Thursday, April 12, 2012

by george, he doesn’t get it…


We were having supper with our lovely friends Alan+Gareth earlier this evening and they both expressed surprise that I hadn’t commented (via blog or facebook or whatever) about the latest outpourings from our beloved Chancellor.
I hadn’t a clue what they were talking about (clearly, any such remarks had been made to coincide with our two-day trip to Stratford earlier in the week – at a time when I was out of the “news loop”!).
According to last Tuesday’s
Guardian (who were reporting what Mr Osborne had earlier told The Daily Telegraph!), it seems that Mr Osborne was "shocked" to discover that some of the wealthiest people in the country pay "virtually no" income tax. Amazingly, it seems that George pays absolutely no attention to the wealth(?) of comments and advice written on the subject over recent months (and, equally staggering, he certainly doesn’t read my blog either in which I’ve regularly made reference to tax avoidance over the past three years).
I can’t believe I’m writing this.
Where has the Chancellor been over the past few years?
Apparently, he told The Telegraph: "I was shocked to see that some of the very wealthiest people in the country have organised their tax affairs, and to be fair it's within the tax laws, so that they were regularly paying virtually no income tax. And I don't think that's right”.
You tell ‘em George!!
But, hang on, Mr Osborne is the Chancellor of the Exchequer isn’t he?
Isn’t he supposed to be ensuring that people pay the appropriate level of taxes?
Is it just me or do the Chancellor’s comments smack of a little insincerity?
I know I’ve been enjoying Shakespeare this week, but “the (Chancellor) doth protest too much, methinks” would seem an appropriate phrase.
Actually, perhaps Basil Fawlty would be closer to the mark: “Oh! Oh, I see!...It's my fault, is it?...Oh, of course, there I was thinking it was your fault… when all the time it was my fault! Oh, it's so obvious now, I've seen the light! Ah well, I must be punished then, mustn't I? (slaps his bottom) You're a naughty boy Fawlty, don't do it again!”
If only…

1 comment:

just Gai said...

Thanks Steve. It was worth waiting for!