Pay slips

[sobrique]

I've just got my pay slip.
Never seems enough does it?

What I want to know though, is which sadistic bastard came up with the idea of cumulative 'year to date' figures on pay slips?

OK. The whole list your gross, then deductions, then what you _actually_ got is bad enough. I know technically, Tax, national insurance and pension contributions aren't _lost_ money, but they seem like it.

You get the 'this is how much you could have won' but actually, we'll be keeping 30% of that.

But no, the _really_ depressing part is the cumulative totals.
The cumulative 'deductions' - this is how much money you never had. That saddens me. I think of all those sad lonely pints of beer I never met, and never will.

And the cumulative 'pay year to date' It's a healthy number. Even given that it's only May. But I can't help looking at it and thinking: "I know as a student, I lived on about 3-4 thousand a year. And here is says, that over the last x months, I've had a notable amount more than that. Where the hell did it all go?"

And I sort of know. It's gone to various big black holes, not least of which is the car. But LARPs events, 'toys', books, beer are not insignificant fractions.

Then I think "ah, what the hell. I've enjoy my life, and being who I am. And it's nearly friday, so I can start putting a dent in my balance again."

Comments

[jorune.livejournal.com]

I like paying taxes. We don't pay enough money in taxes in this country, they should be higher. With more in the public purse we improve everyone and raise our collective game. Schools, hospitals, roads, streetlighting are all there thanks to taxation. Taxation is investment in your life and my life, creating a better future. I commend it to you.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Why not spend less on invading other countries under dubious pretexts instead of raising taxes?

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

I detest paying taxes.
I agree that they are a necessary cornerstone of society. I would prefer to suck up the rate of tax and have a good infrastructure than the converse.
I dislike however, seeing taxes vanish on spurious wars. On railway networks that still don't run on time.

I particularly dislike the intrinsic unfairness of the tax system. You know the whole 'tax brackets' thing. Earn twice as much as someone. Pay 4 times as much tax.

That makes no sense, except in a 'we don't like to see someone do well, so let's just drag them down' sort of way.

I reckon a tax system should be a flat rate of income, and none of these 'subsidaries' - lose council tax, car tax, NI etc. and instead pay the appropriate (if maybe higher) proportion of my income. And turn unemployment benefit into a conscription retainer so the state can require you to work for your hand outs if you're long term unemployed..

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Would you kill the basic allowance (effectively, the 0-rated bracket) too?

I don't find the brackets objectionable, personally - the few percent you'd have to add at the bottom to achieve a flat rate throughout will make a bigger relative difference to the quality of life of the lowest earners than the tens of percent extra do to the high earners. (Not all of those high earners might see it that way, but public policy should be based on the big picture, right?)

My income is comfortably above average so I think I can reasonably be said not to be trying to "drag down" people who're doing well.

[nuala.livejournal.com]

You've got to think more like a hedonist when it comes to money: "You can't take it with you when you die." Oh, and also, "I can sleep when I'm dead." With these 2 in your head, there will be fewer pints you've not met. Yeah yeah, responsibility, logic, yada yada. Pay yer bills then enjoy the rest, ok? That's all I'm tryin' to say here. ;o)

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

I do.
That's why I never have any ;p
I'm getting better though - rich man for 2 weeks, poor man for 2 rather than 1 vs 3.

[cerberic.livejournal.com]

Bah. You're lucky. "Kelly Services" (incompetence with a smile) have had 6 weeks to sort out the new pay system (we people of Brook Street were forced to either quit or transfer to Kelly Services - nice) but they still don't understand their own system well enough to calculate overtime pay correctly. Or, in fact, at all. They just ignore it. Or did, until all the temps got together and had a word with the site manager at Peugeot. He's loud when he shouts...