"Who on earth wants to pay as much tax as possible?"
Probably not the right time to mention that I personally make what would be on a global scale considered to be a lot of money. I went to a tax planning seminar once (it was at a business meeting I was attending anyway) and this chap was going through all the mechanisms available to save paying tax. I pointed out that I felt that paying my dues to society was what a true citizen should do; I thought I was going to be lynched as a pinko troublemaker!
A harsher analysis by some like minded colleagues determined that up to 50% most of us would be happy to pay up, but once more than half of what you work for goes to the state, most high earners begin to feel resentful.
The interesting thing is that at either end of the earnings spectrum the same argument ensues, which revolves around 'to each according to his need, from each according to his ability'. Many look at avoiders and evaders at the top and think they are sponging off society, many also look at 'benefit scroungers' and think the same thing.
There may therefore be people across the whole spectrum who take offence at people who have a sense of entitlement from society, without a sense of responsibility to look after it.
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da5id <YOUR SIG HERE>, Sat 21 Feb 2015, 12:12,
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"..without a sense of responsibility to look after it."
Is the gray area. I'm not particularly fond of the super rich moaning about their wealth because ultimately I find it pretty distasteful some people get distracted in their lives of luxory when so many humans around them find the entire experience a very hard slog.
It would be much easier if everything was laid open without holes for people to hide their trinkets and gold coins in, so we could either agree with it or disagree with our contributions for the welfare of the whole herd.
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Jahled Three shades of black, Sat 21 Feb 2015, 12:20,
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A sense of entitlement does seem pretty universal.
People don't get paid according to how useful their work is to society, and it's certainly not a meritocracy. However, few people would admit that they don't deserve all their stuff or that their work is ultimately selfish.
Presumably that mentality goes all the way to the top.
At least there can be some logic to taxation. There seems to be very little to wages.
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monkeon schmonkeon, Sat 21 Feb 2015, 12:55,
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On the contrary, there is a very simple logic to wages: charge what people will pay.
Unfortunately this only counts if someone else is paying you. If you are deciding for yourself what you should be paid, the sky is indeed no longer the limit.
Chief execs get together and form pay committees to decide what they are worth, then as another round of senior exec pay excess occurs, the rot spreads to the state sector where execs start talking about 'comparable salaries' and we end up with town council leaders, NHS managers, civil servants being paid the same as private sector chiefs.
The ultimate though are the people who literally print money. The banking sector no longer lends out what it has, it lends out for interest about 10 times or more than what it has - they are literally making money and paying each other ridiculous bonuses to lend the money out, then charging fees for arranging of lending out money they don't have in the first place, topped off by a bonus for thinking it all up.
I like to think I've worked hard for most of my life; 16 years of training, 120 hour regular working weeks with studying for exams on top, and now being paid pretty well. I still earn a fraction of what those cunts do though!
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da5id <YOUR SIG HERE>, Sat 21 Feb 2015, 13:19,
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Many of the folks who figure that "lending" stuff out are not bankers. They are mathmaticians, software engineers etc.
Where I work we have problems recruiting people because the banks offer to pay them a fortune. We simply can't compete.
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JamTallons, Sat 21 Feb 2015, 13:46,
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You think you've worked hard
My dad was down pit for 22 hours a day
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$imon $quibb ✅, Sat 21 Feb 2015, 14:26,
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Ah yes. And you lived in a shoebox in the middle of the motorway I presume?
I said that I worked hard, not my dad. My father was an engineer who worked on the shop floor at Leyland Truck and Bus, his father was a garage mechanic. On my mum's side mainly low rank soldiers and indeed a grandfather who spent many years down the pits in Nottighamshire!
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da5id <YOUR SIG HERE>, Sat 21 Feb 2015, 14:46,
Reply)