The overdraft is a little bit smaller for a while. So what? Spending pressure are not reduced and the economy is in free fall. Does this news vindicate the governments actions in office so far?

More like it vindicates Moira Stewart ('s personal service company), the increasing popularity of online filing vs paper filing, and the 31 Jan deadline.

Something new this year, which is more than a little bit cuntish, is they started to issue fines for late returns even where no tax is due. This changes the ethos of the penalty from one on late payment of tax (fair enough, you have to pay tax and pay it on time) to a fine simply for late submission of an administrative form (as though we all fucking work for them, now).

ED209 wrote:More like it vindicates Moira Stewart ('s personal service company), the increasing popularity of online filing vs paper filing, and the 31 Jan deadline.

Something new this year, which is more than a little bit cuntish, is they started to issue fines for late returns even where no tax is due. This changes the ethos of the penalty from one on late payment of tax (fair enough, you have to pay tax and pay it on time) to a fine simply for late submission of an administrative form (as though we all fucking work for them, now).

HMRC needs to know what tax is due in order to be able to chase it, even if you owe no tax.. if you don't get your form in they will have to chase you for it, assuming that you DO owe taxes. I don't really have a problem with this.

Most tax is deducted at source - without HMRC chasing anyone - but they can still request a form from anyone they like. I can't think of any other examples where you can be fined for failing to correspond with a govt dept on a timely basis, except where they have evidence sufficient to charge you for a crime (NIP for speeding offences, where the registered keeper is given X days to disclose the identity of the driver and even then the registered keeper is charged and fined for a separate 'failure to disclose' offence). Not even failing to fill in a census form on time attracts an automatic fine at the stroke of midnight on the date it is due.

I think I heard on radio 4 that HMRC issued 1 million such fines this year. It seems to me to be a small but significant change in the relationship between the state and the individual, and if labour had done it we would have seen endless tears of impotent rage against such a stalinist measure that is barely one step from the gulags, so I thought it was worth mentioning.

Certainly it is but a drop in the ocean of torydem cuntishness that can be found recorded throughout this thread.

chairman bill wrote:Worth reading the large print

Why exclude the context?

highest monthly surplus in four years

So it's the highest monthly surplus since before the recession. Great news.

ED209 wrote:I certainly hope that the proposed increase to the income tax personal allowance is not still being misrepresented as a tax cuts for the low-paid

I love how a tax cut for the low-paid is claimed, by you, to be "misrepresented" as a tax cut for the low-paid. Remarkable stuff.

ED209 wrote:seeing as how they do not benefit the lowest-paid one penny

So? I didn't say they benefit the lowest-paid.

What it does do, of course, is to make it more worthwhile for the lowest-paid to do more work.

ED209 wrote:and benefit higher earners by rather more.

No they don't.

mattwilson wrote:HMRC needs to know what tax is due in order to be able to chase it, even if you owe no tax.. if you don't get your form in they will have to chase you for it, assuming that you DO owe taxes. I don't really have a problem with this.

The only people who'll have a problem with it are those with an axe to grind. QED.

mrjonno wrote:Only on the right do people seriously think taxation rates have any signficant influence on how much people have in their pockets.

Having a job, have a payrise, inflation , house prices etc are far more important. I doubt if someone on the minimum wage really gives a shit what their tax rate it

I do.

Luckily I'm due a tax rebate due to not working a full year last year. The money I earned falls below the threshold for tax payments....It will be a lifeline.

Paul G wrote:Luckily I'm due a tax rebate due to not working a full year last year. The money I earned falls below the threshold for tax payments....It will be a lifeline.

Drinks are on you then

mattwilson wrote:

Paul G wrote:Luckily I'm due a tax rebate due to not working a full year last year. The money I earned falls below the threshold for tax payments....It will be a lifeline.

Drinks are on you then

You can have a Sprite.

Paul G wrote:

mattwilson wrote:

Paul G wrote:Luckily I'm due a tax rebate due to not working a full year last year. The money I earned falls below the threshold for tax payments....It will be a lifeline.

Drinks are on you then

You can have a Sprite.

I'd prefer orange cordial

See above.

Paul G wrote:See above.

I had a ribena

THWOTH wrote:http://www.rationalskepticism.org/news-politics/cameron-refuses-to-admit-he-s-wrong-t29612.html

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/tenancie ... 75.article

David Cameron has refused to correct his claim that private sector rents are falling despite research carried out by Inside Housing that proves the opposite is true.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/money/art ... ws-fall.do

Glimpses of a softening in the rental market were seen today, as average rents dropped for the second month in a row.

The typical monthly rent fell by 0.8% on a month earlier to £711 in December in England and Wales, according to the latest index from LSL Property Services, which owns chains Your Move and Reeds Rains.

Cherry pick your preferred source according to your political bias.

The Coalition's 'Family Champion' has stepped down from her government post and from here employment training firm A4e

BBC NEWS website wrote:Emma Harrison quits as chairman of A4e welfare-to-work firm

Emma Harrison has stepped down as chairman of her welfare-to-work firm A4e, she has said in a statement.

It comes a day after she quit her role as the government's "family champion" amid a police probe into irregularities at the Slough-based company. As part of its work, A4e handles millions of pounds worth of government contracts for welfare-to-work schemes.

[...]

On Wednesday it was revealed former workers at the company - two women, aged 28 and 49 and two men, aged 35 and 41 - were arrested last month on suspicion of fraud and bailed until mid-March.

A4e said the alleged case dated back to 2010 and had been uncovered by its own internal investigation.

There currently remains two police investigations into allegations of fraud linked to the company, although the latter probe is believed to involve a subcontractor...

Full article » »

Strontium Dog wrote:

THWOTH wrote:http://www.rationalskepticism.org/news-politics/cameron-refuses-to-admit-he-s-wrong-t29612.html

Cherry pick your preferred source according to your political bias.

I did nothing of the sort. I just linked to a thread concerning Cameron in the 'Coalition Watch' thread to cross-reference.

You actually argue with so few jobs around any money spent on trying to get people back into work that doesnt actually involve public infrastructure improvements is not cost effective

Mandatory un-paid work for benefits - so very liberal. Er, shome mishtake, shurely.

Workfare, a potentially good idea bastardised by the tories.

Problem? Most unemployed people have experience, there's too much competition for jobs. They don't need experience stacking shelves.

Problem? Free labour to large companies puts them at an unfair advantage over smaller competitors who could probably benefit from workfare.

Problem? Workfare is provided at taxpayer's expense and removes a real job that someone could be paid to do.

Problem? 8 weeks is excessive (and a proposed unlimited period for disabled people) and merely demonstrates how utterly bastardised the idea is.

Problem? It doesn't address anything. There are people with no work experience, but there's still not enough jobs to go round.

Paul G wrote:Workfare, a potentially good idea bastardised by the tories.

Problem? Most unemployed people have experience, there's too much competition for jobs. They don't need experience stacking shelves.

Problem? Free labour to large companies puts them at an unfair advantage over smaller competitors who could probably benefit from workfare.

Problem? Workfare is provided at taxpayer's expense and removes a real job that someone could be paid to do.

Problem? 8 weeks is excessive (and a proposed unlimited period for disabled people) and merely demonstrates how utterly bastardised the idea is.

Problem? It doesn't address anything. There are people with no work experience, but there's still not enough jobs to go round.

The killer problem that will probably finish it? A very real public backlash has developed against companies who use workfare trainees. Not being stupid,the companies involved are pulling out en-mass: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17163394

Burger King leaves work experience scheme for jobless

Burger King said it withdrew from the scheme following "recent concerns expressed by the public"

Fast-food chain Burger King has become the latest firm to pull out of the government's controversial work experience scheme for jobless people.

It said it had registered to take on youngsters at its Slough headquarters but withdrew due to "public concerns".

If the likes of Sainsburys, Tesco and Matalan are pulling out the scheme is in trouble, although it'll probably be sustainable outside of the retail sector where public opprobrium is less likely to impact profits.

Tortured_Genius wrote:If the likes of Sainsburys, Tesco and Matalan are pulling out the scheme is in trouble, although it'll probably be sustainable outside of the retail sector where public opprobrium is less likely to impact profits.

Maybe A4e could take them all on and make them work in a salt mine or something. Or come to think of it, take them on and give them nothing to do at all, just taking money from the govt for placing them 'in work experience' while paying them nothing