Do you consider it a privelege to pay tax?

[hannahsaunt]

Discuss

Privilege? No, anyone can do it!

A necessity that I am happy to do? Yes.

State where you stand on the matter Hannah

With CD but no not happy to pay

I suppose it is a privilege to have a job in a stable economy, so from that point of view, perhaps it is.

in a way it is a priviledge.

to have a job that earns enough. to live in a society that redistributes income and that has a welfare state (just).

i believe in higher taxation in this country. but then i also believe in fairer wages.

I think that it's a privilege to live in a country where free education and health care are taken for granted and are not dependent on one's ability to pay for them.

So... all things considered, yes, I do consider it a privilege to pay tax, because otherwise we wouldn't have any of the above. And, moreover, I'd be happy to put my money where my mouth is and pay MORE income tax in order to fund health and education better.

Wet woolly liberal... that's me!

PS I am lucky enough to have a good job, so you could argue that I can afford the luxury of saying that. But I work in the public sector, so am hardly raking it in!

But I am a wet woolly

Whoops... I am a wet, woolly person who didn't preview that post!

I work for a charity, and I had someone the other day refuse to allow Gift Aid on his donation (where the charity can reclaim the tax) because he said "the money I pay in tax is already being used for good causes". I'd never thought about it in those terms before, and I did give me a fresh perspective.

I don't think our tax system is necessarily fair (pensioners council tax bills for example, 40% for everyone over £30,000, whether they're earning £31,000 or £310,000), but I would hate for the UK to have the feeling that they seem to have in the US that tax is there to be resented / avoided / abolished.

Actually, in the year I was at home when DD was small, I HATED not being able to tick the "I am a taxpayer" box on donation forms. It was like saying "I am a non-person" in some ways!!

Random wafflings there!

totally get your ramblings bramshott!

i would be more than happy to pay if my taxes were going into public sector services - greener transport, education and health, instead of 'defence' ie even more nuclear weapons and unjust wars.

It was something on thought for the day last week that prompted the question. Essentially if you are able to earn x amount then it's a right/responsibility/privelege to pay tax which goes towards benefitting wider society - a community engagement principle. Avoiding tax or shifting tax from income tax to tax payable on goods bought by the individual means more focus on the self than society - pay more tax on cigarettes because YOU will need the NHS, not pay tax towards the NHS because it's a community resource from which we all benefit directly or indirectly (by virtue of having a healthy population).

It just gave me pause for thought that actually being able to pay tax is a privelege from one perspective.

the problem is many of the people who should pay the highest taxes would rather pay an acccountant to dodge the tax for them.

I wouldn't use the word privilege.
definition of privilege - an advantage that only one person or group of people has, usually because of their position or because they are rich.

How is it an advantage?

I do however agree it is a duty to the common good. However I would prefer to see it utilised somewhat differently shall we say.

Message withdrawn

I like paying tax, obviously would be nice to have more money but I enjoy the thought that in a small way I am helping to keep the country running, treating the sick, and supporting deserving types unable to work (such as me, currently on maternity leave!)

And although I guess I am a woolly liberal we are pretty hard up at the moment so it's not that I have more money than I know what to do with iykwim.

Definitely not a privilege and whilst I love the fact that we havea free education and health service I REALLY resent the money-OUR MONEY-being spent in ways I would not choose eg war in Iraq.
I am not a woolly pacifist who never believes in war I just resent the 100s of millions of £ being spent there when it could have been channelled far more effectively into services in this country.
Being parochial I knwo but who in this country will benefit from the war in Iraq other than weapons manufacturers?

I think that priviledge is the wrong word. I think that I'm fortunate to be living in a place where I can pay something from my salary and get all those services delivered by someone else. You might argue that the services aren't always perfect but that's another argument. I can't imagine what it would be like to not have health care and education available...or even someone to take the rubbish away.

I do also support the idea of a "super tax" for those earning over say £50m a year....and closing the tax loopholes down.
Philip Green-boss of Bhs etc has everything in his wife's name,she lives in Switzerland and he here so he can avoid tax.
Now I know he employs x thousands of people etc etc but he also has the privilege of earning millions from this country and SHOULD pay tax like the rest of us.

Oooooh got me on a roll now