Monday, 28 March 2011

Tax is for the little people

Its only fair to ask that the wealthiest people in UK pay their share of taxes.  Isn't it?  Nobody is asking for anything punitive - or at least not more punitive than the rest of us have to put up with. But how can Phillip Green be allowed to get away totally tax free with a UK income like his?  It is just not fair!

This picture is from the 26th March protest in London.  Does it remind you about the quotation from Cardinal Ratzinger that I posted a few days ago?


We seem to be left with a few options:
  • Do nothing at all and ask people why they think it is worth doing anything. i.e. Just give in!
  • Do something - like attending the protest as a lot of us did - i.e. Exercise our democratic right to protest!
  • Sympathise with those who are indulging in a campaign against the likes of Vodafone and Top Shop.  i.e. Conspire to commit a crime if only a thought-crime.
  • Take action with them because the first two items on this list clearly make too little difference.  i.e. Criminal activity albeit maybe for a just cause.

Now I personally feel my opinion to be right in the middle of this list, somewhere in between attending protests and supporting direct action.  I don't like the idea of criminal damage being caused but I do recognise that even 4 to 500,000 people parading through London can simply be ignored by our barely-elected government.  (It is still claimed by BBC to be only 'quarter of a million'.  I'm pretty sure that is an under-estimate.)

There was something just slightly satisfying, even to law-abiding professional me to see this mess on the windows of De Beers in Picadilly.  I have no idea of their tax status (although I think I could guess) but they are clearly associated with a certain part of our society.  I would like them to be made to feel the outrage that I am feeling now.



"23 of our ministers are millionaires" I read yesterday.  Snouts in the trough eh?  If we 'little people' don't start to make our voices heard more clearly they will continue to get off scot-free.

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