Comments on: Well now, that’s my ego polished good n’proper

By: Davinder Kohli

Davinder Kohli — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:36:11 +0000

Stephen: “Taxation seems immoral to me: theft by the state, it is”. Let us hope you will have you credit card handy in case you have an accident ona motorway and you need an ambulance, your house catches fire and you need the fir eservice, or your gte mugged and you nee the police, or some terroist comes to to your town and you need security service.

My be you want to read Adam Smith as he offers a very eloquent need for the state and taxation.

By: john miller

john miller — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:08:58 +0000

Haha, loved the Giles comment. Are you the cartoonist? I always get them mixed up, Mosque,Mosquito. Whatever…

By: john miller

john miller — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:55:42 +0000

“greater backing of tax evasion”. Umm, did you do that while I wasn’t looking?

We all support tax avoidance, because it means that both the State and we have to stick with the laws the State made. If you don’t support tax avoidance then you are supporting the State saying; “We don’t need laws, this is what we think now and therefore what you did last week is illegal and I arrest you in the name of the State”

Richie is obviously looking forward to the enactment of Murphy’s Law which says that he can fuck you over any time he likes.

But I think another Murphy might have already done that…

By: Ian Bennett

Ian Bennett — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:30:23 +0000

So, Giles, when you buy a toaster or a gallon of petrol, do you say to the seller, “I know that VAT is only 17.5%, but I feel like paying 20%”? I guess not; you only pay what the law says you have to pay.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:16:13 +0000

Taxation seems immoral to me: theft by the state, it is.

By: Giles

Giles — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:06:32 +0000

Sorry, I get the phrases mixed up. Avoid, evade, whatever …

But I am offered ways of avoiding tax all the time by my bankers, and turn them down, because though legal they seem to me immoral.

By: The Pedant-General

The Pedant-General — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:33:53 +0000

“and greater backing of tax evasion than I would support”

That’s utter bollocks almost to the point of slander.

I can’t think of any post of yours – and I’ve be reading this here intertubes of yours for getting on for 5 years – where you have ever intimated that tax evasion is not wholly illegal.

(It’s usually couched in terms that avoidance is in fact very specifically legal, but that’s not what he said)

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:40:11 +0000

Ritchie so reminds me of the German guard at Colditz, who said to the prisoners, ‘You think I know fuck nothing. You are wrong. I know fuck all.’

By: Giles

Giles — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:13:43 +0000

Of course, it could be that somewhere in the gian Richard versus Tim archives, there is some argument somewhere where he got you bang to rights. But that might well involve me losing my ability to ever read anything else, ever again …

I need to construct a “Worstall Being Wrong” post just to demonstrate my impeccable impartiality. Should be easy ….