CNBC is reporting on a proposal by HM Revenue & Customs to overhaul the current inaccurate and inefficient system of tax collection with an even more brilliant system that’s bound to be a big hit:
The UK’s tax collection agency is putting forth a proposal that all employers send employee paychecks to the government, after which the government would deduct what it deems as the appropriate tax and pay the employees by bank transfer.
After all, what better method of demonstrating to the citizenry that it’s not really their money, it’s the state’s? Who could possibly complain? Everyone will eventually get their democratically-assigned allotment when the bureaucrats (divinely-appointed to be the conduits of all resources in society) get around to it…
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… OHH, in Argentina we have that! It’s called “Retenciones de Impuesto a las Ganancias” retention tax on income. So actually the gov makes a wage limit List for single and married employees and Instructs employers to deduce and submit the collected tax on earnings… walla!!! you not only pay 21% VAT Tax on 100% your purchases once your paid, you get a COMPULSORY gov + unions retirement+health+income tax DEDUCTION prior to cashing your payment all COMPULSORY abt 25 to 30% knock off right before you get pour hands on the fruit of your work. What a pitty UK turns to these abusive methods, hope people+companies+courts will resist !!!
Good stuff! Only selfish corporate apologists who don’t CARE and like to avoid their obligations to SOCIETY instead of paying their FAIR share could complain about this perfectly reasonable proposal to make sure the poorest in our society get some of the crumbs off the fat cats’ tables. If they want to put CCTV in my living room, that’s fine too, only people who intend to break the law could possibly object. In fact, any one who does register an objection to the PAYG reform or any other perfectly reasonable proposal to enforce people’s legitimate OBLIGATIONS to the COMMUNITY should be detained and investigated as a probable tax avoider (or worse). If you’ve got nothing to hide, then you’ve got nothing to worry about, that’s what I say.
I’m unsure if this is satire, but I’ll treat it otherwise. “If you’ve got nothing to hide, then you’ve got nothing to worry about” hardly comforts and is puerile reasoning at best. The conventional word that is employed to describe government is “systematic.” The true essence of government is in fact not its regularity but its unpredictability and caprice; thus, the ruled can always be found to be in the wrong.
I’m unsure if this is satire
It was
“He gazed up at the enormous face. [Thirty-one] years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved [michael].”
“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”
I see you’re picking up what I’m putting down: that’s awesome. So…. do you want to join me and the cat? We’ll be ready for your call…
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”
good luck pointing out the strong family resemblance between the odious big brother, and michael’s nice, friendly little brother.
despite eschewing stalinism, orwell did still die an avowed socialist.
I’m pretty sure this is satire……scary, too – some people actually think this way.
There certainly are. In a near apoplectic fit, Paul Begala sounded very much like this when he was insulting the Tea Party activists.
No kidding.
I am guessing that HRM’s beancounters have broken the budget for the remainder of the year, and are trying to get the jump on next year’s incomes now, in the hopes of somehow figuring out how to make more money later. They wouldn’t be investing this money in markets, would they?
Next step – the state takes that paycheck and buys the things it determines you need and keeps the rest.
Sort of like the Health Care bill.
Chapter 5 is titled: “5: An option for exploiting Real Time Information”
I believe the Government have already rejected this idea. The Tories would probably revolt if it went through.
One should note though that according to this plan the employer sends the check to the government. That is not much different than the practice in this country where the employer withholds part of your pay and sends it to the government. Ethically we have a name for this practice. It is called “stealing”. Employers are morally responsible for theft, and “I was just following orders” has not worked since Nuremberg. The final enemy is always your neighbor, who is actively involved in oppressing you.
I was going to mention this as well. It’s really not at all unlike forced withholding here in the United States. It’s a half-measure at best, but if we were to end withholding and send people a bill at the end of the year, there would be quite a bit more tax resistance, I think.
In any case, it’s not unexpected. The more the citizenry is isolated from the opaque and obfuscatory tax system, they less likely they are to realize that something isn’t right.
This is already happening in California. The state government was withholding more than than the state income tax rate, basically saying, “we need your money now more than you do and we’ll just pay you back later on your state tax refund.”
That’s just part of the trickery. Take too much, send a check back at the end of the year, and the people think the State is giving them free money.
I think what this is all about is that for the few days that they are holding everyone’s money for “processing” each month, they have a huge pool of money from which to borrow and spend. No doubt they won’t pay us interest for the time which they are holding our money…
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