People who pay the bloated financial services industry quite handsome sums to find loopholes and scams in order to avoid paying tax on ludicrous sums of money.

I don’t think our mate Chris is doing this; however, I do think he comes across as a smug bastard (no offence, like).

To a great many people, it comes as no surprise that the policies of this government – and indeed, the one that preceeded it – have benefitted the wealthy, ultimately at the expense of the poor.

Whilst Chris happily claims (presumably higher rate) tax relief on his pension contributions, the majority of us will be automatically enrolled in the frankly obscene ‘NEST’, which is a catastrophe waiting to happen. The recent announcement that contributions will suffer a 2% charge to pay for start-up costs just makes the whole thing laughable.

Add the ‘Stakeholder’ shambles and Brown’s dividend tax raid to the list and the only real winners are those claiming 40% (50% next year) relief on contributions – the very individuals with the least obvious need.

Any claims by any of the mainstream parties to be genuinely “redistributing wealth” are ridiculous.

Imagine that you a left-wing government and you think, in according with my left wing objectives, I wish to design a tax system to encourage certain things and penalise others. You then observe people being encouraged and penalised exactly as you intended, do you then think “oh no my left wing principles tell me these people are “taking the piss” and “not paying their way”?

You may not like the policy of trying to encourage people to save for their retirements, so perhaps your left wing government would not design the tax system accordingly, and you’d end tax relief on pension contributions, but you would presumably design it in some fashion. It’s just boiling insane to react to people using the tax system as intended (in the spirit of the design, not exploiting some convoluted legal nicety) as if its some sort of aberration.

I feel like I’m out on some sort of a limb here, but my feeling is the point of this post is to be found in the bit where it says “I say so for three reasons” and then gives three reasons.

Yes, exactly.

Still, the plan is working – Sunny will return to a hero’s welcome and much relief

Fuck, really?
Who’d a thunk it…

There was me thinking that the drop in CGT to 18% was specifically designed to benefit the working class…

Tax strategy is social engineering. It is clear that the major beneficiaries of the last 13 years of government (and before that, obv.) are wealthy, not poor. ‘Grats, Chris – well done. You made it out of the ghetto after all.

(‘Oxford’s a complete dump!’)

I put my meager savings into an ISA, which is tax free, and when I’m able to, I also plan to contribute to a pension. Does this mean I will not be “paying my way”?

It’s like that halfwit Murphy who seems to think that when the government introduces R&D tax credits to encourage R&D, that companies who do R&D and then claim the tax credits are avoiding tax.

I realise that… My point stands.

Dillow’s making the point that it is too easy!

Just because something’s legal doesn’t mean it’s right.

When Sunny’s away the mice do play!