'Your country needs you'

[Snowy]

Swanny : care to have a go at the BBC calculator

Tax: Do you give more than you get?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13633966

I'll show you mine if you show me yours

I've done it - no real surpises for me. I might be out of the ordinary in this respect, but in general I'm quite comfortable with the way my taxes are spent although, like everyone else, I have my biases over how I would like to have them spent. I'm quite happy for it to be spent on all those things mentioned even if they don't affect me because that's the society that I prefer to live in.

The point that WB makes in that we have no choice over what our taxes are spent on is 100% correct on a day by day basis and frankly I can't see a real alternative as the whole of our society is managed and budgeted that way. This is not a matter of party politics - I see it as this is the way we, as a society, choose to operate. This is nothing new. If individuals don't want to live in that society then simply they should make the choice to leave it. Only society itself can change the way it operates, not an individual. As ever, in my humble opinion of course.....

[Swanny]

Society as we know it is about to collapse so none of the above really matters anyway
Keep doing just enough to give yourself a smug little feeling ;D

[Snowy]

Someone's been on an Advanced Trolling Course and picked up a few tips? ;D ;D

[Swanny]

Yea I would say that's you. :P

[wiltshire builders]

Yea I would say that's you. :P

TRANSLATION: "I know you are, you said you are, but what am I? :P "

There's nothing like a grown up debate.....and this certainly is nothing like it.

[redken1]

“If individuals don't want to live in that society then simply they should make the choice to leave it. Only society itself can change the way it operates, not an individual.”

Not so sure supporters of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela would agree with that point of view. Instead of simply leaving, an individual can choose to follow an alternative path and try to persuade other individuals that a fairer and more caring society is possible.

Who knows, if it was not for Gandhi, Indian society could still be under British rule and without Mandela’s decades of campaigning, the black inhabitants could still be living under a system of racial segregation in South Africa.


When we discuss ‘personal/individual responsibility’ and ‘life choices’ I think it is important to remember that not everyone is born (and lives their whole lives) without mental and/or physical disabilities and not everyone is presented with the same level of opportunities throughout their lives.
“Equality of opportunity” is simply a sound-bite often spouted by politicians and most certainly does not exist throughout every level of our society.

[Swanny]

Governments really don't like people trying to live outside of the system they've set up. I'd love to claim sovereignty but know how difficult that is.

[Swanny]

Swanny : care to have a go at the BBC calculator

Tax: Do you give more than you get?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13633966

I'll show you mine if you show me yours

Don't forget the government taxes you on everything you buy as well as income tax.

[redken1]

Governments really don't like people trying to live outside of the system they've set up. I'd love to claim sovereignty but know how difficult that is.

With respect Swanny, governments are made up of people. People control goverments. If we are allowing the 'tail to wag the dog' then that is a weakness in the people, not the government.

[Col]

Loving the action here..where's me popcorn smiley 8-)

regarding the waffle about flooding and having a house on a flood plain....

errrrrrrr I like Hunars signature sentence ;D ;D