to think people who say 'i pay tax so i want something back' are duh brains?

[CerealOffender]

you are aware that tax is spent on schooling, nhs etc etc, so in fact you do get quite alot back?

and that tax is not a cashback purchase?

oh and the folk whinging on about their parents rolling around naked in a sea of 50 quid notes while their hard earned taxes fund their central heating can eff off too.

I have never objected to paying tax, nor has my husband. We have both been earning since we were 16/17.

What I did find really frustrating was when DH was made redundant (without redundancy pay) and there were no jobs in his field, nor was the job market particularly robust at the time, it was annoying to find out the amount of things we could not claim for, because of our lifestyle choices.

He did not qualify for free/cheap dental (both of us are private anyway, but not exactly anything we could afford at the time).

He qualified for six months worth of dole payments, and after that, nada, because I worked too many hours / have a private pension / earn over 16k.

I wasn't expecting the government to line our pavement with gold, but I had expected there to be a little bit of help when things were dire.

Fortunately we pay payment protection on our mortgage/loan so we were able to claim off our insurance policies to get some of those paid, which kept our head (just) above water until DH managed to secure a new job.

What is particularly more annoying, is that three of DH's friends are all on the dole/benefits/JSA etc, and have been for many years, and as their lifestyle decisions were different, they have been supported, when in a time of need we were not. That rubs a bit of salt in the wound tbh.

Of course it is reasonable to want something back. The fact that they want something back is the key to a good public service. Public services are only good if the rich and powerful use them because they DEMAND something back and they want it to be good. When those who are able to afford it, only because they are able to afford it, go private, public services become crap.

Of course, it is important to believe in the 'public good' to do such a thing. But policies contribute a lot. For instance, public transports in London are quite good because the vast majority of people use them. Many political decisions have led to that result.

I believe NHS and similar institutions are the one thing distinguishing Europe from the rest of the world. We should be very proud of it.

Also I think previously people have been happy to pay Tax/NI on the basis that there is a safety net system should they need it at any point - NHS, education, housing, pension . Now however things are changign so fast and we are constantly being told , for example, that with an aging population we won't have a meaningful state pension, so that sense of "investment" has largely disappeared in favour of a more selfish, inward looking attitude. It was the Tories under Margaret Thatcher who initiated the two tier society - private pensions, Right to Buy - and started to undermine the principles on which the Welfare State was based.

I pay fortunes in tax every year.
So does DH.
And so, yes, I demand something back. A lot actually.
I want free state schooling for all.
I want access to health care for all.
I want armed forces who are well paid, well supplied and well looked after when injured etc.

I could go on and on and on...

However, all these things must be paid for, so I get very very cross at waste, pointless job creation, abuse of the system etc.

And I accept entirely that given our family income, CB, is entirely inapporopriate.

An awful lot of things that people mention on here aren't actually funded from general taxation but from Council Tax. I get irritated when money gained from tax isn't fairly distributed and where people with some of the lowest incomes in the UK pay the highest bills for example and don't get the funding they need for education.