The Politics Thread

...but said Gary Barlow should not be slagged off for doing.

 

Tory backing Gary Barlow?

 

By complete coincidence, yes!

 

It's only paye people who pay their owed tax because they have no choice. On top of that they pay something around 70%+ of their earnings in various forms of taxation.

As usual it's people at the bottom of society that pay most.

Of course if people at the bottom were more engaged in the political process they wouldn't be getting shafted.

Don't stand by wringing your hands and moaning, get involved and make a difference.

Football is a spectator sport for most of us and so sadly is life for many people. Everyone should be a player in the life game.

 

You did and you still lost, to be fair! Sorry Spurf, I couldn't resist that one.

The problem is that the current system is ridiculously loaded.
The print media in this country is run by a bunch of tax-dodgers, so it's all going to be played down.
The politicians and those that fund them will do anything to pretend that the problem doesn't exist and shield the taxpayer from it's existence.
We have a bunch of PR specialists spouting propaganda endlessly and it's all that anyone hears.

It's all well and good telling people to get engaged in the system, but the system's a big part of what's wrong.
It's set up to promote people that play the game, work against the interests of the public and grab money and power.
How does that change?

 

It changes once people get involved on a big scale. I agree PNP it's demoralising in England because the system is so entrenched protecting the status quo. You think we have lost in Scotland but I would say we have only been delayed. Scotland is heavily politically engaged, more than it ever has been. The media is almost completely unionist the BBC in Scotland is a complete disgrace but more and more of the people know this and ignore it.
Recently there has been a full out attack on the SNP by all but one paper in Scotland, the BBC is at the forefront of this attack. STV is a far superior channel compared. Despite the onslaught the polls have shown increased support for the SNP during and following the attack.
The road to an Independent Scotland has been mapped out and more and more people are following it.

In England the Corbyn grassroots movement mirrors the YES campaign in Scotland, this is the start of greater political engagement. People all over the world have finally had enough of the rich bastards stealing more and more wealth for them selves. The worms are turning.

The internet is the tool that is energising people worldwide, for the first time in history 'the people' can inform themselves from a source of their own choosing and bypass the media that has been owned and controlled by the rich and used to continue the status quo.

As Dylan said: The times they are a changing!

 

The Jimmy Carr scheme was a completely artificial process that gave him a massive taxsaving. As I said above he Cameron trust simply means he paid exactly the same amount of tax as if he invested in the underlying shares directly and saves no tax at all.
It would be crazy to run a collective investment scheme as a UK company as the profits would be taxed twice

 

I read a report that Cameron personally profited from the investment. I didn't read it very closely, to be fair. While I agree what his father did should not be considered, assuming the story is right, I think it makes Cameron look (even more) awful. It goes nicely with another story about the way he's cozied up to Russia at the expense of seeking justice for the man who was poisoned by plutonium and the KGB. You could make a case that Cameron's little windfall is no more inappropriate than former US presidents whoring themselves out to the highest bidder--except I could just about afford to buy Cameron.

While Jimmy Carter deserves credit for using his post-presidential years to build houses for the poor, the person I really respect is Neil Armstrong. He refused to take a penny for being the most noteworthy human being in history. I'm not sure how many younger people would even understand why he chose to do that. Well, times change, and no doubt younger generations are much better in some ways as well.

And times do seem to be changing. I'm astonished at the support America's only nationally elected socialist is getting. He's even drawing some support from the fools who bought the Republican malarkey. I realize he would never pass anything with the Congress he would have. But to have someone at least trying to do the right things regarding economic justice seems like it would be a gigantic step forward.

 

So, where are we today then.
Cameron did have shares in daddys' offshore scheme, but when did he divest himself of them ??

If he did so before becoming PM, then I can harrumph on the generalities, but at
least he saw the light. If he did so only recently, then he has bought trouble upon himself.

 

Sold in January 2010, elected in May of the same year.

 

Good.
So I assume the citizens of the UK won't mind paying more tax to fund the wages to acquire really smart
people to fight the good tax fight, rather than the institutional/systemic hordes of jobsworth Nazis the
last PAC report showed are costing the nation money.

 

General harrumph it is then.

 

That's an extremely narrow perspective.

 

Supported by the facts.

 

No doubt but it's hardly the defining issue.

 

It is for taxation (avoidance/evasion in particular) .

 

Didn't the government slash their budget and basically tell them not to go after certain people, including a horde of HSBC clients?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31459067

Absolutely corrupt.

 

For aeons, Inland Revenue has been a bastion of jobsworth Nazis ready to do spiteful battle
with the "little man" while doing nothing against the industrial tax dodgers.

The colours of the govt of the day have nothing to do with it.

 

Which is the problem that I referred to earlier.
There are various shades of ****, though. Some are worse than others.

 

That is what Cameron and most governments should really be getting stick for. Because HMRC is underfunded it can only hire poorly qualified staff who are capable of little more than finding mistakes in honest people's tax returns. They've got no hope in challenging highly qualified lawyers and accountants employed by the rich.