MSE News: 90% happy to deal in black economy

Paulgonnabedebtfree

RayWolfe wrote: »

.... and that has precisely what relevance to not paying tax whilst you are earning?

Nothing - but you seemed to accuse me of exaggeration so I responded.

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I have no qualms in avoiding tax on almost anything where it doesn't really matter and there is no long term relationship with the supplier for the incident where tax is avoided. I don't expect cabbies to declare all they get, nor window cleaners nor anyone else who works in a cash based position. If I could buy my fuel tax free I would and not bat an eyelid.

I do believe we have to pay some tax but I think some big decisions have screwed it up over the decades. Robber Brown stealing the dividend reclaims and virtually ending final salary pensions is the worst. His pension was not hampered ! Yet only now are we starting to see the repercussions of this, which were known back then, with millions being pushed into poverty in old age.

The 50% rate is just daft, the £130k limit on pension tax relief is abhorrent and the thought of reducing pension tax relief to the basic rate is just inequitable. Add on VAT rises to 17.5% over the last 30 years and the near certainty that 20% or more is on the cards and I feel that successive governments, though mostly Bliar and Broon, have engendered a society which views tax as far more than a necessary evil and now looks upon taxation as theft, not only theft of income but theft of a chance to be rewarded for hard work and particularly for working over and above the norm. Push CGT to 40% and that view will become more widespread.

So when opportunity presents itself to avoid taxation, few care whether it is legal or not, I suspect because they view it as morally acceptable and in the main, I tend to agree.

Soubrette

Paying cash on it's own is not illegal. It might encourage tax evasion but even if you prefer to pay cash, it does not necessarily mean you condone the black economy.

Sou