Good Going Government

That makes no sense. It's as if our governments are trying their best to take all the wealth from the people and have it for the government, which, of course, is what's happening. We're facing higher taxes here, too. The insane thing is that we have commercials on television encouraging people to look into getting food stamps (free food for the poor but many other people get them) and to look into getting public assistance in other ways. At the same time our "leaders" are screaming that we need to tax the rich more, and they already pay most of the income taxes that are paid in. Nearly 50% of our people with income pay no income taxes. I would ask your government and mine--where do you think the money for welfare comes from?! Of course, they know it comes from the working people and they try to hide that fact from the population, preferring them to think that the government has an endless pot of money from some money tree somewhere. Eventually there will be just two classes--the poor population and the rich politicians.

Oh, yeah, makes a lot of sense! If you have more bedrooms than you need you can just rent them out, so you don't need the full welfare benefit. Then, of course, we'll tax you on the income!

I don't think anything the Government does makes much sense. I've been involved in several discussions where there are people who make statements such as "if I couldn't afford to live in my house, I'd have to sell it and move so other people should do the same". Clearly, like politicians, these people have no concept of reality where it isn't that easy, especially if you don't actually own your own home. At the other end, while I find it difficult to have sympathy for someone whose house is worth over £2 million, I can see the problem with that. It's like the way our Council Tax is worked out - it's based on the estimated value of your home, regardless of your income (or whether you actually own your home). I think everyone is being squeezed. Except the politicians of course. It has been suggested that a few of the top politicians taking a pay cut could clear a significant amount of the national debt! That's the thing that bothers me (and many others) the most: the fact that politicians expect huge pay rises while cutting things for those who can least afford to have them cut, which, in turn, leads to more and more people being stretched even further and, as you say, find those in the middle being burdened.

Here in Aus, people who have lived in government homes for years and raised their family, who have all grown and left home, are being forced out. So an elderly person, living in a 3 bedroom home is being re-housed. The ridiculous thing is, people cannot find homes to rent cheaply and these homes that are being taken back are left vacant and are being destroyed by vandals. It's a crime.

This reminds me somewhat of proposition 13. In California in the late 1970's, property values rose rapidly, and property taxes rose with them, to the point that people who had bought houses at 1950's and 1960's prices could not pay their taxes. A proposition was passed to grandfather the taxes so that they would be based on the purchase price rather than the current assessed value. The taxes could not be raised more than a small percentage each year, and would not be reassessed to the current property value unless the property was sold. I think that was a very fair solution. Your deputy prime minister sounds like a cold, hard hearted jerk who has no idea what it is like to be one of the little people. Why should somebody be forced to sell the family home just because they couldn't afford to buy it at today's prices? Ludicrous...

The £2million Mansion Tax will only come in when Labour form a coalition with the liberals if they win the next election. What does concern me the most is the plan to bring in a possession tax or jewellery tax by this future coalition. The plan is to allow tax inspectors to go into your home to find any heirlooms that have been passed down to you and tax you at capital gains tax rate. Don't forget that Labour is the party of the working man... ....And people still vote for them

Thanks a ton for sharing this discussion. Well i do not know how UK Government is doing in your country but still i am expecting that the Govt would work effectively for its citizens. i think the economic slowdown has come hard for most of the countries and i hope this will improve in the coming days. What say?