Siân lawrence

Tax. We’ve all become so used to it, we forget how much we’re actually paying. It is relentless, even beyond death. And for what? If we had a semblance of functioning public services, I could maybe stomach it. But we don’t, so what are we actually paying all of this money for? We are subject to Scandinavian levels of tax for third-world levels of competence - what a toilet deal. Earn a salary. Income tax, a fifth gone before we’ve even started. National insurance, more on top of that. What for? A ‘world-class’ health service? The NHS? Ha. Good luck. Even getting to work costs - taxes on buying a car, running a car, insuring a car. Vast amount of road tax. Is that being well spent? Unless you want potholes you can paddle in, the answer is no. A road network built for half the amount of cars. How’s that going? It takes twice as long to get anywhere. Fuel duty and tax on insurance - whack that on top too. Congestion charges, tolls, fines and more. It goes on and on and on. Forget getting the train, that’ll cost twice as much and never runs on time - a season ticket into London costs thousands. Unaffordable. Yet the trains so often run empty? Maybe that system isn’t working… VAT on anything that moves - getting taxed to buy products/services, from already taxed money. Tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax. Then more tax. Did you go to university? Your ‘loan’ isn’t loan, it’s a tax. Interest is so sharp, you’re just paying that off each month. Hundreds gone, to pay for a sociology degree a decade ago. Ouch. Why are we saddling our youngsters with so much debt, with so much interest on top of that? Madness. Manage to put a few quid away to save? That gets taxed too - ISAs will be under attack in the budget. Profit made on successful investments, what happens? You guessed it. Tax. Somehow you’ve scrabbled a deposit together for a property. Well done. Paying half a million quid for a semi-detached? Not cheap. Stamp duty means you get slapped for thousands. Obviously first time buyer exemptions mean less and less as house prices soar. You’re in the house. Great news. Or so you thought. Council tax. Going up seemingly by 5% every year. Thousands of pounds a year. For what? To collect the bins? Really? Don’t forget the extra costs to have your garden waste removed. Brilliant. More insurance taxes, and of course VAT on any improvements you want to make. Bills soaring, with tax slapped onto every corner of it - green levies and the rest. How depressing. Time for a pint. Alcohol duty. Because of course. Why wouldn’t they throw extra tax on it? I’m not a smoker, but the same applies. Even holidays. Air passenger duty to put a few extra quid onto the price of a trip away. Just for good measure. You’re limping on through. Maybe you decide that starting your own business is the way to go? You get it up and running, starting to make a reasonable profit. Take a small salary - to pay for such luxuries as food and heating. As we know, that gets taxed. Alongside the costs. National Insurance. Business rates. Fees and licences. It is endless. What’s left after all that? A profit? Surely good news? Bang. Corporation tax. A big slice gone. After that, we can enjoy a handsome profit. Right? Nope. Dividend tax. With its brutal thresholds. What slivers you do take get taxed all over again when you want to actually buy something. Obviously. And the final kick in teeth. Inheritance tax. After everything, somehow, you’ve managed to put a reasonable amount of money away. After all that tax, you’ve succeeded in building a financial legacy to pass to your children - your business, and your own savings. Money you were taxed on the day you earned it, taxed when you saved it, taxed when you invested it, taxed to build your business. It gets taxed one final time. On both your personal savings, and also the value of your company. Even after death, it continues. What are we paying all this money for? Are our schools world-class? Borders secure? Police visible? NHS efficient? Economy thriving? Roads operational? No. No. No. No. No. No. NOTHING WORKS. Britain has the highest tax burden in most of our lifetimes, yet the worst services many of us have ever seen. If everything worked perfectly, there could maybe be an argument for such suffocating levels of tax. But it doesn’t, and hasn’t for decades, so there isn’t. When the taxpayers fail to fund this state monster of inefficiency and unaccountability, what do they do? QE. Print money. Creating inflation, devaluing our earnings and our savings. Yet one more tax. The people creating all of this, implementing all of this? £100k plus on the public sector, living in London. Comfortable salary, great pension, no job risk. Clueless about the real world. Maybe, just maybe, the current approach isn’t working. We need to urgently cut tax. Shrink government. Reward hard work. You just can’t tax a nation into prosperity. It never has worked, and it never will work. LEAVE OUR MONEY ALONE.