How is robbing the wealth of others to pay for lower paid people 'fair'?

chewmylegoff

people who earn more money will always pay more tax, because they can afford to. you can call it unfair, theft, whatever you want. you can suggest alternative systems which are hypothetically fairer if you want, but you know they're not going to be implemented.

accept your fate and worry about something else.

StevieJ

kennyboy66 wrote: »

Didn't GP's contracts used to include out of hours cover ?

Didn't they get a huge increase to their contract and managed to not cover out of hours ?

Oh well, as long as someone else is paying for it.

What did Joe Public gain from these contracts? from what I can see it was all one way.

beer_tins

The_White_Horse wrote: »

you need to stop thinking about it in terms of a percentage of your income and think of it as a citizen charge for living in the UK.

the Govt needs to add up all the money it needs (less borrowing etc) and then divide it by the adult population. that is the charge.

if tesco asked how much you earned and put up their prices accordingly that wouldn't be very fair would it????

why is it with tax? unless you think a minimum wage cleaner should pay a smaller amount for their loaf of bread than someone who earns more?

But the problem is that low earners can't give any more in tax. The government already gets all it can out of them. So all that is left is to take more from higher earners, otherwise there isn't enought to keep the country going. You may not think that's fair, but whatever way you look at it, the money simply isn't there for low earners to contribute more. Unless of course you increase minimum wage, benefits, pensions etc. and I don't suppose that's what you had in mind?

chewmylegoff

The_White_Horse wrote: »

if tesco asked how much you earned and put up their prices accordingly that wouldn't be very fair would it????

tescos already do this extensively see their premium ranges vs. their value ranges, where there is often no tangible difference except for the packaging.

stick it in a posh wrapper, rich folk will pay extra.

beer_tins

chewmylegoff wrote: »

people who earn more money will always pay more tax, because they can afford to. you can call it unfair, theft, whatever you want. you can suggest alternative systems which are hypothetically fairer if you want, but you know they're not going to be implemented.

accept your fate and worry about something else.

Indeed. The downtrodden rich will need to suffer on.

The_White_Horse

maybe we need to sort it out in other ways then to address the fairness - for example, if there is a shortage of space in your local school, the higher tax payer should get the space for their child, as they have paid more.

when I was at the hospital the other day, there were 6 people in front of me - (this was NHS, not private) and I doubt any of them paid any tax - most were immigrants and had probably only been here less than a year. Meanwhile I had to take the time off work to be there. Again, the higher tax payer should get a premium service - if it isn't a life of death matter - I am not suggesting that a high tax payer is seen with a cut finger before a lower tax paying car crash victim.

This would be fair - issue platinum, gold, silver and dirty brown credit cards based on tax payments and if you are platinum you go above all others.

this is a bit fairer.

Blacklight

chewmylegoff wrote: »

people who earn more money will always pay more tax, because they can afford to. you can call it unfair, theft, whatever you want. you can suggest alternative systems which are hypothetically fairer if you want, but you know they're not going to be implemented.

accept your fate and worry about something else.

They did try once and as I recall it was the lower paid that attacked the government halls with their skinny dogs when the poll tax was proposed, not the rich bankers in London.

I suppose there isn't really much we can do. The lower paid simply cannot afford to pay a flat rate of tax equal to the wealthy and therefore the higher paid people suffer more of a tax burden as a consequence.

Doesn't mean it's fair though.

beer_tins

The_White_Horse wrote: »

maybe we need to sort it out in other ways then to address the fairness - for example, if there is a shortage of space in your local school, the higher tax payer should get the space for their child, as they have paid more.

when I was at the hospital the other day, there were 6 people in front of me - (this was NHS, not private) and I doubt any of them paid any tax - most were immigrants and had probably only been here less than a year. Meanwhile I had to take the time off work to be there. Again, the higher tax payer should get a premium service - if it isn't a life of death matter - I am not suggesting that a high tax payer is seen with a cut finger before a lower tax paying car crash victim.

This would be fair - issue platinum, gold, silver and dirty brown credit cards based on tax payments and if you are platinum you go above all others.

this is a bit fairer.

I thought you were private.

The_White_Horse

beer_tins wrote: »

I thought you were private.

private doesn't cover everything - and sometimes you have to go nhs first before you can go private.

The_White_Horse

Blacklight wrote: »

They did try once and as I recall it was the lower paid that attacked the government halls with their skinny dogs when the poll tax was proposed, not the rich bankers in London.

I suppose there isn't really much we can do. The lower paid simply cannot afford to pay a flat rate of tax equal to the wealthy and therefore the higher paid people suffer more of a tax burden as a consequence.

Doesn't mean it's fair though.

The poll tax was the fairest tax ever - yet the scum revolted until it was changed.

I watched a documentary about the poll tax once and some old lefty said the following, and I quote:

"the Govt actually wanted all people to pay the same amount for the same service - how unfair is that?"

I think the answer is "not very" you stupid old lefty. it couldn't have been fairer. each person pays their share. the end.