Splendid Isolation

Category: Taxes and Theft

Reverse Jesus

Food & Drink, Gummint, Taxes and Theft

The Hollies once released a song called “King Midas In Reverse”, in which the hapless subject of the work was afflicted with the curse that unlike the mythical Midas (who turned everything he touched into gold), everything this guy touched turned to dust.  (Compare and contrast this with, say, a Socialist politician, where everything he touches turns to shit.)

Anyway, the title of this post is not intended to be irreligious, of course, but as we all know, Christ is supposed to have turned water into wine at a marriage feast in Cana, Galilee.

It seems as though a brewer is intent on turning their own beer into water:

Beer drinkers are furious after pub favourite Grolsch decided to slash its alcohol content.

The Dutch Pilsner has dropped from 4% alcohol by volume (ABV) to 3.4% leaving fans of the beer disgruntled.

Before it was relaunched by the UK by brewer Asahi in 2020 the beer was sold at 5% ABV and has now seen a further reduction in alcohol content.

Back when I used to drink a lot of beer, Grolsch was one of my favorites, with that porcelain-topped cap a lovely touch of class.  It tasted just plain wonderful, and to be frank, if I wasn’t planning on drinking heroically (Castle Lager in South Africa, Wadworths 6X in Britishland, Henry Weinhard Dark in Murka), I really didn’t mind paying the premium price for Grolsch.

But why would the brewers of Grolsch decide to water down their beer?  Ah well, if this was not initiated by the Stupids in The Marketing Department, of course one would suspect the dirty little fingers of Gummint poking into our various orifices.

And that suspicion would be correct.

New legislation introduced last year means drinks are taxed based on their alcoholic strength.

Since the alcohol duty regime came into effect in August and brewers have been reducing alcohol content, while keeping prices the same.

While the reductions may appear small, they generate a tax saving of 2p to 3p on every bottle. [none of which has been passed on to the consumer — K.]

Among the popular brands where the alcohol content has been cut are Foster’s, Old Speckled Hen, Kronenbourg, and Hophead — the practice has been dubbed ‘drinkflation’.

Drinkdeflation, more like.

In these here United States, we used to refer to 3.2% beer as “squirrel piss”, so I suspect that 3.4% can’t be far off.

Good thing I don’t drink beer in any quantity anymore, or else I’d be getting angry.

If You Build It, They Will Come

Taxes and Theft

…and if you try to steal it, they will leave:

Millionaires are looking to flee the UK in their droves to escape Labour’s tax raids – with a record number of wealthy Britons tipped to leave the country this year.

Advisers to the UK’s richest households told yesterday how phones are ringing off the hook as their clients rush for the exit, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves plans to hike levies in its autumn Budget on October 30.

It follows PM Keir Starmer’s speech this week in which he painted a woeful picture of the state of the country’s economy, referring to financial ‘black holes’, as he braced the UK for a difficult Autumn budget. 

The smart ones left long ago — some as much as a year before this new lot of Socialists came to power, I’m told — and most of the really smart ones made plans for this eventuality even earlier than that.

You see, not only are The Rich quite intelligent (trust fund babies and nobility aside), they also have access to all sorts of intelligence that others don’t.  At Rich Fart #1’s afternoon cocktail party, for instance, one of the topics might be a sharing of information as to the best bolt-holes to flee to when the financial SHTF, along with the best methods to implement such flight.  And Rich Farts #2-7 hand over details of which lawyers, tax experts, bankers and so on would be the best to facilitate said flights.

They’re so far ahead of the game, in other words, that they’ll be gone long before H.M. tax sharks send out the list of desirable legislation for the Socialists to pass.  Hell, I bet that most have gone — or at least, their money’s gone — already.

Many A True Word

Taxes and Theft

Last week I created this snarky meme after the Labour Party won the general election in Britishland:

And it was meant to be a bitter joke.  (The tarty redhead is Labour’s Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner).  So imagine my interest when this little snippet appeared in the news a few days later:

How to protect your money if Labour mounts an inheritance tax raid on pensions

Pensions, for example, have been a safe haven for those who want to pass on their wealth without the taxman taking a cut. And millions of people have ploughed money into their retirement savings with this in mind. But even this last bastion could now fall into the clutches of inheritance tax.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been urged by policy wonks to consider an inheritance tax raid on pension pots, amid rising pressure to meet public spending targets. Leading think tanks have told her the move could raise up to £2 billion a year in takings from grieving families.

So, as the title of this post suggests, sometimes the jest turns into reality.

Basically, the takeaway is this:  any chance the Communists can get to steal your money and / or property, they’ll grab it in their greedy little claws.

Ahead Of The Game

Taxes and Theft

Yesterday I showed how wealthy people have been fleeing Illinois for greener pastures in Florida and such.

Now we have people in Britishland getting out even before the new Labour government is going to be swept to power with a massive majority (as seems likely).  And why would they do so, you ask?

The wealthy are already fleeing Britain over fears about Keir Starmer’s tax raids, it was claimed today.  It is the latest sign of anxiety about the prospect of a Labour government with potentially the largest majority in history.

 Sir Keir has insisted that apart from closing specific tax loopholes, nothing in his manifesto requires additional tax rises for ‘working people’.

But critics say his plans cannot be delivered without unleashing tax hikes yet to be declared to voters.

A Socialist lying about his goals?  Say it ain’t so.  Clearly, the people most likely to be affected by Labour’s rapaciousness aren’t being fooled.

I have three friends Over There who are actively making plans to leave, for good.  And no, they’re not especially wealthy ones, either — because as any fule kno, the only way to get serious tax receipts is to tax the middle class, and they are all in that category.  (The working classes don’t have money, and the wealthy can afford to shield theirs.)

One is even looking at moving to the U.S., but alas he wants to do it legally, which will take years.  (For reasons of honesty, he refuses to do the southern border swoop.)  He may go through Canada first, but we’ll have to see.

I know of another guy — not a personal friend — who’s just walking away from his house because he suspects that Labour is going to increase “stamp duty” on property transfers and sales, so when he did the arithmetic he found that it would be easier just to forget about it.  He’s just sold his company (a printing business), and from what I can gather, that moolah is already in an offshore tax haven.

Interesting times we live in, wot?

Hold Back

Bad News, Gummint, Taxes and Theft

From Reader Mike L. comes this piece of good news:

A Pennsylvania man says he is celebrating his Mega Millions win by getting engaged.  The man, who didn’t release his identity to the public, reportedly won a $1 million Mega Millions prize in New Jersey with a ticket he ordered using the Jackpocket app.  Representatives with the lottery app said the lucky winner decided to purchase the winning ticket while on a break from work.

First things first:  I hope he had the foresight to hold back $450k in taxes from that million, otherwise his friendly local neighborhood IRS agent is going to give it to him good, as will the poxy New Jersey tax enforcers.

Second thing:  yes, his luck was good, but not that good.  Why?

The winning ticket matched all five white balls, just missing the gold Mega Ball.

Had he got the Mega Ball, his winnings would have been about $120 million, in which case he could have got engaged in a cabana at the Four Seasons in the Seychelles:

As it is, his $550k is a lovely windfall, but after buying a decent house, an engagement ring and paying for the wedding, he’ll still have to keep on working.

Being a millionaire isn’t what it used to be…

Outright Theft

Taxes and Theft

Here’s a little snippet that caught my eye briefly, then buzzed around in my subconscious until it turned into a raging tornado.

Inheritance tax receipts increased to £5.2billion in the eight months from April to November, data from HM Revenue & Customs reveals.

This marks a £400million increase from the same period a year ago, and continues the upward trend over the last decade.

Last month, the Chancellor shied away from slashing inheritance tax in the Autumn Statement, as it emerged the levy is on track to raise nearly £10billion a year by the end of the decade.

The body text concerns me hardly at all because it’s Britishland, and for centuries their governments have always stolen from the country’s wealthier citizens.

It was really just the first two words which snagged me like an errant fish hook.

Here’s how it’s defined by our own beloved IRS:

The Estate Tax is a tax on your right to transfer property at your death. It consists of an accounting of everything you own or have certain interests in at the date of death. The fair market value of these items is used, not necessarily what you paid for them or what their values were when you acquired them.

There are a whole bunch more words which on the surface are supposed to clarify the matter, but which in true IRS form serve only to create more questions, to be clarified by tax accountants and lawyers, and which can be re-interpreted (in the State’s interests, natch) by IRS agents in any way they choose.

Yeah, you have a right to transfer property — your own private property, how nice that they call it a “right” — but that right can be taxed (is it then still a right?) because reasons.

Basically, the State is saying that your private property isn’t really yours, it belongs to the State and therefore they are entitled to a piece of it.

Yeah, I know, it really only applies to “the rich” and we little peasants shouldn’t worry our silly little heads about it.  (The ceiling for application of the death tax is currently set at an estate value greater than $13.6 million.)

Even among people not affected by the estate tax, it is one of the most hated taxes in the nation.  Worse still, it used to cost the State more in the collection thereof than the income it generated — in fact, it only recently “broke even”, and now the revenue : cost relationship stands at something like 1.24 ($1.24 dollars is collected for every dollar it costs to collect it).

If ever there’s a piece of governmental thievery which needs to be taken outside and shot in the back of the neck, this one is it.  (Don’t even ask me about the politicians who support it and the government agents who collect it, because my response would put me on the Naughty List.)

Yes I know, there is a difference between “inheritance” taxes and “estate” taxes.  Regardless of how the godless IRS defines it or how/when it gets collected, however, the principle is the same for both.