Treasures from the Threads - No. 1 Tax

I propose posting, under the above general heading, selected comments from various newspaper and other comment threads as they catch my eye. The following gem on taxation came this week in response to Simon Heffer's mid-week column in the Daily Telegraph, linked here: Dear Sirs, Taxation of the individual has become such a nightmare that one needs professional help that once was only sought at a much higher level of income. Inheritance tax is one example of state robbery that can only truthfully be avoided by converting all one's assets to gold and doing a runner from the country, something that should be causing alarm as the grey drain moves at increasing speed across the water to nore welcoming shores. And then they will return to the prohibition of monetary transfers out of the UK, remember that! Squeeze them until the pips squeak was the mantra. Well the pips are beginning to squeak and the price that the market will bear has reached the limit of public patience. Those who cannot and will not move from their own country, and why should they even have to contemplate such a radical move, are now openly challenging this Chancellor, the Scottish control freak who has his fingers in every bank account in, and out of the country. We are rapidly returning to the climate of hiding money, preventing the greed of the taxman imposing secondary taxation of 40% on hard earned money. He has created an increasing industry in tax collection, tax avoidance and wealth protection. The greatest danger to our country is that the smart money will move long before it is realised that footballers and rock stars are not the only visible groups who have left these shores in disgust. What incentive is there to remain when fifty years of toil and the gathering of family wealth cannot be descended to one's own because the tax man wants nearly fifty percent of its value up front. His cosy figures are concealing a national trend of suspicion and a growing social dislike for the politicians who pander to the tax collectors. Enough has been done to alienate the public. Be warned that that this alienation can explode in any civiisation, and our own history is littered with such examples of political greed. Mr. Brown, come off your pedestal and use your undoubted talents to revise the taxation of this country to a more equitable solution before it is too late. I for one, will defend my property from the invasion of my privacy and once started, as George Woodcock once sagely commented, 'you may start with me, but you cannot put the working population in jail'. If I have to go to jail to protect me and mine from legal robbery, then so be it. Posted by Vivian J Phillips on March 7, 2007 5:32 AM