I did my taxes online today.
It's been a good year, and I paid a lot of tax. The past few years I've always got a nice little refund that I used for various things like paying down debt, credit cards, a ticket somewhere, etc.
This year I finished the return and waited with anticipation, silly numbers swirling around my head, for the automated total to pop up........I OWE £2.01!!!
I know so many people who cheat on their taxes. I'm not about to start a diatribe here, its just being finally debt free after my divorce, and never missing a support payment, and looking at how much I paid in tax last year, I just think that things could be a little more equitable.
The UK is a "Live off the State" kind of place. The people living next door to me pay no rent, drive a BMW, work under the table, and collect unemployment. They also fight constantly and throw dishes against the walls keeping me up. (nothing to do with taxes or working, but I thought I'd throw that in)
I believe that society needs to support people who can't support themselves, but it gets out of hand here.
I believe in free healthcare, but the system in the UK has had billions of £'s thrown at it (doctors in the UK are the 2nd highest paid in the world), and there are still waiting lists.
Petrol is £1 liter. At current exchange rates that's $9 a gallon!- 90% of that is tax.- (so stop bitching in the US!)
Sales tax is 17.5%
I pay £180 a year to tax my car.
I pay £110 a month in council tax.That's like property tax but I don't own my property.
The list goes on and on.
I do believe that the more you make, the more you should pay but we are approaching a point where things are getting out of hand. When I combine income tax and national insurance, I'm paying more than 50%.
I was out of work for a time and could have claimed off the state but I personally couldn't bring myself to do that. I had savings and lived off that. I know people who collect benefit, work freelance for cash, and pay no tax. You couldn't prosecute everyone who does it, the courts would be overwhelmed. There is a problem of attitude that needs to change.
I am not my brother's keeper.
I will continue to pay (lefty that I am), but just wish the system engendered some sort of sense of responsibility rather than entitlement.
Whine session over.
Hope all are happy and healthy.
1 comment:
I am with you on this one. I paid my taxes last month; I only worked a few months of last year, but I still owed $1,300 to the IRS, and the State of California is getting its share too, which is even higher than what I paid the IRS.
Car Registration? $280.00
Gas? $3.49 US gallon, about $1.16 per liter
Plus a few other fees we have to pay if we want/need to go to the East Bay. Toll to cross the Oakland Bay Bridge $3.00
Need to go to Sausalito, San Rafael, Tiburon, Marin County?
Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge back to San Fran? $5.00
Sales tax is lower than what you guys pay in England.
I do not mind paying my taxes, but I also feel that people abuse the system here a lot too. Some people who have never worked in their lives, and society has to support them. I am glad there is help for those who need it, WHO NEED IT...
I have been here for almost nine years, paying taxes all along; paying fees for this or that, being a good resident, but if I ever NEED to apply for any free health care or any of those benefits people have here, I can't. No, I can't!
Why?
Because the Gorvenment will consider me a burden to society, and citizenship will be denied.
And I still don't mind paying taxes, and giving a little to support those who have less, but I get a little mad when I read all the nasty things people write about immigrants in the USA. I have always being legally here, and I have not had the right for anything, besides being able to work and travel freely... I however have the same obligations as any citizen has. But this will be another topic, an immigration debate of which I am already tired of...
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