Tax riot in London, ?

The protest was supposed to be about spending cuts,

trouble makers hijacked the protest and started the violence

I don't think tax rates were any part of it

I don't believe anyone has a problem with the odd protest, it is what makes this country "Great". Folks can have their fair say on pretty much anything at all. However, hoodlums, people bent on rioting, causing damage to property and high jacking premises, can't actually be taken seriously.

The country is in deep financial trouble, surely anyone with half a brain must recognise that the past government spent, spent and spent again, this added with a global credit issue, has inevitable consequences and someone has to step in and sort out a way to get back on our feet. In the old days a mother would sit with the housekeeping and determine what money could be spent on and what would have to take be given up until the family could afford it again. Nobody likes the situation we are in, but we are in it and we need to get through it, tough decisions have had to be taken, in the best interests of the country and we need to accept these and do the best we can. Smashing up a property, causing mayhem while hidden behind a balaclava or a "hoodie", suggests people ashamed of their actions and not wanting to get caught, - how brave is that? - sheep not leaders, abusers of our society and probably non-contributors as well.

We have a war on, lets round these people up, get them into the forces, give them some leadership and discipline and see how they might behave if placed in a front line situation where there might be some response to their aggression, - I doubt if they'd be quite so bold then. Who knows - they might actually do some good and learn some respect.

People in paid employment have no choice but to pay taxes, it is deducted from their wages.

The rich employ tax lawyers to exploit loopholes in the law (which there are thousands) to ensure that they pay as little tax as possible. Most right wing people see this as a public duty, yet castigate and sneer at any poor person who might claim what is owed to them.

The rich would sooner pay more money to tax lawyers to minimise their taxes, then they would actually pay in tax. Phillip Green makes the vast majority of his wealth in this country, yet has his businesses registered with his wife who lives in a tax haven, thus avoiding £billions of tax he OWES to the UK.

The Tories see this as a good thing and support this, yet tell us we are broke as a country just so they can cut what little help the poor have been able achieve. The only people to benefit from this will be the already rich who will make more money and pay less tax on it. Oh and tax lawyers who will have more work to do.

Its no surprise that a few people get so angry with this situation that they take direct action against the property of the rich. Unfortunately they take the headlines away from the 1/2 million people marching yesterday who made the same point peacefully.

Generally governments in the UK can't tax the rich or the multinationals.. so they tax normal people who have no bargaining power.

Certain kinds of scum who although not rich themselves or majority shareholders of multinationals vote for a bunch of evil criminals called Tories. These voters do this is because they are self hating, mentally ill or misanthropic racist, illiterates who think that if they kneel like dogs before the criminal rich they might get some scraps from their table.. The Tories themselves want to destroy society and everything good in it to make themselves feel better. This is the essence of Conservatism. Any other suggestion is just a Tory lie.

David Cameron is a criminal Tory who recently appointed himself PM. He then proceeded on the basis of absolute fiction and lies to cut public spending and raise taxes. The handful of normal, right-minded people left in Britain were rightly indignant and have protested to some minor extent. The Tory liars are trying to suggest that this was a terrible outrage etc. although it is only to the peaceable and almost docile nature of the British that every Tory MP remains alive today.

Had this been any other country and any other group of people subjected to such sheer criminality.. there would have been public executions.

Those who went to London to protest against the cuts conducted themselves peacefully, and in a proper manner.

Those who did the rioting were anarchists who used the protest as an excuse to go on the rampage, the police should have given them a right pasting.

"So the tax system is benefiting the rich, because "normal" people have to pay high taxes and rich people not?"

Not quite, the problem with the tax system is that the rich can use loopholes to get out of paying certain taxes. This is known as tax avoidance, rather than tax evasion.

But the questions that need to be answered are:

How do we define "rich people"? Duncan Banatyne? A management accountant on £40k per year?

If we tax Duncan Banatyne to the hilt, then are we penalising entrepeneurs, the very people who are most likely to be employers and stimulate economic growth?

As for the management accountants, tax them to the hilt, and they might aswell not bother going through CIMA exams, which are notoriously hellish with low pass rates.

Back in the 1970's Dennis Healy brought in an 83% income tax rate, and 98% on investment income for the rich. It did nothing to help the lot of the poor, and Healy ended up going cap in hand to the IMF.

That is what set the scene for Thatchers cuts in the 1980's. As it turned out, Thatcher cut taxes for the rich, and got more revenue from them for doing it.

Obviously, the rich should pay their fair share, and they can afford to pay higher levels of tax than the rest of us. But we need to be cautious that we are not penalising people for doing well.

For the record, I am not rich. I am a skilled factory worker on £21k per year.

Some were doctors upset with the privatisation of the NHS,

Some were students who can no longer afford university or it’s just not viable anymore.

Some were pensioners upset at the level of healthcare,

Some were disabled people who no longer have the care that they need,

Some were unemployed people.

Some were policemen and women who’ve just lost their jobs,

Some were upset at the bombing of another country ( have you any idea what a 2,000lb bomb is like? ) for the purposes of controlling their oil reserves.

Some were angry at the way David Cameron has used yet another war agenda to manipulate the media of this country to deflect coverage from the cuts march,

Some were people who just don’t like David Cameron and his ilk,

Some were families about to be made homeless either though the housing benefit cap or upcoming rising interest rates,

Some were people who understand democracy and understands how this government is manipulating it,

etc,

etc,

etc.

For a huge variety of reasons people were marching against this government. That’s the important point.

Some people realise that ‘peaceful’ protest is a waste of time and always gets ignored and have decided that a more visual approach gets best results.

The families of a million people in Afghanistan and Iraq wish that a million people had rioted in 2003. Then our prime minister at the time Tory Bliar may have listened and a million lives may have been saved.

normal people have to pay high taxes and rich people not????

I assume you mean that normal people only pay 22.5% tax whereas rich people tend to pay 50% tax, if anything its the "normal" people who get off lightly....after all why should you pay 50% tax just because you had ambition and drive to suceed while some twit who earns £15,000 in McDonalds because they cant be bothered only has to pay 22.5%

it was mostly about cuts in the public sector, jobs being lost etc.

Some protestors were objecting to wealthy large businesses not paying the full amount of tax in the UK that they should

These people are protesting against government cuts, The majority of them are responsible people who wish to make their opinions felt. Unfortunately, as with all protests, it was hijacked by low life, workshy scroungers with extremeist views! These people have been primed and wound up beforehand. The only way to deal with them is C.S. gas, baton rounds and water cannon ! By the way, congratulations to Red Ed on his meandering tirade !

rioters are lowlife scum,, nothing to do with a protest,

did you see any riots from the Scottish fans in trafalgar square ?

those yobs had no intention in having a peaceful protest.