General Chat

Ah, maybe

"every payment to any organisation is listed on that bill"

Hmm. So if a GLBT organization gets money, it is money for the gay rights cause.

If a religious group gets money, it couldn't possibly be to run a soup kitchen or drive cancer patients to hospital. It must be to promote the Christian cause. I guess.

I'm not getting this. People saying over and over that council tax is broken down, etc. etc.

So **what part of it** is "being appropriated for 'lesbian and gay rights'."??

Where does it say "lesbian and gay rights" on your council tax bill???? And what exactly do those taxespay for?

Hold on -- "your county's immigration policy's is much stricter than ours"

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2009/2009-02-20.asp

Canada, pop about 33 million
immigrants in 2008 - 247,202
(Also 193,061 temporary foreign workers)
I can't find good figures about emigration, but it is quite low.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_Kingdom_since_1922

UK population about 60 million
Immigrants in 2008: 590,000
427,000 people left the UK
Net migration: 163,000


So basically, Canada, with half the UK's population, took in way more immigrants than the UK.

How does that make our immigration policy much stricter than the UK's?

Joy i didn't see it...but this site says otherwise

http://www.go-self-sufficient.com/national.htm

What IS true perhaps is that Britain could not be self-sufficient in food if we all retained the life styles we now choose to live.

My council tax (local tax) bill is fully itemised and every payment to any organisation is listed on that bill.

I'll be completely truthful and say...and i'm not proud of this...I just clock the increase every year and tut..which IS disgraceful and I don't really take a lot of notice of where it goes to..but councils are held accountable for the money that they spend and it is listed and there for all to see every year when you get your council tax bill.

As Kitty has said...income tax and NI is taken directly out of wages so there's not the same opportunity to deduct like there is with council tax...unless you are self employed and pay your tax bill at the end of the tax year. xx

Rose i was watching a agricultura program on sky the other night
and they said we do not have enough arable land
to grow enough food in this country
as we have 1000 people per square mile

If you lived in the UK you would know that the full breakdown of expenditure for the previous fiscal year is fully detailed in the local County Council's annual report for that year, which usually accompanies the current year's demand, which in Wales, provides the anticipated department liabilities.

so who do you vote for janey if your governmentis so bad
or do you also waste your vote
by the way i dont read your views on your government
as an other countries politics are none of my business

also my dog has never been beaten
if he had he might not be
the bleddin nightmare he is now (naughty)

you do get to have an opinon hun, but dont be so agressive to people whos opinons are dfferent to yours, and dont go to the extreme of things, and twist peoples words, just coz there not of the same thinking as yours

xxxx

Joy i think you might not be accurate in saying that....it would depend on what you were prepared to go without. It would certainly change the agriculture / farming of this country and its eating habits...but i don't think in theory that it would be impossible by any means.

"My late sister was vehemently against any part of her council tax being appropriated for 'lesbian and gay rights'."

SC, I've asked and asked *what that means*, but you still haven't told me.

Oh, Stray, I don't get to have an opinion, I know, I'm a foreigner.

Just like all good English have no opinion about anything anywhere else in the world.

Muffy, I'm still not understanding how anyone can tell from a council tax bill what portion of it is going to support the cause of special rights for gay men and lesbians.

I mean, I'm actually quite sure than none of it is, but I'd still like somebody to explain it to me.

For national taxes, it's actually quite simple. If one doesn't want to do it one's self, I'm sure there are groups (there are here) who analyse the budget and make it easy to understand what percentage of the budget / your taxes is going to pay for what.

Joy, actually, Canada looks big on a map but the habitable / farmable area is really quite limited. Otherwise our population wouldn't be as small as it is.

And the fact that our population is 1/2 yours actually makes it *harder*, not easier, to absorb the same number of immigrants - because the public infrastructure (roads, schools, sewers) are set up for a certain population.

Why don't I kick off on my own country's government?

Maybe you'd like to rephrase that. Do I kick off on my own country's government?

Have you read any of my comments about my country's government? If you had, you wouldn't have asked that question. I can't answer that question any more than you can answer "have you stopped beating your dog?"

You don't beat my dog.
I don't *not* criticise my government.

I despise my government. I hate it with a white hot passion. I am following avidly as the tale of the Canadian military transferring prisoners to Afghan authorities who *tortured* them plays out, with the government still refusing to release information or answer questions.

I *want* our vile conduct in Afghanistan to be exposed. I *want* the world to see our vile, vicious right-wing government for what it is. I *want* all decent Canadians to be embarrassed by our government's conduct. I want everybody to see exactly what we get when we vote for scum like this.

I know that a whole of Canadians don't give a * about what happens to Afghan prisoners. But if the rest of the world voices its opinions about what we have done, a few Canadians might find that their smug self-satisfaction about what great "peacekeepers" we are isn't working any more, and might be unhappy enough about the international criticism to vote decently.

I can dream.

My government got fewer than 4 of 10 votes cast in the last election. But we will be judged internationally by what it does. You think I don't have opinions, and voice them, about people who voted for the Conservative Party in Canada? Ha. Wrong guess!

I receive my wages minus the tax and national insurance contribution I pay (another tax).

It would be impossible for me and the millions of others paid this way NOT to pay the full amount.

sheila if we didnt import food theres no way
we could grow enough to support this country population

If we're struggling to feed people already here, why do we waste about a third of our food? Our supermarkets groan with food, flown in from all over the world, so that we can eat strawberries in December - if we want to.

*THUD*

oooops Janey you have twisted my words:

My late sister was vehemently against any part of her council tax being appropriated for 'lesbian and gay rights'.

NOT

If someone is so very "moral" that they don't want their local taxes being used to provide a telephone helpline for people who suffer discrimination ... or violence ... because of their sexual orientation, etc.,

*tut, tut* made the wrong assumption there to try and score a point, Good try but sadly no cigar!! :-)))

janey unlike canada this is a small island
struggling to feed the people we aleady have here
why should we have more
your county's immigration policy's is much stricter than ours

so why dont you kick off on your own countries government

But national taxes aren't broken down into categories like local tax is...

The principal may be the same...but the ability to be able to deduct the amount isn't.

I personally don't have a problem with it.

I know of SO many people who don't pay their local taxes and get no more than a smack on the wrist.

Somebody reducing their local tax by a small amount but paying the remainder is fine by me...especially if they feel there is a principal at stake x

theres a difference to having an opinon and making people feel belittlled coz there is different to your,

so who will you be voting for int he genral election janey?????????

Muffy -- if someone can withhold local taxes for one reason, why should someone else not be able to withhold national taxes for another reason?

Surely the principle is the same.

If someone is so very "moral" that they don't want their local taxes being used to provide a telephone helpline for people who suffer discrimination ... or violence ... because of their sexual orientation, then I expect them to be really exercised about their national taxes being used to kill and maim children.