BREAKING NEWS; clever people don't pay too much tax!

[Spacecadet]

I agree with a lot of that, but I have no problem with immigrants from any part of the world, if they want to work and look after themselves. There’s a guy in my team from Zimbabwe who fled as Mugabe lay waste to the country; he worked in Britain as a contractor for several years and now works in Holland. He is not a burden to the state and doesn’t live in a council house. Good guy; we need more like him and less inbred chavs.

There's been a Radio 4 programme on Monday nights about work ethics (by a Daily Mail journalist of all people)
Anyway, she was interviewing an immigrant who worked as a cleaner in London. Very long hours, very crap pay and I think he was lucky to get about 4 hours sleep on week nights.
Journo lady points out that if he was on benefits he'd be no worse off
Immigrant chap replies with, work is good for the soul, sitting at home doing nothing all day rots the mind and body

[PAH]

All this 'grass is greener' abroad is bollocks.

Show me a country that is a true utopia and I'll show you the next invasion target by the countries that don't want their people to get any ideas above their station.

The only thing you can hope for elsewhere is much of the same, even if it is packaged differently.

Back to the original point: There are always ways of reducing your tax burden and always will be while the people that make the rules also have to worry about reducing their tax without reducing their income.

[Mich the Tester]

So what you are saying is that you look more favourably on an immigrant who shares your values than on a fellow countryman who does not ?

Maybe the days of Nationalism are over, Mitch is heralding the dawn of a new '-ism'. Hows about calling it Valuesism.

Well to some extent, yes. Given that humans are much more likely to show empathy to those with whom they feel some connection, most obviously through family, but perhaps through shared experiences, it seems natural to me that in a world where borders are being rendered practically meaningless by fast transport and telecommunications, people are most likely to feel empathy toward those who seem to share their values. I have a lot more in common, in terms of upbringing and values, with an educated middle class black Zimbabwean than some semi-literate chav from Swindon. The nationality just doesn’t mean as much to me as the fact that this guy, like me, has got an education, worked for his money, traveled the world in search of experience and knowledge and works in the same profession. He, like me, has left ‘the mother country’ behind, not only literally but also in a more fundamental way; he doesn’t ‘belong’ to a national group, but to a group of people like him; educated migrants who see the world as one big place full of opportunities.

If you google ‘third culture kids’ or ‘global nomads’ you’ll find out more about this; people who have lived in different cultures and countries during their youth often feel more loyalty to and solidarity with those with the same experience than to any nation state.

[NotAllThere]

All this 'grass is greener' abroad is bollocks.
...
The only thing you can hope for elsewhere is much of the same, even if it is packaged differently....

I don't object to pay taxes. I don't even object to paying more as a percentage than poor people. I do object to tax planning being demonised as somehow immoral.

The grass is greener where I live. The tax authorities understand it's my money they're after. And tax evasion is not a criminal offence! My tax return form is only 4 pages long...

[Mich the Tester]

I don't object to pay taxes. I don't even object to paying more as a percentage than poor people. I do object to tax planning being demonised as somehow immoral.

The grass is greener where I live. The tax authorities understand it's my money they're after. And tax evasion is not a criminal offence! My tax return form is only 4 pages long...

I think on balance the Dutch tax environment is better than Britain. Holland does have high rates of income tax, but also a lot of tax deductibles.

[Churchill]

I don't object to pay taxes. I don't even object to paying more as a percentage than poor people. I do object to tax planning being demonised as somehow immoral.

The grass is greener where I live. The tax authorities understand it's my money they're after. And tax evasion is not a criminal offence! My tax return form is only 4 pages long...

Tax evasion or Tax avoidance?

[TheFaQQer]

And tax evasion is not a criminal offence!

Ummmm - it is, actually.

[Paddy]

When will politicians and their voters understand that people are simply not prepared to pay 50% tax, with the possible exception of Swedes who get it all back in subsidized houses, lots of paid holidays and cheap volvos?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle7011728.ece

High taxes are not just for revenue. It is done to control the population. Eg: Take as much money from taxpayers and control it by handing some back in benefits. Meanwhile the tax burden is forcing people into debt

[PAH]

Tax evasion or Tax avoidance?

Sounds like HMRC are trying to make them one and the same. Currently avoidance is legal yet they have retrospective ways of treating them as evasion based on 'fairness' and not legality.

[AtW]

High taxes are not just for revenue. It is done to control the population. Eg: Take as much money from taxpayers and control it by handing some back in benefits. Meanwhile the tax burden is forcing people into debt

Tax is one of the ways to control inflation - when people got no disposable income they can't bid silly prices for stuff they want.

Well, unless banks start loaning huge amounts, which causes rapid asset inflation.