Sir, Personal debt can be a most depressing situation and sometimes it can take character, hard work and sacrifice to survive.
Most of debt is accrued due to perceived needs, a desire to do something or get essential services without the necessary equivalent of income. However, there may be a statutory cause in the form of a responsibility to pay taxes but there is a safety net for those who struggle in the form of benefits towards amount due.
Should citizens decide not to pay their dues or taxes to the local community, they place an unfair burden upon their neighbours as they are the ones forced to fill the gap in resources and carry the extra burden.
The choice not to pay tax is, therefore, in my view, civil disobedience and contrary to the law and moral responsibility.
The so-called “poll” tax was forced upon the then government by Scots who were in fear of the imminent rate assessments and was a legal tax duly enforceable.
The thousands of non-payers includes those who could not pay and those who refused to pay.
I would not suggest returning to the days of weekly warrant sales for those from whom the debt could never be reclaimed, but for those who broke the law of the land there must remain some penalty.
Are we to assume this sudden debt relief for some is in response to the numbers registering to vote and confirming an address, or just a simple generous gift to supporters?
In any event it is a substantial sum of relief for the few.
In some places being in debt affects credit and seriously affects the ability to enjoy life.
Why should civil disobedience debtors be exonerated and not face any retribution?
Alan Bell. Roods, Kirriemuir.
More pressing matters . . . ?
Sir, We have a fifth of our population below the official poverty line. We have food banks feeding the hungry. We have a Westminster elite who force the people who can least afford it to bail out the bankers mess through severe austerity measures.
We also have the great threat of terrorism. We have racism raising its ugly head in our country again. We have half the world of Islam at war with itself. We have the increasing threat of conflict with Russia. We have world poverty.
Meanwhile, Jim Murphy, the Leader of the Scottish branch of the Labour Party, is focused on allowing football clubs to serve alcohol in their grounds
As a big football supporter myself I can tell him that the majority of supporters do not want it, nor need it.
The idea of a 15-minute, half-time rush for people to queue up, buy and drink a pint of beer is not anyone’s idea of a civilised drink.
Harry Key. 20 Mid Street, Largoward.
Be grateful for support, Jack
Sir, In your recent article, Vettriano defiant over critics’ snubs (Courier, February 17), artist Jack Vettriano says: “There are days when I think: ‘What is it they (critics) don’t like about me?’”
Come off it, Jack, you can’t be that nave. There are thousands of artists all over the country, both outside and inside the art establishment who are passionately painting what the critics consider to be the wrong kind of art, ie not challenging, not at the cutting edge of contemporary practice. These artists are completely ignored by the critics and their work sidelined, many of them eking out a bare existence selling the occasional painting to keep them just above the poverty line.
So, Jack, like myself, be grateful that you have such public support for your work.
It is interesting to note, however, that early on in your career long before you became a public figure your work was readily accepted for inclusion in The Royal Scottish Academy summer exhibition while at the same time many other young aspiring artists found that their work had been rejected.
Joe McIntyre. 5 Inverary Terrace, Dundee.
All above board in tax matters
Sir,I should like to make a few comments in response to the letter from J G Miller (February 18). I practised as a chartered accountant for many years, with a small portfolio of self-employed clients, mainly connected with the building trade, and small retail outlets.
I acted for them in accountancy and taxation matters. They trusted me to act on their behalf to ensure they paid the minimum amount of tax due. I used the tax laws to mitigate, by all legal ways, their liability to tax. There is nothing wrong with this. There is a lot wrong when the wealthy can, and do, manipulate the law to evade their obligations.
MPs use their wives as secretaries to claim extras into their households. If they earn their salary, all well and good. It must not be “something for nothing”.
Self-employed are entitled to pay their wives a salary for work carried out, also their children for any work they carry out. This is a means of putting a child’s pocket money through the books, and teaching them to work for a reward.
If the home is used as the base for the business and stocks of materials and transport are kept on the premises, there is no reason why some of the pet dogs’ upkeep should not be treated as that of a guard dog. It’s cheaper than theft and loss of tools.
The cash in hand society is not as evil as many portray. The amounts are often quite small and in many cases fall below the tax threshold, but the cash goes back into the system through the purchase of beer, cigarettes motor fuel and even child care. It is used in this country and not put away in hidden accounts.
How many of the millions of self-assessment returns filed are for NIL assessments? And yet fines are imposed if they are submitted late, and no action seems to be taken on the wealthy who evade millions in due taxes.
R Leslie Morris. Chartered Tax Advisor, Kenmore Street. Aberfeldy.
Is 40p a week too much?
Sir, I note that the latest complaint against Fife Council is the introduction of a payment for the administration of blue parking badges.
While I sympathise with any disabilities suffered by badge holders, these same people enjoy many benefits from being a badge holder.
They are given priority parking bays in local authority and private car parks, relaxation of parking restrictions and access to predominantly pedestrian areas.
With the ever increasing financial pressure being brought to bear on local authorities, is 40p per week too much to ask for these privileges? People must realise that we live in the real world and you get nothing for nothing.
Jack Harley. 9 Mackie Crescent, Markinch.
Contempt for electorate
Sir, Just when we all probably thought the Westminster Parliament couldn’t get any more unrepresentative of, and out of touch with, the people of the UK, along comes Inside the Commons on BBC2, to prove that it is even worse than we had thought.
Now we have those pillars of the parliamentary establishment, two politicians who have held some of the most powerful positions in the land, one Labour, one Conservative, caught with their noses in the trough, displaying their contempt for the electorate who pay their salaries and to whom they owe their positions.
Cash for influence; cash for questions; cash for honours; cash for access; expenses scandals; banking scandals; child abuse allegations; the Iraq War and the Chilcot report; relations with the Murdoch press; tax evasion; it just goes on and on.
Surely, even if you are not by inclination a nationalist, it is obvious that Scotland would be better served by an independent parliament in Edinburgh, elected by the Scottish people, accountable to the Scottish people, and free from the pervasive, and apparently ineradicable, sleaze of Westminster.
Les Mackay. 5 Carmichael Gardens, Dundee.