Diesel

It's Polling Day for London Mayor, London Assembly & MEP; 3 votes!

Whilst Labour have actually put more coppers on and improved the NHS (a bit), I feel a protest vote is in order due to the arrogant way they treat and ‘milk’ us minions – particularly us ‘criminal’ motorists. My main bugbears:

COUNCIL TAX – £2000 for a 2 1/2 bed semi is OUTRAGEOUS; particularly if you are a pensioner!

INHERITANCE TAX – they haven’t index linked it to property; you will have to sell any house you inherit to pay them the tax. OUTRAGEOUS!!!

STAMP DUTY – thresholds NOT raised in line with property price inflation. If you happen to want to move house for a job or get more space say 4 times in 25 years, well you better borrow the money to pay the stamp duty tax and be ready to pay them back over 25 years four times over. OUTRAGEOUS X 4!!!!

TAX ON FUEL – highest in the world and they are planning more soon.

TAX ON INSURANCE – just to encourage more people to insure their vehicles I guess!!! Insurance isn’t a LUXURY its an obligation to others!!!!!

CONSTANT MOTORIST PERSECUTION – need I say no more! It is a stealth and revenue POLICY to point the finger and fine us as often as possible for minor transgressions. Uninsured drink drivers are fine – as long as they don’t speed, feed the meter or put a wheel in the bus lane of course!!!

APPALLING PUBLIC TRANSPORT – 3d world standards; 1st world taxes. 4x4 mayhem at school times – why no buses for school-kids???

Have I missed anything other than the public’s total and criminal deception over Iraq? Ohh and then there’s our UTTER and embarrassing subservience to the worlds greatest and most hypocritical of self serving bullies – the USA...

D

Scooby96

The fuel thing gets my goat - equivalent tax is approx 80% and rising. and then to say the OPEC countries are at faukt and need to raise production.

Diesel

I know mate - I spent £300 last month on fuel; 6 tankfulls; why should it be such an expensive luxury to go visit your folks and catch up with some mates??? D

Ringpeas

I have never voted Labour, and I doubt I ever will.

Why would any sane person

Diesel

You might vote Labour if you weren't happy with your present country mate More chance of popping in for some benefits!!!!

Peanuts

iTrader: (15)

never voted socialist in my life.

oh hang on, labour are no longer socialist are they

at least under Maggie we knew we were getting fcuked over, labour are trying to stealth **** us and thats whats so frustrating.

never vote labour in my life, blair or that croney brown (whichever is going to be leader next week)

r32

Well some body must have voted for them....................


Watching the news last night, what a **** up with the postal voting.....
in some areas people have been forced to hand over their voting papers.

imlach

Diesel,

With respect, I suspect you are someone who would not be happy whatever party are in power Most of the taxes you mention were similar during the period when the Tories were last in power.

You are quoting a wide range of taxes which affect YOU. Taxes are part of life. They're never going to be popular with anyone.

For instance, yes stamp duty thresholds have not increased in line with inflation, but if they had, the chancellor may have decided to put CGT on the primary home.

It's all swings and roundabouts. In real terms, the money in your pocket ain't that different whatever party is in power.

Remember, fuel duty is more or less than the same as it was 4-5 years ago.

Obviously you have to vote for a change if you feel the current party are not doing what is best for you - that is your democratic right, but if, say, the Tories are back in power in 5 years, I suspect you'll come out with the same message in 5 years

SiPie

Well said Imlach

Can we close this thread now mods

tiggers

Seconded! Although it's interesting to debate a subject we've never touched on before

tiggers.

SiPie

PMSL @ Tiggers

gsm1

As much as I loathe Blair, was it not the Tories that introduced tax on house/car insurance, gas and electricity bills and also increased VAT when last in power?

Mungo

The biggest item of taxation that hasn't been index-linked for a very long time is the personal allowance - that has been eroding people's take-home pay for years now.

hedgehog

It was also the Tories who came up with the excellent idea of speed cameras to increase road safety, though Labour and their green nutter mates seem very keen on them.

Hampshire have doubled the number of cameras since 2001 and in the same period road fatalities in the county have risen from 69 to 104.

Don't forget to mention this to any representitives who might engage you in conversation at the polling station today.

To be honest I can't see a party worth voting for in this country, they are all basically politically correct reflections of each other.

Diesel

I guess what you are all saying is that multi party democracy doesnt really work and that I am just spouting again with little effect or purpose? Roll over; give up; quit the whining, right? Trouble is I'm starting to believe you by now! I never had it so good, right? No way are any older 'new' taxes going to be repealed by any new government, right? Taxes just keep going up and up...accept it as fact...after all I'm already borrowing money to enable me to pay the tax on my home...

HOWEVER you will not presume me so naively ineffective when you see me on top of Tower Bridge in a Spiderman costume STEALTHILY throwing barbed tiger tokens at passing MP's and other undesirables! Roll over and take it; hard on YOUR head for once!

D

imlach

Why are you having to borrow money to pay tax on your home?

I assume you inherited your home from someone? So it's an asset you didn't have before, right?

Diesel

Because I did not have the readies for the whole of the £12k or so stamp duty demanded, err, to hand, I had to borrow it ON TOP of the mortgage! The huge amount came as something of a SHOCK I can tell you!

My bricks and mortar savings & deposit went on the house ITSELF. Well that's how I look at it anyway - I was trying to spend my already taxed income on buying a home, not aquiring another tax bill! But then I gather I'm considered odd & rather unchartitable towards this/any government!

imlach

...well that was your fault for not understanding the stamp duty charge surely!

If you overspent on a house such that you could not afford the stamp duty, then whose fault is that? You must have paid £400k for your house, so I assume you're not unaware of stamp duty

Diesel

You suggest I should have got a smaller/cheaper house I guess so as to 'easily' afford the stamp duty direct out of my own pocket, without having to borrow it. Well the house IS small and cheap - for London at least!!! That's the rub, and I tell you what, the Scooby is NOT going without a garage so as I can feed a greedy government that is unwilling to fairly index link or band stamp duty. Rightly or wrongly I perceive it as unfair and excessive - they perceive it as a windfall...

Circles now...

ProperCharlie

sorry but £400k *isn't* small and cheap for london or anywhere else. you want to have a certain lifestyle - fine; but everything comes at a cost. personally, i feel a bit more sympathy for people earning £14k having the same personal allowance as someone who can afford a garage for their car.

damian666

ProperCharlie - Too true - my wife and I can't afford a 90k house, let alone a £400k one. Some people eh

plus

Voting locally based on national issues does noone any good. Vote for the policies that the local government will implement for gods sake! Voting Ken 'out' just because he is labour is childish at best, ignorant at worst.

Damian

ProperCharlie

yeah - i voted for Ken; not cos he's labour (in fact i preferred it when he was out of the PLP) but cos he seems to be the only one who's prepared to give new ideas a go. i didn't vote for any other labour candidates, and certainly won't in the general election, either.

mart360

lets see what the news says!!!!!


oh and in case you ask.....


tb didnt get my vote!!!!!!


mart

ProperCharlie

surprising, that, seeing as tb wasn't a candidate.

imlach

Indeed - as shown on this thread, people seem to be voting for issues that are nothing to do with local councils and/or european parliment.

Of course, this always happens in local elections - but I personally vote for the issues related to the election I'm voting on.

For instance, local elections. You're voting on local issues. These do not include issues such as income tax, fuel duty, stamp duty, inheritance tax, etc.

Local issues would include local congestion charging, local education, local environment issues, etc.

Many people also vote in local elections for a trusted councillor. After all, given local elections cover smaller wards, a local councillor is more likely to help you with local issues than your MP.

I've only been in my current area for 2 years, but the councillor has knocked on my door twice (not during election times), and has resolved 2 separate issues for me. He responds to my emails within 24 hours, and sends a personal letter with the response. He even came round a week later to my house to check I was happy.

Given that, I'd probably vote for him (no local elections this year in Scotland) so long as I also agree with the plans of his party locally.

Feel free to give the national party a bloody nose in local elections, but you're doing YOURSELF no favours. Local issues ARE very important, and you have more chance of changing them through local elections than changing national issues in national elections.

imlach

..and of course, you didn't make a huge profit on any previous property you sold before buying your latest £400k property?

If stamp duty bands were raised in line with inflation as you said, you may have been hit with 25% or 40% CGT on the profit you made on your last property (as that is what the chancellor may have decided is prudent to balance the books of increased stamp duty bands).

Anything above £30k profit would have been £12k of CGT if you're in the top tax bracket.

Which would you then rather have had?

Diesel

Guys to conclude that I am some rich kid cos I have a 2 1/2 bed £400k semi is quite absurd - I am struggling within the system like most of us [paying off the capital is even on hold at the mo'].

If you all keep accepting the status quo it just gets worse (as we are plainly seeing); you are OBLIGED to moan to any that listen, and the higher up the better!

Is Damian, struggling to get a £90k house, happy with doing without in order to pay Stamp Duty - the principle is the SAME whatever your salary? What about Damian's kid when he wants to buy a house and Stamp duty is, by then, at this rate, 50% of the cost of the house... Think further than moany old me

And Imlach, how dare you even mention CGT on primary residence - Brown might hear you and then I will have to stay put FOR LIFE, FOR CGT, FOR STAMP DUTY!!! I am a free man - only if I have deeper pockets!

imlach

Hehe, sadly he's been considering it already Doesn't need any help from me....