Dear Hamas. Your attempts to sell your softer, 'we're a legitimate ruling party' side are somewhat

[Berni]

undermined when you openly praise people who go on a stabbing rampage against innocent people in a synagogue.

Something for you to work on there. :thumbup:

[Pat Vegas]

or are they lurking?

[Berni]

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

[Brentwood]

[Berni]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/14/judge-h amas-measures-people-charter-governing-instrument (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/14/judge-hamas-measures-people-charter-governing-instrument)

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

[Berni]

Mansion Tax? It was really very funny.

http://www.itv.com/news/2014-11-18/myleene-klass-ed-miliband -mansion-tax/ (http://www.itv.com/news/2014-11-18/myleene-klass-ed-miliband-mansion-tax/)

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

Sadly, he thinks he can.

[Berni]

getting rather isolated here", to which she responds " Ed's getting isolated because nobody thinks it is going to work".

My esteem for the lady has gone skywards, I must say.

[Dorset Gooner]

Ed Miliband says he'll take on terrorists, two minutes later he loses an argument to Myleene Klass.

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

garage or something'. Things aren't that bad, surely?

[7evens]

Ed just had to take it. His spin entourage must have seen the perils of arguing against the pretty girl from the Littlewoods catalogue.
She was building up to unleashing the full Alanis Morrisette on his ass..

[7evens]

inheritance tax..
Like we're all going to somehow feel awful that Tarquin may have to have a few percentage points taken away from the millions aiming his way, when the old girl finally carks http://www.awimb.com/images/smiley_icons/ohwell.gif

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

That's up to you, of course, but many feel differently.

Inheritance tax isn't restricted to those named Tarquin, by the way. Nor should any tax be imposed on the basis of one's name. But perhaps you are being a class warrior? If so, I grew out of such arguments when I was about 15, so I'll leave you to it.

['Neg]

[Berni]

This is a deeply nasty, envy-based proposed tax that is quite deliberately misnamed as a 'mansion tax', when in fact it is likely to apply to 775,000 houses in this country, including pretty much anything costing over half a million. It is a tax that will be levied on an asset that - in itself - makes no income. It is a disgusting idea.

[7evens]

lottery.
Market forces and implementation make it almost impossible to legislate against but if you're asking me to have any emotional sympathy with someone who has the good fortune to benefit from being in the right place at the right time ?
It is what it is but I prefer to see wealth built up through endeavour.. :shrug:

[7evens]

[Berni]

liquidated or leveraged. So there is no actual income to tax, is there? It's just being stolen from the person's day to day income.

Essentially, it is taxing someone simply for owning a nicer house than you - nothing more than spite and envy.

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

Of course many of these people will have purchased a house by means of endeavour and financial prudence. I see no reason to punish them or their children.

[Snin]

for 70 years imo.. all as bad as each other ..f**k em tbh ..no loss to anyone ..any of them..either side now..all too f**ked in heads to be useful to humanity may as well bomb israel AND palestine off the map now imo..start again nice and fresh

[Berni]

variety of houses under a certain threshold rather smart imo. ;-)

[7evens]

I don't begrudge people their wealth but there is a difference in how I view their respective circumstances and any sympathy that I would extend to their taxable position.

[Pokster]

[7evens]

The notion of lots of little old ladies rattling about in ten million pound villas in Notting Hill is quite frankly, absurd.
What planet is she on :hehe:

[Berni]

b/ lottery winnings are pure luck, whereas property investment is just that - an informed investment based on the risk of losing out.
c/ people who buy expensive houses have to earn the money to do so - that usually takes considerable endeavour. Why punish them for those endeavours being successful?

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

Here's an idea. Once you've taken what you want from people who have more than you, how about we have a chat with villagers in Africa and distribute your wealth to them? How keen will you be on 'equitable distribution' then?

[Berni]

The value of such properties is simply going to plummet, while the demand for properties below the threshold is going to soar, which - inevitably - will force the price of those up, thus dragging more people into the taxable region and excluding yet more people from the property ladder as the mid-range housing stock gets bought up.

The whole idea is f**king retarded on a practical level - let alone a moral or financial one.

[7evens]

She was making a throw away point by suggesting that there were many people ( old ladies ) living in very expensive properties without the financial means to support their positions.
This may well be the case but let's at least get the facts.. Call me a cynic but I still to lean towards the notion that people who live in expensive properties tend to be amongst the wealthiest section of any community..

[Pokster]

[Berni]

[Berni]

[Pokster]

[Berni]

time and both parties walk away happy. But then that artist becomes world famous and the value of that painting goes absolutely mad. You are now sitting on an asset that you bought for a few hundred quid, but which you could now sell for hundreds of thousands - or even millions (at which point you'll pay CGT, of course).

However, you have no intention of selling that painting. You love it and want to look at it and look after it and pass it on to your children one day. The logic of the 'mansion tax' is that you should be punitively taxed simply for having dared to buy that painting many years ago and for the crime of continuing to own it.

So tell me this: how in God's name is that fair?

[7evens]

The chronic shortages of housing in the capital, isn't likely to precipitate in any type of property crash any time soon.
Prices are driven artifically high, due to the pull factor of London from overseas investors.
House prices are extremely unlikely to plummet but the counter argument being that they will continue to soar above their current ludicrous levels, which will benefit who exactly ?
This type of situation only serves to fuel the widening gap between rich and poor, which probably isn't in the longer term interest of any balanced society.

[Pokster]

and how being 1 pound over the band causes the whole lot to be taxed at the higher rate..

these 'mansions' will be taxed to the hilt when they are sold so why tax them before this.

Do you still have to pay the tax on inheritance before you are entitled to the money/house etc etc? This certainly used to be the case

[7evens]

[Berni]

value property. That will put downward pressure on the number of such properties available and consequent upward pressure on their value. Someone who might now be a second-time buyer will simply be priced out, have to stay put and therefore the housing stock for first-time buyers will be even further reduced and even more costly. It's simple economics.

I'm interested to know how excluding yet more people from the housing ladder will make for a fairer society.

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

When do the executions start?

[Berni]

suspect and therefore ripe for persecution, I would guess it won't be long. I confidently expect their 'Attractive Wife' and 'Nice Shoes' taxes next.

[7evens]

and any investment bonus is just that. It doesn't usually have much of a bearing on where they want to live, other than investors and landlords.
They'll shrug and moan and put up with it, because that's largely what people of middle class incomes do and governments know this too well. A factor that Labour are more than happy to exploit.

[7evens]

;-)

[Berni]

over a lifetime of work. Its value is often a way of saving up for one's old age as well as being a place to live. Labour want to steal those savings, essentially.

[7evens]

Just saying like :shrug:

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

[Berni]

[Berni]