Silliest Tax Ever

[davieG]

A few years ago I ran a DIY shop in Great Glen and we sold pet food to the kids for their rabbits, we never really made a profit at all never mind on the pet food yet still had to collect VAT, admittedly the thresholds gone up since then.

Now when being inspected by the the VAT lady she discovered I'd not been charging VAT on the rabbit food. Upon further discussion I found out that VAT was chargeable for pets but not for breeding them to eat. When questioning how I was supposed to know what it was for she suggested I asked the customers whether they intended to eat the rabbit or not!

We had a few kids leaving the shop crying after that - well not really I just added the VAT on.

VAT a tax on your money that's already been taxed.

[The People's Hero]

I've only just got over my electric bill, don't get me started on the bleedin' tax man.

[Tabou]

I've only just got over my electric bill, don't get me started on the bleedin' tax man.

The amount of Income tax that I have paid according to my P60 is disgusting!

[davieG]

I've only just got over my electric bill, don't get me started on the bleedin' tax man.

It's like a Gunfight at the OK Corral trying to hang on to whatever pittance you've managed to earn/save.

We need to hire a Foxestalk gunslinger to run all these tax and bank criminals out of town! Anyone good with a six gun?

The amount of Income tax that I have paid according to my P60 is disgusting!

Dirty money

[hairy]

If I were to develop some new houses for sale, I would not pay the builder VAT.

If however I were to order a new wing to be built on a hospital or school the I would have to pay the builder VAT.

How stupid is that. As a housing developer I have a reduced price product to sell which means I can make more profit but if I spend the tax payers money on new buildings such as schools etc I have to pay tax. WTF!

VAT was ment to be a luxury tax with only luxury goods being taxed. Now everything is classed as a luxury good, even basic food stuffs.

[BigGibbo]

I've just had a lovely letter from my energy suppliers (Southern Electric) that they are putting up my electric prices 20% & gas 30% luckily I don't use gas!

[davieG]

If I were to develop some new houses for sale, I would not pay the builder VAT.

If however I were to order a new wing to be built on a hospital or school the I would have to pay the builder VAT.

How stupid is that. As a housing developer I have a reduced price product to sell which means I can make more profit but if I spend the tax payers money on new buildings such as schools etc I have to pay tax. WTF!

VAT was ment to be a luxury tax with only luxury goods being taxed. Now everything is classed as a luxury good, even basic food stuffs.

You're right it existed in a previous form on luxury goods mostly 'white goods' and jewellery but as you say it's now on everything but with a load of exceptions/anomalies.

What is really annoying is that the money you're paying out in VAT has already been taxed at source in your wages.

[Dr The Singh]

If I were to develop some new houses for sale, I would not pay the builder VAT.

If however I were to order a new wing to be built on a hospital or school the I would have to pay the builder VAT.

How stupid is that. As a housing developer I have a reduced price product to sell which means I can make more profit but if I spend the tax payers money on new buildings such as schools etc I have to pay tax. WTF!

VAT was ment to be a luxury tax with only luxury goods being taxed. Now everything is classed as a luxury good, even basic food stuffs.

Soon it will be a luxury to breath clean air, they will tax that too you know!!

[BigGibbo]

You're right it existed in a previous form on luxury goods mostly 'white goods' and jewellery but as you say it's now on everything but with a load of exceptions/anomalies.

What is really annoying is that the money you're paying out in VAT has already been taxed at source in your wages.

Has anyone ever recorded everything they've earned & spent for a month or so & then worked out how much exactly has gone up the governments nose?

I bet if you took away all the different types of taxes, vat's etc you'd only spend about a fifth of what you do now!!!

[The People's Hero]

Soon it will be a luxury to breath clean air, they will tax that too you know!!

Clean air?

You'll be lucky.

[breadandcheese]

You're right it existed in a previous form on luxury goods mostly 'white goods' and jewellery but as you say it's now on everything but with a load of exceptions/anomalies.

What is really annoying is that the money you're paying out in VAT has already been taxed at source in your wages.

You forgot death duties.

Being taxed on chatels that you've paid VAT on, whilst previously being taxed at source. A tax, on a tax, on a tax.

[The People's Hero]

Whilst we're at it, let's pay a bundle of duty on the only things worth spending money on... petrol and beer.

[breadandcheese]

Whilst we're at it, let's pay a bundle of duty on the only things worth spending money on... petrol and beer.

You're forgetting the VAT which has to be charged on the petrol. Paying not just duty to the government but tax on that duty.

[BigGibbo]

You forgot death duties.

Being taxed on chatels that you've paid VAT on, whilst previously being taxed at source. A tax, on a tax, on a tax.

Inheritance tax thats abusing there power if ever they did!!!

[davieG]

Has anyone ever recorded everything they've earned & spent for a month or so & then worked out how much exactly has gone up the governments nose?

I bet if you took away all the different types of taxes, vat's etc you'd only spend about a fifth of what you do now!!!

Well they reckon that all your earnings upto June go in tax before you get anything for yourself. That's excluding all the other taxes.

by Money Doctor Monday 04 June, 2007 Did you know that Friday June 1st was tax freedom day?

No?

Well, that is the day when all of us taxpayers theoretically stop working for the government and start working for ourselves!

Those of us who pay tax have spent the first 5 months of 2007 (151 days) working solely to pay the taxman, and will now effectively start earning for ourselves!

Tax freedom day falls on the same day as it did last year, but has been arriving later in recent years as the government's tax take rises.

Andy Gadd, head of research at independent financial adviser Lighthouse Group, said: "Overall, the government takes more than 40% of national income."

Tax freedom day now falls two days later than it did in 2005 and more than a week later than in 2003.

Patrick Stevens, a tax partner at Ernst & Young, said British taxpayers had particularly felt the squeeze on income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs).

"Since coming to power, the government has consistently failed to increase income tax rate bands and national insurance thresholds in line with average pay increases," he said.

"As a result, more taxpayers than ever are finding themselves liable to higher rate tax."

Government figures show that the number of higher rate taxpayers now stands at 3.5 million; an increase of 58% in the past decade!

Accountant BDO Stoy Hayward said the average taxpayer now works for 8 days more to pay their share of income tax and NICs than they did in 1997/8, when the current Labour government came to power.

We are also working a week longer to pay our council tax bill and double the number of days (4 compared to 2) to meet stamp duty costs.

[Dr The Singh]

Well they reckon that all your earnings upto June go in tax before you get anything for yourself. That's excluding all the other taxes.

That's just fooked up, I wouldn't mind if we had first rate public services, schools, sports & leisure facilities, hospitals, roads, public transport etc, but they are all shit.!!!!!

[BigGibbo]

Well they reckon that all your earnings upto June go in tax before you get anything for yourself. That's excluding all the other taxes.

Yes but like you said thats excluding all the other taxes I reckon they will equal what the government take as absolutely everything carries some form of tax, so it will be more like November before were actually earning for ourselves!

[BigGibbo]

That's just fooked up, I wouldn't mind if we had first rate public services, schools, sports & leisure facilities, hospitals, roads, public transport etc, but they are all shit.!!!!!

Exactly what we get for our money is pathetic & how much do they spend on wars, weapons & quangos? Fooking joke!

[davieG]

From the Telegraph last October

Britain has become one of the most taxed countries in the world, with people handing over a greater share of their wealth to the Treasury than at any stage in the past 20 years.

The scale of the country's tax burden was laid bare in a report published yesterday by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, one of the world's most respected economic groups.

It makes clear that despite Gordon Brown's repeated promise to introduce a "fair tax system", the Government has increasingly hit families and companies with ever-higher taxes, from stamp duty and inheritance tax to council tax and business rates,

The OECD has ranked the tax take of the world's 30 richest nations, and for the first time since 1986 Britain is among the 10 most taxed countries, above the US, Australia, Spain, Italy and Germany.

The Treasury now takes 37.4 per cent of the gross domestic product as tax — the highest since 1986, and considerably higher than when Mr Brown took over the Treasury in 1997.

There have only been three periods in the past 42 years when the tax burden has been higher.

Mike Warburton, of the accountants Grant Thornton, said families were being hit hardest, with most personal taxes doubling. He said: "The big question is where has all this money gone? If it had all gone into hospitals, schools or roads and we could see they had improved, I don't think we would mind. But it hasn't."

More than a third of a million people will have had to pay the middle rate — three per cent — of stamp duty this year, adding at least £7,500 to the cost of buying their homes.

Council taxes have doubled since 1997, with the average household paying more than £1,321 this year. And inheritance tax, even after the reforms announced last week, will net the Treasury an estimated £3.3 billion in 2009 — more than it took last year.

The Tories attacked the high tax burden, pointing out that the Treasury's own predictions showed it will continue to rise.

Philip Hammond, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said: "The UK is set to have the highest tax burden in its peacetime history. Gordon Brown's appetite for cash is insatiable and hard-working families are paying the price."

Experts warned that the high tax burden would damage the economy. Corin Taylor, the research director at The TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "A decade ago this country had among the lowest taxes in the OECD, now we have some of the highest. Faced with the growing challenge of China and India, this is completely the wrong direction to go."

A Treasury spokesman said Britain's tax burden was well below that of the EU, excluding the new member states, and "substantially below its peak in the 1980s".

[Dr The Singh]

From the Telegraph last October

Were fecked and will remian fecked for a long long time!! Viva la revolution!!!!!

Here's to being fecked!!

[davieG]

Were fecked and will remian fecked for a long long time!! Viva la revolution!!!!!

Here's to being fecked!!

Being pissed out of your head is a good idea when being fecked by any government.

[Dr The Singh]

Being pissed out of your head is a good idea when being fecked by any government.

Yes, it numbs the pain, the government's usually too tight to give us anything to make the fecking easier, even abut of vaseline would help, feckers!!!

[Alexikokopops]

I'm going to be paying £6,561 a year in tax. Shit the bed.

[Dr The Singh]

I'm going to be paying £6,561 a year in tax. Shit the bed.

What's new!!

[BigGibbo]

Yes, it numbs the pain, the government's usually too tight to give us anything to make the fecking easier, even abut of vaseline would help, feckers!!!

And to think there are people out there rallying to stop cheepe booze being readily available in supermarkets, the miserable feckless feckers.