situation in Greece onto it’s people not the true cause.The reason why Greece is in the state it’s in is because the Germans,as usual,did what (they thought) was best for Germany by trying to provide even more of a marrket for it’s manufactured goods by chucking money at the Greeks so they could buy German cars and infrastructure projects like rail modernisation etc etc.As usual there was a big flaw in the German’s thinking in that they forgot that the Greeks,like the Spanish and the Portugese,don’t have any real way of earning the amounts of money needed to pay for it all.
It’s no coincidence that none of those countries had any major economic issues or problems,in the form of massive debts or the type of ‘austerity’ that the Greeks are facing now,before they became members of the EU and subjected their economies to massive exposure to German imports.It’s all about jobs and high wages for German workers paid for by the other EU members.The Germans,as usual,are acting like parasites. 
44 Tonne Ton:
Whirlwind:
Nothing to do with ordinary man taking out masses of credit card debts and flipping them every few months for 0% interest and never paying anything back on them !!!
Blaming the rich and bankers is easier i guess than taking a look at our own involvementTell me what you understand about “Ninja mortgages”.
My point is that instead of looking for people to beat with a big stick ( like the daily fascist do) look at the bigger picture , We all are to blame,banks goverment big business and the individual .
Whirlwind:
44 Tonne Ton:
Whirlwind:
Nothing to do with ordinary man taking out masses of credit card debts and flipping them every few months for 0% interest and never paying anything back on them !!!
Blaming the rich and bankers is easier i guess than taking a look at our own involvementTell me what you understand about “Ninja mortgages”.
My point is that instead of looking for people to beat with a big stick ( like the daily fascist do) look at the bigger picture , We all are to blame,banks goverment big business and the individual .
Nothing then. have a google…guardian.co.uk/business/2007/sep/30/5
Note that it’s not the Daily Mail… 
but it is 5 years old.
don’t know that lots of it still applies.
del949:
but it is 5 years old.
don’t know that lots of it still applies.
Well why do you think we’re in this mess now? Did you read the article?
but we aren’t in a mess like Greece (or Spain etc ).
Solly:
A test of our worldly, everyday knowledge.Question:
Are we lawfully required to pay taxes?
Income Tax was the first tax in British history to be levied directly on people’s earnings. It was introduced in 1799 by the then Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, as a temporary measure to cover the cost of the Napoleonic Wars. 
Today, it remains a temporary tax, which expires on April 5 each year, and has to be renewed as a provision in the annual Finance Bill. The Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1913 permits the Government to continue to collect Income Tax for up to four months after the expiry of the measure, until the Finance Bill becomes law.
source
scaniason:
gezt:
Solly:
A test of our worldly, everyday knowledge.Question:
Are we lawfully required to pay taxes?
Income Tax was the first tax in British history to be levied directly on people’s earnings. It was introduced in 1799 by the then Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, as a temporary measure to cover the cost of the Napoleonic Wars.
Today, it remains a temporary tax, which expires on April 5 each year, and has to be renewed as a provision in the annual Finance Bill. The Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1913 permits the Government to continue to collect Income Tax for up to four months after the expiry of the measure, until the Finance Bill becomes law.
source
Solly:
A test of our worldly, everyday knowledge.Question:
Are we lawfully required to pay taxes?
At the risk of the QI klaxon - I think Income Tax is a temporary tax, imposed to fund the Napoleonic Wars 200 years ago (must have been a bloody expensive war!). Don’t the Gummint have to renew the legislation every year as part of the Budget to keep taking it?
Best explanation I ever saw was that it’s the Government’s job to take all your money, and your job to stop them.
Gary
In my best Stephen Fry voice.
Brilliant Gary… I’m bound to award you 10pts for that.
Getz also 10pts…but that’s just the history of how taxes were introduced.
The question was…"Are we lawfully required to pay taxes?
@solly
gezt gezt gezt gezt gezt gezt recurring
NOT REPEAT NOT
getz getz getz
thats a bloody car
thanks for 10 points
when i agree a rate for a job (trip money). then that’s the rate i get NET of TAX.
the tax and NI is paid. she is on the same deal, but at a slightly higher net rate than me.
del949:
but we aren’t in a mess like Greece (or Spain etc ).
Not from the Mail…
Traders were disappointed after the Bank of England chose not to pump more money into the economy on Thursday, despite the ongoing turmoil in the eurozone.
The bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at a record low, 0.5%, while the total quantitative easing conducted to date will remain at £325bn.
That’s a lot of debt on top of what we already had.
Inflation is still high at 3%, despite a big drop in April, and last month the monetary policy committee (MPC) said it would take nine months longer than previously thought for it to return to its 2% target.
Members of the committee have since been playing down the prospect of further stimulus, unless an escalation of the euro crisis worsens Britain’s economic prospects. Only one of the nine members of the MPC backed more QE in May.
A survey of purchasing mangers in the service sector released earlier on Thursday also showed some resilience in the economy, in contrast to a sharp fall in its manufacturing equivalent last week.
But economists expect more QE soon. Minutes from the last MPC meeting showed that the vote against a new round of stimulus was “finely balance” for several members of the committee.
More debt when/if it happens.
Lee Hopley, chief economist at EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, said: “The decision to hold steady on policy was largely expected but, with a range of indicators for the UK economy on the slide, this is likely to be a wait-and-see position. The risks to growth seem to be building and another expansion in asset purchases may be called on to get the economy out of reverse gear.”
That doesn’t sound promising
We’re printing money to bail us out of trouble. The real danger with that is the potential collapse in confidence that might occur because of this and along with it a serious risk of very high inflation. Confidence is everything in finance. We have very high levels of debt, not dissimilar to other countries who are in serious trouble now. We are still fortunately able to borrow money much more cheaply that Greece and Spain, mainly because we’re not in the Euro which means we’re still a going concern, for now anyway. We’re not in the worst position but we’re not in a great position. Finely balanced is how I’d describe it. Or, a bit of a mess.
The Spanish situation.
Debt crisis: live
Spain moves closer to the credit junk pile as Fitch slashes the country’s rating by three notches and warns the likely cost of restructuring and recapitalising the Spanish banking sector could reach €100bn.