Most weddings are gay occasions, until the uncles start fighting that is.Quote:
Originally Posted by islaydarkblue
Printable View
Most weddings are gay occasions, until the uncles start fighting that is.Quote:
Originally Posted by islaydarkblue
Nit picking here. I gave the reaso^n for the Community Charge being applied in Scotland first. The reason for its creation was a lot of unhappiness that a pensioner living in a nice house, which they bought because they could afford it at the time, could pay more in taxes than a family where 4 people were working and living in a more modest property. I have given an extreme example. There was a property revaluation in the pipeline which would have created more tax for people in bigger properties in fashionable areas. It seemed unfair that a household with 4 people and possibly quite a substantial combined income should pay a lot less than a thrifty pensioner whose property had increased so much because of inflation, and who might be on a very modest pension.Quote:
Originally Posted by islaydarkblue
The idea was that if you had an income you should pay something to the council to help pay for the services provided. That's why it was called a Community Charge. It was a silly idea and it was heavily criticised right from the start by everyone apart from the Scottish Conservatives.
New golf courses in Tayside/Fife?Quote:
Originally Posted by Returnofrros
How it works out for Britain is irrelevant to Scots, who should only care how it works out for Scotland e.g. NHS sell-off next couple of years, same with Scottish Water, are matters they should consider, not Cornish fishermen going out of business.Quote:
Originally Posted by BCram
You don't half come away with some ****e. If the tories hadn't messed about with safety regulations in the first place, or taken back-handers, Grenfell would never have happened. It's like someone punching you in the face then complaining you're not doing enough to clean up the blood.Quote:
Originally Posted by islaydarkblue
I remember at tha time, my friend in Manchester had a house similar to mine, his rates were £42/month and my rates were £96/m.Quote:
Originally Posted by BCram
When the poll tax was introduced, I was then paying £54 / month.
Many people lost their right to vote rather than pay towards their residence, when the poll tax started.
Had forgotten that additional twist. I thought that feature was actually which drove the left mad. Don't pay tax, don't get to vote. That was taking us right back to rich people rules etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by deecom
Poll tax was excellent apart from no 100% rebate.
Despite living in England I would have thought that the reason why the Community Charge was brought in to replace the flawed rates system had reached darkest England.Quote:
Originally Posted by Deeranged
In the early 1980’s there was a rates revaluation in Scotland which resulted in the rateable value of each property in Scotland increasing by a factor of 2.93.
This meant that the poundage charged should have fallen by the same 2.93 factor to ensure that the amount paid by each ratepayer remained the same.
However at the setting of the rates at the first financial year after the 2.93 times increase in rateable value unscrupulous local councils including the left wing Labour run Dundee City Council took the opportunity to increase the rates by an inflation busting increase to pay for all their pet projects including the twining with Nablus in Palestine. More free trips for Dundee City Councillors to Nablus paid for by the ratepayers in Dundee.
Scotland was the first country in the U.K. to have a rates revaluation. There was an outcry throughout Scotland about the underhand dealings by some Scottish local authorities to fleece property owners throughout Scotland by increasing the poundage paid and then blame the rates revaluation for the increase . However the ratepayers were not a gullable as these dozy Councillors thought they were.
For example if the rateable value increased by a factor of 3 then the poundage paid should have be one third of the previous amount charged. eg, the rateable value of a property was £200 and the poundage paid was 90p in the £. That means that the rates bill for that year would be 200 x 90p which equates to £180.
The rateable value increases by a factor of 3 to £600. The poundage paid reduces to one third of 90p in the £ to 30p in the £.
That means that the rates bill would be 600 x 30p which equates to £180.
However unscrupulous councils like Dundee City Council reduced the poundage from 90p in the £ to 40p in the £ resulting in a rates bill of £240 which was £60 more than the previous year and an increase of 33.3%.
People living in council houses also paid rates but it was included in the their weekly rent so it was not so obvious to council house tenants.
As a result something had to be done and the Community Charge was brought in where each adult living in a property was charged a set amount each year.
I was certainly a lot fairer as previously four adults all working and living in a house paid the same rates as a retired person living on their own in the same size of property. The rateable value system was a tax on trying to better yourself.
In April 1992 I was working on the Bank of Scotland mobile bank in Perthshire.Quote:
Originally Posted by deecom
On the Monday morning before the 1993 General Election we drew up at our stance in Stanley at 11am. John Swinney who was the red hot favourite for the Perth and East Perthshire seat was finishing being interviewed by Grampian TV. When his interview was over he came onto the mobile bank to ‘press the flesh’. He shook hands with the driver and then shook hands with me.
John Swinney then asked me if he could count on my vote.
I replied No.
John Swinney was taken aback. Nobody was allowed to say No to a prospective SNP MP.
He asked me why. I told him that I was a Conservative and Unionist voter and even if I had wanted to vote for him I could not because I lived in the Dundee West constituency.
I also told him that he would not get elected because he told his SNP supporters not to register for the Community Charge. As a result they were not on the electoral roll and they do not get a vote.
John Swinney did not win the seat and the political experts assumed that this was because of a surge in the Tory vote in Scotland resulting in John Major’s Conservative government remaining in power. I knew differently.
Sadly the following Monday morning John Swinney was nowhere to be seen when we drew up at the stance in Stanley. I was very disappointed as I was hoping that he might have been there to tell me that I was correct that he did not get elected.
These ‘missing’ SNP supporters were not on the voters roll until nearly one million people registered to be added to the electoral roll prior to the 2014 independence referendum.
These people should have paid back their Community Charge payments which they should have paid to their local authority and was basically theft. The local authorities still had these debts outstanding on their books but Alex Salmond after the 2014 independence referendum wrote off these debts using the money that the Scottish Government received from the Barnett Formula.