Tax. Who needs it?

[Spiderman]

Quite an interesting story

lovely jubbly (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,682292,00.html)

[Wazza]

tax sucks sometimes.. i know it is for the good.. but sometimes it is bad....

im on 16.5% tax coz im a lowwww earner

normal is 33%

and for higher earners over NZ$60000 or US$25,000 or so... u gotta pay 39%....

and if ur pretty rich.. $100,000 or US$42,000 u have to pay 49% tax... argh.. half ur money goes to tax.. but thats only 49% after $100,000, and 39% on money earnt between $60,000 and $100,000.....

I'll just stay earning low. just enough to buy a nice PC... momo racing wheel.. and internet.. :D

[Commander]

Well if anyone has anything to bitch about it would obviously be Mr J. Jonah Jameson.. In which case it would only make sense that taxes (along with every other inconvenience on Earth) is solely the fault of Spiderman! Dang thee Rob, making the life of an otherwise naive boss a nightmare... Oh, I think I hear him now, "get out there and get me pictures of SPIDERMAN!".

Argh, some people never learn. Why can't ol' J.J. realize that "Spiderman" is the least of his concerns? Captain Hair (Colin Mochary) and The 'Love Master' (Craig Shoemaker) are by far superior threats to ol' Jameson! ;) .

Hmmmmmm. Now where is my gonch? I BET SPIDERMAN IS BEHIND THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dylan]

whats that surposed to mean, i dont get it. but if you look real closely you might just see that Colin Mochary has very little hair

anyway, tax sucks.

[Commander]

Well congrats on knowing who Colin is... But "BOOOOOOOOO" on not knowing about his "Captain Hair" alter ego... Just keep watching "who's line" and it will all fall into place. Think about the show... recall the "supeheroes" act? Well, there you go, Colin was named 'Captain Hair' for obvious comical reasons... :rolleyes:

If you do not know who Mr. Jameson is, then might I suggest you initiate priority-one research protocalls on this subject matter? No biggy, you'd only have 50 years to catch up on. OK, you may not have the resources, so here you are; J. Jonah Jameson is the head honcho at the newspaper printshop. Peter Parker works for him. Peter Parker is also SPIDERMAN (no not Rob, but the real Spiderman... unless Rob is keeping something from us). Mr. Jameson blames Spiderman for EVERYTHING that occurs, no matter how small or how big, all the meantime he unwittingly signs the guy's paycheques. You kinda stole the thunder here... just go check out Spiderman, that's about all the advice I can offer, my friend, but I hope you can at least begin to see the picture now.

BTW: Rob, how the hail do you swing around town with those webs? I mean, what do they stick to? I see the Empire State Buuilding go by about 40 times, and it is waaaaaaaaaaaay downl there.... The webs seem to stick to the clouds. Any explanation? We'll deal with the "50 story fall" later..."Oh my aching head!" :D ...

[Spiderman]

I don't get it either Commander.

The 60.000 super rich here who avoid tax would not get away with it to this degree any where else. Our laws on tax are a dodgers charter for the extremely well heeled. It may explain why so many rich foriegners love to claim British nationality and fight like cats and dogs (and bribe government officials) for a passport.

The normal people here pay vast amounts of their total wealth in tax. It is unavoidable for the vast majority. We also pay VAT (value added tax) of 17.5% on practically all goods we buy. The majarority of ordinairy people are well over taxed but I feel there is a need for taxation but a fairer system based on wealth.

edit:

Ah you got me there Commander hehe.

Clouds have electrostatic charges that are quite sticky. Also the air is lighter up there. That is why the air at the top is at the top. I thought everyone knew that :rolleyes:

[DC_Targa]

I am of the opinion that ALL tax systems need a reform. Having spent the last 3 evenings doing my Income Taxes, I am in a "seasonal" depression mood.

I take strong exception to loopholes in the tax codes that allow people to avoid paying their fair share. However, I also take strong exception to the "Robin Hood" taxation concepts.

I feel that every legal resident of a country is entitled to basic "free" government services, such as police and fire protection, basic health care, education and the like... up to a point. However, I also feel that people should have to pay for usage of "elective" services based on their usage.

Some people's thought processes regarding the usage of services defies all logic. They fully understand that when they take the family to Disneyland, they will have to pay for each family member. They recognize that the more kids they have, the more they will have to pay for water, electricity, food, etc. However, they think it is fair that the more kids they have (should I refer to them as consumers of additional goods and services?), the less taxes they should pay. You may have noticed that when I mentioned "free" government services, I included the phrase "up to a point". I did this because it does not seem fair to have a family with two kids paying more taxes as those with 10 kids.

I think governments need to have a basic fixed-rate income tax with NO LOOPHOLES. Basic commodities such as food, water, electricity, etc. should be tax free. However, most consumer goods should be taxed based on usage/value. Those items that bring with them documented additional costs to society (tobacco and alcohol come to mind) should be taxed at a rate proportional to the expenses they create.

I'm sure some share similar thoughts as myself. I am equally sure there are others that will not agree with the idea that those that use the most should pay the most.

My local bank is about to open, so it is time to end the rant and go there and draw out the many thousands of additional tax dollars I will have to pay the government in a few days.

BTW, I am planning on retiring in a couple of years, at an age well before I will be able to start to collect any of the thousands of dollars of Social Security I have paid into the system. I know this may result in a financial struggle in future years. However, at least I will have the satisfaction of knowing the government will not be excessively taxing the money I worked hard for.

DC_Targa

PS: Perhaps I could make a strong case with the government that I am hopelessly addicted to Porsche's and that the only cure for such a virulent sickness is for them to buy me a new GT2. If I am successful in that endeavor, would you all be willing to chip in so I can pay for the insurance?

[Spiderman]

Nice well thought out post Targa. Tax is such a taxing thing to even have to think about. Sort of like germs. Some we need and some we don't...

[Kemperz]

Colin Mochery A.K.A Captain Hair is from the show Who's Line Is It Anyway?? It's a comedy improv (spelling?) show. It's funny as hell, oh yeah and taxes SUCK!

[Myshkin]

Wow, I expected a fight from Rob after Targa's coments... what's going on here? Where am I? I am fairly certain that you aren't in favor of the no-loophole flat tax, are you Rob? Or are you just trying to throw us off? I would have put you in the progressive tax camp... oh yeah you seem to say that in your earlier post.

You all have a 17.5% VAT?!?!?! Holy crap, that's ridiculous... or does that include ALL taxes on items? For instance, are there also additional taxes on certain items, like "sin" taxes for cigarettes, booze and gas?

As would be expected, put me in Targa's camp on this one :) Too bad flat taxes are viewed as a loony idea by the mainstream...

[Spiderman]

Hehe. No I didn't agree with what he said I just thought he presented it well. You know me better than that. I have some heavier debates going on elsewhere so I thought I'd let that one rest. In fact I wish I hadn't started this one because it never really took off which is just as well.

The 17.5% is for all goods with the exception of childrens clothes and a few other things but I can't be sure exactly what. maybe it is just childrens clothes... VAT was around 2 or 3% before Thatcher raised it when she came to power. It instantly made her a hero with certain sections of society (the rich) who were instantly given huge tax cuts. Not that they pay taxes now anyway hehe. Businesses get the VAT back for any things they buy for business like machinery, cars etc but we never ever see a penny back. This is one reason our goods are so expensive compared to the US. For instance WindowsXP without the VAT is not much more than it is to buy in the US.

Not that I bought XP because I had it preinstalled when I bought this machine but quickly removed it and installed win98 firstly because it would not recognise my printer etc but also because they would not give me a copy of XP only some kind of ridiculous backup.

edit:
That pop up little box that pops up after you close the frameless mutha and says click here to close the frameless popup... Is that some kind of joke? Grrrr

[DC_Targa]

Hi all, Rob,Mysh and everyone...

My post was just some food for thought. Glad it didn't cause anyone to overdose on Viagra ;)

After 3 nights of WTF do I work because taxes = hell... I actually had a very good day.

Today, spent two hours at a luncheon with many of the "legends" of the aircraft industry. Everyone was retired, except for me. There must be a message there!

It is always educational to interface with those friends. If any of you ever fly commercial aircraft, you will have benefited from many of those "old crew".

I hope the "new crew" understands the definition of "continued safe flight and landing..."

DC_Targa