Render Unto Caesar

It seems The Government is set to perform a U-turn on the issue of the Pasty Tax. This will,  I suspect, bring joy to every Baker and Supermarket in the country; not to mention the whole of Cornwall. At least now we won’t have the Sons of Kernow marching on London demanding retribution. 

It was a stupid tax anyway, being levied on all hot foods – pasties, pies and sausage rolls – that were sold above a specific “ambient temperature.” What no one figured out was exactly how that would work, as the “ambient temperature,” would change not only on a day to day basis but as you moved from north to south or east to west, thus requiring shop workers to stand over their chicken and bacon pies with a thermometer every morning trying to decide if they needed to add VAT to it.

But this is not a post about the Pasty Tax – though I could do a whole post railing about the stupidity of it if I felt like it – but rather a post about taxes in general which I think is a far more interesting topic, at least to a certain degree of interesting.

Now nobody likes paying taxes and I guess I can understand why. That’s your money that the government is taking out of your pay cheque. Money you could use for something much more fun. Like a holiday to Bermuda. Besides you already have to pay all the household bills, so why should you lose any more? Like I say, I can understand that sentiment. Unfortunately, however, taxes are necessary.

The American Jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr once said that “taxes are the price we pay for a civilised society.” He was right. However much we gripe and complain, taxes are the price we pay for a civilised society. Taxes go towards keeping the armed forces well trained and equipped. Taxes go towards paying teachers to educate our children and towards paying the police to maintain law and order. And if you happen to be lucky enough to live in the United Kingdom then taxes go towards making sure you have access to free healthcare as and when you need it. Taxes, however annoying they are to pay, are the grease that keep the wheels of society turning. If it weren’t for them we would have to put things like schools and hospitals out to tender, and put them into the hands of private companies. That to my mind would not end well.

One thing that really exasperates me is the fact that no politician can get anywhere promoting higher taxes. To my mind this shows the ignorance of the majority of the electorate. When asked, voters say that they want more money invested in schools and hospitals and roads, but they then object to taxes being raised. Where do they think the government is going to get the money to do the things the electorate have asked them to do? Off  a magic money tree? I long for the day when a politician tells it like it is. You can either have good hospitals and high taxes, or low taxes and bad hospitals, but you cannot have both decent hospitals and low taxes. Not in this country anyway.

This is not to say I am necessarily in favour of high taxes. Only that I can see why some times they have to be implemented, and I wonder why everyone else can’t see it too.