Charging the RNLI to use their radios...

[HeliCraig]

Very probably... it would be par for the course.

Undoubtedly Icelandic Banks at that...

No no, he only put it there for safe keeping. Luckily he isn't a "sophisticated investor" so he'll pay himself back.

Its only a numbers game you know.

[HeliCraig]

Gordon got £21 billion for the 3G radio spectrum from the lunes in charge of poser phone development...

Which he then gave to the lunes in charge of banks???

[HeliCraig]

Leave the arguments at home and lets have a nice thread in support of often unsung heroes.

Yep. WHS. I choose to fly, but I would like to know that if I have an accident the ambulance / police / fire will still turn out even though I wasn't driving my state issued car.

Bottom line is, if you aren't doing anything illegal then I think it is reasonable the state should provide emergency support. (And even if you were, perhaps they should and then prosecute & recharge you for it).

Agreed, i dont think any public services where the individuals actually risk their own lives in order to save others should be taxed for NIC or PAYE either (RNLI, Firemen, etc...)

Of course, the problem with not taking NIC or PAYE off these people is that then they would be paid less to compensate; and you end up running two tax systems. I have often thought though, how stupid it is that large government enterprises (NHS trusts etc) run whole payroll departments (or outsource it), a great deal of which deals with taxation. Surely as its the governments money, just advertise government jobs as a "take home pay" and then pay that; removing the payroll departments work!! Anyway, enough correction of the tax system for one day.

And yes, I did forget Mountain / Cave rescue... sorry... it wasn't meant to be an exhaustive list.

[NetwkSupport]

These guys should be removed from the tax authority all together.
I can not say enough in praise of these brave souls. How can any Government consider anything that makes it more expensive or difficult for these people to do what they do?

Agreed, i dont think any public services where the individuals actually risk their own lives in order to save others should be taxed for NIC or PAYE either (RNLI, Firemen, etc...)

[The Lone Gunman]

And now we get into the sticky territory of which charities benefit real victims, and which ones benefit people people who voluntarily take risks.

Mountain rescue and cave rescue (and to some extent RNLI) spring to mind.

Even if the victims volunteered, without these charities people would die.

If you want to go down that route why should sports players benefit from the NHS?

Leave the arguments at home and lets have a nice thread in support of often unsung heroes.

[TheBigYinJames]

[edit]HC: You missed Mountain and Cave rescue.

And now we get into the sticky territory of which charities benefit real victims, and which ones benefit people people who voluntarily take risks.

Mountain rescue and cave rescue (and to some extent RNLI) spring to mind.

[BrilloPad]

I thought the government was supposed to extract the most feathers with least hissing?

[The Lone Gunman]

These guys should be removed from the tax authority all together.
I can not say enough in praise of these brave souls. How can any Government consider anything that makes it more expensive or difficult for these people to do what they do?

[edit]HC: You missed Mountain and Cave rescue.

[HeliCraig]

I've often thought that charities who do a genuine public good which the vast majority of the public think the Government should be / is doing should be exempted any charges at all from any government dept (local or central).

I am thinking: Car tax, council tax (or Non Domestic Rates), VAT, the whole shebang.

RNLI and Air Ambulances are in this list of charities. The Cat Protection League is not.

(And on the subject of the Radio Spectrum: The Tories sold off every valuable tangible asset the nation owned; NewLiebor flogged off the rest, and now has nothing left except the fresh air to "licence" to bring the cash in!!)

[zeitghost]

Another iniquitous tax...

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/corn...l/article.html

Brave men risking their lives... for no reward.

The scum in the HMRC even wanted to tax them on their callout allowance some years ago.