We are constantly amazed by the hypocrisy on tax by our 'masters' in Westminster.

Just look at these examples:

The tax rules for MPs

  1. Two-thirds of the Cabinet are being chauffeured around in "gas guzzlers" (on which they pay no tax) which the Government wants to tax off the road for the rest of us
  2. Ministers get their cars tax free because it is essential for their jobs
  3. MPs can furnish their homes on ‘expenses’
  4. MPs only have to provide receipts for expenses over £25 (previously £250).
  5. Westminster’s ‘lack of systems’ for record keeping mean that police cannot prosecute expense fiddling 
  6. MPs have preserved a 1/40ths final salary pension scheme for themselves paid for by the taxpayer. 
  7. MPs can claim up to 15 return journeys a year for spouses or children
  8. MPs can claim up to £400 a month on food without receipts 
  9. There are currently no rules to stop MPs employing their spouse or other relative and paying them using the staffing allowance of over £90,000 per year 
  10. The standard package available for MPs is three PCs, printers and scanners worth about £3,000
  11. MPs get up to £37,281 tax free even if they quit of their own accord.


The tax rules for us

  1. “it is right that if people choose to buy a more polluting car that they should pay more in the first year to reflect the environmental cost” – Chancellor Alistair Darling, Budget Speech 2008.
  2. We pay massive rates of tax (unrelated to the amount of our personal use) on company provided cars, even when our job relies on it
  3. We are required to prove that expenses have been incurred wholly and exclusively for our business.
  4. All records which are required to enable the company to make a correct and complete return must be kept. This specifically includes records of all receipts and expenses that arise in the course of the company’s business
  5. Your business has to keep ‘sufficient’ records to enable it to make a correct and complete Tax Return. ‘Sufficient’ records include details of all receipts and expenses incurred in the course of your company’s activities and of what they relate to. If your company does not keep records, the government can charge a penalty of up to £3,000
  6. Final salary pension schemes ‘will be history’ by 2012
  7. We can only claim travel expenses ‘wholly and exclusively’ for the purposes of our business.
  8. To qualify for a deduction food must be attributable to the business travel and are additional to any costs that the employee would incur if it were not for the business travel.
  9. The government’s consultation on ‘income shifting’ is trying to stop ordinary business people employing family members in a tax efficient way
  10. The home computers initiative, where employees were allowed subsidised computer equipment by their employer, was withdrawn by the government
  11. You get no tax free allowance if you retire or quit your job. If you are made redundant you can have up to £30,000 tax free