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Am i the only person to pick up on Boris Johnson's speech at Conference yesterday. I think he made a very big insult to motorists of all kinds. He turned his attention to people calling the bankers in the city. He said ''people refere them as to lepers''. He then had the audacity to say amongst other things they are responsible for putting money in to build roads. Well as all backroomers are aware the British motorist in paying taxes in one form or another contribute £57 billion per year to the economy. Only £9 billion goes back into new building of roads. So it is the motorist who pays for the building of roads not the bankers. Have i missed something somwhere was i dreaming.
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May I suggest you grow a thicker skin and treat what politicians say : about cars, life, death and taxes : with the same contempt as I do.
Life's too short. And if you were really worried you could start with the current Government's policies on transport which appear incoherent.
Boris J was of course right. IIRC the finance sector paid approx 22% of all income tax in 2007-8 . And loads of Corporation Tax.
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I suspect that little of even that £9 billion goes directly into road construction, but is probably used as grants to Highway Authorities for maintenance work. The bankers profitably finance the PFI arrangements which manage to keep borrowing off the Treasury books but cost the taxpayer much more in the longer term.
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Road building comes out of general taxation and at it's height the City of London was responsible for 13% of all tax revenue collected by the treasury, so crediting them for their contribution can hardly be seen as a slight on us motorists.
If you want to find those you should check out some of the speeches of his predecessor.
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Boris loves bankers and hedge fund managers and all that class of person and is inclined to spout all sorts of figures about how much they contribute in taxation to the economy.
He seems to miss the obvious as Brentus points out: that roads are very likely paid for by car related taxation. And perhaps he's also forgotten just how deeply in debt the financial sector is to the rest of us in this country.
Edited by Optimist on 06/10/2009 at 12:12
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Dont reckon Boris misses anything, he is very clever and I think a good politician.
He recognises that you cant please all of the people all of the time so will speak to an audience rather than pander to the media.
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"He seems to miss the obvious as Brentus points out: that roads are very likely paid for by car related taxation"
Roads are paid from taxation, just like the NHS, defence etc. We don't have hypothecated taxes apart from the TV licence, and there's no linkage between £XXbn in RFL, petrol duty, VAT charged by garages etc and the amount spent on roads.
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will speak to an audience rather than pander to the media.
Does that include his cameo on Eastenders?
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We don't have hypothecated taxes >>
Quite. So it's illegitimate to suggest that tax paid by financial services builds roads any more than tax paid by you or me.
But we can all see that whenever we drive we pour money into the treasury far in excess of what is spent on road building and maintenance programmes.
So on balance, given how much we've put into the banks, it's more likely that motorists are paying for bankers than they're paying for roads, I'd have thought.
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I have the utmost respect for anyone who knows a bit of Latin, but aside from that, the man is most known for, yes you guessed it, putting his foot in his mouth - I think that is actually why he is Mayor frankly, as people trust that he is a real, imperfect person, not a shifty socialite like his predecessor - I saw the beginning of his speech which started with a very funny joke about his insults on various places in the UK. He knows.
I think its fair to say that most people contribute to tax collected, the real issue isnt who created it, but HOW it is being spent, surely?
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Boris loves bankers and hedge fund managers and all that class of person and is inclined to spout all sorts of figures about how much they contribute in taxation to the economy. He seems to miss the obvious as Brentus points out: that roads are very likely paid for by car related taxation. And perhaps he's also forgotten just how deeply in debt the financial sector is to the rest of us in this country.
The real curlprits behind the financial crisis weren't so much the banks who over lent and consumers who over borrowed but the people behind the lax policy that allowed them to do so. Take a bow Alan Greenspan and Gordon (end of boom and bust) Brown.
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The real curlprits behind the financial crisis weren't so much the banks who over lent and consumers who over borrowed but the people behind the lax policy that allowed them to do so>>
and Boris wants that lax policy to continue which is why he was in Brussels recently lobbying against plans to legislate for control of hedge funds.
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Hedge funds were very little to do with the problem. Brussels would like nothing better than to kill off the City in the hope the work decamps to Frankfurt and Paris.
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loves bankers and hedge fund managers >>
Don't worry, be happy, be optimistic. They are moving to Switzerland:
www.gratisguidance.co.uk/www/2009/09/uk-hedge-fund.../
" A stream of hedge-fund managers and other financial-services professionals are quitting the U.K., following plans to raise top personal tax rates to 51%.
Lawyers estimate hedge funds managing close to $15 billion have moved to Switzerland in the past year, with more possibly to come. David Butler, founder of professional-services firm Kinetic Partners, said his company had advised 23 hedge funds on leaving the U.K. in the 15 months to April. An additional 15 are close to quitting the U.K., he said. "
Rejoice, as Mrs. Thatcher said.
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Wave bye-bye to all the taxes they pay in this country.
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How do you know they pay tax here?
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Any individual living here, even if non-domicile, will pay tax everytime they buy just about anything or travel. High net-worth individuals tend to spend much more than most.
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Yes, but do the hedge funds allegedly based here pay tax on their profits?
That's the key question. What's the answer?
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Yes but do the hedge funds allegedly based here pay tax on their profits? That's the key question. What's the answer?
Life's too short to bother with this. Subscribe to 'the Economist' magazine and fill you head with facts rather than tabloid ya-boo nonsense.
And now, back to motoring......... :-)
Edited by nick on 06/10/2009 at 13:11
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He is a stupid fool that makes me want a north west Wales style parliment even more. It just shows why everything should not be run from London.
They need to keep people like in London. Of course I am reffering to his comment that London needs investment to help cities like Manchester and Leeds which just shows how out of touch he is.
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How do you know they pay tax here? >>
Why do you think they are leaving? Some business reading for you:
www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_38/b41470...m
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Wave bye-bye to all the taxes they pay in this country. >>
;-)
But then Optimist and others don't think those taxes matter, because Optimist et.al. think it is their own taxes which are funding the country's roads and deficit.
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Just because less money is spent on road building than motorists pay in taxation doesn't mean that motorists "pay" for the roads. Taxation isn't earmarked. You could just as illogically say that the old dog licence was used to pay for lamp post replacement, or entertainment licences used to buy NHS deaf aids.
Similarly in the good old days the Royal Navy floated on beer.
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Nick wants to go back to motoring now.
Fine. But let's try and get a bit of clarity on hedge funds.
tinyurl.com/cpwzbv
Link goes to an article on the G20 summit.
Telegraph's not a tabloid and not known for being particularly left-wing.
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''But let's try and get a bit of clarity on hedge funds''
Fine but not on a motoring forum.
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If BJ's lips are moving he'll be upsetting someone! It is the nature of the man!
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 06/10/2009 at 15:12
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If BJ's lips are moving he'll be upsetting someone! It is the nature of the man!
I like his sense of humour - started his speech with "It's wonderful to be here in Manchester - one of the few great British cities I have yet to insult". This is after entering to the Eastenders theme tune, a reference to his (thankfully brief) cameo on the programme last week.
Full speech if you're interested (I'm not): news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8290551.stm
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Politicians use often double-speak. On one level they give milk to the simple minds of the masses and on another level they give meat to the their own kind. On this higher level, he is giving a nod to N M Rothschild, the zionist banker who plans to privatise the UK roads in a £100Billion deal.
tinyurl.com/y8bs4za
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Never mind the insults: it's promises to stop limit speed cameras that count.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8292665.stm
Edited by madf on 06/10/2009 at 16:20
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its promises to limit speed cameras that count>>
Just a gimmick a vote catcher. Has anyone said '' they are going to remove the ones that are already in place''. The already existing cameras safety camera partnerships whatever you want to call them generating £billions of pound for the economy. Will never be removed. Come on think about it its another vote catcher for the gullible public.
{edited to reveal quoted post due to wrong quote symbols being used}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 06/10/2009 at 20:00
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You cannot escape the fact that the British motorist contributes heavily to the economy. Some £57 billion pound a year. This is a well published fact. Motormouth Mike Rutherford now Mr Money regulary comes up with the figures and needs commending for doing so. Yes i know Mike his chairman of the motorist association but he quotes correct facts. Boris does not. I also know that not all the £9 billion that is put back into building roads is probably not entirly used for road building. However i will stand by my comment its the motorist who through the taxes he pays contributes to the building of our roads and no way the bankers who Boris states. In fact when you look further into things we motorists contribute to a lot.
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