What ridiculous/unfair taxes are we currently paying?

[OllyOxenfree]

I'm doing a research paper on this and would like opinons other than mine.

I'll start us off:

Television Licence

[China Doll]

I agree.. devil to walk on in heels vibra.

I pay taxes which are then used to pay my wages...

[albaqwerty]

answered in a different topic
road tax

streets in my area have been tarmaced over the cobbles so when tarmac goes it's worse than potholes :(

[Lonnie]

I think we pay way to much Income Tax, but to go with China, I was in the Army before the forces paid income tax, and was there when we did, and I worked out, that every monthe, I paid myself a weeks wages.

[jake-the-peg]

Well if you want other opinions you have to balance opinions contrary to yours as well.

I don't think the TV licence is ridiculous

Unfair? hmm?

It is a (pretty much) flat rate charge which is slightly out of fashion now - more often charges involve some aspect either of ability to pay ( such as income tax ) or of usage ( such as VAT or petrol tax ).

Rather depends on what you think fair is. Is it unfair because everyone pays the same or is it fair for the same reason?

Anyway when I look at other television offerings around the world (and I've seen a fair few) and I look at the utter tat that is spewing from ITV these days I have to conclude that this really is the only way to keep up the standards of what is still an absolute flagship of British culture.

Sure Channel 4 has done some good stuff ( although it's done big brother too) but it's in financial dire straights)

Sky? Don't make me laugh! ( or should that be laff if it's Ross kemp with the boyz in Afghanistan?)

Anyway back to the point - what unfair taxes *aren't* we paying? Considering the rise in air traffic and the pollution from it - I note Air fuel is still exemt from duty.

Nobody likes paying taxes and everybody thinks they pay too much. However tax criticisms only make sense when presented in a way to show how the books would still balance if you changed them

[jackthehat]

I have always thought that the fault lies NOT in how much taxes we pay, or what they are, but in HOW they are spent. An issue that we have precious little direct dis/agreement............

[Whickerman]

Consider yourselves lucky.

Here in Ireland we pay licence fee too. But we also have to pay Sky if we want to watch the tv channels through any digital medium - there is no Freeview provider. Whilst you can watch through your aerial at the moment, it's due to switch to digital only soon.

As to taxes - we pay income tax, at 20 and 41%, and if you're unemployed you get the dole. But if you're not married you can't claim dole for your partner or tax free allowance for them if you're working and they're not; nor can they claim social welfare if you're working. With me so far?

We also pay PRSI. This in theory is to pay for health and social insurance. Only it doesn't, so we have a health levy on top of that that runs to 4% of all income, with no 'tax free allowances/credits' applying. And then the government has also added a 2% income levy on top, again with no TFA. At the last budget my income dropped by 7% as my mortgage interest relief was stopped too.

VAT is levelled at 21.5% as opposed to your current 15%.

We pay Vehicle Registration Tax - this adds literally thousands to the cost of every car and has been declared an illegal tax by the EU, not that there are any plans to change it.

Travel into and out of the country is taxed at ten euro a pop.

Road tax doesn't go to roads, it's used to fund the water system. Only now they want to add water rates too (I know you've had these for years)

Ah well.

[heathfield]

Of all the idiotic taxes Gordon Brown introduced as Chancellor, one of the daftest was £1.68 per ton on stone used for road repairs. Councils couldn't afford road repairs even before Bown made the situation worse.