The Tories are cowardly scumbags

The landed gentry in Britain make up only 0.6% of the population yet own around 70% of the land and the vast great majority of these aristocrats are from the same families that owned the land in the 19th Century. . http://www.aristocracyuk.co.uk... For example, the Duke of Westminster is the wealthiest British-born person in the country and has assets worth ï¿½6,750 million ($10,571 million) – that's enough to pay for the milk that the viscous, grasping Tories wanted to snatch off the kids for the next 135 years! . http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk... Incidentally, the Duke of Westminster comes from a long line of tax-dodgers. When his father was prosecuted for tax evasion in the 1930's his defence was: "Every man is entitled if he can to order his affairs so as that the tax attaching under the appropriate Acts is less than it otherwise would be. If he succeeds in ordering them so as to secure this result, then, however unappreciative the Commissioners of Inland Revenue or his fellow taxpayers may be of his ingenuity, he cannot be compelled to pay an increased tax. " . http://en.wikiquote.org... All that money and he refused to pay his fair share of tax - or even apologise for not doing so – the dirty, cheating, over-privileged, Tory-supporting scumbag. But this attitude towards tax is common in the aristocracy and the Country Landowners Association, which represents their interests, even offers aristocrats free advice on how to minimise their tax exposure. . http://www.cla.org.uk... Indeed, reviewing the latest budget, they advised their members: "A consultation will take place over the next few months on whether the Inheritance Tax on trusts should be brought within the disclosure regime (ie, under which avoidance schemes have to be notified). You have been warned! " . http://www.cla.org.uk... 2 – Aristocratic Old Etonians are wealth creators. If you examine the list of today's notable Old Etonians you will discover that the list is overwhelmingly populated by Conservative politicians, royalty and also aristocrats who call hobbies their occupations: 'oarsman, equestrian, writer, actor, mountaineer, restaurant critic, etc. If these people weren't rich, their occupation would be described as 'unemployed'! . http://en.wikipedia.org... 3 – The burden of reducing the budget deficit. It is true that the Government needs to pay off the budget deficit, which currently stands at ï¿½155bn ($243bn). This can be done two ways: either collect all the taxes that are due by closing the tax loopholes that the rich exploit, or make savage cuts to the vital public services that the poorest and most disadvantaged members of society rely upon. Sadly, the spiteful, heartless Tories has chosen the latter option – even though collecting the ï¿½120bn ($188bn) that is owed in tax plus the ï¿½15bn ($23bn) in tax that the rich evade every year would mean the entire deficit could be paid off in less than 13 months. . http://www.socialistworker.co.uk... But the Tories hate taxing the rich – indeed their aim is to reduce the amount of tax wealthy people pay, not increase it. For example, when she was shadow leader of the House of Commons, Theresa May said: "I am happy to confirm that our inheritance tax proposal will introduce a threshold of ï¿½1m per person (not per couple). This means that it would be possible for a married couple to enjoy a threshold of ï¿½2m. " . http://www.telegraph.co.uk... This fabulous tax break would only benefit the richest 3,000 families in the country and would have to be paid for by taxing those on low and middle incomes - but of course making the rich even richer at the expense of the poor is one of the Conservatives core beliefs. My opponent then offered me a moral choice: "1: A cash strapped Government during a time of economic woe can continue to provide unnecessary services that could be provided by the people themselves through punitive measures against the rich. Ultimately leading to debt, job losses, more people on the dole, higher prices in the shops, the loss of investment, resulting in economic collapse, mass poverty and greek style rioting. Or, 2: A cash strapped Government during a time of economic woe can cut unneccesary services that could be provided by the people themselves and in doing so give the economy a chance to recover. " Very few public services are unnecessary if you have to rely upon them. Yes, you can reduce the numbers of police, doctors, teachers and other key workers as the Tories propose but if you become the victim of crime, or cannot get a hospital bed when you are injured or your children don't get a decent education, you might think that funding these services properly is necessary. Furthermore, it is not the funding of these services that causes unemployment and civil unrest as my opponent claims –it is the opposite. Indeed 725,000 public sector jobs will be axed under the Tories' plans to cut government spending and thousands have already taken to the streets in protest. . http://www.personneltoday.com... Finally my opponent repeated the Tory press' mantra of blaming the deficit on the previous Labour Government. I should remind him that the deficit was the result of the global, not British but global, economic crisis which was, in turn, caused by the greed and incompetence of investment bankers – very few of whom are Labour voters. In conclusion, the fair way to reduce the budget deficit is to spread the pain over society as a whole by cutting out any waste and excess in the public sector while gathering the taxes that the wealthy owe but currently aren't being collected. However collecting taxes from the rich is easier said than done you might say. Well, the Government could use private rating firms such as Experian to monitor wealthy people's spending and share the information with the Government so they could go after them. But surely this would amount to a gross infringement of civil liberties, you might say. Well, perhaps, but it is not my idea, it is the Tory Prime Minister, David Cameron's, except he's not going after wealthy tax evaders who can afford expensive lawyers and accountants, no, he's going after the poorest and most vulnerable people in society – those people claiming state benefits. . http://www.bbc.co.uk... This despicable, spiteful policy was just announced today and is a perfect illustration of why I was right to label the Tories cowardly scumbags. Thank you.