Strikes strikes strikes

Disenfranchisement and lack of trust in the government essentially then.

I pay rather a lot of tax and generally don't mind (I am in the wellfare state as a desirable political objective camp). But even so to see the utter waste and incompetency the government has exercised in spending the country's tax money makes me cringe a little harder when I see the deductions on my pay cheque. I live in an area that is not too far from some serious deprivation too, which makes me even more annoyed about it all. I am paying all this money so politicians can get a subsidised meal as they snooze through parliamentary sessions, or give their mates contracts for useless PPE, but the kids down the road from me are going to school hungry every day.

And strikes are meant to be disruptive. A sharp reminder of how things will be without basic public services.

I said it's been a steady growth over the past 20 years or so. I also said they don't have an accountant specifically to save money but because of the compliance/submission requirements. Others, maybe you, insinuated that it was the "well off" who used accountants to save money which isn't the case for my practice. Smaller clients are mainly motivated to have an accountant to avoid fines for not filing returns and accounts. That's been the case for 40 years. But over the past 20, more of them are now objecting to their tax bills and more motivated to reduce them. I hope that explains it!

Let's not forget that Liz Truss's tax cuts crashed the economy and made everyone poorer.

I don't think people will be as eager for tax cuts as they were, in the light of that impact.

I think people would be far happier to see a greater proportion of their taxes going to a strong local government rather than pissed up the wall centrally…
I don’t mind my local hospital and authority spending my hard earned money on the old and disabled and poor kids locally. It is about removal… not feeling part of the process. Not seeing where it goes. Not being able to look your local politician in the eye and believing them.

As a more general trend across the western world there has been increased sympathies with parties, ideas and people who would be classed as rightwing (Trump, Brexit, the increased support of rightwing parties in Germany, France, even in the traditionally socialist nordic countries).

Apparently, there's £46 billion in unpaid tax in the UK. If we tackled even a small proportion of this, then we could fund schools, hospitals and other services properly.

I'm a teacher and an NEU member, I'm on strike today. I do believe the strikes will go on until we get some kind of settlement- we're gaining momentum not losing it, and it's possible/probable we'll be joined by other education unions in the autumn.

It may not be a perfect deal, but it will have to be a lot better than the one we were offered before Easter for members to even consider accepting it. More people (and a higher percentage) voted to reject the deal than voted in the indicative ballot in autumn.

Education is in crisis, and more and more teachers are leaving. If the strikes don't work, in the next 5 years, I genuinely forsee major changes in education as we know it, because specialist teachers won't exist any more.

To me, it doesn't make any difference whether parents support us or not (although it does make me sad if parents don't care about the education of their children, just the next day's childcare). It's about the future of the children I teach, and I want to do as much as I can for them.

Yes, I agree with @Nordicrain I tend to get the impression that it's more about being disenfranchised as opposed to being unable to afford it. As you say, people wonder what their tax is being spent on, they don't agree with what it's spent on, they see others "taking" all the time whether it's benefits, free bus passes, winter fuel allowances, then of course the vast wastage in some areas of the public services. As we've seen in other threads on here in the past week or so, people seem to now have the wrong idea that they've "paid in" so they expect more out. The whole ethos of tax seems to have been lost over the past couple of decades.

You said, taxguru and I quote "I've never seen so many clients falling over themselves to cut their tax bills"

And now you're saying actually it's not an unusual amount.

In that case I was mistaken. And then yes, it's probably to do with the cost of living.

I do wonder with this apparent shift to the right

Have you seen the latest English polling data?

No, most of my clients are local people, pensioners, tradesmen, small shops, boarding houses, etc. I'm based in a village, not a city centre. For context, none of my clients earn over £150k, and only maybe 10% earn over the £50k higher rate threshold. The vast majority are basic rate taxpayers so wouldn't be regarded as "well off" at all. Most need an accountant to comply with the filing requirements re tax returns, company accounts, etc. rather than wanting an accountant to zeroise their tax bills, but they don't really seem to care about the compliance aspect anymore and more and more are wanting to reduce their tax, even those who can easily afford it.

As for the recent cost of living crisis, nothing has really changed in the last 20 years as far as client requirements go. It was around 20 years ago that I started seeing the trend for people tripping up over themselves to reduce their taxes and it's grown pretty evenly over the years since then, so certainly no sudden "blip" in the last year or two due to inflation, etc.

I do wonder with this apparent shift to the right that we have been seeing across Europe that people are just less willing to contribute? Or the disenfranchisement that people feel with regards to the political process. Everything is going to pot and people are wondering what exactly it is they are paying for. Either you need to believe in the concept of the welfare state as a principle or you need to feel it benefits you somehow and that either way there is value for money there. Otherwise you won't be happy - certianly if you don't trust the people you are effectively giving your money to.

Also, in times of scarce resource it's human nature to become more selfish. Easy to be generous when you have plenty, a lot harder when you yourself are struggling. So, to an extent, I do agree with you there.

I think the single biggest difference teachers and lecturers can make is to get their pupils to vote in the future, to plan ahead for the next election. And to care about politics. As long as the young don’t all vote, every party will keep trying to please the grey vote.
If we are trying to build a future for the young, the young need to be as involved as possible. On all levels by voting and going into politics.

Yes, I know, but the accountant was claiming that people were increasingly falling over themselves to reduce their tax burden. Perhaps because their costs have increased?

People who earn a lot of money have always tried to pay their way out of paying taxes. It's why tax lawyers are some of highest paid lawyers out there. Their job is literally to creatively find the loopholes in the tax rules faster than the tax authorities can close them.

The point is that people may be increasingly looking to cut their tax burden because their costs are increasing, not because there is a sudden lack of interest in paying taxes.

Sure, but everyone else pays their taxes.

This is exactly my feelings!!!!

I say that because I would be unhappy if I was my child’s maths teacher…. And I have taught maths. And I’m a music teacher. Contrary to what everybody says they don’t go hand in hand.

fund the pay increase and I’ll stop striking!!!!

And yet their costs may have increased, just like everyone else's.

People who go to accountants to reduce their tax bills tend to be well off.

I'm an accountant so my job involves a lot of tax and I've never seen so many clients falling over themselves to cut their tax bills

And despite being an accountant you didn't think that this could possibly be linked to the cost of living crisis?

One of the most memorable clients was actually a teacher, he was also the school's union rep so did very little actual teaching.

That's not how being a union rep in a school works, casting doubt on the rest of your anecdote.

A country that doesn't invest in its young people is screwed.

You want a Victorian society where the lucky few inherit, then vote Conservative. We are just ruled by older, greedy people who are less well motivated than their parents who, having been through a war and total poverty, voted for properly funded public services.

The boomer generation talk a good game but they are vastly more self interested than their own parents. They will argue about the value of teachers, when every other healthy society knows children need a good accessible and well funded education.