Metropol

I blame those damned Merlot hooligans I've been reading about.

Chardonnay chavs. Pinot Grigio Pissheads.

Good job we've got a champagne charlie as the leader of the opposition to deliver us!!! [/sarcasm]

Personally I don't give a shit how much my pint is. The only thing I care about is that my bus fare has gone up 110% in 5 years. If you really want to get people out of their cars into buses and trains, give the bus companies a subsidy so that their fuel costs aren't passed on to the passengers. Take my own example: To pay over £1 for a ten minute journey is laughable - that equivalent to an earning of £6 per hour PER passenger, with six services an hour. And the quality of the service, as with most mass-corporation run travel companies, my Stagecoach service is itself laughable, finishing almost completely at 6pm with only one bus between 7pm and 8pm. Buses in some cases arrive 10 minutes EARLY - with the result of me turning up on time for my bus and it already being halfway into town. The other, local bus service round here is a "go everywhere between A and Z" service, so the journey is longer for the same price, but covering the same distance.

Due to travel costs, at one point in my last job, I was working a full 90 minutes before I began earning my own money. Mind boggling.

Sput wrote:I blame those damned Merlot hooligans I've been reading about.

You took the words right out of my mouth Sput. These increases aren't aimed at the anti-social problem that all the hype inferred. It's just another tax on ordinary working people.

Tax Freedom Day is already 2nd June for this year. I'm not sure whether that includes a recalculation following today's budget though.

I suspect that within the next 5 years we'll find that more than half the money we earn actually goes to the Government, one way or another.

StuartPlymouth wrote:I suspect that within the next 5 years we'll find that more than half the money we earn actually goes to the Government, one way or another.

Whatwhyhowwho?

Gavin Scott wrote:Whatwhyhowwho?

Well, you may already 'donate' more than half your entire income to the Treasury if you're in the higher income tax bracket, or are a chain-smoking whisky guzzler driving a brand new Land Rover.

Being an average bloke, I suspect that my total contribution isn't too far off the national average - but that is rapidly approaching 50%.

The main concern I have is that this is now going to add to the struggle many a small pub is finding at the moment. The amount of pubs closing down can sadly only increase from here on in.

StuartPlymouth wrote:I suspect that within the next 5 years we'll find that more than half the money we earn actually goes to the Government, one way or another.

It already does. Anything up to 40% is docked off the wage packet, then you have all the VAT which in turn goes to the government. So, pretty much already, half the money earned is going to the Government.

Welcome along to the Tories-in-denial Spring conference!

Connor Sephton wrote:

StuartPlymouth wrote:I suspect that within the next 5 years we'll find that more than half the money we earn actually goes to the Government, one way or another.

It already does. Anything up to 40% is docked off the wage packet, then you have all the VAT which in turn goes to the government. So, pretty much already, half the money earned is going to the Government.

Partially - but even as a top rate tax payer 40% of your total salary doesn't go direct to the government - you may wish to research income tax allowances.

According to the Guardian at the start of the week Government spending stands at 42% of GDP - even given that there is a slight budget defecit and GDP doesn't equate to the average wage; it probably isn't far off what the average person pays in tax.

Mich wrote:you may wish to research income tax allowances.

You must be new here. All the economics knowledge you need can be acquired not in those ivory towers of practically useless elitists but in the sprawling natural theatres of the university of life! We don't need facts, figures or rational thought, suspicions are proof enough!

Mich wrote:According to the Guardian at the start of the week Government spending stands at 42% of GDP - even given that there is a slight budget defecit and GDP doesn't equate to the average wage; it probably isn't far off what the average person pays in tax.

That sounds about right to me. Irrespective of whether it's 40, 42 or even 50% I guess the real question here is, are British taxpayers getting adequate value from the portion of their income being spent by government?