Thought I'd start a new thread as this is going to be a major talking point this year...have not made up my mind yet...(unlike bucksfizz)....but thinking of voting for an exit as Europe is not doing Britain any good at all it seems....

And another thing you know little about Alf...Youth😀

cheeky boy ..... i/we have brought up 3 children who now range between 32 and 37, and there are also now 4 small grandchildren (too young to be relevant) :-)

Run out of steam after three did you cynic or was there no lead left in the pencil? :-)

vasectomy! ..... easy choice and painless and quick

Rather you than me, was that before or after the children were born?

hahaha!
what is it about men that they are terrified of a vasectomy, which is a 5 minute job and can actually be done under local anaesthetic, but would happily allow the infliction of major surgery of a hysterectomy on their wives?

Keeping everything up and running allows one to spread their investments world wide, a sprog here a sprog there cynic. Sow bountifully and reap bountifull rewards.

Is that not why so many want to stay in the EEC?

i'll avoid being what would be interpreted as being racist :-)

a pc answer might be that we felt 3 children were plenty and we could afford to pay for their education and other needs rather than leaching from the welfare system

Hopefully you pay your fair share and more into the system cynic, so to support the folks you call leaches, because they might be born to parents that have for example been ravaged by the system and the bankers that want their weight in blood.

I know a fish and chip shop owner that calls his customers peasants but as I remind him, its those peasants that have made him reasonably wealthy. Do not most of the top 5% live off the labours of the other 95%? So why begrudge a few living like the top 5% without having to do a real days work?

of course i do, and nor do i have any offshore accounts or similar

however, there is such a thing as "irresponsible parenthood" ....... that is to say, there is surely a responsibility not to bring more children into the world than you can afford to keep

and yes, i do resent paying for those who just work the system as opposed to being hit by circumstance

Oh you are still with us then CT, well in that case just answer post 9756 properly before any other will you?

When you say aford to keep cynic - do you mean to food/clothes etc or to provide education?

Eductaion can be a sore subject to some, how many well educated folks are sleeping rough these days - has their education done them any good - does it guarantee a better life?

On the other hand you get a smart young upstart that has a poor education but is educated in the ways of a gambler that rakes in a fortune, and attracts partners like flys, living life as it comes - seeing the world and loving life.

I left school on my 15th Birthday - never worked for anyone but worked so I could buy Freedom - Freedom to travel where (where other counties will allow me that is) and when I want. I cannot buy good health but to be able to buy freedom and it is a wonderful feeling.

The sooner the UK is free of the EEC the better for those that seek the right to choose their own path.

Oh give over CT, you sound like Ken Livingstone. What is a "fair share" and a real days work? Define them. Living off the labours of the 95% ... struth. Nothing to do with investment, risk taking, entrepreneurship, management, scientific, artistic, sporting or technical skills etc then.
The top 1%, those earning more than £165k before tax, already contribute 27% of all income tax, up from 11% in the seventies, while the top 10%, pay almost 60% of all income tax collected. Do you want them to pay more and to drive them away?
Mike Ashley is worth more than 3 billion, they say. Is he living off his workers or are they living off him? Maybe they both benefit, his wealth largely being dependent upon keeping the business attractive and profitable. If you invest in his companies do you complain when the share price goes up and he is worth more on paper? The same can be said of Dyson and many other companies that started off private and went public. Without such people where would we be?

Dindinho - I never said there was anything wrong about all top 5% - all I suggested to cynic was that he should not begrudge those that choose to milk the system and not work.

As for those who`s income is more than £165k pa I bet they do not really pay 27% as a huge number of them do not declare there true income as they filter it in a various ways, including offshore trusts etc.

If the truth were known I bet the rich pay little more than 5% tax, and as for VAT - it is the everyday worker that pays the most as the rich claim it back one way or another.

If you want to know how to pay less tax legally - get good advice.

"Eductaion can be a sore subject to some"

Clearly.

China re-education school seems to be one of those very sore subjects CNG to some.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/China_hidden_camps

Are Europeans more safe than Chinese citizens in their respective countries?

Is not the Euopean Parliament just as bureaucratic and only a few steps away from that of the Politburo?

food and clothes in particular
education is provided by the system

9782 - i wish i only paid 5% or even just 27% tax ...... leaving aside pensions, whose limits are already quite restricted, it is nothing like as easy as you might think to avoid tax, and certainly not to the degree you imply

cynic - bar VAT - it is very easy to pay very little by way of income tax, I can assure you, when you earn considerable sums cynic.

Just go and set up a company in the Channel Islands, and pay Zero tax on the income/profits.

so you really think it that easy do you?
well either you have done or, much more likely, you don't know what you're talking about

even if you go through that long rigmarole and worse and actually succeed, any money brought back to uk is most assuredly taxed