CORRUPT / INEFFICENT TAXATION THE POOR PAY THE REAL TAX-COSTS THE TAX-COLLECTORS AND THE RICH DO NOT PAY ------------------------------------ Tax Rates - quoted by politicians and civil servants - are always lies. Only they've made them `legal' lies. Ie. when a civil servant says - "You are _only_ paying 17.5% VAT because that is the rate we charge". Wrong! - That's a lie Studies immediately after the imposition of VAT, when it was set at a "low" rate around 8 - 10 %, found that the tax was costing consumers up to 40 - 42%. Because VAT is a very inefficient & corrupt tax. It costs every producer and retailer a great deal of time and effort which is not costed or acknowledged. But these costs are passed down (in harshest measure) to us poorer folk - and they impoverish our national life - check www.perceptions.couk.com/manip.html#adam VAT adds cost at each stage of manufacture / transaction. All these costs are ignored by the `civil servant' (see motives of 'tax-collector' in "manip" above). I estimate that VAT now adds up to 50 %- 60% to most manufactured items. That extra cost must be paid by small businesses and by ordinary people because ALL our incoming cash has to go to pay for necessities. So ALL our income is taxed again (after 'normal' taxes have been taken) by a FURTHER 50% - 60%. NOTE this is AFTER the middle-incomed and the poor pay - i) Income TAX - without fat `allowances' given to MPs (congress-men) and to the rich ii) TWO lots of 'National Insurance Tax' - NOT PAID by the rich or by MPs iii) Property / 'council' Taxes - imposed on the poor at rates which are 100%'s or even 1000%'s higher than on the very rich, who pay 1% (or less) from www.perceptions.couk.com/taxthree.html The very rich spend only a very small percentage of income on necessities, often less than 1 or 2 %, so their compulsory VAT costs are virtually zero. [Note: many of the very rich seem to be able to avoid or `reclaim' even those minor costs. A friend working in a well known store said: "You can spot the 'upper middle class': they always grab receipts - even other people's" ] RD (`Perceptions') CORRUPT / INEFFICENT TAXATION THE POOR PAY THE REAL TAX-COSTS THE TAX-COLLECTORS AND THE RICH DO NOT PAY ------------------------------------ Fuel Taxes - lied about even more than VAT. Firstly, they're regressive (unfair to the poor), since the increased cost of manufacture and transport affects all manufactured products (thereby increasing the VAT element) but are passed disproportionately onto lower paid folk who're forced to buy low-quality `cheap' (and over-priced) packaged products. The rich (and all national politicians) alone can afford to buy high-quality and in bulk - so avoiding most of the costs (packaging, advertizing, even transport), and hence most of the VAT and _all_ of the profiteering charges inflicted on poorer folk. The rich (and the politicians/senior civil-servants) long ago made sure we poorer folk have to pay for _their_ personal fuel & travel costs. Local and national politicos and bureaucrats have also rigged their 'mileage rates' to actually give them a profit, while the rich now claim all travel as 'business expenses'. All finally paid for by the middle-incomed and the poor: the real net-taxpayers. Fuel itself - today we heard a civil servant / politician saying that Britain's tax on petrol/gasolene was 65-75% - which is another LIE! The true tax cost is around 92%! That measly 65-75% or so was only the customs duty on the final product. ------------------------------------ By the way - Oil companies are also very happy with high fuel taxes - Why? 1 They get to keep huge amounts of tax in _their_ bank accounts - earning interest, before paying it into Gov't pockets. 2 They can increase their prices by 25% (giving them a secret profit) but the public perceives _only_ a 2% rise. Reason: only 8% of a gallon's price is for fuel, the rest is Customs duty, incremental VAT, payroll taxes, 2 x National Insurance taxes (taken from EMPLOYEES' wage packets), exploration and drilling taxes, corporation tax, etc., etc. CORRUPT / INEFFICENT TAXATION THE POOR PAY THE REAL TAX-COSTS THE TAX-COLLECTORS AND THE RICH DO NOT PAY ------------------------------------ Check the motives of a tax-collector - See Adam Smith's warning - at www.perceptions.couk.com/manip.html#adam "If allowed to, tax-collectors will impoverish the nation, to give advantage to the powerful and the rich" - and to profit the tax-collectors themselves. See www.perceptions.couk.com/lowages.txt www.perceptions.couk.com/reptiles.txt www.perceptions.couk.com/coverup.html www.perceptions.couk.com/tax.html and linked (banned) `tax series' --- A quick survey of criminals (pervs and frauds) in UK politics is at www.perceptions.couk.com/#uk-crims (Front Page) --------------------------------------------- FURTHER REFERENCES GO - "search perceptions" - in SEARCH-ENGINE file-ID www.perceptions.couk.com/fueltax.txt