egafd.com

Apparently, in a move that has shocked fellow aid agencies, Medicins Sans Frontieres in Germany and France has asked people to stop giving as it has enough to cover the cost of its operations at the moment.

For the likes of Oxfam, Save The Children, UNICEF et al, the funding needs to be long term.

I agree with you about the multi-nationals. I see that Gogs Brown, in the latest phase of his "I'm a good guy---better than Tone" campaign, has called for a freeze on debt repayments from countries affected by the disaster. I don't think politicians, or aid agencies to be honest, expected the huge response from the public.

who was it who said
'if God didn't exist then mankind would need to invent him'

as far as I can see all civilisations have worshipped some 'higher power', whether it be aborigine or aztec. Maybe it's a human trait. maybe there's something in it? who knows. The one thing i'm sure of is that we will never prove one way or another which is right, this is why religious argument is fundamentally pointless.

"There are probably loads of other stealth taxes I haven't even thought of..."

Indeed you are right. You forgot the nastiest one of all...Inheritance Tax! They keep this one very quiet as it's huge source of income for the treasury especially since property prices rose so dramatically in recent years pushing many more people's estate values into taxable territory.

The irony with all these taxes originally aimed to hit the wealthy is that it's only the wealthy who are aware of them and take measures to, legally, minimise their exposure to tax. With proper planning you can STILL pay just a token amount of tax (Except of course with VAT) but you'll pay good money for the proper advice and setting up trusts etc is costly. Meanwhile Joe Ordinary who knows fuck all about tax will end up paying an arm and a leg.

I'm sorry to hit you with the idea that you'll still be paying tax (At 40%!!) even when you're dead!

OK its 40% but above the threhold of ?263,000.

Mart

?263,000 in terms of an estate is fuck all and those cunts know it. These days very average houses are worth upwards of ?400,000 in many parts of the country, a house worth half a million quid is no longer the sole preserve of the rich. Let's be honest. Let's take the example of a married couple who've worked hard all their lives to own their own home, for argument's sake it's worth ?400,000 and they leave it to their kids in their will. The kids will have to pay tax at 40% on ?137,000 on the house alone and that is due IMMEADIATELY or they don't get the house. Unless they have ?137,000 in cash (Fuck all chance of that) to pay the tax man then the house has to go up for sale to pay the tax bill.

Even the meanest left-wing tossbag has got to agree that this grave robbery is totally wrong.

I think your maths is a bit 'Donald Duck' old boy, if you have to pay Inheritance Tax on ?137,000, the amount you have to pay IS NOT ?137,000 but ?54,800. 40%, not 100%

The more accurate the detail in one's rant, the more effective it is

Oh God you're bang on, sorry..... ranting and not paying enough attention to the maths. You get the point though!